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

OBS. 17.—On Rule 14th, concerning Examples, Speeches, and Quotations, it may be observed, that the propriety of beginning these with a capital or otherwise, depends in some measure upon their form. One may suggest certain words by way of example, (as see, saw, seeing, seen,) and they will require no capital; or he may sometimes write one half of a sentence in his own words, and quote the other with the guillemets and no capital; but whatsoever is cited as being said with other relations of what is called person, requires something to distinguish it from the text into which it is woven. Thus Cobbett observes, that, "The French, in their Bible, say Le Verbe, where we say The Word."—E. Gram., p. 21. Cobbett says the whole of this; but he here refers one short phrase to the French nation, and an other to the English, not improperly beginning each with a capital, and further distinguishing them by Italics. Our common Bibles make no use of the quotation points, but rely solely upon capitals and the common points, to show where any particular speech begins or ends. In some instances, the insufficiency of these means is greatly felt, notwithstanding the extraordinary care of the original writers, in the use of introductory phrases. Murray says, "When a quotation is brought in obliquely after a comma, a capital is unnecessary: as, 'Solomon observes, "that pride goes before destruction."'"—Octavo Gram., p. 284. But, as the word 'that' belongs not to Solomon, and the next word begins his assertion, I think we ought to write it, "Solomon observes, that, 'Pride goeth before destruction.'" Or, if we do not mean to quote him literally, we may omit the guillemets, and say, "Solomon observes that pride goes before destruction."

[Fist][The improprieties in the following examples are to be corrected orally by the learner, according to the formules given, or according to others framed from them with such slight changes as the several quotations may require. A correct example will occasionally he admitted for the sake of contrast, or that the learner may see the quoted author's inconsistency. It will also serve as a block over which stupidity may stumble and wake up. But a full explanation of what is intended, will be afforded in the Key.]

"Many a reader of the bible knows not who wrote the acts of the apostles."—G. B.

[FORMULE OF CORRECTION.—Not proper, because the words, bible, acts, and apostles, here begin with small letters. But, according to Rule 1st, "When particular books are mentioned by their names, the chief words in their titles begin with capitals, and the other letters are small." Therefore, "Bible" should begin with a capital B; and "Acts" and "Apostles," each with a large A.]

"The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles."—SCOTT'S BIBLE: Neh., xii, 23. "Are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?"—SCOTT, ALGER: I Kings, xi, 41. "Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?"—ALGER: 1 Kings, xxii, 39. "Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"—SCOTT: ib., ver. 45. "Which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms."—SCOTT: Luke, xxiv, 44. "The narrative of which may be seen in Josephus's History of the Jewish wars."—Scott's Preface, p. ix. "This history of the Jewish war was Josephus's first work, and published about A. D. 75."—Note to Josephus. "'I have read,' says Photius, 'the chronology of Justus of Tiberias.'"—Ib., Jos. Life. "A philosophical grammar, written by James Harris, Esquire."—Murray's Gram., p. 34. "The reader is referred to Stroud's sketch of the slave laws."—Anti-Slavery Mag., i, 25. "But God has so made the bible that it interprets itself."—Ib., i, 78. "In 1562, with the help of Hopkins, he completed the psalter."—Music of Nature, p. 283. "Gardiner says this of Sternhold; of whom the universal biographical dictionary and the American encyclopedia affirm, that he died in 1549."—Author. "The title of a Book, to wit: 'English Grammar in familiar lectures,'" &c.—Kirkham's Gram., p. 2. "We had not, at that time, seen Mr. Kirkham's 'Grammar in familiar Lectures.'"—Ib., p. 3. "When you parse, you may spread the Compendium before you."—Ib., p. 53. "Whenever you parse, you may spread the compendium before you."—Ib., p. 113. "Adelung was the author of a grammatical and critical dictionary of the German language, and other works."—Univ. Biog. Dict. "Alley, William, author of 'the poor man's library,' and a translation of the Pentateuch, died in 1570."—Ib.

"Depart instantly: improve your time: forgive us our sins."—Murray's
Gram., p. 61.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the words improve and forgive begin with small letters. But, according to Rule 2nd, "The first word of every distinct sentence should begin with a capital." Therefore, "Improve" should begin with a capital I; and "Forgive," with a capital F.]

EXAMPLES: "Gold is corrupting; the sea is green; a lion is bold."—Mur. Gram., p. 170; et al. Again: "It may rain; he may go or stay; he would walk; they should learn."—Ib., p. 64; et al. Again: "Oh! I have alienated my friend; alas! I fear for life."—Ib., p. 128; et al. Again: "He went from London to York;" "she is above disguise;" "they are supported by industry."—Ib., p. 28; et al. "On the foregoing examples, I have a word to say. they are better than a fair specimen of their kind, our grammars abound with worse illustrations, their models of English are generally spurious quotations. few of their proof-texts have any just parentage, goose-eyes are abundant, but names scarce. who fathers the foundlings? nobody. then let their merit be nobody's, and their defects his who could write no better."—Author. "goose-eyes!" says a bright boy; "pray, what are they? does this Mr. Author make new words when he pleases? dead-eyes are in a ship, they are blocks, with holes in them, but what are goose-eyes in grammar?" ANSWER: "goose-eyes are quotation points, some of the Germans gave them this name, making a jest of their form, the French call them guillemets, from the name of their inventor."—Author. "it is a personal pronoun, of the third person singular."—Comly's Gram., 12th Ed., p. 126. "ourselves is a personal pronoun, of the first person plural."—Ib., 138. "thee is a personal pronoun, of the second person singular."—Ib., 126. "contentment is a noun common, of the third person singular."—Ib., 128. "were is a neuter verb, of the indicative mood, imperfect tense."—Ib., 129.

"O thou dispenser of life! thy mercies are boundless."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 449.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the word dispenser begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 3d, "All names of the Deity, and sometimes their emphatic substitutes, should begin with capitals." Therefore, "Dispenser" should here begin with a capital D.]

"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"—SCOTT: Gen., xviii, 25. "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."—Murray's Gram., p. 330. "It is the gift of him, who is the great author of good, and the Father of mercies."—Ib., 287. "This is thy god that brought thee up out of Egypt."—SCOTT, ALGER: Neh., ix, 18. "For the lord is our defence; and the holy one of Israel is our king."—See Psalm lxxxix, 18. "By making him the responsible steward of heaven's bounties."—Anti- Slavery Mag., i, 29. "Which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."—SCOTT, FRIENDS: 2 Tim., iv, 8. "The cries of them * * * entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth."—SCOTT: James, v, 4. "In Horeb, the deity revealed himself to Moses, as the eternal I am, the self-existent one; and, after the first discouraging interview of his messengers with Pharaoh, he renewed his promise to them, by the awful name, jehovah—a name till then unknown, and one which the Jews always held it a fearful profanation to pronounce."—Author. "And god spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of god almighty; but by my name jehovah was I not known to them."—See[106] Exod., vi, 2. "Thus saith the lord the king of Israel, and his redeemer the lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no god."—See Isa., xliv, 6.

   "His impious race their blasphemy renew'd,
    And nature's king through nature's optics view'd."—Dryden, p. 90.

"Islamism prescribes fasting during the month ramazan."—Balbi's Geog., p. 17.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the word ramazan here begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 4th, "Proper names, of every description, should always begin with capitals." Therefore, "Ramazan" should begin with a capital R. The word is also misspelled: it should rather be Ramadan.]

"Near mecca, in arabia, is jebel nor, or the mountain of light, on the top of which the mussulmans erected a mosque, that they might perform their devotions where, according to their belief, mohammed received from the angel gabriel the first chapter of the Koran."—Author. "In the kaaba at mecca, there is a celebrated block of volcanic basalt, which the mohammedans venerate as the gift of gabriel to abraham, but their ancestors once held it to be an image of remphan, or saturn; so 'the image which fell down from jupiter,' to share with diana the homage of the ephesians, was probably nothing more than a meteoric stone."—Id. "When the lycaonians, at lystra, took paul and barnabas to be gods, they called the former mercury, on account of his eloquence, and the latter jupiter, for the greater dignity of his appearance."—Id. "Of the writings of the apostolic fathers of the first century, but few have come down to us; yet we have in those of barnabas, clement of rome, hermas, ignatius, and polycarp, very certain evidence of the authenticity of the New Testament, and the New Testament is a voucher for the old."—Id.

"It is said by tatian, that theagenes of rhegium, in the time of cambyses, stesimbrotus the thracian, antimachus the colophonian, herodotus of halicarnassus, dionysius the olynthian, ephorus of cumæ, philochorus the athenian, metaclides and chamæleon the peripatetics, and zenodotus, aristophanes, callimachus, erates, eratosthenes, aristarchus, and apollodorus, the grammarians, all wrote concerning the poetry, the birth, and the age of homer." See Coleridge's Introd., p. 57. "Yet, for aught that now appears, the life of homer is as fabulous as that of hercules; and some have even suspected, that, as the son of jupiter and alcmena, has fathered the deeds of forty other herculeses, so this unfathered son of critheis, themisto, or whatever dame—this melesigenes, mæonides, homer—the blind schoolmaster, and poet, of smyrna, chios, colophon, salamis, rhodes, argos, athens, or whatever place—has, by the help of lycurgus, solon, pisistratus, and other learned ancients, been made up of many poets or homers, and set so far aloft and aloof on old parnassus, as to become a god in the eyes of all greece, a wonder in those of all Christendom."—Author.

   "Why so sagacious in your guesses?
    Your effs, and tees, and arrs, and esses?"—Swift.

"The king has conferred on him the title of duke."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 193.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the word duke begins with a small letter.
But, according to Rule 5th, "Titles of office or honour, and epithets of
distinction, applied to persons, begin usually with capitals." Therefore,
"Duke" should here begin with a capital D.]

"At the court of queen Elizabeth."—Murray's Gram.; 8vo, p. 157; 12mo, p. 126; Fisk's, 115; et al. "The laws of nature are, truly, what lord Bacon styles his aphorisms, laws of laws."—Murray's Key, p. 260. "Sixtus the fourth was, if I mistake not, a great collector of books."—Ib., p. 257. "Who at that time made up the court of king Charles the second."—Murray's Gram., p. 314. "In case of his majesty's dying without issue."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 181. "King Charles the first was beheaded in 1649."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 45. "He can no more impart or (to use lord Bacon's word,) transmit convictions."—Kirkham's Eloc., p. 220. "I reside at lord Stormont's, my old patron and benefactor."—Murray's Gram., p. 176. "We staid a month at lord Lyttleton's, the ornament of his country."—Ib., p. 177. "Whose prerogative is it? It is the king of Great Britain's;" "That is the duke of Bridgewater's canal;" "The bishop of Llandaff's excellent book;" "The Lord mayor of London's authority."—Ib., p. 176. "Why call ye me lord, lord, and do not the things which I say?"—See GRIESBACH: Luke, vi, 46. "And of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles."—SCOTT: Luke, vi, 13. "And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him."—See the Greek: