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

that wants some of the parts common to verbs."—Id. "To the irregular verbs may be added the defective; which are not only irregular, but also wanting in some parts."—Lowth cor. "To the irregular verbs may be added the defective; which are not only wanting in some parts, but are, when inflected, irregular."—Churchill cor. "When two or more nouns occur together in the possessive case."—Farnum cor. "When several short sentences come together"—Id. "Words are divided into ten classes, called Parts of Speech."—L. Ainsworth cor. "A passive verb has its agent or doer always in the objective case, governed by a preposition."—Id. "I am surprised at your inattention."—Id. "SINGULAR: Thou lovest, not You love. You has always a plural verb."—Bullions cor. "How do you know that love is of the first person? Ans. Because we, the pronoun, is of the first person."—Id. and Lennie cor. "The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea."—Gray's Elegy, l. 2: Bullions cor. "Iambic verses have their second, fourth, and other even syllables accented."—Bullions cor. "Contractions that are not allowable in prose, are often made in poetry."—Id. "Yet to their general's voice they soon obey'd"— Milton. "It never presents to his mind more than one new subject at the same time."—Felton cor. "An abstract noun is the name of some particular quality considered apart from its substance."—Brown's Inst. of E. Gram., p. 32. "A noun is of the first person when it denotes the speaker."—Felton cor. "Which of the two brothers is a graduate?"— Hallock cor. "I am a linen-draper bold, As all the world doth know."—Cowper. "Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!"—Pope. "This do; take to you censers, thou, Korah, and all thy company."—Bible cor. "There are three participles; the imperfect, the perfect, and the preperfect: as, reading, read, having read. Transitive verbs have an active and passive participle: that is, their form for the perfect is sometimes active, and sometimes passive; as, read, or loved."—S. S. Greene cor.

"O Heav'n, in my connubial hour decree My spouse this man, or such a man as he."—Pope cor.

LESSON IV.—UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"The past tenses (of Hiley's subjunctive mood) represent conditional past facts or events, of which the speaker is uncertain."—Hiley cor. "Care also should be taken that they be not introduced too abundantly."—Id. "Till they have become familiar to the mind." Or: "Till they become familiar to the mind."—Id. "When once a particular arrangement and phraseology have become familiar to the mind."—Id. "I have furnished the student with the plainest and most practical directions that I could devise."—Id. "When you are conversant with the Rules of Grammar, you will be qualified to commence the study of Style."—Id. "C before e, i, or y, always has a soft sound, like s."—L. Murray cor. "G before e, i, or y, is generally soft; as in genius, ginger, Egypt."—Id. "C before e, i, or y, always sounds soft, like s."—Hiley cor. "G is generally soft before e, i, or y; as in genius, ginger, Egypt."—Id. "A perfect alphabet must always contain just as many letters as there are elementary sounds in the language: the English alphabet, having fewer letters than sounds, and sometimes more than one letter for the same sound, is both defective and redundant."—Id. "A common noun is a name, given to a whole class or species, and is applicable to every individual of that class."—Id. "Thus an adjective has usually a noun either expressed or understood."—Id. "Emphasis is extraordinary force used in the enunciation of such words as we wish to make prominent in discourse." Or: "Emphasis is a peculiar stress of voice, used in the utterance of words specially significant."—Dr. H. Blair cor.; also L. Murray. "So simple a question as. 'Do you ride to town to-day?' is capable of as many as four different acceptations, the sense varying as the emphasis is differently placed."—Iid. "Thus, bravely, for 'in a brave manner.' is derived from brave-like."—Hiley cor. "In this manner, several different parts of speech are often formed from one root by means of different affixes."—Id. "Words derived from the same root, are always more or less allied in signification."—Id. "When a noun of multitude conveys the idea of unity, the verb and pronoun should be singular; but when it conveys the idea of plurality, the verb and pronoun must be plural."—Id. "They have spent their whole time to make the sacred chronology agree with the profane."—Id. "I have studied my lesson, but you have not looked at yours."—Id. "When words are connected in pairs, there is usually a comma after each pair."— Hiley, Bullions, and Lennie, cor. "When words are connected in pairs, the pairs should be marked by the comma."—Farnum cor. "His book entitled, 'Studies of Nature,' is deservedly a popular work."—Biog. Dict. cor.

   "Here rests his head upon the lap of earth,
    A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown."—GRAY.

"'Youth,' here, is in the nominative case, (the verb 'rests' being, in this instance, transitive,) and is the subject of the sentence. The meaning is, 'A youth here rests his head,' &c."—Hart cor. "The pronoun I, as well as the interjection O, should be written with a capital." Or: "The pronoun I, and the interjection O, should be written with capitals"—Weld cor. "The pronoun I should always be written with a capital."—Id. "He went from London to York."—Id. "An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb, to modify its meaning."—Id. (See Lesson 1st under the General Rule.) "SINGULAR signifies, 'expressing only one;' denoting but one person or thing. PLURAL, (Latin pluralis, from plus, more,) signifies, 'expressing more than one.'"—Weld cor. "When the present ends in e, d only is added to form the imperfect tense and the perfect participle of regular verbs."—Id. "Synæresis is the contraction of two syllables into one; as, seest for seëst, drowned for drown-ed."—Id. (See Brown's Inst. p. 230.) "Words ending in ee are often inflected by mere consonants, and without receiving an additional syllable beginning with e: as, see, seest, sees; agree, agreed, agrees."—Weld cor. "In monosyllables, final f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, is doubled; as in staff, mill, grass."—Id. "Before ing, words ending in ie drop the e, and change the i into y; as, die, dying."—Id." One number may be used for the other—or, rather, the plural may be used for the singular; as, we for I, you for thou."—S. S. Greene cor. "STR~OB'ILE, n. A pericarp made up of scales that lie one over an other."—Worcester cor.

   "Yet ever, from the clearest source, hath run
    Some gross alloy, some tincture of the man."—Lowth cor.

LESSON V.—UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"The possessive case is usually followed by a noun, expressed or understood, which is the name of the thing possessed."—Felton cor. "Hadmer of Aggstein was as pious, devout, and praying a Christian, as was Nelson, Washington, or Jefferson; or as is Wellington, Tyler, Clay, or Polk."—H. C. Wright cor. "A word in the possessive case is not an independent noun, and cannot stand by itself."—J. W. Wright cor. "Mary is not handsome, but she is good-natured; and good-nature is better than beauty."—St. Quentin cor. "After the practice of joining all words together had ceased, a note of distinction was placed at the end of every word."—L. Murray et al. cor. "Neither Henry nor Charles dissipates his time."—Hallock cor. "'He had taken from the Christians above thirty small castles.' KNOLLES:"—Brown's Institutes, p. 200; Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. What. "In what character Butler was admitted, is unknown." Or: "In whatever character Butler was admitted, that character is unknown."—Hallock cor. "How are the agent of a passive and the object of an active verb often left?"—Id. "By SUBJECT, is meant the word of whose object something is declared." Or: "By SUBJECT, is meant the word which has something declared of the thing signified."—Chandler cor. "Care should also be taken that a transitive verb be not used in stead of a neuter or intransitive; as, lay for lie, raise for rise, set for sit, &c."—Id. "On them depends the duration of our Constitution and our country."—Calhoun cor. "In the present sentence, neither the sense nor the measure requires WHAT."—Chandler cor. "The Irish thought themselves oppressed by the law that forbid them to draw with their horses' tails."—Brightland cor. "So and willingly are adverbs. So is an adverb of degree, and qualifies willingly. Willingly is an adverb of manner, and qualifies deceives."—Cutler cor. "Epicurus, for experiment's sake, confined himself to a narrower diet than that of the severest prisons."—Id. "Derivative words are such as are formed from other words by prefixes or suffixes; as, injustice, goodness, falsehood."—Id. "The distinction here insisted on is as old as Aristotle, and should not be lost from sight." Or: "and it should still be kept in view."—Hart cor. "The Tenses of the Subjunctive and Potential Moods." Or: "The Tenses of the Subjunctive and the Potential Mood."—Id. "A triphthong is a union of three vowels, uttered by a single impulse of the voice; as, uoy in buoy"—Pardon Davis cor. "A common noun is the name of a species or kind."—Id. "The superlative degree implies a comparison either between two or among more."—Id. "An adverb is a word serving to give an additional idea to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb."—Id. "When several nouns in the possessive case occur in succession, each showing possession of things of the same sort, it is generally necessary to add the sign of the possessive case to each of them: as, 'He sells men's, women's, and children's shoes.'—'Dogs', cats', and tigers' feet are digitated.'"—Id. "'A rail-road is being made,' should be, 'A railroad is making;' 'A school-house is being built,' should be, 'A schoolhouse is building.'"—Id. "Auxiliaries are of themselves verbs; yet they resemble, in their character and use, those terminational or other inflections which, in other languages, serve to express the action in the mood, tense, person, and number desired."—Id. "Please to hold my horse while I speak to my friend."—Id. "If I say, 'Give me the book,' I demand some particular book."—Noble Butler cor. "Here are five men."—Id. "After the active verb, the object may be omitted; after the passive, the name of the agent may be omitted."—Id. "The Progressive and Emphatic forms give, in each case, a different shade of meaning to the verb."—Hart cor. "THAT may be called a Redditive Conjunction, when it answers to so or SUCH."—Ward cor. "He attributes to negligence your want of success in that business."—Smart cor. "Do WILL and GO express but one action?" Or: "Does 'will go' express but one action?"—Barrett cor. "Language is the principal vehicle of thought."—G. Brown's Inst., Pref., p. iii. "Much is applied to things weighed or measured; many, to those that are numbered. Elder and eldest are applied to persons only; older and oldest, to either persons or things."—Bullions cor. "If there are any old maids still extant, while misogynists are so rare, the fault must be attributable to themselves."—Kirkham cor. "The second method, used by the Greeks, has never been the practice of any other people of Europe."—Sheridan cor. "Neither consonant nor vowel is to be dwelt upon beyond its common quantity, when it closes a sentence." Or: "Neither consonants nor vowels are to be dwelt upon beyond their common quantity, when they close a sentence." Or, better thus: "Neither a consonant nor a vowel, when it closes a sentence, is to be protracted beyond its usual length."—Id. "Irony is a mode of speech, in which what is said, is the opposite of what is meant."—McElligott's Manual, p. 103. "The person speaking, and the person or persons spoken to, are supposed to be present."—Wells cor.; also Murray. "A Noun is a name, a word used to express the idea of an object."—Wells cor. "A syllable is such a word, or part of a word, as is uttered by one articulation."—Weld cor.

   "Thus wond'rous fair; thyself how wond'rous then!
    Unspeakable, who sitst above these heavens."—Milton, B. v, l. 156.

    "And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou
    Revisitst not these eyes, that roll in vain."—Id., iii, 22.

"Before all temples th' upright heart and pure."—Id., i, 18.

"In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den."—Id., vii, 458.

    "The rogue and fool by fits are fair and wise;
    And e'en the best, by fits, what they despise."—Pope cor.

THE KEY.—PART IV.—PROSODY. CHAPTER I.—PUNCTUATION. SECTION I.—THE COMMA. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.—OF SIMPLE SENTENCES.

"A short simple sentence should rarely be divided by the comma."—Felton cor. "A regular and virtuous education is an inestimable blessing."—L. Mur. cor. "Such equivocal expressions mark an intention to deceive."—Id. "They are this and that, with their plurals these and those."—Bullions cor. "A nominative and a verb sometimes make a complete sentence; as, He sleeps."—Felton cor. "TENSE expresses the action as connected with certain relations of time; MOOD represents it as further modified by circumstances of contingency, conditionality, &c."—Bullions cor. "The word noun means name."—Ingersoll cor. "The