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

heroic measure, and is the same that is used by Milton, Young, Thomson, Pollok. &c."—Id. "Perennial ones must be sought in the delightful regions above."—Hallock cor. "Intransitive verbs are those which are inseparable from the effect produced." Or better: "Intransitive verbs are those which express action without governing an object."—Cutler cor. "The Feminine gender belongs to women, and animals of the female kind."—Id. "Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"—ALGER'S BIBLE: Luke, xi, 44. "A pyrrhic, which has both its syllables short."—Day cor. "What kind of jessamine? A jessamine in flower, or a flowery jessamine."—Barrett cor. "LANGUAGE, a word derived from LINGUA, the tongue, now signifies any series of sounds or letters formed into words, and used for the expression of thought."—Id. See this Gram. of E. Grammars, p. 145. "Say 'none,' not 'ne'er a one.'"—Staniford cor. "'E'er a one,' [is sometimes used for 'any'] or 'either.'"—Pond cor.

   "Earth loses thy pattern for ever and aye;
    O sailor-boy! sailor-boy! peace to thy soul."
        —Dymond.

    "His brow was sad; his eye beneath
    Flashed like a falchion from its sheath."
        —Longfellow's Ballads, p. 129.

[Fist] [The examples exhibited for exercises under Critical Notes 15th and 16th, being judged either incapable of correction, or unworthy of the endeavour, are submitted to the criticism of the reader, without any attempt to amend them, or to offer substitutes in this place.]

PROMISCUOUS CORRECTIONS OF FALSE SYNTAX. LESSON I.—UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"Why is our language less refined than that of Italy, Spain, or France?"—L. Murray cor. "Why is our language less refined than the French?"—Ingersoll cor. "I believe your Lordship will agree with me, in the reason why our language is less refined than that of Italy, Spain, or France."—Swift cor. "Even in this short sentence, 'why our language is less refined than those of Italy, Spain, or France,' we may discern an inaccuracy; the pronominal adjective 'those' is made plural, when the substantive to which it refers, or the thing for which it stands, 'the language of Italy, Spain, or France,' is singular."—Dr. H. Blair cor. "The sentence would have run much better in this way:—'why our language is less refined than the Italian, the Spanish, or the French.'"—Id. "But when arranged in an entire sentence, as they must be to make a complete sense, they show it still more evidently."—L. Murray cor. "This is a more artificial and refined construction, than that in which the common connective is simply used."—Id. "I shall present to the reader a list of certain prepositions or prefixes, which are derived from the Latin and Greek languages."—Id. "A relative sometimes comprehends the meaning of a personal pronoun and a copulative conjunction."—Id. "Personal pronouns, being used to supply the places of nouns, are not often employed in the same clauses with the nouns which they represent."—Id. and Smith cor. "There is very seldom any occasion for a substitute where the principal word is present."—L. Mur. cor. "We hardly consider little children as persons, because the term person gives us the idea of reason, or intelligence."—Priestley et al. cor. "The occasions for exerting these two qualities are different."—Dr. Blair et al. cor. "I'll tell you with whom time ambles withal, with whom time trots withal, with whom time gallops withal, and with whom he stands still withal. I pray thee, with whom doth he trot withal?"—Buchanan's Gram., p. 122. "By greatness, I mean, not the bulk of any single object only but the largeness of a whole view."—Addison cor. "The question may then be put, What more does he than mean?"—Dr. Blair cor. "The question might be put, What more does he than mean?"—Id. "He is surprised to find himself at so great a distance from the object with which he set out."—Id.; also Murray cor. "Few rules can be given which will hold good in all cases."—Lowth and Mur. cor. "Versification is the arrangement of words into metrical lines, according to the laws of verse."—Johnson cor. "Versification is the arrangement of words into rhythmical lines of some particular length, so as to produce harmony by the regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity."—L. Murray et al. cor. "Amelia's friend Charlotte, to whom no one imputed blame, was too prompt in her own vindication."—L. Murray cor. "Mr. Pitt's joining of 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 cor. "To the framing of such a sound constitution of mind."—Lady cor. "'I beseech you,' said St. Paul to his Ephesian converts, 'that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.' "—See Eph., iv, 1. "So as to prevent it from being equal to that."—Booth cor. "When speaking of an action as being performed." Or: "When speaking of the performance of an action."—Id. "And, in all questions of actions being so performed, est is added for the second person."—Id. "No account can be given of this, but that custom has blinded their eyes." Or: "No other account can be given of this, than that custom has blinded their eyes."—Dymond cor.

   "Design, or chance, makes others wive;
    But nature did this match contrive."—Waller cor.

LESSON II.—UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"I suppose each of you thinks it is his own nail."—Abbott cor. "They are useless, because they are apparently based upon this supposition."—Id. "The form, or manner, in which this plan may be adopted is various."—Id. "The making of intellectual effort, and the acquiring of knowledge, are always pleasant to the human mind."—Id. "This will do more than the best lecture that ever was delivered."—Id. "The doing of easy things is generally dull work."—Id. "Such are the tone and manner of some teachers."—Id. "Well, the fault is, that some one was disorderly at prayer time."—Id. "Do you remember to have spoken on this subject in school?"—Id. "The course above recommended, is not the trying of lax and inefficient measures"—Id. "Our community agree that there is a God."—Id. "It prevents them from being interested in what is said."—Id. "We will also suppose that I call an other boy to me, whom I have reason to believe to be a sincere Christian."—Id. "Five minutes' notice is given by the bell."—Id. "The Annals of Education give notice of it." Or: "The work entitled 'Annals of Education' gives notice of it."—Id. "Teachers' meetings will be interesting and useful."—Id. "She thought a half hour's study would conquer all the difficulties."—Id. "The difference between an honest and a hypocritical confession."—Id. "There is no point of attainment at which we must stop."—Id. "Now six hours' service is as much as is expected of teachers."—Id. "How many are seven times nine?"—Id. "Then the reckoning proceeds till it comes to ten hundred."—Frost cor. "Your success will depend on your own exertions; see, then, that you be diligent."—Id. "Subjunctive Mood, Present Tense: If I be known, If thou be known, If he be known;" &c.—Id. "If I be loved, If thou be loved, If he be loved;" &c.—Frost right. "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, without any reference to the structure of those parts."—Frost cor. "The Cardinal numbers are those which simply tell how many; as, one, two, three."—Id. "More than one organ are concerned in the utterance of almost every consonant." Or thus: "More organs than one are concerned in the utterance of almost any consonant."—Id. "To extract from them all the terms which we use in our divisions and subdivisions of the art."—Holmes cor. "And there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe."—Bible cor. "If I were to be judged as to my behaviour, compared with that of John."—Whiston's Jos. cor. "The preposition to, signifying in order to, was anciently preceded by for; as, 'What went ye out for to see?'"—L. Murray's Gram., p. 184. "This makes the proper perfect tense, which in English is always expressed by the auxiliary verb have; as, 'I have written.'"—Dr. Blair cor. "Indeed, in the formation of character, personal exertion is the first, the second, and the third virtue."—Sanders cor. "The reducing of them to the condition of the beasts that perish."—Dymond cor. "Yet this affords no reason to deny that the nature of the gift is the same, or that both are divine." Or: "Yet this affords no reason to aver that the nature of the gift is not the same, or that both are not divine."—Id. "If God has made known his will."—Id. "If Christ has prohibited them, nothing else can prove them right."—Id. "That the taking of them is wrong, every man who simply consults his own heart, will know."—Id. "From these evils the world would be spared, if one did not write."—Id. "It is in a great degree our own fault."—Id. "It is worthy of observation, that lesson-learning is nearly excluded."—Id. "Who spares the aggressor's life, even to the endangering of his own."—Id. "Who advocates the taking of the life of an aggressor."—Id. "And thence up to the intentionally and voluntarily fraudulent."—Id. "And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other."—SCOTT'S, FRIENDS', ALGER'S, BRUCE'S BIBLE, AND OTHERS: Acts, xv, 39. "Here the man is John, and John is the man; so the words are imagination and fancy; but THE imagination and THE fancy are not words: they are intellectual powers."—Rev. M. Harrison cor. "The article, which is here so emphatic in the Greek, is quite forgotten in our translation."—Id. "We have no fewer than twenty-four pronouns."—Id. "It will admit of a pronoun joined to it."—Id. "From intercourse and from conquest, all the languages of Europe participate one with an other."—Id. "It is not always necessity, therefore, that has been the cause of our introducing of terms derived from the classical languages."—Id. "The man of genius stamps upon it any impression that pleases him." Or: "any impression that he chooses."—Id. "The proportion of names ending in SON preponderates greatly among the Dano-Saxon population of the North."—Id. "As a proof of the strong similarity between the English language and the Danish."—Id. "A century from the time when (or at which) Hengist and Horsa landed on the Isle of Thanet."—Id.

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

LESSON III.—UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"A ship excepted: of which we say, 'She sails well.'"—Jonson cor. "Honesty is reckoned of little worth."—Lily cor. "Learn to esteem life as you ought."—Dodsley cor. "As the soundest health is less perceived than the lightest malady, so the highest joy toucheth us less sensibly than the smallest sorrow."—Id. "Youth is no apology for frivolousness."—Whiting cor. "The porch was of the same width as the temple."—Milman cor. "The other tribes contributed neither to his rise nor to his downfall."—Id. "His whole religion, with all its laws, would have been shaken to its foundation."—Id. "The English has most commonly been neglected, and children have been taught only in the Latin syntax."—J. Ward cor. "They are not noticed in the notes."— Id. "He walks in righteousness, doing what he would have others do to him."—Fisher cor. "They stand independent of the rest of the sentence."—Ingersoll cor. "My uncle and his son were in town yesterday."—Lennie cor. "She and her sisters are well."—Id. "His purse, with its contents, was abstracted from his pocket."—Id. "The great constitutional feature of this institution being, that directly after the acrimony of the last election is over, the acrimony of the next begins."—Dickens cor. "His disregarding of his parents' advice has brought him into disgrace."—Farnum cor. "Can you tell me why his father made that remark?"—Id. "Why does our teacher detain us so long?"—Id. "I am certain that the boy said so."—Id. "WHICH means any thing or things before named; and THAT may represent any person or persons, thing or things, that have been speaking, spoken to, or spoken of."—Perley cor. "A certain number of syllables occurring in a particular order, form a foot. Poetic feet are so called because it is by their aid that the voice, as it were, steps along."—L. Murray et al. cor. "Questions asked by a principal verb only—as, 'Teach I?' 'Burns he?' &c.,—are archaisms, and now peculiar to the poets."—A. Murray cor. "Tell whether the 18th, the 19th, the 20th, the 21st, the 22d, or the 23d rule is to be used, and repeat the rule."—Parker and Fox cor. "The resolution was adopted without much deliberation, and consequently caused great dissatisfaction." Or: "The resolution, which caused great dissatisfaction, was adopted without much deliberation."— Iid. "The man is now much noticed by the people thereabouts."—Webb's Edward's Gram. cor. "The sand prevents them from sticking to one an other."—Id. "Defective verbs are those which are used only in some of the moods and tenses."—Greenleaf's Gram., p. 29; Ingersoll's, 121; Smith's, 90; Merchant's, 64; Nutting's, 68; L. Murray, Guy, Russell, Bacon, Frost, Alger, S. Putnam, Goldsbury, Felton, et al. cor. "Defective verbs are those which want some of the moods or tenses."—Lennie et al. cor. "Defective verbs want some of the parts common to other verbs."—Bullions cor. "A Defective verb is one