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

"Discontent and sorrow manifested itself in his countenance."—Brown's
Inst., p. 146.

[FORMULE—Not proper, because the pronoun itself is of the singular number, and does not correctly represent its two antecedents discontent and sorrow, which are connected by and, and taken conjointly. But, according to Rule 12th, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by and, it must agree with then, jointly in the plural, because they are taken together." Therefore, itself should be themselves; thus, "Discontent and sorrow manifested themselves in his countenance."]

"Both conversation and public speaking became more simple and plain, such as we now find it."—Blair's Rhet., p. 59. "Idleness and ignorance, if it be suffered to proceed, &c."—JOHNSON: Priestley's Gram., p. 186. "Avoid questions and strife; it shows a busy and contentious disposition."—Wm. Penn. "To receive the gifts and benefits of God with thanksgiving, and witness it blessed and sanctified to us by the word and prayer, is owned by us."—Barclays Works, i, 213. "Both minister and magistrate are compelled to choose between his duty and his reputation."—Junius, p. 9. "All the sincerity, truth, and faithfulness, or disposition of heart or conscience to approve it, found among rational creatures, necessarily originate from God."—Brown's Divinity, p. 12. "Your levity and heedlessness, if it continue, will prevent all substantial improvement."—Brown's Inst., p. 147. "Poverty and obscurity will oppress him only who esteems it oppressive."—Ib. "Good sense and refined policy are obvious to few, because it cannot be discovered but by a train of reflection."—Ib. "Avoid haughtiness of behaviour, and affectation, of manners: it implies a want of solid merit."—Ib. "If love and unity continue, it will make you partakers of one an other's joy."—Ib. "Suffer not jealousy and distrust to enter: it will destroy, like a canker, every germ of friendship."—Ib. "Hatred and animosity are inconsistent with Christian charity; guard, therefore, against the slightest indulgence of it."—Ib. "Every man is entitled to liberty of conscience, and freedom of opinion, if he does not pervert it to the injury of others."—Ib.

   "With the azure and vermilion
    Which is mix'd for my pavilion."—Byron's Manfred, p. 9.

When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by or or nor, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together: as; "James or John will favour us with his company."—"Neither wealth nor honour can secure the happiness of its votaries."

   "What virtue or what mental grace,
    But men unqualified and base
        Will boast it their possession?"—Cowper, on Friendship.

OBS. 1.—When two or more singular antecedents are connected by or or nor, the pronoun which represents them, ought in general to be singular, because or and nor are disjunctives; and, to form a complete concord, the nouns ought also to be of the same person and gender, that the pronoun may agree in all respects with each of them. But when plural nouns are connected in this manner, the pronoun will of course be plural, though it still agrees with the antecedents singly; as, "Neither riches nor honours ever satisfy their pursuers." Sometimes, when different numbers occur together, we find the plural noun put last, and the pronoun made plural after both, especially if this noun is a mere substitute for the other; as,

   "What's justice to a man, or laws,
    That never comes within their claws."—Hudibras.

OBS. 2.—When antecedents of different persons, numbers, or genders, are connected by or or nor, they cannot very properly be represented by any pronoun that is not applicable to each of them. The following sentences are therefore inaccurate; or at least they contradict the teachings of their own authors: "Either thou or I am greatly mistaken, in our judgment on this subject."—Murray's Key, p. 184 "Your character, which I, or any other writer, may now value ourselves by (upon) drawing."—SWIFT: Lowth's Gram., p. 96. "Either you or I will be in our place in due time."—Coopers Gram., p. 127. But different pronouns may be so connected as to refer to such antecedents taken separately; as, "By requiring greater labour from such slave or slaves, than he or she or they are able to perform."—Prince's Digest. Or, if the gender only be different, the masculine may involve the feminine by implication; as, "If a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake."—Exodus, xxi, 26.

OBS. 3.—It is however very common to resort to the plural number in such instances as the foregoing, because our plural pronouns are alike in all the genders; as, "When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite."—Numbers, vi, 2. "Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman unto thy gates, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die."—Deut., xvii, 5. "Not on outward charms could he or she build their pretensions to please."—Opie, on Lying, p. 148. "Complimenting either man or woman on agreeable qualities which they do not possess, in hopes of imposing on their credulity."—Ib., p. 108. "Avidien, or his wife, (no matter which,) sell their presented partridges and fruits."—Pope, Sat. ii, l. 50. "Beginning with Latin or Greek hexameter, which are the same."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 79.

   "Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch,
    Transform themselves so strangely as the rich?"
        —Pope, Ep. i, l. 152.

OBS. 4.—From the observations and examples above, it may be perceived, that whenever there is a difference of person, number, or gender, in antecedents connected disjunctively, there is an inherent difficulty respecting the form of the pronoun personal. The best mode of meeting this inconvenience, or of avoiding it by a change of the phraseology, may be different on different occasions. The disjunctive connexion of explicit pronouns is the most correct, but it savours too much of legal precision and wordiness to be always eligible. Commonly an ingenious mind may invent some better expression, and yet avoid any syntactical anomaly. In Latin, when nouns are connected by the conjunctions which correspond to or or nor, the pronoun or verb is so often made plural, that no such principle as that of the foregoing Rule, or of Rule 17th, is taught by the common grammars of that language. How such usage can be logically right, however, it is difficult to imagine. Lowth, Murray, Webster, and most other English grammarians, teach, that, "The conjunction disjunctive has an effect contrary to that of the copulative; and, as the verb, noun, or pronoun, is referred to the preceding terms taken separately, it must be in the singular number."—Lowth's Gram., p. 75; L. Murray's, 151; Churchill's, 142; W. Allen's, 133; Lennie's, 83; and many others. If there is any allowable exception to this principle, it is for the adoption of the plural when the concord cannot be made by any one pronoun singular; as, "If I value my friend's wife or son upon account of their connexion with him."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 73. "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation."—Levit., x, 8. These examples, though they do not accord with the preceding rule, seem not to be susceptible of any change for the better. There are also some other modes of expression, in which nouns that are connected disjunctively, may afterwards be represented together; as "Foppery is a sort of folly much more contagious THAN pedantry; but as they result alike from affectation, they deserve alike to be proscribed."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 217.

"Neither prelate nor priest can give their flocks any decisive evidence that you are lawful pastors."—Dr. Brownlee.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the pronoun their is of the plural number, and does not correctly represent its two antecedents prelate and priest, which are connected by nor, and taken disjunctively. But, according to Rule 13th, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by or or nor, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together." Therefore, their should be his; thus, "Neither prelate nor priest can give his flocks any decisive evidence that you are lawful pastors."]

"And is there a heart of parent or of child, that does not beat and burn within them?"—Maturin's Sermons, p. 367. "This is just as if an eye or a foot should demand a salary for their service to the body."—Collier's Antoninus, p. 178. "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee."—Matt., xviii, 8. "The same might as well be said of Virgil, or any great author, whose general character will infallibly raise many casual additions to their reputation."—Pope's Pref. to Homer. "Either James or John, one of them, will come."—Smith's New Gram., p. 37. "Even a rugged rock or barren heath, though in themselves disagreeable, contribute by contrast to the beauty of the whole."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 185. "That neither Count Rechteren nor Monsieur Mesnager had behaved themselves right in this affair."—Spect., No. 481. "If an Aristotle, a Pythagoras, or a Galileo, suffer for their opinions, they are 'martyrs.'"—Gospel its own Witness, p. 80. "If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die; then the ox shall be surely stoned."—Exodus, xxi, 28. "She was calling out to one or an other, at every step, that a Habit was ensnaring them."—DR. JOHNSON: Murray's Sequel, 181. "Here is a Task put upon Children, that neither this Author, nor any other have yet undergone themselves."—Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 162. "Hence, if an adjective or participle be subjoined to the verb, when of the singular number, they will agree both in gender and number with the collective noun."—Adam's Lat. Gram., p. 154; Gould's, 158. "And if you can find a diphthong, or a triphthong, be pleased to point them out too."—Bucke's Classical Gram., p. 16. "And if you can find a diphthong, or a triphthong, a trissyllable, or a polysyllable, point them respectively out."—Ib., p. 25. "The false refuges in which the atheist or the sceptic have intrenched themselves."—Christian Spect., viii, 185. "While the man or woman thus assisted by art expects their charms will be imputed to nature alone."—Opie, 141. "When you press a watch, or pull a clock, they answer your question with precision; for they repeat exactly the hour of the day, and tell you neither more nor less than you desire to know."—Bolingbroke, on History, p. 102.

   "Not the Mogul, or Czar of Muscovy,
    Not Prester John, or Cham of Tartary,
    Are in their houses Monarch more than I."
        —KING: Brit. Poets, Vol. iii, p. 613.

In this work, the syntax of Verbs is embraced in six consecutive rules, with the necessary exceptions, notes, and observations, under them; hence this chapter extends from the fourteenth to the twentieth rule in the series.

Every finite Verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number: as, "I know; thou knowst, or knowest; he knows, or knoweth"—"The bird flies; the birds fly."

   "Our fathers' fertile fields by slaves are till'd,
    And Rome with dregs of foreign lands is fill'd."
        —Rowe's Lucan, B. vii, l. 600.

OBS. 1.—To this general rule for the verb, there are properly no exceptions;[385] and all the special rules that follow, which prescribe the concord of verbs in particular instances, virtually accord with it. Every finite verb, (that is, every verb not in the infinitive mood,) must have some noun, pronoun, or phrase equivalent, known as the subject of the being, action, or passion;[386] and with this subject, whether expressed or understood, the verb must agree in person and number. The infinitive mood, as it does not unite with a nominative to form an assertion, is of course exempt from any such agreement. These may be considered principles of Universal Grammar. The Greeks, however, had a strange custom of using a plural noun of the neuter gender, with a verb of the third person singular; and in both Greek and Latin, the infinitive mood with an accusative before it was often equivalent to a finite verb with its nominative. In English we have neither of these usages; and plural nouns, even when they denote no absolute plurality, (as shears, scissors, trowsers, pantaloons, tongs,) require plural verbs or pronouns: as, "Your shears come too late, to clip the bird's wings."—SIDNEY: Churchill's Gram., p. 30.

OBS. 2.—When a book