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

up treasures, to arm ourselves against the accidents of life, which nothing can protect us against, but the good providence of our heavenly Father.'"—Murray's Gram., p. 311; Maunder's, p. 18; Blair's Rhet., p. 105. "The English adjectives, having but a very limited syntax, is classed with its kindred article, the adjective pronoun, under the eighth rule."—L. Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 143. "When a substantive is put absolutely, and does not agree with the following verb, it remains independent on the participle, and is called the case absolute, or the nominative absolute."—Ib., p. 195. "It will, doubtless, sometimes happen, that, on this occasion, as well as on many other occasions, a strict adherence to grammatical rules, would render the language stiff and formal: but when cases of this sort occur, it is better to give the expression a different turn, than to violate grammar for the sake of ease, or even of elegance."—Ib., p. 208. "Number, which distinguishes objects as singly or collectively, must have been coeval with the very infancy of language"—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 25. "The article a or an agrees with nouns in the singular number only, individually or collectively."—L. Murray's Gram., p. 170; and others. "No language is perfect because it is a human invention."—Parker and Fox's Grammar, Part III, p. 112. "The participles, or as they may properly be termed, forms of the verb in the second infinitive, usually precedes another verb, and states some fact, or event, from which an inference is drawn by that verb; as, 'the sun having arisen, they departed.'"—Day's Grammar, 2nd Ed., p. 36. "They must describe what has happened as having done so in the past or the present time, or as likely to occur in the future."—The Well-Wishers' Grammar, Introd., p. 5. "Nouns are either male, female, or neither."—Fowle's Common School Grammar, Part Second, p. 12. "Possessive Adjectives express possession, and distinguish nouns from each other by showing to what they belong; as, my hat, John's hat."—Ib., p. 31. PROMISCUOUS EXAMPLES OF FALSE SYNTAX. LESSON I.—VARIOUS RULES.

"What is the reason that our language is less refined than that of Italy, Spain, or France?"—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 185. "What is the reason that our language is less refined than that of France?"—Ingersoll's Gram., p. 152. "'I believe your Lordship will agree with me, in the reason why our language is less refined than those of Italy, Spain, or France.' DEAN SWIFT. Even in this short sentence, we may discern an inaccuracy—'why our language is less refined than those of Italy, Spain, or France;' putting the pronoun those in the plural, when the antecedent substantive to which it refers is in the singular, our language."—Blair's Rhet., p. 228. "The sentence might have been made to run much better in this way; 'why our language is less refined than the Italian, Spanish, or French.'"—Ibid. "But when arranged in an entire sentence, which they must be to make a complete sense, they show it still more evidently."—L. Murray's Gram., p. 65. "This is a more artificial and refined construction than that, in which the common connective is simply made use of."—Ib., p. 127. "We shall present the reader with a list of Prepositions, which are derived from the Latin and Greek languages."—Ib., p. 120. "Relatives comprehend the meaning of a pronoun and conjunction copulative."—Ib., p. 126. "Personal pronouns being used to supply the place of the noun, are not employed in the same part of the sentence as the noun which they represent."—Ib., p. 155; R. C. Smith's Gram., 131. "There is very seldom any occasion for a substitute in the same part where the principal word is present."—Murray's Gram., p. 155. "We hardly consider little children as persons, because that term gives us the idea of reason and reflection."—Priestley's Gram., p. 98; Murray's, 157; Smith's, 133; and others. "The occasion of exerting each of these qualities is different."—Blair's Rhet., p. 95; Murray's Gram., 302; Jamieson's Rhet., 66. "I'll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops withal and who he stands still withal. I pray thee, who doth he trot withal?"—Shakspeare. "By greatness, I do not only mean the bulk of any single object, but the largeness of a whole view."—Addison. "The question may then be put, What does he more than mean?"—Blair's Rhet., p. 103. "The question might be put, what more does he than only mean?"—Ib., p. 204. "He is surprised to find himself got to so great a distance, from the object with which he at first set out."—Ib., p. 108. "He is surprised to find himself at so great a distance from the object with which he sets out."—Murray's Gram., p. 313. "Few precise rules can be given, which will hold without exception in all cases."—Ib., p. 267; Lowth's Gram., p. 115. "Versification is the arrangement of a certain number of syllables according to certain laws."—Dr. Johnson's Gram., p. 13. "Versification is the arrangement of a certain number and variety of syllables, according to certain laws."—L. Murray's Gram., p. 252; R. C. Smith's, 187; and others. "Charlotte, the friend of Amelia, to whom no one imputed blame, was too prompt in her own vindication."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 273. "Mr. Pitt, joining the war party in 1793, the most striking and the most fatal instance of this offence, is the one which at once presents itself."—Brougham's Sketches, Vol. i, p. 57. "To the framing such a sound constitution of mind."—The American Lady, p. 132. "'I beseech you,' said St. Paul to his Ephesian converts, 'that ye walk worthy the vocation wherewith ye are called.'"—Ib., p. 208. "So as to prevent its being equal to that."—Booth's Introd., p. 88. "When speaking of an action's being performed."—Ib., p. 89. "And, in all questions of an action's being so performed, est is added to the second person."—Ib., p. 72. "No account can be given of this, than that custom has blinded their eyes."—Dymond's Essays, p. 269.

   "Design, or chance, make other wive;
    But nature did this match contrive."—Waller, p. 24.

LESSON II.—VARIOUS RULES.

"I suppose each of you think it is your own nail."—Abbott's Teacher, p. 58. "They are useless, from their being apparently based upon this supposition."—Ib., p. 71. "The form and manner, in which this plan may be adopted, is various."—Ib., p. 83. "Making intellectual effort, and acquiring knowledge, are always pleasant to the human mind."—Ib., p. 85. "This will do more than the best lecture which ever was delivered."—Ib., p. 90. "Doing easy things is generally dull work."—Ib., p. 92. "Such is the tone and manner of some teachers."—Ib., p. 118. "Well, the fault is, being disorderly at prayer time."—Ib., p. 153. "Do you remember speaking on this subject in school?"—Ib., p. 154. "The course above recommended, is not trying lax and inefficient measures."—Ib., p. 156. "Our community is agreed that there is a God."—Ib., p. 163. "It prevents their being interested in what is said."—Ib., p. 175. "We will also suppose that I call another boy to me, who I have reason to believe to be a sincere Christian."—Ib., p. 180. "Five minutes notice is given by the bell."—Ib., p. 211. "The Annals of Education gives notice of it."—Ib., p. 240. "Teacher's meetings will be interesting and useful."—Ib., p. 243. "She thought an half hour's study would conquer all the difficulties."—Ib., p. 257. "The difference between an honest and an hypocritical confession."—Ib., p. 263. "There is no point of attainment where we must stop."—Ib., p. 267. "Now six hours is as much as is expected of teachers."—Ib., p. 268. "How much is seven times nine?"—Ib., p. 292. "Then the reckoning proceeds till it come to ten hundred."—Frost's Practical Gram., p. 170. "Your success will depend on your own exertions; see, then, that you are diligent."—Ib., p. 142. "Subjunctive Mood, Present Tense: If I am known, If thou art known. If he is known: etc."—Ib., p. 91. "If I be loved, If thou be loved, If he be loved;" &c.—Ib., p. 85. "An Interjection is a word used to express sudden emotion. They are so called, because they are generally thrown in between the parts of a sentence without any reference to the structure of the other parts of it."—Ib., p. 35. "The Cardinals are those which simplify or denote number; as one, two, three."—Ib., p. 31. "More than one organ is concerned in the utterance of almost every consonant."—Ib., p. 21. "To extract from them all the Terms we make use in our Divisions and Subdivisions of the Art."—Holmes's Rhetoric, Pref. "And there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe."—Ezekiel, ii, 10. "If I were to be judged as to my behaviour, compared with that of John's."—Josephus, Vol. 5, p. 172. "When the preposition to signifies in order to, it used to be preceded by for, which is now almost obsolete; What went ye out for to see."—Priestley's Gram., p. 132. "This makes the proper perfect tense, which, in English, is always expressed by the help of the auxiliary verb, 'I have written.'"—Blair's Rhet., p. 82. "Indeed, in the formation of character, personal exertion is the first, the second, and the third virtues."—Sanders, Spelling-Book, p. 93. "The reducing them to the condition of the beasts that perish."—Dymond's Essays, p. 67. "Yet this affords no reason to deny that the nature of the gift is not the same, or that both are not divine."—Ib., p. 68. "If God have made known his will."—Ib., p. 98. "If Christ have prohibited them, [i.e., oaths,] nothing else can prove them right."—Ib., p. 150 "That the taking them is wrong, every man who simply consults his own heart, will know."—Ib., p. 163. "These evils would be spared the world, if one did not write."—Ib., p. 168. "It is in a great degree our own faults."—Ib., p. 200. "It is worthy observation that lesson-learning is nearly excluded."—Ib., p. 212. "Who spares the aggressor's life even to the endangering his own."—Ib., p. 227. "Who advocates the taking the life of an aggressor."—Ib., p. 229. "And thence up to the intentionally and voluntary fraudulent."—Ib., p. 318. "'And the contention was so great among them, that they departed asunder, one from _an_other.'—Acts, xv. 39."—Rev. Matt. Harrison's English Lang., p. 235. "Here the man is John, and John is the man; so the words are the imagination and the fancy, and the imagination and the fancy are the words."—Harrison's E. Lang., p. 227. "The article, which is here so emphatic in the Greek, is lost sight of in our translation."—Ib., p. 223. "We have no less than thirty pronouns."—Ib., p. 166. "It will admit of a pronoun being joined to it."—Ib., p. 137. "From intercourse and from conquest, all the languages of Europe participate with each other."—Ib., p. 104. "It is not always necessity, therefore, that has been the cause of our introducing terms derived from the classical languages."—Ib., p. 100. "The man of genius stamps upon it any impression that he pleases."—Ib., p. 90. "The proportion of names ending in son preponderate greatly among the Dano-Saxon population of the North."—Ib., p. 43. "As a proof of the strong similarity between the English and the Danish languages."—Ib., p. 37. "A century from the time that Hengist and Horsa landed on the Isle of Thanet."—Ib., p. 27.

   "I saw the colours waving in the wind,
    And they within, to mischief how combin'd."—Bunyan.

LESSON III.—VARIOUS RULES.

"A ship expected: of whom we say, she sails well."—Ben Jonson's Gram., Chap. 10. "Honesty is reckoned little worth."—Paul's Accidence, p. 58. "Learn to esteem life as it ought."—Economy of Human Life, p. 118. "As the soundest health is less perceived than the lightest malady, so the highest joy toucheth us less deep than the smallest sorrow."—Ib., p. 152. "Being young is no apology for being frivolous."—Whiting's Elementary Reader, p. 117. "The porch was the same width with the temple."—Milman's Jews, Vol. i. p. 208. "The other tribes neither contributed to his rise or downfall."—Ib., Vol. i. p. 165. "His whole laws and religion would have been shaken to its foundation."—Ib., Vol. i. p. 109. "The English has most commonly been neglected, and children taught only the Latin syntax."—Lily's Gram., Pref., p. xi. "They are not taken notice of in the notes."—Ib., p. x. "He walks in righteousness, doing what he would be done to."—S. Fisher's Works, p. 14. "They stand independently on the rest of the sentence."—Ingersoll's Gram., p. 151. "My uncle, with his son, were in town yesterday."—Lennie's Gram., p. 142. "She with her sisters are well."—Ib., p. 143. "His purse, with its contents, were abstracted from his pocket."—Ib., p. 143. "The great constitutional feature of this institution being, that directly the acrimony of the last election is over, the acrimony of the next begins."—Dickens's Notes, p. 27. "His disregarding his parents' advice has brought him into disgrace."—Farnum's Pract. Gram., 2d Ed., p. 19. "Error: Can you tell me the reason of his father making that remark?—Ib., p. 93. Cor.: Can you tell me the reason of his father's making that remark?"—See Farnum's Gram., Rule 12th. p. 76. "Error: What is the reason of