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

"Their intentions were good; but wanting prudence, they missed the mark at which they aimed."—Murray's Key, 8vo, Vol. ii, p. 221. "The verb be often separates the name from its attribute; as war is expensive."— Webster's Philos. Gram., p. 153. "Either and or denote an alternative; as 'I will take either road at your pleasure.'"—Ib., p. 63; Imp. Gram., 45. "Either is also a substitute for a name; as 'Either of the roads is good.'"—Webster, both Grams., 63 and 45. "But alas! I fear the consequence."—Day's Gram., p. 74. "Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?"—Scott's Bible, and Smith's. "Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?"—Smiths Bible. "The infinitive sometimes performs the office of a nominative case, as 'To enjoy is to obey.'—POPE."—Cutler's Gram., p. 62. "The plural is commonly formed by adding s to the singular, as book, books."—Bullions, E. Gram., p. 12. "As 'I were to blame, if I did it.'"—Smart's Accidence, p. 16.

   "Or if it be thy will and pleasure
    Direct my plough to find a treasure."—Hiley's Gram., p. 124.

    "Or if it be thy will and pleasure,
    Direct my plough to find a treasure."—Hart's Gram., p. 185.

"Pronouns agree with the nouns for which they stand in gender, number, and person."—Butler's Practical Gram., pp. 141 and 148; Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 150.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the preposition in has not the comma before it, as the text requires. But, according to Rule 14th, "Prepositions and their objects, when they break the connexion of a simple sentence, or when they do not closely follow the words on which they depend, are generally set off by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be here inserted; thus, "Pronouns agree with the nouns for which they stand, in gender, number, and person." Or the words may be transposed, and the comma set before with; thus, "Pronouns agree in gender, number, and person, with the nouns for which they stand."]

"In the first two examples the antecedent is person, or something equivalent; in the last it is thing."—Butler, ib., p. 53. "In what character he was admitted is unknown."—Ib., p. 55. "To what place he was going is not known."—Ib., p. 55. "In the preceding examples John, Cæsar, and James are the subjects."—Ib., p. 59. "Yes is generally used to denote assent in the answer to a question."—Ib., p. 120. "That in its origin is the passive participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb thean, to take"—Ib., p. 127. "But in all these sentences as and so are adverbs."—Ib., p. 127. "After an interjection or exclamatory sentence is placed the mark of exclamation."—Blair's Gram., p. 116. "Intransitive verbs from their nature can have no distinction of voice."—Bullions, E. Gram., p. 30. "To the inflection of verbs belong Voices, Moods, Tenses, Numbers, and Persons."—Id., ib., p. 33; Pract. Lessons, p. 41. "As and so in the antecedent member of a comparison are properly adverbs."—Id., E. Gram., p. 113. "In the following Exercise point out the words in apposition."—Id., P. Lessons, p. 103. "In the following Exercise point out the noun or pronoun denoting the possessor."— Id., ib., p. 105. "Its is not found in the Bible except by misprint."—Hallock's Gram., p. 68. "No one's interest is concerned except mine."—Ib., p. 70. "In most of the modern languages there are four concords."—St. Quentin's Gen. Gram., p. 143. "In illustration of these remarks let us suppose a case."—Hart's Gram., p. 104. "On the right management of the emphasis depends the life of pronunciation."— Ib., p. 172; Murray's, 8vo, p. 242.

"Behold he is in the desert."—SCOTT'S BIBLE: Matt., xxiv, 26.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the interjection Behold, which has usually a comma after it in Scripture, has here no point. But, according to Rule 15th, "Interjections that require a pause, though more commonly emphatic and followed by the ecphoneme, are sometimes set off by the comma." In this instance, a comma should be used; thus, "Behold, he is in the desert."—Common Bible.]

"And Lot said unto them, Oh not so my Lord."—SCOTT'S BIBLE: Gen., xix, 18. "Oh let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."—SCOTT: Gen., xix, 20. "Behold! I come quickly.—BIBLE."—Day's Gram., p. 74. "Lo! I am with you always."—Day's Gram., pp. 10 and 73. "And lo! I am with you always."—Ib., pp. 78 and 110. "And lo, I am with you alway."—SCOTT'S BIBLE, and BRUCE'S: Matt., xxviii, 20. "Ha! ha! ha! how laughable that is."—Bullions, Pract. Les., p. 83. "Interjections of Laughter,—Ha! he! hi! ho!"—Wright's Gram., p. 121.

"Lend lend your wings! I mount! I fly!"—Example varied.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the repeated word lend has here no comma. But, according to Rule 16th, "A word emphatically repeated, is generally set off by the comma." In this instance, a comma is required after the former lend, but not after the latter; thus,

"Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!"—Pope's Poems, p. 317.

]

"To bed to bed to bed. There is a knocking at the gate. Come come come.
What is done cannot be undone. To bed to bed to bed."—See Burgh's
Speaker, p. 130. "I will roar, that the duke shall cry, Encore encore let
him roar let him roar once more once more."—See ib., p. 136.

   "Vital spark of heav'nly flame,
    Quit oh quit this mortal frame."—Hiley's Gram., p. 126.

    "Vital spark of heav'nly flame,
    Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame!"—Bullions, E. Gr., p. 172.

    "O the pleasing pleasing Anguish,
    When we love, and when we languish."—Ward's Gram., p. 161.

    "Praise to God immortal praise
    For the love that crowns our days!"—Hiley's Gram., p. 124.

"Thus, of an infant, we say 'It is a lovely creature.'"—Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram., p. 12.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because no comma is here inserted between say and the citation which follows. But, according to Rule 17th, "A quotation, observation, or description, when it is introduced in close dependence on a verb, (as, say, reply, cry, or the like.) is generally separated from the rest of the sentence by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be put after say; as, "Thus, of an infant, we say, 'It is a lovely creature.'"]

"No being can state a falsehood in saying I am; for no one can utter it, if it is not true."—Cardell's Gram., 18mo, p. 118. "I know they will cry out against this and say 'should he pay, means if he should pay.'"—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 352. "For instance, when we say 'the house is building,' the advocates of the new theory ask, 'building what?' We might ask in turn, when you say 'the field ploughs well,' ploughs what? 'Wheat sells well,' sells what? If usage allows us to say 'wheat sells at a dollar' in a sense that is not active, why may it not also allow us to say 'wheat is selling at a dollar' in a sense that is not active?"—Hart's English Gram., p. 76. "Man is accountable, equals mankind are accountable."—S. Barrett's Revised Gram., p. 37. "Thus, when we say 'He may be reading,' may is the real verb; the other parts are verbs by name only."—Smart's English Accidence, p. 8. "Thus we say an apple, an hour, that two vowel sounds may not come together."—Ib., p. 27. "It would be as improper to say an unit, as to say an youth; to say an one, as to say an wonder."—Ib., p. 27. "When we say 'He died for the truth,' for is a preposition."—Ib., p. 28. "We do not say 'I might go yesterday,' but 'I might have gone yesterday.'"—Ib., p. 11. "By student, we understand one who has by matriculation acquired the rights of academical citizenship; but, by bursché, we understand one who has already spent a certain time at the university."—Howitt's Student-Life in Germany, p. 27.

The Semicolon is used to separate those parts of a compound sentence, which are neither so closely connected as those which are distinguished by the comma, nor so little dependent as those which require the colon.

When two or more complex members, or such clauses as require the comma in themselves, are constructed into a period, they are generally separated by the semicolon: as, "In the regions inhabited by angelic natures, unmingled felicity forever blooms; joy flows there with a perpetual and abundant stream, nor needs any mound to check its course."—Carter. "When the voice rises, the gesture naturally ascends; and when the voice makes the falling inflection, or lowers its pitch, the gesture follows it by a corresponding descent; and, in the level and monotonous pronunciation of the voice, the gesture seems to observe a similar limitation, by moving rather in the horizontal direction, without much varying its elevation."—Comstock's Elocution, p. 107.

   "The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me;
    But shadows, clouds, and darkness, rest upon it."—Addison.

When two or more simple members, or such clauses as complete their sense without subdivision, are constructed into a period; if they require a pause greater than that of the comma, they are usually separated by the semicolon: as, "Straws swim upon the surface; but pearls lie at the bottom."—Murray's Gram., p. 276. "Every thing grows old; every thing passes away; every thing disappears."—Hiley's Gram., p. 115. "Alexander asked them the distance of the Persian capital; what forces the king of Persia could bring into the field; what the Persian government was; what was the character of the king; how he treated his enemies; what were the most direct ways into Persia."—Whelpley's Lectures, p. 175.

   "A longer care man's helpless kind demands;
    That longer care contracts more lasting bands."—Pope.

RULE III.—OF APPOSITION, &C.

Words in apposition, in disjunct pairs, or in any other construction, if they require a pause greater than that of the comma, and less than that of the colon, may be separated by the semicolon: as, "Pronouns have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and the objective."—Murray's Gram., p. 51. "Judge, judgement; lodge, lodgement; acknowledge, acknowledgement."—Butler's Gram., p. 11. "Do not the eyes discover humility, pride; cruelty, compassion; reflection, dissipation; kindness, resentment?"—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 159. "This rule forbids parents to lie to children, and children to parents; instructors to pupils, and pupils to instructors; the old to the young, and the young to the old; attorneys to jurors, and jurors to attorneys; buyers to sellers, and sellers to buyers."—Wayland's Moral Science, p. 304.

   "Make, made; have, had; pay, paid; say, said; leave, left;
    Dream, dreamt; mean, meant; reave and bereave have reft."
        —Ward's Gr., p. 66.

"The buds spread into leaves, and the blossoms swell to fruit, but they know not how they grow, nor who causes them to spring up from the bosom of the earth."—Day's E. Gr., p. 72.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the two chief members which compose this period, are separated only by the comma after "fruit." But, according to Rule 1st for the Semicolon, "When two or more complex members, or such clauses as require the comma in themselves, are constructed into a period, they are generally separated by the semicolon." Therefore, the pause after "fruit" should be marked by a semicolon.]

"But he used his eloquence chiefly against Philip, king of Macedon, and, in several orations, he stirred up the Athenians to make war against him."—Bullions, E. Gram., p. 84. "For the sake of euphony, the n is dropped before a consonant, and because most words begin with a consonant, this of course is its more common form.'"—Ib., p. 192. "But if I say 'Will a man be able to carry this burden?' it is manifest the idea is entirely changed, the reference is not to number, but to the species, and the answer might be 'No; but a horse will.'"—Ib., p. 193. "In direct discourse, a noun used by a speaker or writer to designate himself, is said to be of the first person—used to designate the person addressed, it is said to be of the second person, and when used to designate a person or thing spoken of, it is said to be of the third person."—Ib., p. 195. "Vice stings us, even in our pleasures, but virtue consoles us, even in our pains."—Day's Gram., p. 84. "Vice is infamous though in a prince, and virtue honorable though in a peasant."—Ib., p. 72. "Every word that is the name of a person or