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

the kind named by their primitives, are called Diminutive Nouns: as, lambkin, hillock, satchel, gosling; from lamb, hill, sack, goose."—Bullions cor. "Why is it, that nonsense so often escapes detection, its character not being perceived either by the writer or by the reader?"—Campbell cor. "An Interjection is a word used to express sudden emotion. Interjections are so called, because they are generally thrown in between the parts of discourse, and have no reference to the structure of those parts."—M'Culloch cor. "The verb OUGHT has no other inflection than OUGHTEST, and this is nearly obsolete."— Macintosh cor. "But the arrangement, government, and agreement of words, and also their dependence upon others, are referred to our reason."—Osborn cor. "ME is a personal pronoun, of the first person, singular number, and objective case."—Guy cor. "The noun SELF is usually added to a pronoun; as, herself, himself, &c. The compounds thus formed are called reciprocal pronouns."— Id. "One cannot but think, that our author would have done better, had he begun the first of these three sentences, with saying, 'It is novelty, that bestows charms on a monster.'"—Dr. Blair cor. "The idea which they present to us, of nature resembling art, of art considered as an original, and nature as a copy, seems not very distinct, or well conceived, nor indeed very material to our author's purpose."—Id. "This faulty construction of the sentence, evidently arose from haste and carelessness."—Id. "Adverbs serve to modify terms of action or quality, or to denote time, place, order, degree, or some other circumstance which we have occasion to specify."—Id. "We may naturally expect, that the more any nation is improved by science, and the more perfect its language becomes, the more will that language abound with connective particles."—Id. "Mr. Greenleaf's book is far better adapted to the capacity of learners, than any other that has yet appeared, on the subject."—Feltus and Onderdonk's false praise Englished. "Punctuation is the art of marking, in writing or in print, the several pauses, or rests, which separate sentences, or the parts of sentences; so as to denote their proper quantity or proportion, as it is exhibited in a just and accurate delivery."—Lowth cor. "A compound sentence must generally be resolved into simple ones, and these be separated by the comma." Or better: "A compound sentence is generally divided, by the comma, into its simple members."—Greenleaf and Fisk cor. "Simple sentences should in general be separated from one an other by the comma, unless a greater point is required; as, 'Youth is passing away, age is approaching, and death is near.'"—S. R. Hall cor. "V has always one uniform sound, which is that of f flattened, as in thieve from thief: thus v bears to f the same relation that b does to p, d to t, hard g to k, or z to s."—L. Murray and Fisk cor.; also Walker; also Greenleaf. "The author is explaining the difference between sense and imagination, as powers of the human mind."—L. Murray cor. Or, if this was the critic's meaning: "The author is endeavouring to explain a very abstract point, the distinction between the powers of sense and those of imagination, as two different faculties of the human mind."— Id.; also Dr. Blair cor. "HE—(from the Anglo-Saxon HE—) is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. Decline HE."—Fowler cor. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE CRITICAL NOTES. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE I.—OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.

"The passive voice denotes an action received." Or: "The passive voice denotes the receiving of an action."—Maunder corrected. "Milton, in some of his prose works, has many very finely-turned periods."—Dr. Blair and Alex. Jam. cor. "These will be found to be wholly, or chiefly, of that class."—Dr. Blair cor. "All appearances of an author's affecting of harmony, are disagreeable."—Id. and Jam. cor. "Some nouns have a double increase; that is, they increase by more syllables than one: as iter, itin~eris."—Adam et al. cor. "The powers of man are enlarged by progressive cultivation."—Gurney cor. "It is always important to begin well; to make a favourable impression at the first setting out."—Dr. Blair cor. "For if one take a wrong method at his first setting-out, it will lead him astray in all that follows."— Id. "His mind is full of his subject, and all his words are expressive."— Id. "How exquisitely is all this performed in Greek!"—Harris cor. "How unworthy is all this to satisfy the ambition of an immortal soul!"—L. Murray cor. "So as to exhibit the object in its full grandeur, and its most striking point of view."—Dr. Blair cor. "And that the author know how to descend with propriety to the plain style, as well as how to rise to the bold and figured."— Id. "The heart alone can answer to the heart."— Id. "Upon the first perception of it." Or: "As it is first perceived."—Harris cor. "Call for Samson, that he may make sport for us."—Bible cor. "And he made sport before them."— Id. "The term 'to suffer,' in this definition, is used in a technical sense; and means simply, to receive an action, or to be acted upon."—Bullions cor. "The text only is what is meant to be taught in schools."—Brightland cor. "The perfect participle denotes action or existence perfected or finished."—Kirkham cor. "From the intricacy and confusion which are produced when they are blended together."—L. Murray cor. "This very circumstance, that the word is employed antithetically renders it important in the sentence."—Kirkham cor. "It [the pronoun that,] is applied both to persons and to things."—L. Murray cor. "Concerning us, as being everywhere traduced."—Barclay cor. "Every thing else was buried in a profound silence."—Steele cor. "They raise fuller conviction, than any reasonings produce."—Dr. Blair cor. "It appears to me nothing but a fanciful refinement." Or: "It appears to me nothing more than a fanciful refinement"— Id. "The regular and thorough resolution of a complete passage."—Churchill cor. "The infinitive is distinguished by the word TO, which immediately precedes it."—Maunder cor. "It will not be a gain of much ground, to urge that the basket, or vase, is understood to be the capital."—Kames cor. "The disgust one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose, where the drinking of it is merely figurative."— Id. "That we run not into the extreme of pruning so very closely."—See L. Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 318. "Being obliged to rest for a little while on the preposition itself." Or: "Being obliged to rest a while on the preposition itself." Or: "Being obliged to rest [for] a moment on the preposition alone."—Blair and Jam. cor. "Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding."—Bible cor. "There may be attempted a more particular expression of certain objects, by means of imitative sounds."—Blair, Jam., and Mur. cor. "The right disposition of the shade, makes the light and colouring the more apparent."—Dr. Blair cor. "I observe that a diffuse style is apt to run into long periods."— Id. "Their poor arguments, which they only picked up in the highways."—Leslie cor. "Which must be little else than a transcribing of their writings."—Barclay cor. "That single impulse is a forcing-out of almost all the breath." Or: "That single impulse forces out almost all the breath."—Hush cor. "Picini compares modulation to the turning-off from a road."—Gardiner cor. "So much has been written on and off almost every subject."—Sophist cor. "By the reading of books written by the best authors, his mind became highly improved." Or: "By the study of the most instructive books, his mind became highly improved."—L. Mur. cor. "For I never made a rich provision a token of a spiritual ministry."—Barclay cor.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE II.—OF DOUBTFUL REFERENCE.

"However disagreeable the task, we must resolutely perform our duty."—L. Murray cor. "The formation of all English verbs, whether they be regular or irregular, is derived from the Saxon tongue."—Lowth cor. "Time and chance have an influence on all things human, and nothing do they affect more remarkably than language."—Campbell cor. "Time and chance have an influence on all things human, and on nothing a more remarkable influence than on language."—Jamieson cor. "That Archytases, who was a virtuous man, happened to perish once upon a time, is with him a sufficient ground." &c.—Phil Mu. cor. "He will be the better qualified to understand the meaning of the numerous words into which they enter as material parts."—L. Murray cor. "We should continually have the goal in view, that it may direct us in the race."— Id. "But Addison's figures seem to rise of their own accord from the subject and constantly to embellish it" Or:—"and they constantly embellish it."—Blair and Jam. cor. "So far as they signify persons, animals, and things that we can see, it is very easy to distinguish nouns."—Cobbett cor. "Dissyllables ending in y or mute e, or accented on the final syllable, may sometimes be compared like monosyllables."—Frost cor. "If the foregoing objection be admitted, it will not overrule the design."—Rush cor. "These philosophical innovators forget, that objects, like men, are known only by their actions."—Dr. Murray cor. "The connexion between words and ideas, is arbitrary and conventional; it has arisen mainly from the agreement of men among themselves."—Jamieson cor. "The connexion between words and ideas, may in general be considered as arbitrary and conventional, or as arising from the agreement of men among themselves."—Dr. Blair cor. "A man whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and who had great abilities to manage and multiply and defend his corruptions."—Swift cor. "They have no more control over him than have any other men."—Wayland cor. "All his old words are true English, and his numbers are exquisite."—Spect. cor. "It has been said, that not Jesuits only can equivocate."—Mur. in Ex. and Key, cor. "In Latin, the nominative of the first or second person, is seldom expressed."—Adam and Gould cor. "Some words have the same form in both numbers."—Murray et al. cor. "Some nouns have the same form in both numbers."—Merchant et al. cor. "Others have the same form in both numbers; as, deer, sheep, swine."—Frost cor. "The following list denotes the consonant sounds, of which there are twenty-two." Or: "The following list denotes the twenty-two simple sounds of the consonants."—Mur. et al. cor. "And is the ignorance of these peasants a reason for other persons to remain ignorant; or does it render the subject the less worthy of our inquiry?"—Harris and Mur. cor. "He is one of the most correct, and perhaps he is the best, of our prose writers."—Lowth cor. "The motions of a vortex and of a whirlwind are perfectly similar." Or: "The motion of a vortex and that of a whirlwind are perfectly similar."—Jamieson cor. "What I have been saying, throws light upon one important verse in the Bible; which verse I should like to hear some one read."—Abbott cor. "When there are any circumstances of time, place, and the like, by which the principal terms of our sentence must be limited or qualified."—Blair, Jam. and Mur. cor. "Interjections are words that express emotion, affection, or passion, and that imply suddenness." Or: "Interjections express emotion, affection, or passion, and imply suddenness."—Bucke cor. "But the genitive expressing the measure of things, is used in the plural number only."—Adam and Gould cor. "The buildings of the institution have been enlarged; and an expense has been incurred, which, with the increased price of provisions, renders it necessary to advance the terms of admission."—L. Murray cor. "These sentences are far less difficult than complex ones."—S. S. Greene cor.

"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife They sober lived, nor ever wished to stray."—Gray cor.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE III.—OF DEFINITIONS.

(1.) "A definition is a short and lucid description of a thing, or species, according to its nature and properties."—G. BROWN: Rev. David Blair cor. (2.) "Language, in general, signifies the expression of our ideas by certain articulate sounds, or written words, which are used as the signs of those ideas."—Dr. Hugh Blair cor. (3.) "A word is one or more syllables used by common consent as the sign of an idea."—Bullions cor. (4.) "A word is one or more syllables used as the sign of an idea, or of some manner of thought."—Hazen cor. (5.) "Words are articulate sounds, or their written signs, used to convey ideas."—Hiley cor. (6.) "A word is one or more syllables used orally or in writing, to represent some idea."—Hart cor. (7.) "A word is one or more syllables used as the sign of an idea."—S. W. Clark cor. (8.) "A word is a letter or a combination of letters, a sound or a combination of sounds, used as the sign of an idea."—Wells cor. (9.) "Words are articulate sounds, or their written signs, by which ideas are communicated."—Wright cor. (10.) "Words are certain articulate sounds, or their written representatives, used by common consent as signs of our ideas."—Bullions, Lowth, Murray, et al. cor. (11.) "Words are sounds or written symbols used as signs of our ideas."—W. Allen cor. (12.) "Orthography literally means correct writing"—Kirkham and Smith