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

work of the task given you by your preceptor.' The first you is in the nominative case, being the subject of the verb make."—Kirkham cor. "Uoy in buoy is a proper triphthong; eau in flambeau is an improper triphthong."—Sanborn cor. "'While I of things to come, As past rehearsing, sing.'—POLLOK. That is, 'While I sing of things to come, as if I were rehearsing things that are past.'"—Kirkham cor. "A simple sentence usually has in it but one nominative, and but one finite verb."—Folker cor. "An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming d or ed."—Brown's Inst., p. 75. "But, when the antecedent is used in a restricted sense, a comma is sometimes inserted before the relative; as, 'There is no charm in the female sex, which can supply the place of virtue.'"—L. Murray's Gram., p. 273. Or: "But, when the antecedent is used in a restricted sense, no comma is usually inserted before the relative; as, 'There is in the female sex no charm which can supply the place of virtue.'"—Kirkham cor. "Two capitals used in this way, denote different words; but one repeated, marks the plural number: as, L. D. Legis Doctor; LL. D. Legum Doctor."—Gould cor. "Was any person present besides the mercer? Yes; his clerk."—L. Murray cor. "The word adjective comes from the Latin adjectivum; and this, from ad, to, and jacio, I cast."—Kirkham cor. "Vision, or Imagery, is a figure by which the speaker represents the objects of his imagination, as actually before his eyes, and present to his senses. Thus Cicero, in his fourth oration against Cataline: 'I seem to myself to behold this city, the ornament of the earth, and the capital of all nations, suddenly involved in one conflagration. I see before me the slaughtered heaps of citizens lying unburied in the midst of their ruined country. The furious countenance of Ceth[=e]'gus rises to my view, while with savage joy he is triumphing in your miseries.'"—Dr. Blair cor.; also L. Murray. "When two or more verbs follow the same nominative, an auxiliary that is common to them both or all, is usually expressed to the first, and understood to the rest: as, 'He has gone and left me;' that is, 'He has gone and has left me.'"—Comly cor. "When I use the word pillar to denote a column that supports an edifice, I employ it literally."—Hiley cor. "In poetry, the conjunction nor is often used for neither; as

    'A stately superstructure, that nor wind,
    Nor wave, nor shock of falling years, could move.'—POLLOK."—Id.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XII—OF PERVERSIONS.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."—Genesis, i, 1. "Canst thou by searching find out God?"—Job, xi, 7. "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."—Rev., xv. 3. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."—Matt., vii, 21. "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor."—2 Cor., viii, 9. "Whose foundation was overthrown with a flood."—SCOTT'S BIBLE: Job, xxii, 16. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;" &c.—Matt., xi, 29. "I go to prepare a place for you."—John, xiv, 2. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."—Ephesians, ii, 1. "Go, flee thee away into the land of Judah."—Amos, vii, 12; Lowth's Gram., p. 44. Or: "Go, flee away into the land of Judah."—Hart cor. "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further."—Job, xxxviii, 11. "The day is thine, the night also is thine."—Psal., lxxiv, 16. "Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope."—Romans, v, 4. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."—Ecclesiastes, xii, 7. "At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things: Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea."—Prov., xxiii, 32, 33, 34. "The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot."—Prov., x, 7. "He that is slow to anger, is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city."—Prov., xvi, 32. "For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."—Prov., iii, 12. "The first-future tense is that which expresses what will take place hereafter."—Brown's Inst. of E. Gram., p. 54. "Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see."—Pope's Univ. Prayer. "Surely thou art one of them; for thou art a Galilean."—Mark, xiv, 70. "Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee."—Matt., xxvi, 73. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life."—Matt., vii, 14. "Thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king."—Nehemiah, vi, 6. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared."—Psalms, cxxx, 4. "But yesterday, the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world."—Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 250. "The North-East spends his rage."—Thomson's Seasons, p. 34. "Tells how the drudging goblin swet."—Milton's Allegro, l. 105. "And to his faithful champion hath in place Borne witness gloriously."—Milton's Sam. Agon., l. 1752. "Then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, Thou fall'st a blessed martyr."—Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 173. Better: "Then, if thou fall, O Cromwell! thou fallst a blessed martyr."—Shak. and Kirk. cor. "I see the dagger-crest of Mar, I see the Moray's silver star, Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war, That up the lake comes winding far!"—Scott's Lady of the Lake, p. 162. "Each beast, each insect, happy in its own."—Pope, on Man, Ep. i, l. 185. "And he that is learning to arrange his sentences with accuracy and order, is learning, at the same time, to think with accuracy and order."—Blair's Lect., p. 120. "We, then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."—2 Cor., vi, 1. "And on the boundless of thy goodness calls."—Young's Last Day, B. ii, l. 320. "Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own."—Cowper's Task, B. vi, l. 90. "O! let me listen to the words of life!"—Thomson's Paraphrase on Matt. vi. "Save that, from yonder ivy-mantled tower." &c.—Gray's Elegy, l. 9. "Weighs the men's wits against the Lady's hair."—Pope's Rape of the Lock, Canto v, l. 72. "Till the publication of Dr. Lowth's small Introduction, the grammatical study of our language formed no part of the ordinary method of instruction."—Hiley's Preface, p. vi. "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee."—Gen., xiii, 8.

"What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour?"—Shakspeare.

"Till then who knew the force of those dire arms?"—Milton.

    "In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold;
    Alike fantastic, if too new or old:
    Be not the first by whom the new are tried
    Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."—Pope, on Criticism, l. 333.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XIII.—OF AWKWARDNESS.

"They slew Varus, whom I mentioned before."—L. Murray cor. "Maria rejected Valerius, whom she had rejected before." Or: "Maria rejected Valerius a second time."—Id. "In the English language, nouns have but two different terminations for cases."—Churchill's Gram., p. 64. "Socrates and Plato were the wisest men, and the most eminent philosophers in Greece."—Buchanan's Gram., Pref., p. viii. "Whether more than one were concerned in the business, does not yet appear." Or: "How many were concerned in the business, does not yet appear."—L. Murray cor. "And that, consequently, the verb or pronoun agreeing with it, can never with propriety be used in the plural number."—Id. et al. cor. "A second help may be, frequent and free converse with others of your own sex who are like minded."—Wesley cor. "Four of the semivowels, namely, l, m, n, and r, are termed LIQUIDS, on account of the fluency of their sounds."—See Brown's Inst., p. 16. "Some conjunctions are used in pairs, so that one answers to an other, as its regular correspondent."—Lowth et al. cor. "The mutes are those consonants whose sounds cannot be protracted; the semivowels have imperfect sounds of their own, which can be continued at pleasure."—Murray et al. cor. "HE and SHE are sometimes used as nouns, and, as such, are regularly declined: as, 'The hes in birds.'—BACON. 'The shes of Italy.'—SHAK."—Churchill cor. "The separation of a preposition from the word which it governs, is [censured by some writers, as being improper."—C. Adams cor. "The word WHOSE, according to some critics, should be restricted to persons; but good writers still occasionally use it with reference to things."—Priestley et al. cor. "New and surpassing wonders present themselves to our view."—Sherlock cor. "The degrees of comparison are often inaccurately applied and construed."—Alger's Murray. Or: "Passages are often found in which the degrees of comparison have not an accurate construction."—Campbell cor.; also Murray et al. "The sign of possession is placed too far from the name, to form a construction that is either perspicuous or agreeable."—L. Murray cor. "The simple tenses are those which are formed by the principal verb without an auxiliary."—Id. "The more intimate men are, the more they affect one another's happiness."—Id. "This is the machine that he invented."—Nixon cor. "To give this sentence the interrogative form, we must express it thus." Or: "This sentence, to have the interrogative form, should be expressed thus."—L. Murray cor. "Never employ words that are susceptible of a sense different from that which you intend to convey."—Hiley cor. "Sixty pages are occupied in explaining what, according to the ordinary method, would not require more than ten or twelve."—Id. "The participle in ing always expresses action, suffering, or being, as continuing, or in progress."—Bullions cor. "The first participle of all active verbs, has usually an active signification; as, 'James is building the house.' Often, however, it takes a passive meaning; as, 'The house is building.'"—Id. "Previously to parsing this sentence, the young pupil may be taught to analyze it, by such questions as the following: viz."—Id. "Since that period, however, attention has been paid to this important subject."—Id. and Hiley cor. "A definition of a word is a brief explanation of what it means."—G. BROWN: Hiley cor.

UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XIV.—OF IGNORANCE.

"What is a verb? It is a word which signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon." Or thus: "What is an assertor? Ans. 'One who affirms positively; an affirmer, supporter, or vindicator.'—WEBSTER'S DICT."—Peirce cor. "Virgil wrote the Æneid."—Kirkham cor. "Which, to a supercilious or inconsiderate native of Japan, would seem very idle and impertinent."—Locke cor. "Will not a look of disdain cast upon you throw you into a ferment?"—Say cor. "Though only the conjunction if is here set before the verb, there are several others, (as that, though, lest, unless, except,) which may be used with the subjunctive mood."—L. Murray cor. "When proper names have an article before them, they are used as common names."—Id. et al. cor. "When a proper noun has an article before it, it is used as a common noun."—Merchant cor. "Seeming to rob the death-field of its terrors."—Id. "For the same reason, we might, without any detriment to the language, dispense with the terminations of our verbs in the singular."—Kirkham cor. "It removes all possibility of being misunderstood."—Abbott cor. "Approximation to perfection is all that we can expect."—Id. "I have often joined in singing with musicians at Norwich."—Gardiner cor. "When not standing in regular prosaic order." Or:—"in the regular order of prose."—O. B. Peirce cor. "Regardless of the dogmas and edicts of the philosophical umpire."—Kirkham cor. "Others begin to talk before their mouths are open, prefixing the mouth-closing M to most of their words; as, 'M-yes,' for 'Yes.'"—Gardiner cor. "That noted close of his 'esse videatur,' exposed him to censure among his contemporaries."—Dr. Blair cor. "A man's own is what he has, or possesses by right; the word own being a past participle of the verb to owe, which formerly signified to have or possess."—Kirkham cor. "As requires so; expressing a comparison of manner; as, 'As the one dieth, so dieth the other.'"—L. Mur. et al. cor. "To obey our parents, is an obvious duty."—Parker and Fox cor. "Almost all the political papers of the kingdom have touched upon these things."—H. C. Wright cor. "I shall take the liberty to make a few observations on the subject."—Hiley cor. "His loss I have endeavoured to supply, so far as by additional vigilance and industry I could."—Id. "That they should make vegetation so exuberant as to anticipate every want."—Frazee cor. "The guillemets, or quotation points, [""] denote that one or more words are extracted from an other author."—P. E. Day cor. "Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was one of the most noted cities of ancient times."—Id. "It may, however, be rendered definite by the mention of some particular time; as, yesterday, last week, &c."—Bullions cor. "The last is called