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

and all of them have been constantly and shamefully misinterpreted. Thus: "They [do and did] sometimes also supply the place of another verb, and make the repetition of it, in the same or a subsequent sentence, unnecessary: as, 'You attend not to your studies as he does;' (i. e. as he attends, &c.) 'I shall come if I can; but if I do not, please to excuse me;' (i. e. if I come not.)"—L. Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 88; R. C. Smith's, 88; Ingersoll's, 135; Fisk's, 78; A. Flint's, 41; Hiley's, 30. This remark, but not the examples, was taken from Lowths Gram., p. 41. Churchill varies it thus, and retains Lowth's example: "It [i. e., do] is used also, to supply the place of another verb, in order to avoid the repetition of it: as, 'He loves not plays, As thou dost, Antony.' SHAKS."—New Gram., p. 96. Greenleaf says, "To prevent the repetition of one or more verbs, in the same, or [a] following sentence, we frequently make use of do AND did; as, 'Jack learns the English language as fast as Henry does;' that is, 'as fast as Henry learns.' 'I shall come if I can; but if I do not, please to excuse me;' that is, 'if I come not.'"—Gram. Simplified, p. 27. Sanborn says, "Do is also used instead of another verb, and not unfrequently instead of both the verb and its object; as, 'he loves work as well as you do;' that is, as well as you love work."—Analyt. Gram., p. 112. Now all these interpretations are wrong; the word do, dost, or does, being simply an auxiliary, after which the principal verb (with its object where it has one) is understood. But the first example is bad English, and its explanation is still worse. For, "As he attends, &c.," means, "As he attends to your studies!" And what good sense is there in this? The sentence ought to have been, "You do not attend to your studies, as he does to his." That is—"as he does attend to his studies." This plainly shows that there is, in the text, no real substitution of does for attends. So of all other examples exhibited in our grammars, under this head: there is nothing to the purpose, in any of them; the common principle of ellipsis resolves them all. Yet, strange to say, in the latest and most learned of this sort of text-books, we find the same sham example, fictitious and solecistical as it is, still blindly repeated, to show that "does" is not in its own place, as an auxiliary, but "supplies the place of another verb."—Fowler's E. Gram., 8vo. 1850. p. 265. NOTES TO RULE XVII.

NOTE I.—When a verb has nominatives of different persons or numbers,[400] connected by or or nor, it must agree with the nearest, (unless an other be the principal term,) and must be understood to the rest, in the person and number required; as, "Neither you nor I am concerned."—W. Allen. "That neither they nor ye also die."—Numb., xviii, 3.

   "But neither god, nor shrine, nor mystic rite,
    Their city, nor her walls, his soul delight."
        —Rowe's Lucan, B. x, l. 26.

NOTE II.—But, since all nominatives that require different forms of the verb, virtually produce separate clauses or propositions, it is better to complete the concord whenever we conveniently can, by expressing the verb or its auxiliary in connexion with each of them; as, "Either thou art to blame, or I am."—Comly's Gram., p. 78. "Neither were their numbers, nor was their destination, known."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 134. So in clauses connected by and: as, "But declamation is idle, and murmurs fruitless."—Webster's Essays, p. 82. Say,—"and murmurs are fruitless."

NOTE III.—In English, the speaker should always mention himself last; unless his own superior dignity, or the confessional nature of the expression, warrant him in taking the precedence: as, "Thou or I must go."—"He then addressed his discourse to my father and me."—"Ellen and I will seek, apart, the refuge of some forest cell."—Scott. See Obs. 11th above.

NOTE IV.—Two or more distinct subject phrases connected by or or nor, require a singular verb; and, if a nominative come after the verb, that must be singular also: as, "That a drunkard should be poor, or that a fop should be ignorant, is not strange."—"To give an affront, or to take one tamely, is no mark of a great mind." So, when the phrases are unconnected: as, "To spread suspicion, to invent calumnies, to propagate scandal, requires neither labour nor courage."—Rambler, No. 183.

NOTE V.—In general, when verbs are connected by and, or, or nor, they must either agree in mood, tense, and form, or the simplest in form must be placed first; as, "So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh."—Isaiah, xxxvii, 37. "For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die."—Acts, xxv, 11.

NOTE VI.—In stead of conjoining discordant verbs, it is in general better to repeat the nominative or insert a new one; as, "He was greatly heated, and [he] drank with avidity."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 201. "A person may be great or rich by chance; but cannot be wise or good, without taking pains for it."—Ib., p. 200. Say,—"but no one can be wise or good, without taking pains for it."

NOTE VII.—A mixture of the forms of the solemn style and the familiar, is inelegant, whether the verbs refer to the same nominative or have different ones expressed; as, "What appears tottering and in hazard of tumbling, produceth in the spectator the painful emotion of fear."—Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 356. "And the milkmaid singeth blithe, And the mower whets his sithe."—Milton's Allegro, l. 65 and 66.

NOTE VIII.—To use different moods under precisely the same circumstances, is improper, even if the verbs have separate nominatives; as, "Bating that one speak and an other answers, it is quite the same."—Blair's Rhet., p. 368. Say,—"that one speaks;" for both the speaking and the answering are assumed as facts.

NOTE IX.—When two terms are connected, which involve different forms of the same verb, such parts of the compound tenses as are not common to both forms, should be inserted in full: except sometimes after the auxiliary do; as, "And then he falls, as I do."—Shak. That is, "as I do fall." The following sentences are therefore faulty: "I think myself highly obliged to make his fortune, as he has mine."—Spect., No. 474. Say,—"as he has made mine." "Every attempt to remove them, has, and likely will prove unsuccessful."—Gay's Prosodical Gram., p. 4. Say,—"has proved, and likely will prove, unsuccessful."

NOTE X.—The verb do must never be substituted for any term to which its own meaning is not adapted; nor is there any use in putting it for a preceding verb that is equally short: as, "When we see how confidently men rest on groundless surmises in reference to their own souls, we cannot wonder that they do it in reference to others."—Simeon. Better:—"that they so rest in reference to the souls of others;" for this repeats the idea with more exactness. NOTE XI.—The preterit should not be employed to form the compound tenses of the verb; nor should the perfect participle be used for the preterit or confounded with the present. Thus: say, "To have gone," not, "To have went;" and, "I did so," not, "I done so;" or, "He saw them," not, "He seen them." Again: say not, "It was lift or hoist up;" but, "It was lifted or hoisted up."

NOTE XII.—Care should be taken, to give every verb or participle its appropriate form, and not to confound those which resemble each other; as, to flee and to fly, to lay and to lie, to sit and to set, to fall and to fell, &c. Thus: say, "He lay by the fire;" not, "He laid by the fire;"—"He has become rich;" not, "He is become rich;"—"I would rather stay;" not, "I had rather stay."

NOTE XIII.—In the syntax of words that express time, whether they be verbs, adverbs, or nouns, the order and fitness of time should be observed, that the tenses may be used according to their import. Thus: in stead of, "I have seen him last week;" say, "I saw him last week;"—and, in stead of, "I saw him this week;" say, "I have seen him this week." So, in stead of, "I told you already;" or, "I have told you before;" say, "I have told you already;"—"I told you before."

NOTE XIV.—Verbs of commanding, desiring, expecting, hoping, intending, permitting, and some others, in all their tenses, refer to actions or events, relatively present or future: one should therefore say, "I hoped you would come;" not, "I hoped you would have come;"—and, "I intended to do it;" not, "I intended to have done it;"—&c.

NOTE XV.—Propositions that are as true now as they ever were or will be, should generally be expressed in the present tense: as, "He seemed hardly to know, that two and two make four;" not, "made."—Blair's Gram., p. 65. "He will tell you, that whatever is, is right." Sometimes the present tense is improper with the conjunction that, though it would be quite proper without it; as, "Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet."—Mark, vi, 15. Here That should be omitted, or else is should be was. The capital T is also improper.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVII. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.—NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY OR.

"We do not know in what either reason or instinct consist."—Rambler, No. 41.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the verb consist is of the plural number, and does not correctly agree with its two nominatives, reason and instinct, which are connected by or, and taken disjunctively. But, according to Rule 17th, "When a verb has two or more nominatives connected by or or nor, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together." Therefore, consist should be consists; thus, "We do not know in what either reason or instinct consists."]

"A noun or a pronoun joined with a participle, constitute a nominative case absolute."—Bicknell's Gram., Part ii, p. 50. "The relative will be of that case, which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, use to govern."—Dr. Adam's Gram., p. 203. "Which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, usually govern."—Gould's Adam's Gram., p. 200.[401] "In the different modes of pronunciation which habit or caprice give rise to."—Knight, on the Greek Alphabet, p. 14. "By which he, or his deputy, were authorized to cut down any trees in Whittlebury forest."—Junius, p. 251. "Wherever objects were to be named, in which sound, noise, or motion were concerned, the imitation by words was abundantly obvious."—Blair's Rhet., p. 55. "The pleasure or pain resulting from a train of perceptions in different circumstances, are a beautiful contrivance of nature for valuable purposes."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 262. "Because their foolish vanity or their criminal ambition represent the principles by which they are influenced, as absolutely perfect."—Life of Madame De Stael, p. 2. "Hence naturally arise indifference or aversion between the parties."—Brown's Estimate, ii, 37. "A penitent unbeliever, or an impenitent believer, are characters no where to be found."—Tract, No. 183. "Copying whatever is peculiar in the talk of all those whose birth or fortune entitle them to imitation."—Rambler, No. 194. "Where love, hatred, fear, or contempt, are often of decisive influence."—Duncan's Cicero, p. 119. "A lucky anecdote, or an enlivening tale relieve the folio page."—D'Israeli's Curiosities, Vol. i, p. 15. "For outward matter or event, fashion not the character within."—Book of Thoughts, p. 37. "Yet sometimes we have seen that wine, or chance, have warmed cold brains."—Dryden's Poems, p. 76. "Motion is a Genus; Flight, a Species; this Flight or that Flight are Individuals."—Harris's Hermes, p. 38. "When et, aut, vel, sine, or nec, are joined to different members of the same sentence."—Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram., p. 206; Gould's Lat. Gram., 203; Grant's, 266. "Wisdom or folly govern us."—Fisk's English Gram., 84. "A or an are styled indefinite articles."—Folker's Gram., p. 4. "A rusty nail, or a crooked pin, shoot up into prodigies."—Spectator, No. 7. "Are either the subject or the predicate in the second sentence modified?"—Fowler's E. Gram., 8vo, 1850, p. 578, §589.

   "Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe,
    Are lost on hearers that our merits know."
        —Pope, Iliad, B. x, l. 293.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.—NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY NOR.

"Neither he nor she have spoken to him."—Perrin's Gram., p. 237. "For want of a process of events, neither knowledge nor elegance preserve the reader from weariness."—JOHNSON: in Crabb's Syn., p. 511. "Neither history nor tradition furnish such information."—Robertson's Amer., Vol. i, p. 2. "Neither the form nor power of the liquids have varied materially."—Knight, on the Greek Alph., p.