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

    "Praise to God, immortal praise,
    For the love that crowns our days!"—Barbauld.

"Thus, of an infant, we say, 'It is a lovely creature.'"—Bullions cor. "No being can state a falsehood in saying, 'I am;' for no one can utter this, if it is not true."—Cardell cor. "I know they will cry out against this, and say, 'Should he pay,' means, 'If he should pay.'"—O. B. Peirce cor. "For instance, when we say, 'The house is building,' the advocates of the new theory ask,—'building what?' We might ask in turn, When you say, 'The field ploughs well,'—ploughs what? 'Wheat sells well,'—sells what? If usage allows us to say, 'Wheat sells at a dollar,' in a sense that is not active; why may it not also allow us to say, 'Wheat is selling at a dollar' in a sense that is not active?"—Hart cor. "Man is accountable,' equals, 'Mankind are accountable.'"—Barrett cor. "Thus, when we say, 'He may be reading,' may is the real verb; the other parts are verbs by name only."—Smart cor. "Thus we say, an apple, an hour, that two vowel sounds may not come together."—Id. "It would be as improper to say, an unit, as to say, an youth; to say, an one, as to say, an wonder."—Id. "When we say, 'He died for the truth,' for is a preposition."—Id. "We do not say, 'I might go yesterday;' but, 'I might have gone yesterday.'"—Id. "By student, we understand, one who has by matriculation acquired the rights of academical citizenship; but, by bursché, we understand, one who has already spent a certain time at the university."—Howitt cor.

"The buds spread into leaves, and the blossoms swell to fruit; but they know not how they grow, nor who causes them to spring up from the bosom of the earth."—Day cor. "But he used his eloquence chiefly against Philip, king of Macedon; and, in several orations, he stirred up the Athenians to make war against him."—Bullions cor. "For the sake of euphony, the n is dropped before a consonant; and, because most words begin with a consonant, this of course is its more common form."—Id. "But if I say, 'Will a man be able to carry this burden?' it is manifest the idea is entirely changed; the reference is not to number, but to the species; and the answer might be, 'No; but a horse will.'"—Id. "In direct discourse, a noun used by the speaker or writer to designate himself [in the special relation of speaker or writer], is said to be of the first person; used to designate the person addressed, it is said to be of the second person; and, when used to designate a person or thing [merely] spoken of, it is said to be of the third person."—Id. "Vice stings us, even in our pleasures; but virtue consoles us, even in our pains."—Day cor. "Vice is infamous, though in a prince; and virtue, honourable, though in a peasant."—Id. "Every word that is the name of a person or thing, is a noun; because, 'A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing.'"—Bullions cor.

   "This is the sword with which he did the deed;
    And that, the shield by which he was defended."—Bucke cor.

UNDER RULE II.—OF SIMPLE MEMBERS. "A deathlike paleness was diffused over his countenance; a chilling terror convulsed his frame; his voice burst out at intervals into broken accents."—Jerningham cor. "The Lacedemonians never traded; they knew no luxury; they lived in houses built of rough materials; they ate at public tables; fed on black broth; and despised every thing effeminate or luxurious."—Whelpley cor. "Government is the agent; society is the principal."—Wayland cor. "The essentials of speech were anciently supposed to be sufficiently designated by the Noun and the Verb; to which was subsequently added the Conjunction."—Bullions cor. "The first faint gleamings of thought in its mind, are but reflections from the parents' own intellect; the first manifestations of temperament, are from the contagious parental fountain; the first aspirations of soul, are but the warmings and promptings of the parental spirit."—Jocelyn cor. "Older and oldest refer to maturity of age; elder and eldest, to priority of right by birth. Farther and farthest denote place or distance; further and furthest, quantity or addition."—Bullions cor. "Let the divisions be natural; such as obviously suggest themselves to the mind; such as may aid your main design; and such as may be easily remembered."—Goldsbury cor.

   "Gently make haste, of labour not afraid;
    A hundred times consider what you've said."—Dryden cor.

UNDER RULE III.—OF APPOSITION, &C.

(1.) "Adjectives are divided [, in Frost's Practical Grammar,] into two classes; adjectives denoting quality, and adjectives denoting number."—Frost cor. (2.) "There are [, according to some authors,] two classes of adjectives; qualifying adjectives, and limiting adjectives."—N. Butler cor. (3-5.) "There are three genders; the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter."—Frost et al. cor.; also L. Mur. et al.; also Hendrick: Inst., p. 35. (6.) "The Singular denotes one; the Plural, more than one."—Hart cor. (7.) "There are three cases; viz., the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective."—Hendrick cor. (8.) "Nouns have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and the objective."—Kirkham cor. (9.) "In English, nouns have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and the objective."—Smith cor. (10.) "Grammar is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, Prosody."—Hazen. (11.) "It is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, Prosody."—Mur. et al. cor. (12.) "It is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography. Etymology, Syntax, Prosody."—Bucke cor. (13.) "It is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."—Lennie, Bullions, et al. (14.) "It is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."—Hendrick cor. (15.) "Grammar is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."—Chandler cor. (16.) "It is divided into four parts; Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."—Cooper and Frost cor. (17.) "English Grammar has been usually divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."—Nutting cor. (18.) "Temperance leads to happiness; intemperance, to misery."—Hiley and Hart cor. (19, 20.) "A friend exaggerates a man's virtues; an enemy, his crimes."—Hiley cor.; also Murray. (21.) "Many writers use a plural noun after the second of two numeral adjectives; thus, 'The first and second pages are torn.'"—Bullions cor. (22.) "Of these, [i. e., of Cases,] the Latin has six; the Greek, five; the German, four; the Saxon, six; the French, three; &c."—Id.

   "In ing it ends, when doing is expressed;
    In d, t, n, when suffering's confessed."—Brightland cor.

"In old books, i is often used for j; v, for u; vv, for w; and ii or ij, for y."—Hart cor. "The forming of letters into words and syllables, is also called Spelling."—Id. "Labials are formed chiefly by the lips; dentals, by the teeth; palatals, by the palate; gutturals, by the throat; nasals, by the nose; and linguals, by the tongue."—Id. "The labials are p, b, f, v; the dentals, t, d, s, z; the palatals, g soft and j; the gutturals, k, q, and c and g hard; the nasals, m and n; and the linguals, l and r."—Id. "Thus, 'The man, having finished his letter, will carry it to the post-office.'"—Id. "Thus, in the sentence, 'He had a dagger concealed under his cloak,' concealed is passive, signifying being concealed; but, in the former combination, it goes to make up a form the force of which is active."—Id. "Thus, in Latin, 'He had concealed the dagger,' would be, 'Pugionem abdiderat;' but, 'He had the dagger concealed,' would be, 'Pugionem abditum habebat."—Id. "Here, for instance, means, 'in this place;' now, 'at this time;' &c."—Id. "Here when both declares the time of the action, and so is an adverb; and also connects the two verbs, and so resembles a conjunction."—Id. "These words were all, no doubt, originally other parts of speech; viz., verbs, nouns, and adjectives."—Id. "The principal parts of a sentence, are the subject, the attribute, and the object; in other words, the nominative, the verb, and the objective."—Id. "Thus, the adjective is connected with the noun; the adverb, with the verb or adjective; the pronoun, with its antecedent; &c." "Between refers to two; among, to more than two."—Id. "At is used after a verb of rest; to, after a verb of motion."—Id. "Verbs are of three kinds; Active, Passive, and Neuter."—L. Murray. [Active] "Verbs are divided into two classes; Transitive and Intransitive."—Hendrick cor. "The Parts of Speech, in the English language, are nine; viz., the Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Interjection, and Conjunction."—Bullions cor. See Lennie. "Of these, the Noun, Pronoun, and Verb, are declined; the rest are indeclinable."—Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 18. "The first expression is called 'the Active form;' the second, 'the Passive form.'"—Weld cor.

   "O, 'tis a godlike privilege to save;
    And he that scorns it, is himself a slave."—Cowper cor.

"Of is a preposition: it expresses the relation between fear and Lord."—Bullions cor. "Wealth and poverty are both temptations to man: that tends to excite pride; this, discontentment."—Id. et al cor. "Religion raises men above themselves; irreligion sinks them beneath the brutes: this binds them down to a poor pitiable speck of perishable earth; that opens for them a prospect to the skies."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 189. "Love not idleness: it destroys many."—Ingersoll cor. "Children, obey your parents: 'Honour thy father and mother,' is the first commandment with promise."—Bullions cor. "Thou art my hiding-place and my shield; I hope in thy word."—Psalm cxix, 114. "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul."—Psalm cxxi, 6. "Here to Greece is assigned the highest place in the class of objects among which she is numbered—the nations of antiquity: she is one of them."—Bullions, E. Gram., p. 114.

   "From short (as usual) and disturb'd repose,
    I wake: how happy they who wake no more!"—Young, N. T., p. 3.

"A taste of a thing, implies actual enjoyment of it; but a tase [sic—KTH] for it, implies only capacity for enjoyment: as, 'When we have had a true taste of the pleasures of virtue, we can have no relish for those of vice.'"—Bullions cor. "The Indicative mood simply declares a thing: as, 'He loves;' 'He is loved:' or it asks a question; as, 'Lovest thou me?'"—Id. and Lennie cor.; also Murray. "The Imperfect (or Past) tense represents an action or event indefinitely as past; as, 'Cæsar came, and saw, and conquered:' or it represents the action definitely as unfinished and continuing at a certain time now entirely past; as, 'My father was coming home when I met him.'"—Bullions cor. "Some nouns have no plural; as, gold, silver, wisdom: others have no singular: as, ashes, shears, tongs: others are alike in both numbers; as, sheep, deer, means, news."—Day cor. "The same verb may be transitive in one sense, and intransitive in an other: thus, in the sentence, 'He believes my story,' believes is transitive; but, in this phrase, 'He believes in God,' it is intransitive."—Butler cor. "Let the divisions be distinct: one part should not include an other, but each should have its proper place, and be of importance in that place; and all the parts, well fitted together and united, should present a perfect whole."—Goldsbury cor. "In the use of the transitive verb, there are always three things implied; the actor, the act, and the object acted upon: in the use of the intransitive, there are only two; the subject, or the thing spoken of, and the state or action attributed to it."—Bullions cor.

   "Why labours reason? instinct were as well;
    Instinct, far better: what can choose, can err."—Young, vii, 622.

"The sentence may run thus: 'He is related to the same person, and is governed by him.'"—Hart cor. "Always remember this ancient proverb: 'Know thyself.'"—Hallock cor. "Consider this sentence: 'The boy runs swiftly.'"—Frazee cor. "The comparative is used thus: 'Greece was more polished than any other nation of antiquity.' The same idea is expressed by the superlative, when the word other is left out: thus, 'Greece was the most polished nation of antiquity.'"—Bullions and Lennie cor. "Burke, in his speech on the Carnatic war, makes the following allusion to the well known fable of Cadmus sowing dragon's teeth:—'Every day you are fatigued and disgusted with this cant: 'The Carnatic is a country that will soon recover, and become instantly as prosperous as ever.' They think they are talking to innocents, who believe that by the sowing of dragon's teeth, men may come up ready grown and ready made.'"—Hiley and Hart cor.

   "For sects he car'd not: 'They are not of us,
    Nor need we, brethren, their concerns discuss.'"—Crabbe cor.

    "Habit, with him, was all the