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

"It is true, that some of our best writers have used than whom; but it is also true that they have used other phrases which we have rejected as ungrammatical: then why not reject this too?—The sentences in the exercises, with than who, are correct as they stand."—Lennie cor.

"When the perfect participle of an active-intransitive verb is annexed to the neuter verb to be, what does the combination form?"—Hallock cor. "Those adverbs which answer to the question where? whither? or whence? are called adverbs of place."—Id. "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?"—SCOTT, ALGER, BRUCE, AND OTHERS: Job, xi, 7 and 8.

   "Where, where, for shelter shall the wicked fly,
    When consternation turns the good man pale?"—Young.

"Who knows what resources are in store, and what the power of God may do for thee?"—STERNE: Enfield's Speaker, p. 307.

"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"—SCOTT'S BIBLE, ALGER'S, FRIENDS', BRUCE'S, AND OTHERS: Numb., xxiii, 19. "Hath the Lord said it, and shall he not do it? hath he spoken it, and shall he not make it good?"—Lennie and Bullions cor.

   "Who calls the council, states the certain day,
    Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?"—Pope's Essay.

"To be, or not to be;—that is the question."—Shak. et al. cor. "If it be asked, why a pause should any more be necessary to emphasis than to an accent,—or why an emphasis alone will not sufficiently distinguish the members of sentences from each other, without pauses, as accent does words,—the answer is obvious: that we are preacquainted with the sound of words, and cannot mistake them when distinctly pronounced, however rapidly; but we are not preacquainted with the meaning of sentences, which must be pointed out to us by the reader or speaker."—Sheridan cor.

"Cry, 'By your priesthood, tell me what you are.'"—Pope cor.

"Who else can he be?"—Barrett cor. "Where else can he go?"—Id. "In familiar language, here, there, and where, are used for hither, thither, and whither."—N. Butler cor. "Take, for instance, this sentence: 'Indolence undermines the foundation of virtue.'"—Hart cor. "Take, for instance, the sentence before quoted: 'Indolence undermines the foundation of virtue.'"—Id. "Under the same head, are considered such sentences as these: 'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.'—'Gad, a troop shall overcome him.'"—Id.

"Tenses are certain modifications of the verb, which point out the distinctions of time."—Bullions cor. "Calm was the day, and the scene, delightful."—Id. See Murray's Exercises, p. 5. "The capital letters used by the Romans to denote numbers, were C, I, L, V, X; which are therefore called Numeral Letters. I denotes one; V, five; X, ten; L, fifty; and C, a hundred."—Bullions cor. "'I shall have written;' viz., at or before some future time or event."—Id. "In Latin words, the liquids are l and r only; in Greek words, l, r, m, and n."—Id. "Each legion was divided into ten cohorts; each cohort, into three maniples; and each maniple, into two centuries."—Id. "Of the Roman literature previous to A. U. 514, scarcely a vestige remains."—Id.

   "And that which He delights in, must be happy.
    But when? or where? This world was made for Cæsar."—CATO.

    "Look next on greatness. Say where greatness lies.
    Where, but among the heroes and the wise?"—Pope.

CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.—OF INTERJECTIONS, &c.

(1.) "O! that he were wise!"—Bullions cor. (2.) "O! that his heart were tender!"—See Murray's Ex. or Key, under Rule xix. (3 and 4.) "Oh! what a sight is here!"—Bullions, E. Gram., p. 71; (§37;) Pract. Les., p. 82; Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 111. (5-9.) "O Virtue! how amiable thou art!"—Farnum's Gram., p. 12; Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram., p. 111. (10.) "Oh! that I had been more diligent!"—Hart cor.; and Hiley. (11.) "O! the humiliation to which vice reduces us!"—Farnum and Mur. cor. (12.) "O! that he were more prudent!"—Farnum cor. (13 and 14.) "Ah me!"—Davis cor.

(15.) "Lately, alas! I knew a gentle boy," &c.—Dial cor.

(16 and 17.) "Wo is me, Alhama!"—Byron's Poems: Wells cor.

"Weep on the rocks of roaring winds, O maid of Inistore!"—Ossian. "Cease a little while, O wind! stream, be thou silent a while! let my voice be heard around. Let my wanderer hear me! Salgar! it is Colma who calls. Here is the tree, and the rock. Salgar, my love! I am here. Why delayest thou thy coming? Lo! the calm moon comes forth. The flood is bright in the vale."—Id., Vol. i, p. 369.

   "Ah, stay not, stay not! guardless and alone:
    Hector! my lov'd, my dearest, bravest son!"—Pope, II., xxii, 61.

"How much better is wisdom than gold!"—See Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 272. "O Virtue! how amiable art thou!"—See Murray's Grammar, 2d Edition, p. 95. "At that hour, O how vain was all sublunary happiness!"—Brown's Institutes, p. 117; see English Reader, p. 135. "Alas! how few and transitory are the joys which this world affords to man!"—P. E. Day cor. "Oh! how vain and transitory are all things here below!"—Id.

   "And O! what change of state, what change of rank,
    In that assembly everywhere was seen!"—Pollok cor.; also Day.

"O Shame! where is thy blush?"—Shak.[557] "John, give me my hat."—Barrett cor. "What! is Moscow in flames?"—Id. "O! what happiness awaits the virtuous!"—Id.

"Ah, welladay! do what we can for him, said Trim, maintaining his point,—the poor soul will die."—Sterne or Enfield cor.; also Kirkham.

"Will John return to-morrow?"—Barrett cor. "Will not John return to-morrow?"—Id. "John, return to-morrow."—Id. "Soldiers, stand firm."—Id. "If mea, which means my, is an adjective in Latin, why may not my be so called in English? and if my is an adjective, why not Barrett's?"—Id.

"O Absalom, my son!"—See 2 Sam., xix, 4. "O star-eyed Science! whither hast thou fled?"—Peirce cor. "Why do you tolerate your own inconsistency, by calling it the present tense?"—Id. "Thus the declarative mood [i.e., the indicative mood] may be used in asking a question: as, 'What man is frail?'"—Id. "What connection has motive, wish, or supposition, with the the term subjunctive?"—Id. "A grand reason, truly, for calling it a golden key!"—Id. "What 'suffering' the man who can say this, must be enduring!"—Id. "What is Brown's Rule in relation to this matter?"—Id. "Alas! how short is life!"—P. E. Day cor. "Thomas, study your book."—Id. "Who can tell us who they are?"—Sanborn cor. "Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatic, and sorely vexed."—See Matt., xvii, 15. "O ye wild groves! O where is now your bloom?"—Felton cor.

"O who of man the story will unfold?"—Farnum cor..

    "Methought I heard Horatio say, To-morrow.
    Go to—I will not hear of it—to-morrow!"—COTTON.

    "How his eyes languish! how his thoughts adore
    That painted coat which Joseph never wore!"

"Another [, better written as a phrase, An other,] is composed of the indefinite article an, (which etymologically means one,) and other; and denotes one other."—Hallock cor.

"Each mood has its peculiar Tense, Tenses, or Times."—Bucke cor.

"In some very ancient languages, (as the Hebrew,) which have been employed chiefly for expressing plain sentiments in the plainest manner, without aiming at any elaborate length or harmony of periods, this pronoun [the relative] occurs not so often."—L. Murray cor.

"Before I shall say those things, O Conscript Fathers! about the public affairs, which are to be spoken at this time; I shall lay before you, in few words, the motives of the journey and the return."—Brightland cor.

   "Of well-chose words some take not care enough,
    And think they should be, like the subject, rough."—Id.

"Then, having showed his wounds, he'd sit him down."—Bullions cor.

"Then Jael smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: (for he was fast asleep, and weary:) so he died."—SCOTT'S BIBLE: Judges, iv, 21.

"Every thing in the Iliad has manners, (as Aristotle expresses it,) that is, every thing is acted or spoken."—Pope cor.

"Those nouns that end in f, or fe. (except some few which I shall mention presently,) form plurals by changing those letters into ves: as, thief, thieves: wife, wives."—Bucke cor.

"As requires as; (expressing equality of degree;) thus, 'Mine is as good as yours.' As [requires] so; (expressing equality or proportion;) thus, 'As the stars, so shall thy seed be.' So [requires] as; (with a negative expressing inequality;) as, 'He is not so wise as his brother.' So [requires] that; (expressing a consequence:) as, 'I am so weak that I cannot walk.'" [558]—Bullions cor.

   "A captious question, sir, (and yours is one,)
    Deserves an answer similar, or none."—Cowper cor.

"Whatever words the verb TO BE serves to unite, referring to the same thing, must be of the same case; (§61;) as, 'Alexander is a student.'"—Bullions cor. "When the objective is a relative or [an] interrogative, it comes before the verb that governs it: (§40, Rule 9:) Murray's 6th rule is unnecessary."—Id. "It is generally improper, except in poetry, to omit the antecedent to a relative; and always, to omit a relative, when of the nominative case."—Id. "In every sentence, there must be a verb and a nominative or subject, expressed or understood."—Id. "Nouns and pronouns, and especially words denoting time, are often governed by prepositions understood; or are used to restrict verbs or adjectives, without a governing word: (§50, Rem. 6 and Rule:) as, 'He gave [to] me a full account of the affair.'"—Id. "When should is used in stead of ought, to express present duty, (§20, 4,) it may be followed by the present; as, 'You should study that you may become learned.'"—Id. "The indicative present is frequently used after the words when, till, before, as soon as, after, to express the relative time of a future action: (§24, I, 4;) as, 'When he comes, he will be welcome.'"—Id. "The relative is parsed, [according to Bullions,] by stating its gender, number, case, and antecedent; (the gender and number being always the same as those of the antecedent;) thus, 'The boy who'—'Who is a relative pronoun, masculine, singular, the nominative; and refers to 'boy' as its antecedent."—Id.

   "'Now, now, I seize, I clasp thy charms;
    And now you burst, ah cruel! from my arms.'—Pope.

"Here is an unnecessary change from the second person singular to the second person plural. The text would have been better, thus:—

    'Now, now, I seize, I clasp your charms;
    And now you burst, ah cruel! from my arms.'"—John Burn cor.
        See Lowth's Gram., p. 35; Churchill's, 293.

"The principal stops are the following: the Comma [,], the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period, or Full Stop [.], the Note of Interrogation [?], the Note of Exclamation [!], the Parenthesis [()], and the Dash [—]."—Bullions cor. "The modern punctuation in Latin is the same as in English. The chief marks employed are the Comma [,], the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period [.], the Note of Interrogation [?], the Note of Exclamation (!), the Parenthesis [()], and the Dash [—]."—Id.

"Plato reproving a young man for playing at some childish game, 'You chide me,' says the youth, 'for a trifling fault.' 'Custom,' replied the philosopher, 'is no trifle.' 'And,' adds Montaigne, 'he was in the right; for our vices begin in infancy.'"—Home cor.

"A merchant at sea asked the skipper what death his father died. 'My father,' says the skipper, 'my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, were all drowned.' 'Well,' replies the merchant, 'and are not you afraid of being drowned too?'"—Id.

"The use of inverted commas derives from France, where one Guillemet was the author of them; [and,] as an acknowledgement for the improvement, his countrymen call them after his name, GUILLEMETS."—Hist. cor.

"This, however, is seldom if ever done, unless the word following the possessive begins with s; thus, we do not say, 'the prince' feather;' but, 'the prince's feather.'"—Bullions cor. "And this phrase must mean, 'the feather of the prince;' but 'prince's-feather,' written as one word, [and with both apostrophe and hyphen,] is the name of a plant, a species of amaranth."—G. Brown. "Boëthius soon had the satisfaction of obtaining the highest honours his country could bestow."—Ingersoll cor.; also