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

always preserves its long sound before a single consonant with e final; as in thine, strive: except in give and live, which are short; and in shire, which has the sound of long e."—L. Murray, et al. cor. "But the person or thing that is merely spoken of, being frequently absent, and perhaps in many respects unknown to the hearer, it is thought more necessary, that the third person should be marked by a distinction of gender."—Lowth, Mur., et al., cor. "Both vowels of every diphthong were, doubtless, originally vocal. Though in many instances they are not so at present, the combinations in which one only is heard, still retain the name of diphthongs, being distinguished from others by the term improper."—L. Mur., et al. cor. "Moods are different forms of the verb, each of which expresses the being, action, or passion, in some particular manner."—Inst., p. 33; A. Mur. cor. "The word THAT is a demonstrative adjective, whenever it is followed by a noun to which it refers."—L. Mur. cor.

   "The guilty soul by Jesus wash'd,
    Is future glory's deathless heir."—Fairfield cor.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE IX.—OF WORDS NEEDLESS.

"A knowledge of grammar enables us to express ourselves better in conversation and in writing."—Sanborn cor. "And hence we infer, that there is no dictator here but use."—Jamieson cor. "Whence little is gained, except correct spelling and pronunciation."—Town cor. "The man who is faithfully attached to religion, may be relied on with confidence."—Merchant cor. "Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in?" Or: "Shalt thou build a house for me to dwell in?"—Bible cor. "The house was deemed polluted which was entered by so abandoned a woman."—Dr. Blair cor. "The farther he searches, the firmer will be his belief."—Keith cor. "I deny not that religion consists in these things."—Barclay cor. "Except the king delighted in her, and she were called by name."—Bible cor. "The proper method of reading these lines, is, to read them as the sense dictates."—Dr. Blair cor. "When any words become obsolete, or are used only in particular phrases, it is better to dispense with their service entirely, and give up the phrases."—Campbell and Mur cor. "Those savage people seemed to have no element but war."—L. Mur. cor. "Man is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case."—J. Flint cor. "The orator, as circumstances require, will employ them all."—Dr. Blair cor. "By deferring repentence [sic—KTH], we accumulate our sorrows."—L. Murray cor. "There is no doubt that public speaking became early an engine of government."—Dr. Blair cor. "The different meanings of these two words, may not at first occur."—Id. "The sentiment is well expressed by Plato, but much better by Solomon."—L. Murray et al. cor. "They have had a greater privilege than we."—L. Mur. cor. "Every thing should be so arranged, that what goes before, may give light and force to what follows."—Dr. Blair cor. "So that his doctrines were embraced by great numbers."—Hist. cor. "They have taken an other and shorter cut."—South cor. "The imperfect tense of a regular verb is formed from the present by adding d or ed; as, love, loved."—Frost cor. "The pronoun their does not agree in number with the noun 'man', for which it stands."—Kirkham cor. "This mark [!] denotes wonder, surprise, joy, grief, or sudden emotion."—Bucke cor. "We all are accountable, each for himself."—L. Mur. et al. cor. "If he has commanded it, I must obey."—R. C. Smith cor. "I now present him a form of the diatonic scale."—Barber cor. "One after an other, their favourite rivers have been reluctantly abandoned." Or: "One after an other of their favourite rivers have they reluctantly abandoned."—Hodgson cor. "Particular and peculiar are words of different import."—Dr. Blair cor. "Some adverbs admit of comparison; as, soon, sooner, soonest."—Bucke cor. "Having exposed himself too freely in different climates, he entirely lost his health."—L. Mur. cor. "The verb must agree with its nominative in number and person."—Buchanan cor. "Write twenty short sentences containing adjectives."—Abbott cor. "This general tendency of the language seems to have given occasion to a very great corruption."— Churchill's Gram., p. 113. "The second requisite of a perfect sentence is unity."—L. Murray cor. "It is scarcely necessary to apologize for omitting their names."—Id. "The letters of the English alphabet are twenty-six."—Id. et al. cor. "He who employs antiquated or novel phraseology, must do it with design; he cannot err from inadvertence, as he may with respect to provincial or vulgar expressions."—Jamieson cor. "The vocative case, in some grammars, is wholly omitted; why, if we must have cases, I could never understand."—Bucke cor. "Active verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary verb have; passive verbs, with the auxiliary am or be."—Id. "What then may AND be called? A conjunction."—Smith cor. "Have they ascertained who gave the information?"—Bullions cor.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE X.—OF IMPROPER OMISSIONS.

"All words signifying concrete qualities of things, are called adnouns, or adjectives."—Rev. D. Blair cor. "The macron [[=]] signifies a long or accented syllable, and the breve [[~]] indicates a short or unaccented syllable."—Id. "Whose duty it is, to help young ministers."—Friends cor. "The passage is closely connected with what precedes and what follows."—Phil. Mu. cor. "The work is not completed, but it soon will be."—R. C. Smith cor. "Of whom hast thou been afraid, or whom hast thou feared?"—Bible cor. "There is a God who made, and who governs, the world."—Bp. Butler cor. "It was this that made them so haughty."—Goldsmith cor. "How far the whole charge affected him, it is not easy to determine."—Id. "They saw these wonders of nature, and worshiped the God that made them."—Bucke cor. "The errors frequent in the use of hyperboles, arise either from overstraining them, or from introducing them on unsuitable occasions."—L. Mur. cor. "The preposition in is set before the names of countries, cities, and large towns; as, 'He lives in France, in London, or in Birmingham.' But, before the names of villages, single houses, or foreign cities, at is used; as, 'He lives at Hackney.'"—Id. et al. cor. "And, in such recollection, the thing is not figured as in our view, nor is any image formed."—Kames cor. "Intrinsic beauty and relative beauty must be handled separately."—Id. "He should be on his guard not to do them injustice by disguising them or placing them in a false light."—Dr. Blair cor. "In perusing that work, we are frequently interrupted by the author's unnatural thoughts."—L. Murray cor. "To this point have tended all the rules which I have just given."—Dr. Blair cor. "To this point have tended all the rules which have just been given."—L. Murray cor. "Language, as written, or as oral, is addressed to the eye, or to the ear."—Journal cor. "He will learn, Sir, that to accuse and to prove are very different."—Walpole cor. "They crowded around the door so as to prevent others from going out."—Abbott cor. "A word denoting one person or thing, is of the singular number; a word denoting more than one person or thing: is of the plural number."—J. Flint cor. "Nouns, according to the sense or relation in which they are used, are in the nominative, the possessive, or the objective case: thus, Nom. man. Poss. man's, Obj. man."—Rev. D. Blair cor. "Nouns or pronouns in the possessive case are placed before the nouns which govern them, and to which they belong."—Sanborn cor. "A teacher is explaining the difference between a noun and a verb."—Abbott cor. "And therefore the two ends, or extremities, must directly answer to the north and the south pole."—Harris cor. "WALKS or WALKETH, RIDES or RIDETH, and STANDS or STANDETH, are of the third person singular."—Kirkham cor. "I grew immediately roguish and pleasant, to a high degree, in the same strain."—Swift cor. "An Anapest has the first two syllables unaccented, and the last one accented."—Rev. D. Blair cor.; also Kirkham et al.; also L. Mur. et al. "But hearing and vision differ not more than words spoken and words written." Or: "But hearing and vision do not differ more than spoken words and written."—Wilson cor. "They are considered by some authors to be prepositions."—Cooper cor. "When those powers have been deluded and have gone astray."—Phil Mu. cor. "They will understand this, and will like it."—Abbott cor. "They had been expelled from their native country Romagna."—Hunt cor. "Future time is expressed in two different ways."—Adam and Gould cor. "Such as the borrowing of some noted event from history."—Kames cor. "Every finite verb must agree with its nominative in number and person."—Bucke cor. "We are struck, we know not how, with the symmetry of any handsome thing we see."—L. Murray cor. "Under this head, I shall consider every thing that is necessary to a good delivery."—Sheridan cor. "A good ear is the gift of nature; it may be much improved, but it cannot be acquired by art."—L. Murray cor. "'Truth' is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case."—Bullions cor. by Brown's Form. "'Possess' is a regular active-transitive verb, found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and plural number."—Id. "'Fear' is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case: and is the subject of is: according to the Rule which says, 'A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case.' Because the meaning is—'fear is.'"—Id. "'Is' is an irregular neuter verb, from be, was, being, been; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number: and agrees with its nominative fear; according to the Rule which says, 'Every finite verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number' Because the meaning is—'fear is.'"—Id. "Ae in the word Gælic, has the sound of long a."—Wells cor.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XI.—OF LITERARY BLUNDERS.

"Repeat some adverbs that are composed of the prefix or preposition a and nouns."—Kirkham cor. "Participles are so called, because they participate or partake the properties of verbs and of adjectives or nouns. The Latin word participium, which signifies a participle, is derived from participo, to partake."—Merchant cor. "The possessive precedes an other noun, and is known by the sign 's, or by this ', the apostrophe only."—Beck cor. "Reciprocal pronouns, or compound personal pronouns, are formed by adding self or selves to the simple possessives of the first and second persons, and to the objectives of the third person; as, myself, yourselves, himself, themselves."—Id. "The word SELF, and its plural SELVES, when used separately as names, must be considered as nouns; but when joined to the simple pronouns, they are not nouns, but parts of the compound personal pronouns."—Wright cor. "The Spondee 'rolls round,' expresses beautifully the majesty of the sun in his course."—Webster and Frazee cor. "Active-transitive verbs govern the objective case; as, 'John learned his lesson.'"—Frazee cor. "Prosody primarily signified accent, or the modulation of the voice; and, as the name implies, related to poetry, or song."—Hendrick cor. "On such a principle of forming them, there would be as many moods as verbs; and, in stead of four moods, we should have four thousand three hundred, which is the number of verbs in the English language, according to Lowth." [556]—Hallock cor. "The phrases, 'To let out blood,'—'To go a hunting,' are not elliptical; for out is needless, and a is a preposition, governing hunting."—Bullions cor. "In Rhyme, the last syllable of every line corresponds in sound with that of some other line or lines."—Id. "The possessive case plural, where the nominative ends in s, has the apostrophe only; as, 'Eagles' wings,'—'lions' whelps,'—'bears' claws.'"—Weld cor. "'Horses-manes,' plural, should be written possessively, 'horses' manes:'" [one "mane" is never possessed by many "horses."]—Id. "W takes its usual form from the union of two Vees, V being the figure of the Roman capital letter which was anciently called U."—Fowler cor. "In the sentence, 'I saw the lady who sings,' what word is nominative to SINGS?"—J. Flint cor. "In the sentence, 'This is the pen which John made,' what word expresses the object of MADE?"—Id. "'That we fall into no sin:' no is a definitive or pronominal adjective, not compared, and relates to sin."—Rev. D. Blair cor. "'That all our doings may be ordered by thy governance:' all is a pronominal adjective, not compared, and relates to doings."—Id. "'Let him be made to study.' Why is the sign to expressed before study? Because be made is passive; and passive verbs do not take the infinitive after them without the preposition to."—Sanborn cor. "The following verbs have both the preterit tense and the perfect participle like the present: viz., Cast, cut, cost, shut, let, bid, shed, hurt, hit, put, &c."—Buchanan cor. "The agreement which any word has with an other in person, number, gender, or case, is called CONCORD; and the power which one word has over an other, in respect to ruling its case, mood, or form, is called GOVERNMENT."—Bucke cor. "The word ticks tells what the watch is doing."—Sanborn cor. "The Breve ([~]) marks a short vowel or syllable, and the Macron ([=]), a long one."—Bullions and Lennie cor. "'Charles, you, by your diligence, make easy