IV. ADJECTIVES…

IV. ADJECTIVES

The syntax of the English Adjective is fully embraced in the following brief rule, together with the exceptions, observations, and notes, which are, in due order, subjoined.

RULE IX.--ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns: as, "Miserable comforters are ye all"--Job, xvi, 2. "No worldly enjoyments are adequate to the high desires and powers of an immortal spirit."--Blair.

"Whatever faction's partial notions are, No hand is wholly innocent in war." --Rowe's Lucan, B. vii, l. 191.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

An adjective sometimes relates to a phrase or sentence which is made the subject of an intervening verb; as, "To insult the afflicted, is impious"--Dillwyn. "That he should refuse, is not strange"--"To err is human." Murray says, "Human belongs to its substantive 'nature' understood."--Gram., p. 233. From this I dissent.

EXCEPTION SECOND.

In combined arithmetical numbers, one adjective often relates to an other, and the whole phrase, to a subsequent noun; as, "One thousand four hundred and fifty-six men."--"Six dollars and eighty-seven and a half cents for every five days' service."--"In the one hundred and twenty-second year."--"One seven times more than it was wont to be heated."--Daniel, iii, 19.

EXCEPTION THIRD.

With an infinitive or a participle denoting being or action in the abstract, an adjective is sometimes also taken abstractly; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, pronoun, or other subject;) as, "To be sincere, is to be wise, innocent, and safe."--Hawkesworth. "Capacity marks the abstract quality of being able to receive or hold."--Crabb's Synonymes. "Indeed, the main secret of being sublime, is to say great things in few and plain words."--Hiley's Gram., p. 215. "Concerning being free from sin in heaven, there is no question."--Barclay's Works, iii, 437. Better: "Concerning freedom from sin," &c.

EXCEPTION FOURTH.

Adjectives are sometimes substituted for their corresponding abstract nouns; (perhaps, in most instances, elliptically, like Greek neuters;) as, "The sensations of sublime and beautiful are not always distinguished by very distant boundaries."--Blair's Rhet., p. 47. That is, "of sublimity and beauty." "The faults opposite to the sublime are chiefly two: the frigid, and the bombast"--Ib., p. 44. Better: "The faults opposite to sublimity, are chiefly two; frigidity and bombast." "Yet the ruling character of the nation was that of barbarous and cruel."--Brown's Estimate, ii, 26. That is, "of barbarity and cruelty." "In a word, agreeable and disagreeable are qualities of the objects we perceive," &c.--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 99. "Polished, or refined, was the idea which the author had in view."--Blair's Rhet., p. 219.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE IX.

OBS. 1.--Adjectives often relate to nouns or pronouns understood; as, "A new sorrow recalls all the former" [sorrows].--Art of Thinking, p. 31. [The place] "Farthest from him is best."--Milton, P. L. "To whom they all gave heed, from the least [person] to the greatest" [person].--Acts, viii, 10. "The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty [God], and a terrible" [God].--Deut., x, 17. "Every one can distinguish an angry from a placid, a cheerful from a melancholy, a thoughtful from a thoughtless, and a dull from a penetrating, countenance."--Beattie's Moral Science, p. 192. Here the word countenance is understood seven times; for eight different countenances are spoken of. "He came unto his own [possessions], and his own [men] received him not."--John, i, 11. The Rev. J. G. Cooper, has it: "He came unto his own (creatures,) and his own (creatures) received him not."--Pl. and Pract. Gram., p. 44. This ambitious editor of Virgil, abridger of Murray, expounder of the Bible, and author of several "new and improved" grammars, (of different languages,) should have understood this text, notwithstanding the obscurity of our version. "[Greek: Eis ta idia ælthe. kai oi idioi auton ou parelabon]."--"In propria venit, et proprii eum non receperunt."--Montanus. "Ad sua venit, et sui eum non exceperunt."--Beza. "Il est venu chez soi; et les siens ne l'ont point reçu."--French Bible. Sometimes the construction of the adjective involves an ellipsis of several words, and those perhaps the principal parts of the clause; as, "The sea appeared to be agitated more than [in that degree which is] usual."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 217. "During the course of the sentence, the scene should be changed as little as [in the least] possible" [degree].--Blair's Rhet., p. 107; Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 312.

"Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why [thou art] form'd so weak, so little, and so blind" --Pope.

OBS. 2.--Because qualities belong only to things, most grammarians teach, that, "Adjectives are capable of being added to nouns only."--Buchanan's Syntax, p. 26. Or, as Murray expresses the doctrine: "Every adjective, and every adjective pronoun, belongs to a substantive, expressed or understood."--Octavo Gram., p. 161. "The adjective always relates to a substantive."--Ib., p. 169. This teaching, which is alike repugnant to the true definition of an adjective, to the true rule for its construction, and to all the exceptions to this rule, is but a sample of that hasty sort of induction, which is ever jumping to false conclusions for want of a fair comprehension of the facts in point. The position would not be tenable, even if all our pronouns were admitted to be nouns, or "substantives;" and, if these two parts of speech are to be distinguished, the consequence must be, that Murray supposes a countless number of unnecessary and absurd ellipses. It is sufficiently evident, that in the construction of sentences, adjectives often relate immediately to pronouns, and only through them to the nouns which they represent. Examples: "I should like to know who has been carried off, except poor dear me."--Byron. "To poor us there is not much hope remaining."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p 204. "It is the final pause which alone, on many occasions, marks the difference between prose and verse."--Murray's Gram., p. 260. "And sometimes after them both."--Ib., p. 196. "All men hail'd me happy."--Milton. "To receive unhappy me."--Dryden. "Superior to them all."--Blair's Rhet., p. 419. "They returned to their own country, full of the discoveries which they had made."--Ib., p. 350. "All ye are brethren."--Matt., xxiii, 8. "And him only shalt thou serve."--Matt., iv, 10.

"Go wiser thou, and in thy scale of sense Weigh thy opinion against Providence."--Pope.

OBS. 3.--When an adjective follows a finite verb, and is not followed by a noun, it generally relates to the subject of the verb; as, "I am glad that the door is made wide."--"An unbounded prospect doth not long continue agreeable."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 244. "Every thing which is false, vicious, or unworthy, is despicable to him, though all the world should approve it."--Spectator, No. 520. Here false, vicious, and unworthy, relate to which; and despicable relates to thing. The practice of Murray and his followers, of supplying a "substantive" in all such cases, is absurd. "When the Adjective forms the Attribute of a Proposition, it belongs to the noun [or pronoun] which serves as the Subject of the Proposition, and cannot be joined to any other noun, since it is of the Subject that we affirm the quality expressed by this Adjective."--De Sacy, on General Gram., p. 37. In some peculiar phrases, however, such as, to fall short of, to make bold with, to set light by, the adjective has such a connexion with the verb, that it may seem questionable how it ought to be explained in parsing. Examples: (1.) "This latter mode of expression falls short of the force and vehemence of the former."--L. Murray's Gram., p. 353. Some will suppose the word short to be here used adverbially, or to qualify falls only; but perhaps it may as well be parsed as an adjective, forming a predicate with "falls," and relating to "mode," the nominative. (2.) "And that I have made so bold with thy glorious Majesty."--Jenks's Prayers, p. 156. This expression is perhaps elliptical: it may mean, "that I have made myself so bold," &c. (3.) "Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother: and all the people shall say, Amen."--Deut., xxvii, 16. This may mean, "that setteth light esteem or estimation," &c.

OBS. 4.--When an adjective follows an infinitive or a participle, the noun or pronoun to which it relates, is sometimes before it, and sometimes after it, and often considerably remote; as, "A real gentleman cannot but practice those virtues which, by an intimate knowledge of mankind, he has found to be useful to them."--"He [a melancholy enthusiast] thinks himself obliged in duty to be sad and disconsolate."--Addison. "He is scandalized at youth for being lively, and at childhood for being playful."--Id. "But growing weary of one who almost walked him out of breath, he left him for Horace and Anacreon."--Steele.

OBS. 5.--Adjectives preceded by the definite article, are often used, by ellipsis, as nouns; as, the learned, for learned men. Such phrases usually designate those classes of persons or things, which are characterized by the qualities they express; and this, the reader must observe, is a use quite different from that substitution of adjectives for nouns, which is noticed in the fourth exception above. In our language, the several senses in which adjectives may thus be taken, are not distinguished with that clearness which the inflections of other tongues secure. Thus, the noble, the vile, the excellent, or the beautiful, may be put for three extra constructions: first, for noble persons, vile persons, &c.; secondly, for the noble man, the vile man, &c.; thirdly, for the abstract qualities, nobility, vileness, excellence, beauty. The last-named usage forms an exception to the rule; in the other two the noun is understood, and should be supplied by the parser. Such terms, if elliptical, are most commonly of the plural number, and refer to the word persons or things understood; as, "The careless and the imprudent, the giddy and the fickle, the ungrateful and the interested, everywhere meet us."--Blair. Here the noun persons is to be six times supplied. "Wherever there is taste, the witty and the humorous make themselves perceived."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 21. Here the author meant, simply, the qualities wit and humour, and he ought to have used these words, because the others are equivocal, and are more naturally conceived to refer to persons. In the following couplet, the noun places or things is understood after "open," and again after "covert," which last word is sometimes misprinted "coverts:"

"Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert, yield."--Pope, on Man.

OBS. 6.--The adjective, in English, is generally placed immediately before its noun; as, "Vain man! is grandeur given to gay attire?"--Beattie. Those adjectives which relate to pronouns, most commonly follow them; as, "They left me weary on a grassy turf."--Milton. But to both these general rules there are many exceptions; for the position of an adjective may be varied by a variety of circumstances, not excepting the mere convenience of emphasis: as, "And Jehu said, Unto which of all us?"--2 Kings, ix, 5. In the following instances the adjective is placed after the word to which it relates:

1. When other words depend on the adjective, or stand before it to qualify it; as, "A mind conscious of right,"--"A wall three feet thick,"--"A body of troops fifty thousand strong."

2. When the quality results from an action, or receives its application through a verb or participle; as, "Virtue renders life happy."--"He was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza."--1 Kings, xvi, 9. "All men agree to call vinegar sour, honey sweet, and aloes bitter."--Burke, on Taste, p. 38. "God made thee perfect, not immutable."--Milton.

3. When the quality excites admiration, and the adjective would thus be more clearly distinctive; as, "Goodness infinite,"--"Wisdom unsearchable."--Murray.

4. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, "Truth stands independent of all external things."--Burgh. "Honour is not seemly for a fool."--Solomon.

5. When the adjective is formed by means of the prefix a; as, afraid, alert, alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake, aware, averse, ashamed, askew. To these may be added a few other words; as, else, enough, extant, extinct, fraught, pursuant.

6. When the adjective has the nature, but not the form, of a participle; as, "A queen regnant,"--"The prince regent,"--"The heir apparent,"--"A lion, not rampant, but couchant or dormant"--"For the time then present."

OBS. 7.--In some instances, the adjective may either precede or follow its noun; and the writer may take his choice, in respect to its position: as, 1. In poetry--provided the sense be obvious; as,

------------------"Wilt thou to the _isles Atlantic_, to the rich Hesperian clime, Fly in the train of Autumn?" --Akenside, P. of I., Book i, p. 27.

-----------------------------"Wilt thou fly With laughing Autumn to the Atlantic isles, And range with him th' Hesperian field?" --Id. Bucke's Gram., p. 120.

2. When technical usage favours one order, and common usage an other; as, "A notary public," or, "A public notary;"--"The heir presumptive," or, "The presumptive heir."--See Johnson's Dict., and Webster's.

3. When an adverb precedes the adjective; as, "A Being infinitely wise," or, "An infinitely wise Being." Murray, Comly, and others, here approve only the former order; but the latter is certainly not ungrammatical.

4. When several adjectives belong to the same noun; as, "A woman, modest, sensible, and virtuous," or, "A modest, sensible, and virtuous woman." Here again, Murray, Comly, and others, approve only the former order; but I judge the latter to be quite as good.

5. When the adjective is emphatic, it may be foremost in the sentence, though the natural order of the words would bring it last; as, "Weighty is the anger of the righteous."--Bible. "Blessed are the pure in heart."--Ib. "Great is the earth, high is the heaven, swift is the sun in his course."--1 Esdras, iv, 34. "The more laborious the life is, the less populous is the country."--Goldsmith's Essays, p. 151.

6. When the adjective and its noun both follow a verb as parts of the predicate, either may possibly come before the other, yet the arrangement is fixed by the sense intended: thus there is a great difference between the assertions, "We call the boy good," and, "We call the good boy"

OBS. 8.--By an ellipsis of the noun, an adjective with a preposition before it, is sometimes equivalent to an adverb; as, "In particular;" that is, "In a particular manner;" equivalent to particularly. So "in general" is equivalent to generally. It has already been suggested, that, in parsing, the scholar should here supply the ellipsis. See Obs. 3d, under Rule vii.

OBS. 9.--Though English adjectives are, for the most part, incapable of any agreement, yet such of them as denote unity or plurality, ought in general to have nouns of the same number: as, this man, one man, two men, many men.[372] In phrases of this form, the rule is well observed; but in some peculiar ways of numbering things, it is commonly disregarded; for certain nouns are taken in a plural sense without assuming the plural termination. Thus people talk of many stone of cheese,--many sail of vessels,--many stand of arms,--many head of cattle,--many dozen of eggs,--many brace of partridges,--many pair of shoes. So we read in the Bible of "two hundred pennyworth of bread," and "twelve manner of fruits." In all such phraseology, there is, in regard to the form of the latter word, an evident disagreement of the adjective with its immediate noun; but sometimes, (where the preposition of does not occur,) expressions that seem somewhat like these, may be elliptical: as when historians tell of many thousand foot (soldiers), or many hundred horse (troops). To denote a collective number, a singular adjective may precede a plural one; as, "One hundred men,"--"Every six weeks." And to denote plurality, the adjective many may, in like manner, precede an or a with a singular noun; as, "The Odyssey entertains us with many a wonderful adventure, and many a landscape of nature."--Blair's Rhet., p. 436." There starts up many a writer."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 306.

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."--Gray.

OBS. 10.--Though this and that cannot relate to plurals, many writers do not hesitate to place them before singulars taken conjointly, which are equivalent to plurals; as, "This power and will do necessarily produce that which man is empowered to do."--Sale's Koran, i, 229. "That sobriety and self-denial which are essential to the support of virtue."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 218. "This modesty and decency were looked upon by them as a law of nature."--Rollin's Hist., ii, 45. Here the plural forms, these and those, cannot be substituted; but the singular may be repeated, if the repetition be thought necessary. Yet, when these same pronominal adjectives are placed after the nouns to suggest the things again, they must be made plural; as, "Modesty and decency were thus carefully guarded, for these were looked upon as being enjoined by the law of nature."

OBS. 11.--In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs is improper; but, in poetry, an adjective relating to the noun or pronoun, is sometimes elegantly used in stead of an adverb qualifying the verb or participle; as; "Gradual sinks the breeze Into a perfect calm."--Thomson's Seasons, p. 34. "To Thee I bend the knee; to Thee my thoughts Continual climb."--Ib., p. 48. "As on he walks Graceful, and crows defiance."--Ib., p. 56. "As through the falling glooms Pensive I stray."--Ib., p. 80. "They, sportive, wheel; or, sailing down the stream, Are snatch'd immediate by the quick-eyed trout."--Ib., p. 82. "Incessant still you flow."--Ib., p. 91. "The shatter'd clouds Tumultuous rove, the interminable sky Sublimer swells."--Ib., p. 116. In order to determine, in difficult cases, whether an adjective or an adverb is required, the learner should carefully attend to the definitions of these parts of speech, and consider whether, in the case in question, quality is to be expressed, or manner: if the former, an adjective is always proper; if the latter, an adverb. That is, in this case, the adverb, though not always required in poetry, is specially requisite in prose. The following examples will illustrate this point: "She looks cold;"--"She looks coldly on him."--"I sat silent;"--"I sat silently musing."--"Stand firm; maintain your cause firmly." See Etymology, Chap, viii, Obs. 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, on the Modifications of Adverbs.

OBS. 12.--In English, an adjective and its noun are often taken as a sort of compound term, to which other adjectives may be added; as, "An old man; a good old man; a very learned, judicious, good old man."--L. Murray's Gram., p. 169; Brit. Gram., 195; Buchanan's, 79. "Of an other determinate positive new birth, subsequent to baptism, we know nothing."--West's Letters, p. 183. When adjectives are thus accumulated, the subsequent ones should convey such ideas as the former may consistently qualify, otherwise the expression will be objectionable. Thus the ordinal adjectives, first, second, third, next, and last, may qualify the cardinal numbers, but they cannot very properly be qualified by them. When, therefore, we specify any part of a series, the cardinal adjective ought, by good right, to follow the ordinal, and not, as in the following phrase, be placed before it: "In reading the nine last chapters of John."--Fuller. Properly speaking, there is but one last chapter in any book. Say, therefore, "the last nine chapters;" for, out of the twenty-one chapters in John, a man may select several different nines. (See Etymology, Chap, iv, Obs. 7th, on the Degrees of Comparison.) When one of the adjectives merely qualifies the other, they should be joined together by a hyphen; as, "A red-hot iron."--"A dead-ripe melon." And when both or all refer equally and solely to the noun, they ought either to be connected by a conjunction, or to be separated by a comma. The following example is therefore faulty: "It is the business of an epic poet, to form a probable interesting tale."--Blair's Rhet., p. 427. Say, "probable and interesting;" or else insert a comma in lieu of the conjunction.

"Around him wide a sable army stand, A low-born, cell-bred, selfish, servile band." --Dunciad, B. ii, l. 355.

OBS. 13.--Dr. Priestley has observed: "There is a remarkable ambiguity in the use of the negative adjective no; and I do not see," says he, "how it can be remedied in any language. If I say, 'No laws are better than the English,' it is only my known sentiments that can inform a person whether I mean to praise, or dispraise them."--Priestley's Gram., p. 136. It may not be possible to remove the ambiguity from the phraseology here cited, but it is easy enough to avoid the form, and say in stead of it, "The English laws are worse than none," or, "The English laws are as good as any;" and, in neither of these expressions, is there any ambiguity, though the other may doubtless be taken in either of these senses. Such an ambiguity is sometimes used on purpose: as when one man says of an other, "He is no small knave;" or, "He is no small fool."

"There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record) A worthy member, no small fool, a lord."--Pope, p. 409.

NOTES TO RULE IX.

NOTE I.--Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their nouns in number: as, "That sort, those sorts;"--"This hand, these hands." [373]

NOTE II.--When the adjective is necessarily plural, or necessarily singular, the noun should be made so too: as, "Twenty pounds" not, "Twenty pound;"--"Four feet long," not, "Four foot long;"--"One session" not, "One sessions."

NOTE III.--The reciprocal expression, one an other, should not be applied to two objects, nor each other, or one the other, to more than two; as, "Verse and prose, on some occasions, run into one another, like light and shade."--Blair's Rhet., p. 377; Jamieson's, 298. Say, "into each other" "For mankind have always been butchering each other"--Webster's Essays, p. 151. Say, "one an other" See Etymology, Chap, iv, Obs. 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th, on the Classes of Adjectives.

NOTE IV.--When the comparative degree is employed with than, the latter term of comparison should never include the former; nor the former the latter: as, "Iron is more useful than all the metals"--"All the metals are less useful than iron." In either case, it should be, "all the other metals,"

NOTE V.--When the superlative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison, which is introduced by of, should never exclude the former; as, "A fondness for show, is, of all other follies, the most vain." Here the word other should be expunged; for this latter term must include the former: that is, the fondness for show must be one of the follies of which it is the vainest.

NOTE VI.--When equality is denied, or inequality affirmed, neither term of the comparison should ever include the other; because every thing must needs be equal to itself, and it is absurd to suggest that a part surpasses the whole: as, "No writings whatever abound so much with the bold and animated figures, as the sacred books."--Blair's Rhet., p. 414. Say, "No other writings whatever;" because the sacred books are "writings" See Etymology, Chap, iv, Obs. 6th, on Regular Comparison.

NOTE VII.--Comparative terminations, and adverbs of degree, should not be applied to adjectives that are not susceptible of comparison; and all double comparatives and double superlatives should be avoided: as, "So universal a complaint:" say rather, "So general."--"Some less nobler plunder:" say, "less noble"--"The most straitest sect:" expunge most. See Etymology, Chap, iv, from Obs. 5th to Obs. 13th, on Irregular Comparison.[374]

NOTE VIII.--When adjectives are connected by and, or, or nor, the shortest and simplest should in general be placed first; as, "He is older and more respectable than his brother." To say, "more respectable and older" would be obviously inelegant, as possibly involving the inaccuracy of "more older."

NOTE IX.--When one adjective is superadded to an other without a conjunction expressed or understood, the most distinguishing quality must be expressed next to the noun, and the latter must be such as the former may consistently qualify; as, "An agreeable young man," not, "A young agreeable man."--"The art of speaking, like all other practical arts, may be facilitated by rules,"--Enfield's Speaker, p. 10. Example of error: "The Anglo-Saxon language possessed, for the two first persons, a Dual number."--Fowler's E. Gram., 1850, p. 59. Say, "the first two persons;" for the second of three can hardly be one of the first; and "two first" with the second and third added, will clearly make more than three. See Obs. 12th, above.

NOTE X.--In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs, is a vulgar error; the adverb alone being proper, when manner or degree is to be expressed, and not quality; as, "He writes elegant;" say, "elegantly."--"It is a remarkable good likeness;" say, "remarkably good."

NOTE XI.--The pronoun them should never be used as an adjective, in lieu of those: say, "I bought those books;" not, "them books." This also is a vulgar error, and chiefly confined to the conversation of the unlearned.[375]

NOTE XII.--When the pronominal adjectives, this and that, or these and those, are contrasted; this or these should represent the latter of the antecedent terms, and that or those the former: as,

"And, reason raise o'er instinct as you can, In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man."--Pope.

"Farewell my friends! farewell my foes! My peace with these, my love with those!"--Burns.

NOTE XIII.--The pronominal adjectives either and neither, in strict propriety of syntax, relate to two things only; when more are referred to, any and none, or any one and no one, should be used in stead of them: as, "Any of the three," or, "Any one of the three;" not, "Either of the three."--"None of the four," or, "No one of the four;" not, "Neither of the four." [376]

NOTE XIV.--The adjective whole must not be used in a plural sense, for all; nor less, in the sense of fewer; nor more or most, in any ambiguous construction, where it may be either an adverb of degree, or an adjective of number or quantity: as, "Almost the whole inhabitants were present."--HUME: see Priestley's Gram., p. 190.[377] Say, "Almost all the inhabitants." "No less than three dictionaries have been published to correct it."--Dr. Webster. Say, "No fewer." "This trade enriched some people more than them."--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 215. This passage is not clear in its import: it may have either of two meanings. Say, "This trade enriched some other people, besides them." Or, "This trade enriched some others more than it did them."

NOTE XV.--Participial adjectives retain the termination, but not the government of participles; when, therefore, they are followed by the objective case, a preposition must be inserted to govern it: as, "The man who is most sparing of his words, is generally most deserving of attention."

NOTE XVI.--When the figure of any adjective affects the syntax and sense of the sentence, care must be taken to give to the word or words that form, simple or compound, which suits the true meaning and construction. Examples: "He is forehead bald, yet he is clean."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: Lev., xiii, 41. Say, "forehead-bald.,"--ALGER'S BIBLE, and SCOTT'S. "From such phrases as, 'New England scenery,' convenience requires the omission of the hyphen."--Sanborn's Gram., p. 89. This is a false notion. Without the hyphen, the phrase properly means, "New scenery in England;" but New-England scenery is scenery in New England. "'Many coloured wings,' means many wings which are coloured; but 'many-coloured wings' means wings of many colours."--Blair's Gram., p. 116.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE IX.

EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES.

"I am not recommending these kind of sufferings to your liking."--BP. SHERLOCK: Lowth's Gram., p. 87.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adjective these is plural, and does not agree with its noun kind, which is singular. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 9th: "Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their nouns in number." Therefore, these should be this; thus, "I am not recommending this kind of sufferings."]

"I have not been to London this five years."--Webster's Philos. Gram., p. 152. "These kind of verbs are more expressive than their radicals."--Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang., Vol. ii, p. 163. "Few of us would be less corrupted than kings are, were we, like them, beset with flatterers, and poisoned with that vermin."--Art of Thinking, p. 66. "But it seems this literati had been very ill rewarded for their ingenious labours."--Roderick Random, Vol. ii, p. 87. "If I had not left off troubling myself about those kind of things."--Swift. "For these sort of things are usually join'd to the most noted fortune."--Bacon's Essays, p. 101. "The nature of that riches and long-suffering is, to lead to repentance."--Barclay's Works, iii, 380. "I fancy they are these kind of gods, which Horace mentions."--Addison, on Medals, p. 74. "During that eight days they are prohibited from touching the skin."--Hope of Israel, p. 78. "Besides, he had not much provisions left for his army."--Goldsmith's Greece, i, 86. "Are you not ashamed to have no other thoughts than that of amassing wealth, and of acquiring glory, credit, and dignities?"--Ib., p. 192. "It distinguisheth still more remarkably the feelings of the former from that of the latter."--Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. xvii. "And this good tidings of the reign shall be published through all the world."--Campbell's Gospels, Matt., xxiv, 14. "This twenty years have I been with thee."--Gen., xxxi, 38. "In these kind of expressions some words seem to be understood."--Walker's Particles, p. 179. "He thought these kind of excesses indicative of greatness."--Hunt's Byron, p. 117. "These sort of fellows are very numerous."--Spect., No. 486. "Whereas these sort of men cannot give account of their faith."--Barclay's Works, i, 444. "But the question is, whether that be the words."--Ib., iii, 321. "So that these sort of Expressions are not properly Optative."--Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 276. "Many things are not that which they appear to be."--Sanborn's Gram., p. 176. "So that every possible means are used."--Formey's Belles-Lettres, p. iv.

"We have strict statutes, and most biting laws, Which for this nineteen years we have let sleep."--Shak.

"They could not speak; and so I left them both, To bear this tidings to the bloody king."--Id., Richard III.

UNDER NOTE II.--OF FIXED NUMBERS.

"Why, I think she cannot be above six foot two inches high."--Spect., No. 533. "The world is pretty regular for about forty rod east and ten west."--Ib., No. 535. "The standard being more than two foot above it."--BACON: Joh. Dict., w. Standard. "Supposing (among other Things) he saw two Suns, and two Thebes."--Bacon's Wisdom, p. 25. "On the right hand we go into a parlour thirty three foot by thirty nine."--Sheffield's Works, ii, 258. "Three pound of gold went to one shield."--1 Kings, x, 17. "Such an assemblage of men as there appears to have been at that sessions."--The Friend, x, 389. "And, truly, he hath saved me this pains."--Barclay's Works, ii, 266. "Within this three mile may you see it coming."--SHAK.: Joh. Dict., w. Mile. "Most of the churches, not all, had one or more ruling elder."--Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass., i, 375. "While a Minute Philosopher, not six foot high, attempts to dethrone the Monarch of the universe."--Berkley's Alciphron, p. 151. "The wall is ten foot high."--Harrison's Gram., p. 50. "The stalls must be ten foot broad."--Walker's Particles, p. 201. "A close prisoner in a room twenty foot square, being at the north side of his chamber, is at liberty to walk twenty foot southward, not to walk twenty foot northward."--LOCKE: Joh. Dict., w. Northward. "Nor, after all this pains and industry, did they think themselves qualified."--Columbian Orator, p. 13. "No less than thirteen gypsies were condemned at one Suffolk assizes, and executed."--Webster's Essays, p. 333. "The king was petitioned to appoint one, or more, person, or persons."--MACAULAY: Priestley's Gram., p. 194. "He carries weight! he rides a race! 'Tis for a thousand pound!"--Cowper's Poems, i, 279. "They carry three tire of guns at the head, and at the stern there are two tire of guns."--Joh. Dict., w. Galleass. "The verses consist of two sort of rhymes."--Formey's Belles-Lettres, p. 112. "A present of 40 camel's load of the most precious things of Syria."--Wood's Dict., Vol. i, p. 162. "A large grammar, that shall extend to every minutiæ."--S. Barrett's Gram., Tenth Ed., Pref., p. iii.

"So many spots, like næves on Venus' soil, One jewel set off with so many foil."--Dryden.

"For, of the lower end, two handful It had devour'd, it was so manful."--Hudibras, i, 365.

UNDER NOTE III.--OF RECIPROCALS.

"That shall and will might be substituted for one another."--Priestley's Gram., p. 131. "We use not shall and will promiscuously for one another."--Brightland's Gram., p. 110. "But I wish to distinguish the three high ones from each other also."--Fowle's True Eng. Gram., p. 13. "Or on some other relation, which two objects bear to one another."--Blair's Rhet., p. 142. "Yet the two words lie so near to one another in meaning, that in the present case, any one of them, perhaps, would have been sufficient."--Ib., p. 203. "Both orators use great liberties with one another."--Ib., p. 244. "That greater separation of the two sexes from one another."--Ib., p. 466. "Most of whom live remote from each other."--Webster's Essays, p. 39. "Teachers like to see their pupils polite to each other."--Webster's El. Spelling-Book, p. 28. "In a little time, he and I must keep company with one another only."--Spect., No. 474. "Thoughts and circumstances crowd upon each other."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 32. "They cannot see how the ancient Greeks could understand each other."--Literary Convention, p. 96. "The spirit of the poet, the patriot, and the prophet, vied with each other in his breast."--Hazlitt's Lect., p. 112. "Athamas and Ino loved one another."--Classic Tales, p. 91. "Where two things are compared or contrasted to one another."--Blair's Rhet., p. 119. "Where two things are compared, or contrasted, with one another."--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 324. "In the classification of words, almost all writers differ from each other."--Bullions, E. Gram., p. iv.

"I will not trouble thee, my child. Farewell; We'll no more meet; no more see one another."--Shak. Lear.

UNDER NOTE IV.--OF COMPARATIVES.

"Errours in Education should be less indulged than any."--Locke, on Ed., p. iv. "This was less his case than any man's that ever wrote."--Pref. to Waller. "This trade enriched some people more than it enriched them." [378]--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 215. "The Chaldee alphabet, in which the Old Testament has reached us, is more beautiful than any ancient character known."--Wilson's Essay, p. 5. "The Christian religion gives a more lovely character of God, than any religion ever did."--Murray's Key, p. 169. "The temple of Cholula was deemed more holy than any in New Spain."--Robertson's America, ii, 477. "Cibber grants it to be a better poem of its kind than ever was writ."--Pope. "Shakspeare is more faithful to the true language of nature, than any writer."--Blair's Rhet., p. 468. "One son I had--one, more than all my sons, the strength of Troy."--Cowper's Homer. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age."--Gen., xxxvii, 3.

UNDER NOTE V.--OF SUPERLATIVES.

"Of all other simpletons, he was the greatest."--Nutting's English Idioms. "Of all other beings, man has certainly the greatest reason for gratitude."--Ibid., Gram., p. 110. "This lady is the prettiest of all her sisters."--Peyton's Elements of Eng. Lang., p. 39. "The relation which, of all others, is by far the most fruitful of tropes, I have not yet mentioned."--Blair's Rhet., p. 141. "He studied Greek the most of any nobleman."--Walker's Particles, p. 231. "And indeed that was the qualification of all others most wanted at that time."--Goldsmith's Greece, ii, 35. "Yet we deny that the knowledge of him, as outwardly crucified, is the best of all other knowledge of him."--Barclay's Works, i, 144. "Our ideas of numbers are of all others the most accurate and distinct."--Duncan's Logic, p. 35. "This indeed is of all others the case when it can be least necessary to name the agent."--J. Q. Adams's Rhet., i, 231. "The period, to which you have arrived, is perhaps the most critical and important of any moment of your lives."--Ib., i, 394. "Perry's royal octavo is esteemed the best of any pronouncing Dictionary yet known."--Red Book, p. x. "This is the tenth persecution, and of all the foregoing, the most bloody."--Sammes's Antiquities, Chap. xiii. "The English tongue is the most susceptible of sublime imagery, of any language in the world."--See Bucke's Gram., p. 141. "Homer is universally allowed to have had the greatest Invention of any writer whatever."--Pope's Preface to Homer. "In a version of this particular work, which most of any other seems to require a venerable antique cast."--Ib. "Because I think him the best informed of any naturalist who has ever written."-- Jefferson's Notes, p. 82. "Man is capable of being the most social of any animal."--Sheridan's Elocution, p. 145. "It is of all others that which most moves us."--Ib., p. 158. "Which of all others, is the most necessary article."--Ib., p. 166.

"Quoth he 'this gambol thou advisest, Is, of all others, the unwisest.'"--Hudibras, iii, 316.

UNDER NOTE VI.--INCLUSIVE TERMS. "Noah and his family outlived all the people who lived before the flood."--Webster's El. Spelling-Book, p. 101. "I think it superior to any work of that nature we have yet had."--Dr. Blair's Rec. in Murray's Gram., Vol. ii, p. 300. "We have had no grammarian who has employed so much labour and judgment upon our native language, as the author of these volumes."--British Critic, ib., ii, 299. "No persons feel so much the distresses of others, as they who have experienced distress themselves."--Murray's Key, 8vo., p. 227. "Never was any people so much infatuated as the Jewish nation."--Ib., p. 185; Frazee's Gram., p. 135. "No tongue is so full of connective particles as the Greek."--Blair's Rhet., p. 85. "Never sovereign was so much beloved by the people."--Murray's Exercises, R. xv, p. 68. "No sovereign was ever so much beloved by the people."--Murray's Key, p. 202. "Nothing ever affected her so much as this misconduct of her child."--Ib., p. 203; Merchant's, 195. "Of all the figures of speech, none comes so near to painting as metaphor."--Blair's Rhet., p. 142; Jamieson's, 149. "I know none so happy in his metaphors as Mr. Addison."--Blair's Rhet., p. 150. "Of all the English authors, none is so happy in his metaphors as Addison."--Jamieson's, Rhet., p. 157. "Perhaps no writer in the world was ever so frugal of his words as Aristotle."--Blair, p. 177; Jamieson, 251. "Never was any writer so happy in that concise spirited style as Mr. Pope."--Blair's Rhet., p. 403. "In the harmonious structure and disposition of periods, no writer whatever, ancient or modern, equals Cicero."--Blair, 121; Jamieson, 123. "Nothing delights me so much as the works of nature."--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 150. "No person was ever so perplexed as he has been to-day."--Murray's Key, ii, 216. "In no case are writers so apt to err as in the position of the word only."--Maunder's Gram., p. 15. "For nothing is so tiresome as perpetual uniformity."--Blair's Rhet., p. 102.

"No writing lifts exalted man so high, As sacred and soul-moving poesy."--Sheffield.

UNDER NOTE VII.--EXTRA COMPARISONS.

"How much more are ye better than the fowls!"--Luke, xii, 24. "Do not thou hasten above the Most Highest."--2 Esdras, iv, 34. "This word peer is most principally used for the nobility of the realm."--Cowell. "Because the same is not only most universally received," &c.--Barclay's Works, i, 447. "This is, I say, not the best and most principal evidence."--Ib., iii, 41. "Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most Highest."--The Psalter, Ps. 1, 14. "The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most Highest."--Ib., Ps. xlvi, 4. "As boys should be educated with temperance, so the first greatest lesson that should be taught them is to admire frugality."--Goldsmith's Essays, p. 152. "More universal terms are put for such as are more restricted."--Brown's Metaphors, p. 11. "This was the most unkindest cut of all."--Dodd's Beauties of Shak., p. 251; Singer's Shak., ii, 264. "To take the basest and most poorest shape."--Dodd's Shak., p. 261. "I'll forbear: and am fallen out with my more headier will."--Ib., p. 262. "The power of the Most Highest guard thee from sin."--Percival, on Apostolic Succession, p. 90. "Which title had been more truer, if the dictionary had been in Latin and Welch."--VERSTEGAN: Harrison's E. Lang., p. 254. "The waters are more sooner and harder frozen, than more further upward, within the inlands."--Id., ib. "At every descent, the worst may become more worse."--H. MANN: Louisville Examiner, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 149.

"Or as a moat defensive to a house Against the envy of less happier lands."--Shakspeare.

"A dreadful quiet felt, and worser far Than arms, a sullen interval of war."--Dryden.

UNDER NOTE VIII.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED.

"It breaks forth in its most energetick, impassioned, and highest strain."--Kirkham's Elocution, p. 66. "He has fallen into the most gross and vilest sort of railing."--Barclay's Works, iii, 261. "To receive that more general and higher instruction which the public affords."--District School, p. 281. "If the best things have the perfectest and best operations."--HOOKER: Joh. Dict. "It became the plainest and most elegant, the most splendid and richest, of all languages."--See Bucke's Gram., p. 140. "But the most frequent and the principal use of pauses, is, to mark the divisions of the sense."--Blair's Rhet., p. 331; Murray's Gram., 248. "That every thing belonging to ourselves is the perfectest and the best."--Clarkson's Prize Essay, p. 189. "And to instruct their pupils in the most thorough and best manner."--Report of a School Committee.

UNDER NOTE IX.--ADJECTIVES SUPERADDED.

"The Father is figured out as an old venerable man."--Dr. Brownlee's Controversy. "There never was exhibited such another masterpiece of ghostly assurance."--Id. "After the three first sentences, the question is entirely lost."--Spect., No, 476. "The four last parts of speech are commonly called particles."--Alex. Murray's Gram., p. 14. "The two last chapters will not be found deficient in this respect."--Student's Manual, p. 6. "Write upon your slates a list of the ten first nouns."--Abbott's Teacher, p. 85. "We have a few remains of other two Greek poets in the pastoral style, Moschus and Bion."--Blair's Rhet., p. 393. "The nine first chapters of the book of Proverbs are highly poetical."--Ib., p. 417. "For of these five heads, only the two first have any particular relation to the sublime."--Ib., p. 35. "The resembling sounds of the two last syllables give a ludicrous air to the whole."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 69. "The three last are arbitrary."--Ib., p. 72. "But in the phrase 'She hangs the curtains,' the verb hangs is a transitive active verb."--Comly's Gram., p. 30. "If our definition of a verb, and the arrangement of transitive or intransitive active, passive, and neuter verbs, are properly understood."--Ib., 15th Ed., p. 30. "These two last lines have an embarrassing construction."--Rush, on the Voice, p. 160. "God was provoked to drown them all, but Noah and other seven persons."--Wood's Dict., ii, 129. "The six first books of the Æneid are extremely beautiful."--Formey's Belles-Lettres, p. 27. "A few more instances only can be given here."--Murray's Gram., p. 131. "A few more years will obliterate every vestige of a subjunctive form."--Nutting's Gram., p. 46. "Some define them to be verbs devoid of the two first persons."--Crombie's Treatise, p. 205. "In such another Essay-tract as this."--White's English Verb, p. 302. "But we fear that not such another man is to be found."--REV. ED. IRVING: on Horne's Psalms, p. xxiii.

"Oh such another sleep, that I might see But such another man!"--SHAK., Antony and Cleopatra.

UNDER NOTE X.--ADJECTIVES FOR ADVERBS.

"The is an article, relating to the noun balm, agreeable to Rule 11."--Comly's Gram., p. 133. "Wise is an adjective relating to the noun man's, agreeable to Rule 11th."--Ibid., 12th Ed., often. "To whom I observed, that the beer was extreme good."--Goldsmith's Essays, p. 127. "He writes remarkably elegant."--O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 152. "John behaves truly civil to all men."--Ib., p. 153. "All the sorts of words hitherto considered have each of them some meaning, even when taken separate."--Beattie's Moral Science, i, 44. "He behaved himself conformable to that blessed example."--Sprat's Sermons, p. 80. "Marvellous graceful."--Clarendon, Life, p. 18. "The Queen having changed her ministry suitable to her wisdom."--Swift, Exam., No. 21. "The assertions of this author are easier detected."--Swift: censured in Lowth's Gram., p. 93. "The characteristic of his sect allowed him to affirm no stronger than that."--Bentley: ibid. "If one author had spoken nobler and loftier than an other."--Id., ib. "Xenophon says express."--Id., ib. "I can never think so very mean of him."--Id., ib. "To convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed."--Jude, 15th: ib. "I think it very masterly written."--Swift to Pope, Let. 74: ib. "The whole design must refer to the golden age, which it lively represents."--Addison, on Medals: ib. "Agreeable to this, we read of names being blotted out of God's book."--BURDER: approved in Webster's Impr. Gram., p. 107; Frazee's, 140; Maltby's, 93. "Agreeable to the law of nature, children are bound to support their indigent parents."--Webster's Impr. Gram., p. 109. "Words taken independent of their meaning are parsed as nouns of the neuter gender."--Maltby's Gr., 96.

"Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works."--Beaut. of Shak., p. 236.

UNDER NOTE XI.--THEM FOR THOSE.

"Though he was not known by them letters, or the name Christ."--Wm. Bayly's Works, p. 94. "In a gig, or some of them things."--Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, p. 35. "When cross-examined by them lawyers."--Ib., p. 98. "As the custom in them cases is."--Ib., p. 101. "If you'd have listened to them slanders."--Ib., p. 115. "The old people were telling stories about them fairies, but to the best of my judgment there's nothing in it."--Ib., p. 188. "And is it not a pity that the Quakers have no better authority to substantiate their principles than the testimony of them old Pharisees?"--Hibbard's Errors of the Quakers, p. 107.

UNDER NOTE XII.--THIS AND THAT.

"Hope is as strong an incentive to action, as fear: this is the anticipation of good, that of evil."--Brown's Institutes, p. 135. "The poor want some advantages which the rich enjoy; but we should not therefore account those happy, and these miserable."--Ib.

"Ellen and Margaret fearfully, Sought comfort in each other's eye; Then turned their ghastly look each one, This to her sire, that to her son." Scott's Lady of the Lake, Canto ii, Stanza 29.

"Six youthful sons, as many blooming maids, In one sad day beheld the Stygian shades; These by Apollo's silver bow were slain, Those Cynthia's arrows stretched upon the plain." --Pope, Il., xxiv, 760.

"Memory and forecast just returns engage, This pointing back to youth, that on to age." --See Key.

UNDER NOTE XIII.--EITHER AND NEITHER.

"These make the three great subjects of discussion among mankind; truth, duty, and interest. But the arguments directed towards either of them are generically distinct."--Blair's Rhet., p. 318. "A thousand other deviations may be made, and still either of them may be correct in principle. For these divisions and their technical terms, are all arbitrary."--R. W. Green's Inductive Gram., p. vi. "Thus it appears, that our alphabet is deficient, as it has but seven vowels to represent thirteen different sounds; and has no letter to represent either of five simple consonant sounds."--Churchill's Gram., p. 19. "Then neither of these [five] verbs can be neuter."--Oliver B. Peirce's Gram., p. 343. "And the asserter is in neither of the four already mentioned."--Ib., p. 356. "As it is not in either of these four."--Ib., p. 356. "See whether or not the word comes within the definition of either of the other three simple cases."--Ib., p. 51. "Neither of the ten was there."--Frazee's Gram., p. 108. "Here are ten oranges, take either of them."--Ib., p. 102. "There are three modes, by either of which recollection will generally be supplied; inclination, practice, and association."--Rippingham's Art of Speaking, p. xxix. "Words not reducible to either of the three preceding heads."--Fowler's E. Gram., 8vo, 1850, pp. 335 and 340. "Now a sentence may be analyzed in reference to either of these [four] classes."--Ib., p. 577.

UNDER NOTE XIV.--WHOLE, LESS, MORE, AND MOST.

"Does not all proceed from the law, which regulates the whole departments of the state?"--Blair's Rhet., p. 278. "A messenger relates to Theseus the whole particulars."--Kames. El. of Crit., Vol. ii, p. 313. "There are no less than twenty dipthhongs [sic--KTH] in the English language."--Dr. Ash's Gram., p. xii. "The Redcross Knight runs through the whole steps of the Christian life."--Spectator No. 540. "There were not less than fifty or sixty persons present."--Teachers' Report. "Greater experience, and more cultivated society, abate the warmth of imagination, and chasten the manner of expression."--Blair's Rhet., p. 152; Murray's Gram., i, 351. "By which means knowledge, much more than oratory, is become the principal requisite."--Blair's Rhet., p. 254. "No less than seven illustrious cities disputed the right of having given birth to the greatest of poets."--Lemp. Dict., n. Homer. "Temperance, more than medicines, is the proper means of curing many diseases."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 222. "I do not suppose, that we Britons want genius, more than our neighbours."--Ib., p. 215. "In which he saith, he has found no less than twelve untruths."--Barclay's Works, i, 460. "The several places of rendezvous were concerted, and the whole operations fixed."--HUME: see Priestley's Gram., p. 190. "In these rigid opinions the whole sectaries concurred."--Id., ib. "Out of whose modifications have been made most complex modes."--LOCKE: Sanborn's Gram., p. 148. "The Chinese vary each of their words on no less than five different tones."--Blair's Rhet., p. 58. "These people, though they possess more shining qualities, are not so proud as he is, nor so vain as she."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 211. "'Tis certain, we believe ourselves more, after we have made a thorough Inquiry into the Thing."--Brightland's Gram., p. 244. "As well as the whole Course and Reasons of the Operation."--Ib. "Those rules and principles which are of most practical advantage."--Newman's Rhet., p. 4. "And there shall be no more curse."--Rev., xxii, 3. "And there shall be no more death."--Rev., xxi, 4. "But in recompense, we have more pleasing pictures of ancient manners."--Blair's Rhet., p. 436. "Our language has suffered more injurious changes in America, since the British army landed on our shores, than it had suffered before, in the period of three centuries."--Webster's Essays, Ed. of 1790, p. 96. "The whole conveniences of life are derived from mutual aid and support in society."--Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. 166.

UNDER NOTE XV.--PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES.

"To such as think the nature of it deserving their attention."--Butler's Analogy, p. 84. "In all points, more deserving the approbation of their readers."--Keepsake, 1830. "But to give way to childish sensations was unbecoming our nature."--Lempriere's Dict., n. Zeno. "The following extracts are deserving the serious perusal of all."--The Friend, Vol. v, p. 135. "No inquiry into wisdom, however superficial, is undeserving attention."--Bulwer's Disowned, ii, 95. "The opinions of illustrious men are deserving great consideration."--Porter's Family Journal, p. 3. "And resolutely keeps its laws, Uncaring consequences."--Burns's Works, ii, 43. "This is an item that is deserving more attention."--Goodell's Lectures.

"Leave then thy joys, unsuiting such an age, To a fresh comer, and resign the stage."--Dryden.

UNDER NOTE XVI.--FIGURE OF ADJECTIVES.

"The tall dark mountains and the deep toned seas."--Sanborn's Gram., p. 278. "O! learn from him To station quick eyed Prudence at the helm."--ANON.: Frost's El. of Gram., p. 104. "He went in a one horse chaise."--Blair's Gram., p. 113. "It ought to be, 'in a one horse chaise.'"--Dr. Crombie's Treatise, p. 334. "These are marked with the above mentioned letters."--Folker's Gram., p. 4. "A many headed faction."--Ware's Gram., p. 18. "Lest there should be no authority in any popular grammar for the perhaps heaven inspired effort."--Fowle's True English Gram., Part 2d, p. 25. "Common metre stanzas consist of four Iambic lines; one of eight, and the next of six syllables. They were formerly written in two fourteen syllable lines."--Goodenow's Gram., p. 69. "Short metre stanzas consist of four Iambic lines; the third of eight, and the rest of six syllables."--Ibid. "Particular metre stanzas consist of six Iambic lines; the third and sixth of six syllables, the rest of eight."--Ibid. "Hallelujah metre stanzas consist of six Iambic lines; the last two of eight syllables, and the rest of six."--Ibid. "Long metre stanzas are merely the union of four Iambic lines, of ten syllables each."--Ibid. "A majesty more commanding than is to be found among the rest of the Old Testament poets."--Blair's Rhet., p. 418.

"You sulphurous and thought executed fires, Vaunt couriers to oak cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all shaking thunder Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!"--Beauties of Shak., p. 264.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

V. PRONOUNS

The rules for the agreement of Pronouns with their antecedents are four; hence this chapter extends from the tenth rule to the thirteenth, inclusively. The cases of Pronouns are embraced with those of nouns, in the seven rules of the third chapter.

RULE X.--PRONOUNS.

A Pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender:[379] as, "This is the friend of whom I spoke; he has just arrived."--"This is the book which I bought; it is an excellent work."--"Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons to love it too."--Cowper.

"Speak thou, whose thoughts at humble peace repine, Shall Wolsey's wealth with Wolsey's end be thine?"--Dr. Johnson.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

When a pronoun stands for some person or thing indefinite, or unknown to the speaker, this rule is not strictly applicable; because the person, number, and gender, are rather assumed in the pronoun, than regulated by an antecedent: as, "I do not care who knows it."--Steele. "Who touched me? Tell me who it was."--"We have no knowledge how, or by whom, it is inhabited."--ABBOT: Joh. Dict.

EXCEPTION SECOND.

The neuter pronoun it may be applied to a young child, or to other creatures masculine or feminine by nature, when they are not obviously distinguishable with regard to sex; as, "Which is the real friend to the child, the person who gives it the sweetmeats, or the person who, considering only its health, resists its importunities?"--Opis. "He loads the animal he is showing me, with so many trappings and collars, that I cannot distinctly view it"--Murray's Gram., p. 301. "The nightingale sings most sweetly when it sings in the night."--Bucke's Gram., p. 52.

EXCEPTION THIRD.

The pronoun it is often used without a definite reference to any antecedent, and is sometimes a mere expletive, and sometimes the representative of an action expressed afterwards by a verb; as, "Whether she grapple it with the pride of philosophy."--Chalmers. "Seeking to lord it over God's heritage."--The Friend, vii, 253. "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink."--Prov., xxxi, 4. "Having no temptation to it, God cannot act unjustly without defiling his nature."--Brown's Divinity, p. 11.

"Come, and trip it as you go, On the light fantastic toe."--Milton.

EXCEPTION FOURTH.

A singular antecedent with the adjective many, sometimes admits a plural pronoun, but never in the same clause; as, "Hard has been the fate of many a great genius, that while they have conferred immortality on others, they have wanted themselves some friend to embalm their names to posterity."--Welwood's Pref. to Rowe's Lucan.

"In Hawick twinkled many a light, Behind him soon they set in night."--W. Scott.

EXCEPTION FIFTH.

When a plural pronoun is put by enallagè for the singular, it does not agree with its noun in number, because it still requires a plural verb; as, "We [Lindley Murray] have followed those authors, who appear to have given them the most natural and intelligible distribution."--Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 29. "We shall close our remarks on this subject, by introducing the sentiments of Dr. Johnson respecting it."--Ib. "My lord, you know I love you"--Shakspeare.

EXCEPTION SIXTH.

The pronoun sometimes disagrees with its antecedent in one sense, because it takes it in an other; as, "I have perused Mr. Johnson's Grammatical Commentaries, and find it[380] a very laborious, learned, and useful Work."--Tho. Knipe, D. D. "Lamps is of the plural number, because it means more than one."--Smith's New Gram., p. 8. "Man is of the masculine gender, because it is the name of a male."--Ib. "The Utica Sentinel says it has not heard whether the wounds are dangerous."--Evening Post. (Better: "The editor of the Utica Sentinel says, he has not heard," &c.) "There is little Benjamin with their ruler."--Psalms, lxviii, 27.

"Her end when emulation misses, She turns to envy, stings, and hisses."--Swift's Poems, p. 415.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE X.

OBS. 1.--Respecting a pronoun, the main thing is, that the reader perceive clearly for what it stands; and next, that he do not misapprehend its relation of case. For the sake of completeness and uniformity in parsing, it is, I think, expedient to apply the foregoing rule not only to those pronouns which have obvious antecedents expressed, but also to such as are not accompanied by the nouns for which they stand. Even those which are put for persons or things unknown or indefinite, may be said to agree with whatever is meant by them; that is, with such nouns as their own properties indicate. For the reader will naturally understand something by every pronoun, unless it be a mere expletive, and without any antecedent. For example: "It would depend upon who the forty were."--Trial at Steubenville, p. 50. Here who is an indefinite relative, equivalent to what persons; of the third person, plural, masculine; and is in the nominative case after were, by Rule 6th. For the full construction seems to be this: "It would depend upon the persons who the forty were." So which, for which person, or which thing, (if we call it a pronoun rather than an adjective,) may be said to have the properties of the noun person or thing understood; as,

"His notions fitted things so well, That which was which he could not tell."--Hudibras.

OBS. 2.--The pronoun we is used by the speaker or writer to represent himself and others, and is therefore plural. But it is sometimes used, by a sort of fiction, in stead of the singular, to intimate that the speaker or writer is not alone in his opinions; or, perhaps more frequently, to evade the charge of egotism; for this modest assumption of plurality seems most common with those who have something else to assume: as, "And so lately as 1809, Pope Pius VII, in excommunicating his 'own dear son,' Napoleon, whom he crowned and blessed, says: 'We, unworthy as we are, represent the God of peace.'"--Dr. Brownlee. "The coat fits us as well as if we had been melted and poured into it."--Prentice. Monarchs sometimes prefer we to I, in immediate connexion with a singular noun; as, "We Alexander, Autocrat of all the Russias."--"We the Emperor of China," &c.--Economy of Human Life, p. vi. They also employ the anomalous compound ourself, which is not often used by other people; as, "Witness ourself at Westminster, 28 day of April, in the tenth year of our reign. CHARLES."

"Cæs. What touches us ourself, shall be last serv'd." --Shak., J. C., Act iii, Sc. 1.

"Ourself to hoary Nestor will repair." --Pope, Iliad, B. x, l. 65.

OBS. 3.--The pronoun you, though originally and properly plural, is now generally applied alike to one person or to more. Several observations upon this fashionable substitution of the plural number for the singular, will be found in the fifth and sixth chapters of Etymology. This usage, however it may seem to involve a solecism, is established by that authority against which the mere grammarian has scarcely a right to remonstrate. Alexander Murray, the schoolmaster, observes, "When language was plain and simple, the English always said thou, when speaking to a single person. But when an affected politeness, and a fondness for continental manners and customs began to take place, persons of rank and fashion said you in stead of thou. The innovation gained ground, and custom gave sanction to the change, and stamped it with the authority of law."--English Gram., Third Edition, 1793, p. 107. This respectable grammarian acknowledged both thou and you to be of the second person singular. I do not, however, think it necessary or advisable to do this, or to encumber the conjugations, as some have done, by introducing the latter pronoun, and the corresponding form of the verb, as singular.[381] It is manifestly better to say, that the plural is used for the singular, by the figure Enallagè. For if you has literally become singular by virtue of this substitution, we also is singular for the same reason, as often as it is substituted for I; else the authority of innumerable authors, editors, compilers, and crowned, heads, is insufficient to make it so. And again, if you and the corresponding form of the verb are literally of the second person singular, (as Wells contends, with an array of more than sixty names of English grammarians to prove it,) then, by their own rule of concord, since thou and its verb are still generally retained in the same place by these grammarians, a verb that agrees with one of these nominatives, must also agree with the other; so that you hast and thou have, you seest and thou see, may be, so far as appears from their instructions, as good a concord as can be made of these words!

OBS. 4.--The putting of you for thou has introduced the anomalous compound yourself, which is now very generally used in stead of thyself. In this instance, as in the less frequent adoption of ourself for myself, Fashion so tramples upon the laws of grammar, that it is scarcely possible to frame an intelligible exception in her favour. These pronouns are essentially singular, both in form and meaning; and yet they cannot be used with I or thou, with me or thee, or with any verb that is literally singular; as, "I ourself am." but, on the contrary, they must be connected only with such plural terms as are put for the singular; as, "We ourself are king."--"Undoubtedly you yourself become an innovator."--L. Murray's Gram., p. 364; Campbell's Rhet., 167.

"Try touch, or sight, or smell; try what you will, You strangely find nought but yourself alone." --Pollok, C. of T., B. i, l. 162.

OBS. 5.--Such terms of address, as your Majesty, your Highness, your Lordship, your Honour, are sometimes followed by verbs and pronouns of the second person plural, substituted for the singular; and sometimes by words literally singular, and of the third person, with no other figure than a substitution of who for which: as, "Wherein your Lordship, who shines with so much distinction in the noblest assembly in the world, peculiarly excels"--Dedication of Sale's Koran. "We have good cause to give your Highness the first place; who, by a continued series of favours have obliged us, not only while you moved in a lower orb, but since the Lord hath called your Highness to supreme authority."--Massachusetts to Cromwell, in 1654.

OBS. 6.--The general usage of the French is like that of the English, you for thou; but Spanish, Portuguese, or German politeness requires that the third person be substituted for the second. And when they would be very courteous, the Germans use also the plural for the singular, as they for thou. Thus they have a fourfold method of addressing a person: as, they, denoting the highest degree of respect; he, a less degree; you, a degree still less; and thou, none at all, or absolute reproach. Yet, even among them, the last is used as a term of endearment to children, and of veneration to God! Thou, in English, still retains its place firmly, and without dispute, in all addresses to the Supreme Being; but in respect to the first person, an observant clergyman has suggested the following dilemma: "Some men will be pained, if a minister says we in the pulpit; and others will quarrel with him, if he says I."--Abbott's Young Christian, p. 268.

OBS. 7.--Any extensive perversion of the common words of a language from their original and proper use, is doubtless a matter of considerable moment. These changes in the use of the pronouns, being some of them evidently a sort of complimentary fictions, some religious people have made it a matter of conscience to abstain from them, and have published their reasons for so doing. But the moral objections which may lie against such or any other applications of words, do not come within the grammarian's province. Let every one consider for himself the moral bearing of what he utters: not forgetting the text, "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement: for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."--Matt., xii, 36 and 37. What scruples this declaration ought to raise, it is not my business to define. But if such be God's law, what shall be the reckoning of those who make no conscience of uttering continually, or when they will, not idle words only, but expressions the most absurd, insignificant, false, exaggerated, vulgar, indecent, injurious, wicked, sophistical, unprincipled, ungentle, and perhaps blasphemous, or profane?

OBS. 8.--The agreement of pronouns with their antecedents, it is necessary to observe, is liable to be controlled or affected by several of the figures of rhetoric. A noun used figuratively often suggests two different senses, the one literal, and the other tropical; and the agreement of the pronoun must be sometimes with this, and sometimes with that, according to the nature of the trope. If the reader be unacquainted with tropes and figures, he should turn to the explanation of them in Part Fourth of this work; but almost every one knows something about them, and such as must here be named, will perhaps be made sufficiently intelligible by the examples. There seems to be no occasion to introduce under this head more than four; namely, personification, metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche.

OBS. 9.--When a pronoun represents the name of an inanimate object personified, it agrees with its antecedent in the figurative, and not in the literal sense; as, "There were others whose crime it was rather to neglect Reason than to disobey her."--Dr. Johnson. "Penance dreams her life away."--Rogers. "Grim Darkness furls his leaden shroud."--Id. Here if the pronoun were made neuter, the personification would be destroyed; as, "By the progress which England had already made in navigation and commerce, it was now prepared for advancing farther."--Robertson's America, Vol. ii, p. 341. If the pronoun it was here intended to represent England, the feminine she would have been much better; and, if such was not the author's meaning, the sentence has some worse fault than the agreement of a pronoun with its noun in a wrong sense.

OBS. 10.--When the antecedent is applied metaphorically, the pronoun usually agrees with it in its literal, and not in its figurative sense; as, "Pitt was the pillar which upheld the state."--"The monarch of mountains rears his snowy head."--"The stone which the builders rejected."--Matt., xxi, 42. According to this rule, which would be better than whom, in the following text: "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them an other little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots."--Daniel, vii, 8. In Rom., ix, 33, there is something similar: "Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." Here the stone or rock is a metaphor for Christ, and the pronoun him may be referred to the sixth exception above; but the construction is not agreeable, because it is not regular: it would be more grammatical, to change on him to thereon. In the following example, the noun "wolves," which literally requires which, and not who, is used metaphorically for selfish priests; and, in the relative, the figurative or personal sense is allowed to prevail:

"Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves, Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven To their own vile advantages shall turn." --Milton, P. L., B. xii, l. 508.

This seems to me somewhat forced and catachrestical. So too, and worse, the following; which makes a star rise and speak:

"So spake our Morning Star then in his rise, And looking round on every side beheld A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades." --Id., P. R., B. i, l. 294.

OBS. 11.--When the antecedent is put by metonymy for a noun of different properties, the pronoun sometimes agrees with it in the figurative, and sometimes in the literal sense; as, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from them: [i. e., When Moses and the prophets called the Israelites, they often refused to hear:] they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them."--Hosea, xi, 1, 2, 3. The mixture and obscurity which are here, ought not to be imitated. The name of a man, put for the nation or tribe of his descendants, may have a pronoun of either number, and a nation may be figuratively represented as feminine; but a mingling of different genders or numbers ought to be avoided: as, "Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter."--Jeremiah, xlviii, 15.

"The wolf, who [say that] from the nightly fold, Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk, Nor wore her warming fleece."--Thomson's Seasons.

"That each may fill the circle mark'd by Heaven, Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall."--Pope's Essay on Man.

"And heaven behold its image in his breast."--Ib.

"Such fate to suffering worth is given, Who long with wants and woes has striven."--Burns.

OBS. 12.--When the antecedent is put by synecdoche for more or less than it literally signifies, the pronoun agrees with it in the figurative, and not in the literal sense; as,

"A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death."--Thomson

"But to the generous still improving mind, That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy, To him the long review of ordered life Is inward rapture only to be felt."--Id. Seasons.

OBS. 13.--Pronouns usually follow the words which they represent; but this order is sometimes reversed: as, "Whom the cap fits, let him put it on."--"Hark! they whisper; angels say," &c.--Pope. "Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion."--Old Test. And in some cases of apposition, the pronoun naturally comes first; as, "I Tertius"--"Ye lawyers." The pronoun it, likewise, very often precedes the clause or phrase which it represents; as, "Is it not manifest, that the generality of people speak and write very badly?"--Campbell's Rhet., p. 160; Murray's Gram., i, 358. This arrangement is too natural to be called a transposition. The most common form of the real inversion is that of the antecedent and relative in poetry; as,

"Who stops to plunder at this signal hour, The birds shall tear him, and the dogs devour." --POPE: Iliad, xv, 400.

OBS. 14.--A pronoun sometimes represents a phrase or a sentence; and in this case the pronoun is always in the third person singular neuter: as, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not."--Gen., xxviii, 10. "Yet men can go on to vilify or disregard Christianity; which is to talk and act as if they had a demonstration of its falsehood."--Butler's Analogy, p. 269. "When it is asked wherein personal identity consists, the answer should be the same as if it were asked, wherein consists similitude or equality."--Ib., p. 270. "Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good."--Prov., xix, 2. In this last example, the pronoun is not really necessary. "That the soul be without knowledge, is not good."--Jenks's Prayers, p. 144. Sometimes an infinitive verb is taken as an antecedent; as, "He will not be able to think, without which it is impertinent to read; nor to act, without which it is impertinent to think."--Bolingbroke, on History, p. 103.

OBS. 15.--When a pronoun follows two words, having a neuter verb between them, and both referring to the same thing, it may represent either of them, but not often with the same meaning: as, 1. "I am the man, who command." Here, who command belongs to the subject I, and the meaning is, "I who command, am the man." (The latter expression places the relative nearer to its antecedent, and is therefore preferable.) 2. "I am the man who commands." Here, who commands belongs to the predicate man, and the meaning is, "I am the commander." Again: "I perceive thou art a pupil, who possessest good talents."--Cooper's Pl. and Pract. Gram., p. 136. Here the construction corresponds not to the perception, which is, of the pupil's talents. Say, therefore, "I perceive thou art a pupil possessing (or, who possesses) good talents."

OBS. 16.--After the expletive it, which may be employed to introduce a noun or a pronoun of any person, number, or gender, the above-mentioned distinction is generally disregarded; and the relative is most commonly made to agree with the latter word, especially if this word be of the first or the second person: as, "It is no more I that do it."--Rom., vii, 20. "For it is not ye that speak."--Matt., x, 20. The propriety of this construction is questionable. In the following examples, the relative agrees with the it, and not with the subsequent nouns: "It is the combined excellencies of all the denominations that gives to her her winning beauty and her powerful charms."--Bible Society's Report, 1838, p. 89. "It is purity and neatness of expression which is chiefly to be studied."--Blair's Rhet., p. 271. "It is not the difficulty of the language, but on the contrary the simplicity and facility of it, that occasions this neglect."--Lowth's Gram., p. vi. "It is a wise head and a good heart that constitutes a great man."--Child's Instructor, p. 22.

OBS. 17.--The pronoun it very frequently refers to something mentioned subsequently in the sentence; as, "It is useless to complain of what is irremediable." This pronoun is a necessary expletive at the commencement of any sentence in which the verb is followed by a phrase or a clause which, by transposition, might be made the subject of the verb; as, "It is impossible to please every one."--W. Allen's Gram. "It was requisite that the papers should be sent."--Ib. The following example is censured by the Rev. Matt. Harrison: "It is really curious, the course which balls will sometimes take."--Abernethy's Lectures. "This awkward expression," says the critic, "might have been avoided by saying, 'The course which balls will sometimes take is really curious.'"--Harrison, on the English Language, p. 147. If the construction is objectionable, it may, in this instance, be altered thus: "It is really curious, to observe the course which balls will sometimes take!" So, it appears, we may avoid a pleonasm by an addition. But he finds a worse example: saying, "Again, in an article from the 'New Monthly,' No. 103, we meet with the same form of expression, but with an aggravated aspect:--'It is incredible, the number of apothecaries' shops, presenting themselves.' It would be quite as easy to say, 'The number of apothecaries' shops, presenting themselves, is incredible.' "--Ib., p. 147. This, too, may take an infinitive, "to tell," or "to behold;" for there is no more extravagance in doubting one's eyes, than in declaring one's own statement "incredible." But I am not sure that the original form is not allowable. In the following line, we seem to have something like it:

"It curled not Tweed alone, that breeze."--Sir W. Scott.

OBS. 18.--Relative and interrogative pronouns are placed at or near the beginning of their own clauses; and the learner must observe that, through all their cases, they almost invariably retain this situation in the sentence, and are found before their verbs even when the order of the construction would reverse this arrangement: as, "He who preserves me, to whom I owe my being, whose I am, and whom I serve, is eternal."--Murray, p. 159. "He whom you seek."--Lowth.

"The good must merit God's peculiar care; But who, but God, can tell us who they are?"--Pope.

OBS. 19.--A relative pronoun, being the representative of some antecedent word or phrase, derives from this relation its person, number, and gender, but not its case. By taking an other relation of case, it helps to form an other clause; and, by retaining the essential meaning of its antecedent, serves to connect this clause to that in which the antecedent is found. No relative, therefore, can ever be used in an independent simple sentence, or be made the subject of a subjunctive verb, or be put in apposition with any noun or pronoun; but, like other connectives, this pronoun belongs at the head of a clause in a compound sentence, and excludes conjunctions, except when two such clauses are to be joined together, as in the following example: "I should be glad, at least, of an easy companion, who may tell me his thoughts, and to whom I may communicate mine."--Goldsmith's Essays, p. 196.

OBS. 20.--The two special rules commonly given by the grammarians, for the construction of relatives, are not only unnecessary,[382] but faulty. I shall notice them only to show my reasons for discarding them. With whom they originated, it is difficult to say. Paul's Accidence has them, and if Dean Colet, the supposed writer, did not take them from some earlier author, they must have been first taught by him, about the year 1510; and it is certain that they have been copied into almost every grammar published since. The first one is faulty, because, "When there cometh no nominative case between the relative and the verb, the relative shall [not always] be the nominative case to the verb;" as may be seen by the following examples: "Many are the works of human industry, which to begin and finish are [say is] hardly granted to the same man."--Dr. Johnson's Adv. to Dict. "They aim at his removal; which there is reason to fear they will effect."--"Which to avoid, I cut them off."--Shak., Hen. IV. The second rule is faulty, because, "When there cometh a nominative case between the relative and the verb, the relative shall [not always] be such case as the verb will have after it;" as may be seen by the following examples: "The author has not advanced any instances, which he does not think are pertinent."--Murray's Gram., i, 192. "Which we have reason to think was the case with the Greek and Latin."--Ib., 112. "Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?"--John, ix, 19. The case of the relative cannot be accurately determined by any rules of mere location. It may be nominative to a verb afar off, or it may be objective with a verb immediately following; as, "Which I do not find that there ever was."--Knight, on the Greek Alphabet, p. 31. "And our chief reason for believing which is that our ancestors did so before us."--Philological Museum, i, 641. Both these particular rules are useless, because the general rules for the cases, as given in chapter third above, are applicable to relatives, sufficient to all the purpose, and not liable to any exceptions.

OBS. 21.--In syntactical parsing, each word, in general, is to be resolved by some one rule; but the parsing of a pronoun commonly requires two; one for its agreement with the noun or nouns for which it stands, and an other for its case. The rule of agreement will be one of the four which are embraced in this present chapter; and the rule for the case will be one of the seven which compose chapter third. So that the whole syntax of pronouns requires the application of eleven different rules, while that of nouns or verbs is embraced in six or seven, and that of any other part of speech, in one only. In respect to their cases, relatives and interrogatives admit of every construction common to nouns, or to the personal pronouns, except apposition. This is proved by the following examples:

1. Nominatives by Rule 2d: "I who write;--Thou who writest;--He who writes;--The animal which runs."--Dr. Adam. "He that spareth his rod, hateth his son."--Solomon. "He who does any thing which he knows is wrong, ventures on dangerous ground."--"What will become of us without religion?"--Blair. "Here I determined to wait the hand of death; which, I hope, when at last it comes, will fall lightly upon me."--Dr. Johnson. "What is sudden and unaccountable, serves to confound."--Crabb. "They only are wise, who are wise to salvation."--Goodwin.

2. Nominatives by Rule 6th: (i.e., words parsed as nominatives after the verbs, though mostly transposed:) "Who art thou?"--Bible. "What were we?"--Ib. "Do not tell them who I am."--"Let him be who he may, he is not the honest fellow that he seemed."--"The general conduct of mankind is neither what it was designed, nor what it ought to be."

3. Nominatives absolute by Rule 8th: "There are certain bounds to imprudence, which being transgressed, there remains no place for repentance in the natural course of things."--Bp. Butler. "Which being so, it need not be any wonder, why I should."--Walker's Particles, Pref., p. xiv. "He offered an apology, which not being admitted, he became submissive."--Murray's Key, p. 202. This construction of the relative is a Latinism, and very seldom used by the best English writers.

4. Possessives by Rule 4th: "The chief man of the island, whose name was Publius."--Acts. "Despair, a cruel tyrant, from whose prisons none can escape."--Dr. Johnson. "To contemplate on Him whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light."--Steele.

5. Objectives by Rule 5th: "Those whom she persuaded."--Dr. Johnson. "The cloak that I left at Troas."--St. Paul. "By the things which he suffered."--Id. "A man whom there is reason to suspect."--"What are we to do?"--Burke. "Love refuses nothing that love sends."--Gurnall. "The first thing, says he, is, to choose some maxim or point of morality; to inculcate which, is to be the design of his work."--Blair's Rhet., p. 421. "Whomsoever you please to appoint."--Lowth. "Whatsover [sic--KTH] he doeth, shall prosper."--Bible. "What we are afraid to do before men, we should be afraid to think before God."--Sibs. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?"--Gen., xviii, 32. "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am going to do?"--"Call imperfection what thou fanciest such."--Pope.

6. Objectives by Rule 6th: (i.e., pronouns parsed as objectives after neuter verbs, though they stand before them:) "He is not the man that I took him to be."--"Whom did you suppose me to be?"--"If the lad ever become what you wish him to be."

7. Objectives by Rule 7th: "To whom shall we go?"--Bible. "The laws by which the world is governed, are general."--Bp. Butler. "Whom he looks upon as his defender."--Addison. "That secret heaviness of heart which unthinking men are subject to."--Id. "I cannot but think the loss of such talents as the man of whom I am speaking was master of, a more melancholy instance."--Steele. "Grammar is the solid foundation upon which all other science rests."--Buchanan's Eng. Synt., p. xx.

OBS. 22.--In familiar language, the relative of the objective case is frequently understood; as, "The man [whom] I trust."--Cowper. "Here is the letter [which] I received." So in the following sentences: "This is the man they hate. These are the goods they bought. Are these the Gods they worship? Is this the woman you saw?"--Ash's Gram., p. 96. This ellipsis seems allowable only in the familiar style. In grave writing, or deliberate discourse, it is much better to express this relative. The omission of it is often attended with some obscurity; as, "The next error [that] I shall mention [,] is a capital one."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 157. "It is little [that] we know of the divine perfections."--Scougal, p. 94. "The faith [which] we give to memory, may be thought, on a superficial view, to be resolvable into consciousness, as well as that [which] we give to the immediate impressions of sense."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 53. "We speak that [which] we do know, and testify that [which] we have seen."--John, iii, 11. The omission of a relative in the nominative case, is almost always inelegant; as, "This is the worst thing [that] could happen."--"There were several things [which] brought it upon me."--Pilgrim's Progress, p. 162. The latter ellipsis may occur after but or than, and it is also sometimes allowed in poetry; as, [There is] "No person of reflection but [who] must be sensible, that an incident makes a stronger impression on an eye-witness, than when heard at second hand."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 257.

"In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man."--Pope, on Man.

"Abuse on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, spread."--Id., to Arbuthnot.

"There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools."--Id., to Augustus.

OBS. 23.--The antecedent is sometimes suppressed, especially in poetry; as, "Who will, may be a judge."--Churchill. "How shall I curse [him or them] whom God hath not cursed?"--Numbers, xxiii, 8. "There are, indeed, [some persons] who seem disposed to extend her authority much farther."--Campbell's Philosophy of Rhet., p. 187.

[He] "Who lives to nature, rarely can be poor; [He] Who lives to fancy, never can be rich."--Young.

"Serious should be an author's final views; [They] Who write for pure amusement, ne'er amuse."--Id.

OBS. 24.--Which, as well as who, was formerly applied to persons; as, "Our Father which art in heaven."--Bible. "Pray for them which despitefully use you."--Luke, vi, 28. And, as to the former example here cited, some British critics, still preferring the archaism, have accused "The Americans" of "poor criticism," in that they "have changed which into who, as being more consonant to the rules of Grammar." Falsely imagining, that which and who, with the same antecedent, can be of different genders, they allege, that, "The use of the neuter pronoun carried with it a certain vagueness and sublimity, not inappropriate in reminding us that our worship is addressed to a Being, infinite, and superior to all distinctions applicable to material objects."--Men and Manners in America: quoted and endorsed by the REV. MATT. HARRISON, in his treatise on the English Language, p. 191. This is all fancy; and, in my opinion, absurd. It is just like the religious prejudice which could discern "a singular propriety" in "the double superlative most highest."--Lowth's Gram., p. 28. But which may still be applied to a young child, if sex and intelligence be disregarded; as, "The child which died." Or even to adults, when they are spoken of without regard to a distinct personality or identity; as, "Which of you will go?"--"Crabb knoweth not which is which, himself or his parodist."--Leigh Hunt.

OBS. 25.--A proper name taken merely as a name, or an appellative taken in any sense not strictly personal, must be represented by which, and not by who; as, "Herod--which is but an other name for cruelty."--"In every prescription of duty, God proposeth himself as a rewarder; which he is only to those that please him."--Dr. J. Owen. Which would perhaps be more proper than whom, in the following passage: "They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them."--Psalms, cvi, 34. Dr. Blair has preferred it in the following instance: "My lion and my pillar are sufficiently interpreted by the mention of Achilles and the minister, which I join to them."--Lectures, p. 151. He meant, "whose names I connect with theirs;" and not, that he joined the person of Achilles to a lion, or that of a minister to a pillar.

OBS. 26.--When two or more relative clauses pertain to the same antecedent, if they are connected by a conjunction, the same relative ought to be employed in each, agreeably to the doctrine of the seventh note below; but if no conjunction is expressed or understood between them, the pronouns ought rather to be different; as, "There are many things that you can speak of, which cannot be seen."--R W. Green's Gram., p. 11. This distinction is noticed in the fifth chapter of Etymology, Obs. 29th, on the Classes of Pronouns. Dr. Priestley says, "Whatever relative be used, in a series of clauses, relating to the same antecedent, the same ought to be used in them all. 'It is remarkable, that Holland, against which the war was undertaken, and that, in the very beginning, was reduced to the brink of destruction, lost nothing.'--Universal History, Vol. 25, p. 117. It ought to have been, and which in the very beginning."--Priestley's Gram., p. 102. L. Murray, (as I have shown in the Introduction, Ch. x, ¶ 22,) assumes all this, without references; adding as a salvo the word "generally," which merely impairs the certainty of the rule:--"the same relative ought generally to be used in them all."--Octavo Gram., p. 155. And, of who and that, Cobbett says: "Either may do; but both never ought to be relatives of the same antecedent in the same sentence."--Gram., ¶ 202. The inaccuracy of these rules is as great as that of the phraseology which is corrected under them. In the following sentence, the first relative only is restrictive, and consequently the other may be different: "These were the officers that were called Homotimoi, and who signalized themselves afterwards so gloriously upon all occasions."--Rollin's Hist., ii, 62. See also in Rev., x, 6th, a similar example without the conjunction.

OBS. 27.--In conversation, the possessive pronoun your is sometimes used in a droll way, being shortened into your in pronunciation, and nothing more being meant by it, than might be expressed by the article an or a: as, "Rich honesty dwells, like your miser, sir, in a poor house; as, your pearl in your foul oyster."--Shakspeare.

NOTES TO RULE X.

NOTE 1.--A pronoun should not be introduced in connexion with words that belong more properly to the antecedent, or to an other pronoun; as, "And then there is good use for Pallas her glass."--Bacon's Wisdom, p. 22. Say--"for Pallas's glass."

"My banks they are furnish'd with bees, Whose murmur invites one to sleep."--Shenstone, p. 284.

This last instance, however, is only an example of pleonasm; which is allowable and frequent in animated discourse, but inelegant in any other. Our grammarians have condemned it too positively. It occurs sundry times in the Bible; as, "Know ye that the LORD he is God."--Psalms, c, 3.

NOTE II.--A change of number in the second person, or even a promiscuous use of ye and you in the same case and the same style, is inelegant, and ought to be avoided; as, "You wept, and I for thee"--"Harry, said my lord, don't cry; I'll give you something towards thy loss."--Swift's Poems, p. 267. "Ye sons of sloth, you offspring of darkness, awake from your sleep."--Brown's Metaphors, p. 96. Our poets have very often adopted the former solecism, to accommodate their measure, or to avoid the harshness of the old verb in the second person singular: as, "Thy heart is yet blameless, O fly while you may!"--Queen's Wake, p. 46.

"Oh! Peggy, Peggy, when thou goest to brew, Consider well what you're about to do."--King's Poems, p. 594.

"As in that lov'd Athenian bower, You learn'd an all-commanding power, Thy mimic soul, O nymph endear'd! Can well recall what then it heard."--Collins, Ode to Music.

NOTE III.--The relative who is applied only to persons, and to animals or things personified; and which, to brute animals and inanimate things spoken of literally: as, "The judge who presided;"--"The old crab who advised the young one;"--"The horse which ran away;"--"The book which was given me."

NOTE IV.--Nouns of multitude, unless they express persons directly as such, should not be represented by the relative who: to say, "The family whom I visited," would hardly be proper; that would here be better. When such nouns are strictly of the neuter gender, which may represent them; as, "The committees which were appointed." But where the idea of rationality is predominant, who or whom seems not to be improper; as, "The conclusion of the Iliad is like the exit of a great man out of company whom he has entertained magnificently."--Cowper. "A law is only the expression of the desire of a multitude who have power to punish."--Brown's Philosophy of the Mind.

NOTE V.--In general, the pronoun must so agree with its antecedent as to present the same idea, and never in such a manner as to confound the name with the thing signified, or any two things with each other. Examples: "Jane is in the nominative case, because it leads the sentence."--Infant School Gram., p. 30. Here it represents the word "Jane" and not the person Jane. "What mark or sign is put after master to show that he is in the possessive case? Spell it"--Ib., p. 32. Here the word "master" is most absurdly confounded with the man; and that to accommodate grammar to a child's comprehension!

NOTE VI.--The relative that may be applied either to persons or to things. In the following cases, it is more appropriate than who, whom, or which; and ought to be preferred, unless it be necessary to use a preposition before the relative:--(1.) After an adjective of the superlative degree, when the relative clause is restrictive;[383] as, "He was the first that came."--"He was the fittest person that could then be found."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 422. "The Greeks were the greatest reasoners that ever appeared in the world."--BEATTIE: Murray's Gram., p. 127. (2.) After the adjective same, when the relative clause is restrictive; as, "He is the same man that you saw before."-- Priestley's Gram., p. 101; Murray's, 156; Campbell's Rhet., 422. (3.) After the antecedent who; as, "Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?"--Washington. (4.) After two or more antecedents that demand a relative adapted both to persons and to things; as, "He spoke largely of the men and things that he had seen."--"When some particular person or thing is spoken of, that ought to be more distinctly marked."-- Murray's Gram., p. 51. (5.) After an unlimited antecedent which the relative clause is designed to restrict; as, "Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn."--Gray. "Music that accords with the present tone of mind, is, on that account, doubly agreeable."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 311. "For Theocritus descends sometimes into ideas that are gross and mean."--Blair's Rhet., p. 393. (6.) After any antecedent introduced by the expletive it; as, "It is you that suffer."--"It was I, and not he, that did it."--Churchill's Gram., p. 142. "It was not he[384] that they were so angry with."--Murray's Exercises, R. 17. "It was not Gavius alone that Verres meant to insult."--Blair's Rhet., p. 325. (7.) And, in general, wherever the propriety of who or which is doubtful; as, "The little child that was placed in the midst."

NOTE VII.--When two or more relative clauses connected by a conjunction have a similar dependence in respect to the antecedent, the same pronoun must be employed in each; as, "O thou, who art, and who wast, and who art to come!"--"And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshiped."--Jer., viii, 2. NOTE VIII.--The relative, and the preposition governing it, should not be omitted, when they are necessary to the sense intended, or to a proper connexion of the parts of the sentence; as, "He is still in the situation you saw him." Better thus: "He is still in the situation in which you saw him."

NOTE IX.--After certain nouns, of time, place, manner, or cause, the conjunctive adverbs when, where, whither, whence, how, and why, are a sort of special relatives; but no such adverb should be used where a preposition and a relative pronoun would better express the relation of the terms: as, "A cause where justice is so much concerned." Say, "A cause in which." See Etymology, Obs. 6th, 7th, and 8th, on the Classes of Adverbs.

NOTE X.--Where a pronoun or a pronominal adjective will not express the meaning clearly, the noun must be repeated, or inserted in stead of it: as, "We see the beautiful variety of colour in the rainbow, and are led to consider the cause of it." Say,--"the cause of that variety;" because the it may mean the variety, the colour, or the rainbow.

NOTE XI.--To prevent ambiguity or obscurity, the relative should, in general, be placed as near as possible to the antecedent. The following sentence is therefore faulty: "He is like a beast of prey, that is void of compassion." Better thus: "He that is void of compassion, is like a beast of prey."

NOTE XII.--The pronoun what should never be used in stead of the conjunction that; as, "Think no man so perfect but what he may err." This is a vulgar fault. Say,--"but that he may err."

NOTE XIII.--A pronoun should never be used to represent an adjective,--except the pronominal adjectives, and others taken substantively; because a pronoun can neither express a concrete quality as such, nor convert it properly into an abstract: as, "Be attentive; without which you will learn nothing." Better thus: "Be attentive; for without attention you will learn nothing."

NOTE XIV.--Though the relative which may in some instances stand for a phrase or a sentence, it is seldom, if ever, a fit representative of an indicative assertion; as, "The man opposed me, which was anticipated."-- Nixon's Parser, p. 127. Say,--"but his opposition was anticipated." Or: "The man opposed me, as was anticipated." Or:--"as I expected he would." Again: "The captain disobeys orders, which is punished."--Ib., p. 128. This is an other factitious sentence, formed after the same model, and too erroneous for correction: none but a conceited grammatist could ever have framed such a construction.

NOTE XV.--The possessive pronouns, my, thy, his, her, its, &c., should be inserted or repeated as often as the sense or construction of the sentence requires them; their omission, like that of the articles, can scarcely in any instance constitute a proper ellipsis: as, "Of Princeton and vicinity."--Say, "Of Princeton and its vicinity." "The man and wife."--Say, "The man and his wife." "Many verbs vary both their signification and construction."--Adam's Gram., p. 170; Gould's, 171. Say,--"and their construction."

NOTE XVI.--In the correcting of any discord between the antecedent and its pronoun, if the latter for any sufficient reason is most proper as it stands, the former must be changed to accord with it: as, "Let us discuss what relates to each particular in their order:--its order."-- Priestley's Gram., p. 193. Better thus: "Let us discuss what relates to the several particulars, in their order." For the order of things implies plurality.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE X. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF AGREEMENT

"The subject is to be joined with his predicate."--BP. WILKINS: Lowth's Gram., p. 42.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun his is of the masculine gender, and does not correctly represent its antecedent noun subject, which is of the third person, singular, neuter. But, according to Rule 10th, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender." Therefore, his should be its; thus, "The subject is to be joined with its predicate."]

"Every one must judge of their own feelings."--Byron's Letters. "Every one in the family should know their duty."--Wm. Penn. "To introduce its possessor into 'that way in which it should go.'"--Infant School Gram., p. v. "Do not they say, every true believer has the Spirit of God in them?"--Barclay's Works, iii, 388. "There is none in their natural state righteous, no not one."--Wood's Dict. of Bible, ii, 129. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own."--John, xv, 19. "His form had not yet lost all her original brightness."--Milton. "No one will answer as if I were their friend or companion."--Steele, Spect., No. 534. "But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."-- Philippians, ii, 3. "And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour."--Zechariah, viii, 17. "For every tree is known by his own fruit."--Luke, vi, 44. "But she fell to laughing, like one out of their right mind."--Castle Rackrent, p. 51. "Now these systems, so far from having any tendency to make men better, have a manifest tendency to make him worse."--Wayland's Moral Science, p. 128. "And nobody else would make that city their refuge any more."--Josephus's Life, p. 158. "What is quantity, as it respects syllables or words? It is that time which is occupied in pronouncing it."--Bradley's Gram., p. 108. "In such expressions the adjective so much resembles an adverb in its meaning, that they are usually parsed as such."--Bullions, E. Gram., p. 103. "The tongue is like a race-horse; which runs the faster the less weight it carries."--ADDISON: Joh. Dict.; Murray's Key, Rule 8. "As two thoughtless boys were trying to see which could lift the greatest weight with their jaws, one of them had several of his firm-set teeth wrenched from their sockets."--Newspaper. "Everybody nowadays publishes memoirs; everybody has recollections which they think worthy of recording."--Duchess D'Abrantes, p. 25. "Every body trembled for themselves or their friends."--Goldsmith's Greece, i, 171.

"A steed comes at morning: no rider is there; But its bridle is red with the sign of despair."--Campbell.

UNDER NOTE I.--PRONOUNS WRONG OR NEEDLESS.

"Charles loves to study; but John, alas! he is very idle."--Merchant's School Gram., p. 22. "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?"--Matt., vii, 9. "Who, in stead of going about doing good, they are perpetually intent upon doing mischief."-- Tillotson. "Whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pontius Pilate."--Acts, iii, 13. "Whom, when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber."--Acts, ix, 37. "Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God."--2 Chron., xxxiii, 13. "Whatever a man conceives clearly, he may, if he will be at the trouble, put it into distinct propositions, and express it clearly to others."--Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 293. "But to that point of time which he has chosen, the painter being entirely confined, he cannot exhibit various stages of the same action."--Blair's Rhet., p. 52. "It is without any proof at all what he subjoins."--Barclay's Works, i, 301. "George Fox his Testimony concerning Robert Barclay."--Ib., i, 111. "According to the author of the Postscript his advice."--Ib., iii, 263. "These things seem as ugly to the Eye of their Meditations, as those Æthiopians pictur'd in Nemesis her Pitcher."--Bacon's Wisdom of the Ancients, p. 49. "Moreover, there is always a twofold Condition propounded with Sphynx her Ænigma's."--Ib., p. 73. "Whoever believeth not therein, they shall perish."--Sale's Koran, p. 20. "When, at Sestius his entreaty, I had been at his house."--Walker's Particles, p. 59.

"There high on Sipylus his shaggy brow, She stands, her own sad monument of woe." --Pope's Homer, B. xxiv, l. 777.

UNDER NOTE II.--CHANGE OF NUMBER.

"So will I send upon you famine, and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee."--Ezekiel, v, 17. "Why do you plead so much for it? why do ye preach it up?"--Barclay's Works, i, 180. "Since thou hast decreed that I shall bear man, your darling."--Edward's First Lesson in Gram., p. 106. "You have my book and I have thine; i.e. thy book."--Chandler's Gram., 1821, p. 22. "Neither art thou such a one as to be ignorant of what you are."--Bullions, Lat. Gram., p. 70. "Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you."--Jeremiah, iii, 12. "The Almighty, unwilling to cut thee off in the fullness of iniquity, has sent me to give you warning."--Art of Thinking, p. 278. "Wert thou born only for pleasure? were you never to do any thing?"--Collier's Antoninus, p. 63. "Thou shalt be required to go to God, to die, and give up your account."--BARNES'S NOTES: on Luke, xii, 20. "And canst thou expect to behold the resplendent glory of the Creator? would not such a sight annihilate you?"--Milton. "If the prophet had commanded thee to do some great thing, would you have refused?"--Common School Journal, i, 80. "Art thou a penitent? Evince your sincerity by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance."--Christian's Vade-Mecum, p. 117. "I will call thee my dear son: I remember all your tenderness."-- Classic Tales, p. 8. "So do thou, my son: open your ears, and your eyes."--Wright's Athens, p. 33. "I promise you, this was enough to discourage thee."--Pilgrim's Progress, p. 446. "Ere you remark an other's sin, Bid thy own conscience look within."--Gay. "Permit that I share in thy woe, The privilege can you refuse?"--Perfect's Poems, p. 6. "Ah! Strephon, how can you despise Her who without thy pity dies?"--Swift's Poems, p. 340.

"Thy verses, friend, are Kidderminster stuff, And I must own, you've measur'd out enough."--Shenstone.

"This day, dear Bee, is thy nativity; Had Fate a luckier one, she'd give it ye."--Swift.

UNDER NOTE III.--WHO AND WHICH.

"Exactly like so many puppets, who are moved by wires."--Blair's Rhet., p. 462. "They are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt."--Leviticus, xxv, 42. "Behold I and the children which God hath given me."--Heb., ii, 13; Webster's Bible, and others. "And he sent Eliakim which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe."--2 Kings, xix, 2. "In a short time the streets were cleared of the corpses who filled them."--M'Ilvaine's Led., p. 411. "They are not of those which teach things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake."--Barclay's Works, i, 435. "As a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces."--Micah, v, 8. "Frequented by every fowl whom nature has taught to dip the wing in water."--Rasselas, p. 10. "He had two sons, one of which was adopted by the family of Maximus."--Lempriere, w. Æmytius. "And the ants, who are collected by the smell, are burned by fire."--The Friend, xii, 49. "They being the agents, to which this thing was trusted."--Nixon's Parser, p. 139. "A packhorse who is driven constantly forwards and backwards to market."--LOCKE: Joh. Dict. "By instructing children, the affection of which will be increased."--Nixon's Parser, p. 136. "He had a comely young woman which travelled with him."--Hutchinson's Hist., i, 29. "A butterfly, which thought himself an accomplished traveller, happened to light upon a beehive."--Inst., p. 143. "It is an enormous elephant of stone, who disgorges from his uplifted trunk a vast but graceful shower."--Zenobia, i, 150. "He was met by a dolphin, who sometimes swam before him, and sometimes behind him."--Edward's First Lessons in Gram., p. 34.

"That Cæsar's horse, who, as fame goes, Had corns upon his feet and toes, Was not by half so tender-hooft, Nor trod upon the ground so soft."--Hudibras, p. 6.

UNDER NOTE IV.--NOUNS OF MULTITUDE.

"He instructed and fed the crowds who surrounded him."--Murray's Exercises, p. 52. "The court, who gives currency to manners, ought to be exemplary."--Ibid. "Nor does he describe classes of sinners who do not exist."--Anti-Slavery Magazine, i, 27. "Because the nations among whom they took their rise, were not savage."--Murray's Gram., p. 113. "Among nations who are in the first and rude periods of society."--Blair's Rhet., p. 60. "The martial spirit of those nations, among whom the feudal government prevailed."--Ib., p. 374. "France who was in alliance with Sweden."--Smollett's Voltaire, vi, 187. "That faction in England who most powerfully opposed his arbitrary pretensions."--Mrs. Macaulay's Hist., iii, 21. "We may say, the crowd, who was going up the street.'"--Cobbett's Gram., ¶ 204. "Such members of the Convention who formed this Lyceum, as have subscribed this Constitution."--New-York Lyceum.

UNDER NOTE V.--CONFUSION OF SENSES.

"The possessor shall take a particular form to show its case."--Kirkham's Gram., p. 53. "Of which reasons the principal one is, that no Noun, properly so called, implies its own Presence."--Harris's Hermes, p. 76. "Boston is a proper noun, which distinguishes it from other cities."--Sanborn's Gram., p. 22. "Conjunction means union, or joining together. It is used to join or unite either words or sentences."--Ib., p. 20. "The word interjection means thrown among. It is interspersed among other words to express sudden or strong emotion."--Ib., p. 21. "In deed, or in very deed, may better be written separately, as they formerly were."--Cardell's Gram., 12mo, p. 89. "Alexander, on the contrary, is a particular name, and is restricted to distinguish him alone."--Jamieson's Rhet., p. 25. "As an indication that nature itself had changed her course."--Hist. of America, p. 9. "Of removing from the United States and her territories the free people of colour."--Jenifer. "So that gh may be said not to have their proper sound."--Webster's El. Spelling-Book, p. 10. "Are we to welcome the loathsome harlot, and introduce it to our children?"--Maturin's Sermons, p. 167. "The first question is this, 'Is reputable, national, and present use, which, for brevity's sake, I shall hereafter simply denominate good use, always uniform in her decisions?"--Campbell's Rhet., p. 171. "Time is always masculine, on account of its mighty efficacy. Virtue is feminine from its beauty, and its being the object of love."--Murray's Gram., p. 37; Blair's, 125; Sanborn's, 189; Emmons's, 13; Putnam's, 25; Fisk's, 57; Ingersoll's, 26; Greenleaf's, 21. See also Blair's Rhet., p. 76. "When you speak to a person or thing, it is in the second person."--Bartlett's Manual, Part ii, p. 27. "You now know the noun, for it means name."--Ibid. "T. What do you see? P. A book. T. Spell it."--R. W. Green's Gram., p. 12. "T. What do you see now? P. Two books. T. Spell them."--Ibid. "If the United States lose her rights as a nation."--Liberator, Vol. ix, p. 24. "When a person or thing is addressed or spoken to, it is in the second person."--Frost's El. of Gram., p. 7. "When a person or thing is spoken of, it is in the third person."--Ibid. "The ox, that ploughs the ground, has the same plural termination also, oxen."--Bucke's Classical Gram., p. 40.

"Hail, happy States! thine is the blissful seat, Where nature's gifts and art's improvements meet." EVERETT: Columbian Orator, p. 239.

UNDER NOTE VI.--THE RELATIVE THAT.

(1.) "This is the most useful art which men possess."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 275. "The earliest accounts which history gives us concerning all nations, bear testimony to these facts."--Blair's Rhet., p. 379; Jamieson's, 300. "Mr. Addison was the first who attempted a regular inquiry" [into the pleasures of taste.]--Blair's Rhet., p. 28. "One of the first who introduced it was Montesquieu."--Murray's Gram., p. 125. "Massillon is perhaps the most eloquent writer of sermons which modern times have produced."--Blair's Rhet., p. 289. "The greatest barber who ever lived, is our guiding star and prototype."--Hart's Figaro, No. 6.

(2.) "When prepositions are subjoined to nouns, they are generally the same which are subjoined to the verbs, from which the nouns are derived."--Priestley's Gram., p. 157. "The same proportions which are agreeable in a model, are not agreeable in a large building."--Kames, EL of Crit., ii, 343. "The same ornaments, which we admire in a private apartment, are unseemly in a temple."--Murray's Gram., p. 128. "The same whom John saw also in the sun."--Milton. P. L., B. iii, l. 623.

(3.) "Who can ever be easy, who is reproached with his own ill conduct?"--Thomas à Kempis, p. 72. "Who is she who comes clothed in a robe of green?"--Inst., p. 143. "Who who has either sense or civility, does not perceive the vileness of profanity?"

(4.) "The second person denotes the person or thing which is spoken to."--Compendium in Kirkham's Gram. "The third person denotes the person or thing which is spoken of."--Ibid. "A passive verb denotes action received or endured by the person or thing which is its nominative."--Ibid, and Gram., p. 157. "The princes and states who had neglected or favoured the growth of this power."--Bolingbroke, on History, p. 222. "The nominative expresses the name of the person, or thing which acts, or which is the subject of discourse."--Hiley's Gram., p. 19. (5.) "Authors who deal in long sentences, are very apt to be faulty."--Blair's Rhet., p. 108. "Writers who deal in long sentences, are very apt to be faulty."--Murray's Gram., p. 313. "The neuter gender denotes objects which are neither male nor female."--Merchant's Gram., p. 26. "The neuter gender denotes things which have no sex."--Kirkham's Compendium. "Nouns which denote objects neither male nor female, are of the neuter gender."--Wells's Gram., 1st Ed., p. 49. "Objects and ideas which have been long familiar, make too faint an impression to give an agreeable exercise to our faculties."--Blair's Rhet., p. 50. "Cases which custom has left dubious, are certainly within the grammarian's province."--Murray's Gram., p. 164. "Substantives which end in ery, signify action or habit."--Ib., p. 132. "After all which can be done to render the definitions and rules of grammar accurate," &c.--Ib., p. 36. "Possibly, all which I have said, is known and taught."--A. B. Johnson's Plan of a Dict., p. 15.

(6.) "It is a strong and manly style which should chiefly be studied."--Blair's Rhet., p. 261. "It is this which chiefly makes a division appear neat and elegant."--Ib., p. 313. "I hope it is not I with whom he is displeased."--Murray's Key, R. 17. "When it is this alone which renders the sentence obscure."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 242. "This sort of full and ample assertion, 'it is this which,' is fit to be used when a proposition of importance is laid down."--Blair's Rhet., p. 197. "She is the person whom I understood it to have been." See Murray's Gram., p. 181. "Was it thou, or the wind, who shut the door?"--Inst., p. 143. "It was not I who shut it."--Ib.

(7.) "He is not the person who it seemed he was."--Murray's Gram., p. 181; Ingersoll's, p. 147. "He is really the person who he appeared to be."--Same. "She is not now the woman whom they represented her to have been."--Same. "An only child, is one who has neither brother nor sister; a child alone, is one who is left by itself"--Blair's Rhet., p. 98; Jamieson's, 71; Murray's Gram. 303.

UNDER NOTE VII.--RELATIVE CLAUSES CONNECTED.

(1.) "A Substantive, or Noun, is the name of a thing; of whatever we conceive in any way to subsist, or of which we have any notion."--Lowth's Gram., p. 14. (2.) "A Substantive or noun is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have any notion."--L. Murray's Gram., p. 27; Alger's, 15; Bacon's, 9; E. Dean's, 8; A. Flint's, 10; Folker's, 5; Hamlin's, 9; Ingersoll's, 14; Merchant's, 25; Pond's, 15; S. Putnam's, 10; Rand's, 9; Russell's, 9; T. Smith's, 12; and others. (3.) "A substantive or noun is the name of any person, place, or thing that exists, or of which we can have an idea."--Frost's El. of E. Gram., p. 6. (4.) "A noun is the name of anything that exists, or of which we form an idea."--Hallock's Gram., p. 37. (5.) "A Noun is the name of any person, place, object, or thing, that exists, or which we may conceive to exist."--D. C. Allen's Grammatic Guide, p. 19. (6.) "The name of every thing that exists, or of which we can form any notion, is a noun."--Fisk's Murray's Gram., p. 56. (7.) "An allegory is the representation of some one thing by an other that resembles it, and which is made to stand for it."--Murray's Gram., p. 341. (8.) "Had he exhibited such sentences as contained ideas inapplicable to young minds, or which were of a trivial or injurious nature."--Murray's Gram., Vol. ii, p. v. (9.) "Man would have others obey him, even his own kind; but he will not obey God, that is so much above him, and who made him."--Penn's Maxims. (10.) "But what we may consider here, and which few Persons have taken Notice of, is," &c.--Brightland's Gram., p. 117. (11.) "The Compiler has not inserted such verbs as are irregular only in familiar writing or discourse, and which are improperly terminated by t, instead of ed."--Murray's Gram., p. 107; Fisk's, 81; Hart's, 68; Ingersoll's, 104; Merchant's, 63. (12.) "The remaining parts of speech, which are called the indeclinable parts, or that admit of no variations, will not detain us long."--Blair's Rhet., p. 84.

UNDER NOTE VIII.--THE RELATIVE AND PREPOSITION.

"In the temper of mind he was then."--Addison, Spect., No. 54. "To bring them into the condition I am at present."--Spect., No. 520. "In the posture I lay."--Swift's Gulliver. "In the sense it is sometimes taken."--Barclay's Works, i, 527. "Tools and utensils are said to be right, when they serve for the uses they were made."--Collier's Antoninus, p. 99. "If, in the extreme danger I now am, I do not imitate the behaviour of those," &c.--Goldsmith's Greece, i, 193. "News was brought, that Darius was but twenty miles from the place they then were."--Ib., ii, 113. "Alexander, upon hearing this news, continued four days in the place he then was."--Ib., ii, 113. "To read, in the best manner it is now taught."--L. Murray's Gram., p. 246. "It may be expedient to give a few directions as to the manner it should be studied."--Hallock's Gram., p. 9. "Participles are words derived from verbs, and convey an idea of the acting of an agent, or the suffering of an object, with the time it happens."--Alex. Murray's Gram., p. 50.

"Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies."--Beauties of Shak., p. 173.

UNDER NOTE IX.--ADVERBS FOR RELATIVES.

"In compositions where pronunciation has no place."--Blair's Rhet., p. 101. "They framed a protestation, where they repeated their claims."--Hume's Hist. "Which have reference to Substances, where Sex never had existence."--Harris's Hermes, p. 43. "Which denote substances where sex never had existence."--Murray's Gram., p. 38; Fisk's, 57. "There is no rule given how truth may be found out."--Walker's Particles, p. 160. "The nature of the objects whence they are taken."--Blair's Rhet., p. 165. "That darkness of character, where we can see no heart."--Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 236. "The states where they negotiated."--Formey's Belles-Lettres, p. 159. "Till the motives whence men act be known."--Beattie's Moral Science, p. 262. "He assigns the principles whence their power of pleasing flows."--Blair's Rhet., p. 19. "But I went on, and so finished this History in that form as it now appears."--Sewel's Preface, p. v. "By prepositions we express the cause why, the instrument by which, wherewith, or the manner how a thing is done."--Alex. Murray's Gram., p. 128; John Burn's, 121. "They are not such in the language whence they are derived."--Town's Analysis, p. 13. "I find it very hard to persuade several, that their passions are affected by words from whence they have no ideas."--Burke, on the Sublime, p. 95. "The known end, then, why we are placed in a state of so much affliction, hazard, and difficulty, is our improvement in virtue and piety."--Butler's Anal., p. 109.

"Yet such his acts, as Greeks unborn shall tell, And curse the battle where their fathers fell." --Pope, Il., B. x, I. 61.

UNDER NOTE X.--REPEAT THE NOUN.

"Youth may be thoughtful, but it is not very common."--Webster's El. Spelling-Book, p. 85. "A proper name is that given to one person or thing."--Bartlett's School Manual, ii, 27. "A common name is that given to many things of the same sort."--Ibid. "This rule is often violated; some instances of which are annexed."--Murray's Gram., p. 149; Ingersoll's, 237. "This is altogether careless writing. It renders style often obscure, always embarrassed and inelegant."--Blair's Rhet., p. 106. "Every inversion which is not governed by this rule, will be disrelished by every one of taste."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 62. "A proper diphthong is that in which both the vowels are sounded."--Murray's Gram., p. 9; Alger's, 11; Bacon's, 8; Merchant's, 9; Hiley's, 3; and others. "An improper Diphthong is one in which only one of the two Vowels is sounded."--Lennie's Gram., p. 5. "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his descendants, are called Hebrews."--Wood's Dict. "Every word in our language, of more than one syllable, has one of them distinguished from the rest in this manner."--Murray's Gram., p. 236. "Two consonants proper to begin a word must not be separated; as, fa-ble, sti-fle. But when they come between two vowels, and are such as cannot begin a word, they must be divided; as, ut-most, un-der."--Ib., p. 22. "Shall the intellect alone feel no pleasures in its energy, when we allow them to the grossest energies of appetite and sense?"--Harris's Hermes, p. 298; Murray's Gram., 289. "No man hath a propensity to vice as such: on the contrary, a wicked deed disgusts him, and makes him abhor the author."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 66. "The same that belong to nouns, belong also to pronouns."--Greenleaf's Gram., p. 8. "What is Language? It is the means of communicating thoughts from one to another."--O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 15. "A simple word is that which is not made up of more than one."--Adam's Gram., p. 4; Gould's, p. 4. "A compound word is that which is made up of two or more words."--Ib. "When a conjunction is to be supplied, it is called Asyndeton."--Adam's Gram., p. 235.

UNDER NOTE XI.--PLACE OF THE RELATIVE.

"It gives a meaning to words, which they would not have."--Murray's Gram., p. 244. "There are many words in the English language, that are sometimes used as adjectives, and sometimes as adverbs."--Ib., p. 114. "Which do not more effectually show the varied intentions of the mind, than the auxiliaries do which are used to form the potential mood."--Ib., p. 67. "These accents make different impressions on the mind, which will be the subject of a following speculation."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 108. "And others very much differed from the writer's words, to whom they were ascribed."--Pref. to Lily's Gram., p. xii. "Where there is nothing in the sense which requires the last sound to be elevated, an easy fall will be proper."--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 250; Bullions's E. Gram., 167. "There is an ellipsis of the verb in the last clause, which, when you supply, you find it necessary to use the adverb not."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 176; Murray's Gram., 368. "Study is singular number, because its nominative I is, with which it agrees."--Smith's New Gram., p. 22. "John is the person, or, thou art who is in error."--Wright's Gram., p. 136. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin."--2 Cor., v, 21.

"Take that of me, my friend, who have the power To seal the accuser's lips."--Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 268.

UNDER NOTE XII.--WHAT FOR THAT.

"I had no idea but what the story was true."--Browns Inst., p. 144. "The post-boy is not so weary but what he can whistle."--Ib. "He had no intimation but what the men were honest."--Ib. "Neither Lady Haversham nor Miss Mildmay will ever believe, but what I have been entirely to blame."--See Priestley's Gram., p. 93. "I am not satisfied, but what the integrity of our friends is more essential to our welfare than their knowledge of the world."--Ibid. "There is, indeed, nothing in poetry, so entertaining or descriptive, but what a didactic writer of genius may be allowed to introduce in some part of his work."--Blair's Rhet., p. 401. "Brasidas, being bit by a mouse he had catched, let it slip out of his fingers: 'No creature, (says he,) is so contemptible but what may provide for its own safety, if it have courage.'"--PLUTARCH: Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. 81.

UNDER NOTE XIII.--ADJECTIVES FOR ANTECEDENTS.

"In narration, Homer is, at all times, remarkably concise, which renders him lively and agreeable."--Blair's Rhet., p. 435. "It is usual to talk of a nervous, a feeble, or a spirited style; which are plainly the characters of a writer's manner of thinking."--Ib., p. 92. "It is too violent an alteration, if any alteration were necessary, which none is."--Knight, on the Greek Alphabet, p. 134. "Some men are too ignorant to be humble, without which, there can be no docility."--Berkley's Alciphron, p. 385. "Judas declared him innocent; which he could not be, had he in any respect deceived the disciples."--Porteus. "They supposed him to be innocent, which he certainly was not."--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 50; Emmons's, 25. "They accounted him honest, which he certainly was not."--Fetch's Comp. Gram., p. 89. "Be accurate in all you say or do; for it is important in all the concerns of life."--Brown's Inst., p. 145. "Every law supposes the transgressor to be wicked; which indeed he is, if the law is just."--Ib. "To be pure in heart, pious, and benevolent, which all may be, constitutes human happiness."--Murray's Gram., p. 232. "To be dexterous in danger, is a virtue; but to court danger to show it, is weakness."--Penn's Maxims.

UNDER NOTE XIV.--SENTENCES FOR ANTECEDENTS.

"This seems not so allowable in prose; which the following erroneous examples will demonstrate."--Murray's Gram., p. 175. "The accent is laid upon the last syllable of a word; which is favourable to the melody."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 86. "Every line consists of ten syllables, five short and five long; from which there are but two exceptions, both of them rare."--Ib., ii, 89. "The soldiers refused obedience, which has been explained."--Nixon's Parser, p. 128. "Cæsar overcame Pompey, which was lamented."--Ib. "The crowd hailed William, which was expected."--Ib. "The tribunes resisted Scipio, which was anticipated."--Ib. "The censors reproved vice, which was admired."--Ib. "The generals neglected discipline, which has been proved."--Ib. "There would be two nominatives to the verb was, which is improper."--Adam's Lat. Gram., p. 205; Gould's, 202. "His friend bore the abuse very patiently; which served to increase his rudeness: it produced, at length, contempt and insolence."--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 50; Emmons's, 25. "Almost all compounded sentences, are more or less elliptical; some examples of which may be seen under the different parts of speech."--Murray's Gram., p. 217; Guy's, 90; R G. Smith's, 180; Ingersoll's, 153; Fisk's, 144; J. M. Putnam's, 137; Weld's, 190, Weld's Imp. Ed., 214.

UNDER NOTE XV.--REPEAT THE PRONOUN.

"In things of Nature's workmanship, whether we regard their internal or external structure, beauty and design are equally conspicuous."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 269. "It puzzles the reader, by making him doubt whether the word ought to be taken in its proper or figurative sense."--Ib., ii, 231. "Neither my obligations to the muses, nor expectations from them, are so great."--Cowley's Preface. "The Fifth Annual Report of the Anti-Slavery Society of Ferrisburgh and vicinity."--Liberator, ix, 69. "Meaning taste in its figurative as well as proper sense."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 360. "Every measure in which either your personal or political character is concerned."--Junius, Let. ix. "A jealous, righteous God has often punished such in themselves or offspring."--Extracts, p. 179. "Hence their civil and religious history are inseparable."--Milman's Jews, i, 7. "Esau thus carelessly threw away both his civil and religious inheritance."--Ib., i, 24. "This intelligence excited not only our hopes, but fears likewise."--Jaudon's Gram., p. 170. "In what manner our defect of principle and ruling manners have completed the ruin of the national spirit of union."--Brown's Estimate, i, 77. "Considering her descent, her connexion, and present intercourse."--Webster's Essays, p. 85. "His own and wife's wardrobe are packed up in a firkin."--Parker and Fox's Gram., Part i, p. 73.

UNDER NOTE XVI.--CHANGE THE ANTECEDENT.

"The sound of e and o long, in their due degrees, will be preserved, and clearly distinguished."--Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 242. "If any person should be inclined to think," &c., "the author takes the liberty to suggest to them," &c.--Ib., Pref., p. iv. "And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it."--1 Kings, xxii, 43. "If ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."--Matt., xviii, 35. "Nobody ever fancied they were slighted by him, or had the courage to think themselves his betters."--Collier's Antoninus, p. 8. "And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son."--Gen., xxvii, 15. "Where all the attention of man is given to their own indulgence."-- Maturin's Sermons, p. 181. "The idea of a father is a notion superinduced to the substance, or man--let man be what it will."--Locke's Essay, i, 219. "Leaving every one to do as they list."--Barclay's Works, i, 460. "Each body performed his part handsomely."--J. Flint's Gram., p. 15. "This block of marble rests on two layers of stone, bound together with lead, which, however, has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them."--Parker and Fox's Gram., Part i, p. 72.

"Love gives to every power a double power, Above their functions and their offices."--Shakspeare.

RULE XI.--PRONOUNS.

When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the Pronoun must agree with it in the plural number: as, "The council were divided in their sentiments."--"The Christian world are beginning to awake out of their slumber."--C. Simeon. "Whatever Adam's posterity lost through him, that and more they gain in Christ."--J. Phipps.

"To this, one pathway gently-winding leads, Where march a train with baskets on their heads." --Pope, Iliad, B. xviii, l. 657.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XI.

OBS. 1.--The collective noun, or noun of multitude, being a name that signifies many, may in general be taken in either of two ways, according to the intention of the user: that is, either with reference to the aggregate as one thing, in which sense it will accord with the neuter pronoun it or which; or with reference to the individuals, so as to accord with a plural pronoun they, their, them, or who, masculine, or feminine, as the individuals of the assemblage may happen to be. The noun itself, being literally singular both in form and in fact, has not unfrequently some article or adjective before it that implies unity; so that the interpretation of it in a plural sense by the pronoun or verb, was perhaps not improperly regarded by the old grammarians as an example of the figure syllepsis:.as, "Liberty should reach every individual of a people, as they all share one common nature."--Spectator, No. 287.

"Thus urg'd the chief; a generous troop appears, Who spread their bucklers and advance their spears." --Pope, Iliad, B. xi, l. 720.

OBS. 2.--Many of our grammarians say, "When a noun of multitude is preceded by a definitive word, which clearly limits the sense to an aggregate with an idea of unity, it requires a verb and pronoun to agree with it in the singular number."--Murray's Gram., p. 153; Ingersoll's, 249; Fisk's, 122; Fowler's, 528. But this principle, I apprehend, cannot be sustained by an appeal to general usage. The instances in practice are not few, in which both these senses are clearly indicated with regard to the same noun; as, "Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgement require secrecy."--Constitution of the United States, Art. i, Sec. 5. "I mean that part of mankind who are known by the name of women's men, or beaux."--Addison, Spect., No. 536. "A set of men who are common enough in the world."--Ibid. "It is vain for a people to expect to be free, unless they are first willing to be virtuous."--Wayland's Moral Science, p. 397. "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed."--Matt., xiii, 15. "This enemy had now enlarged their confederacy, and made themselves more formidable than before."--Life of Antoninus, p. 62.

"Thus from the tents the fervent legion swarms; So loud their clamour, and so keen their arms." --Pope, Iliad, B. xvi, l. 320.

OBS. 3.--Most collective nouns of the neuter gender, may take the regular plural form, and be represented by a pronoun in the third person, plural, neuter; as, "The nations will enforce their laws." This construction comes under Rule 10th, as does also the singular, "The nations will enforce its laws;" for, in either case, the agreement is entirely literal. Half of Murray's Rule 4th is therefore needless. To Rule 11th above, there are properly no exceptions; because the number of the pronoun is itself the index to the sense in which the antecedent is therein taken. It does not follow, however, but that there may be violations of the rule, or of the notes under it, by the adoption of one number when the other would be more correct, or in better taste. A collection of things inanimate, as a fleet, a heap, a row, a tier, a bundle, is seldom, if ever, taken distributively, with a plural pronoun. For a further elucidation of the construction of collective nouns, see Rule 15th, and the observations under it.

NOTES TO RULE XI.

NOTE I.--A collective noun conveying the idea of unity, requires a pronoun in the third person, singular, neuter; as, "When a legislative body makes laws, it acts for itself only; but when it makes grants or contracts, it acts as a party."--Webster's Essays, p. 40. "A civilized people has no right to violate its solemn obligations, because the other party is uncivilized."--Wayland's Moral Science, p. 314.

NOTE II.--When a collective noun is followed by two or more words which must each in some sense agree with it, uniformity of number is commonly preferable to diversity, and especially to such a mixture as puts the singular both before and after the plural; as, "That ingenious nation who have done so much honour to modern literature, possesses, in an eminent degree, the talent of narration."--Blair's Rhet., p. 364. Better: "which has done."

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XI.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE IDEA OF PLURALITY.

"The jury will be confined till it agrees on a verdict."--Brown's Inst., p. 145.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun it is of the singular number, and does not correctly represent its antecedent jury, which is a collective noun conveying rather the idea of plurality. But, according to Rule 11th, "When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the pronoun must agree with it in the plural number." Therefore, it should be they; thus, "The jury will be confined till they agree on a verdict."]

"And mankind directed its first cares towards the needful."--Formey's Belles-Lettres, p. 114. "It is difficult to deceive a free people respecting its true interest."--Life of Charles XII, p. 67. "All the virtues of mankind are to be counted upon a few fingers, but his follies and vices are innumerable."--Swift. "Every sect saith, 'Give me liberty:' but give it him, and to his power, he will not yield it to any body else."--Oliver Cromwell. "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion."--Numbers, xxiii, 24. "For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."--Gen., vi, 12. "There happened to the army a very strange accident, which put it in great consternation."--Goldsmith.

UNDER NOTE I.--THE IDEA OF UNITY.

"The meeting went on in their business as a united body."--Foster's Report, i, 69. "Every religious association has an undoubted right to adopt a creed for themselves."--Gould's Advocate, iii, 405. "It would therefore be extremely difficult to raise an insurrection in that State against their own government."--Webster's Essays, p. 104. "The mode in which a Lyceum can apply themselves in effecting a reform in common schools."--New York Lyceum. "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?"--Jeremiah, ii, 11. "In the holy scriptures each of the twelve tribes of Israel is often called by the name of the patriarch, from whom they descended."--J. Q. Adams's Rhet., ii, 331.

UNDER NOTE II.--UNIFORMITY OF NUMBER.

"A nation, by the reparation of their own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can ever give."--J. Q. Adams. "The English nation, from which we descended, have been gaining their liberties inch by inch."--Webster's Essays, p. 45. "If a Yearly Meeting should undertake to alter its fundamental doctrines, is there any power in the society to prevent their doing so?"--Foster's Report, i, 96. "There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother."--Proverbs, xxx, 11. "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness."--Ib., xxx, 12. "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them."--Numb., xxiii, 21. "My people hath forgotten me, they have burnt incense to vanity."--Jer., xviii, 15. "When a quarterly meeting hath come to a judgment respecting any difference, relative to any monthly meeting belonging to them," &c.--Extracts, p. 195; N. E. Discip., p. 118. "The number of such compositions is every day increasing, and appear to be limited only by the pleasure or conveniency of the writer."--Booth's Introd. to Dict., p. 37. "The church of Christ hath the same power now as ever, and are led by the same Spirit into the same practices."--Barclay's Works, i, 477. "The army, whom the chief had thus abandoned, pursued meanwhile their miserable march."--Lockhart's Napoleon, ii, 165.

RULE XII.--PRONOUNS.

When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by and, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together: as, "Minos and Thales sung to the lyre the laws which they composed."--STRABO: Blair's Rhet., p. 379. "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided."--2 Sam., i, 23.

"Rhesus and Rhodius then unite their rills, Caresus roaring down the stony hills."--Pope, Il., B. xii, l. 17.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

When two or more antecedents connected by and serve merely to describe one person or thing, they are either in apposition or equivalent to one name, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "This great philosopher and statesman continued in public life till his eighty-second year."--"The same Spirit, light, and life, which enlighteneth, also sanctifieth, and there is not an other."--Penington. "My Constantius and Philetus confesseth me two years older when I writ it."--Cowley's Preface. "Remember these, O Jacob and Israel! for thou art my servant."--Isaiah, xliv, 21. "In that strength and cogency which renders eloquence powerful."--Blair's Rhet., p. 252.

EXCEPTION SECOND.

When two antecedents connected by and are emphatically distinguished, they belong to different propositions, and, if singular, do not require a plural pronoun; as, "The butler, and not the baker, was restored to his office."--"The good man, and the sinner too, shall have his reward."--"Truth, and truth only, is worth seeking for its own sake."--"It is the sense in which the word is used, and not the letters of which it is composed, that determines what is the part of speech to which it belongs."--Cobbett's Gram., ¶ 130.

EXCEPTION THIRD.

When two or more antecedents connected by and are preceded by the adjective each, every, or no, they are taken separately, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "Every plant and every tree produces others after its own kind."--"It is the cause of every reproach and distress which has attended your government."--Junius, Let. xxxv. But if the latter be a collective noun, the pronoun may be plural; as, "Each minister and each church act according to their own impressions."--Dr. M'Cartee.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XII.

OBS. 1.--When the antecedents are of different persons, the first person is preferred to the second, and the second to the third; as, "John, and thou, and I, are attached to our country."--"John and thou are attached to your country."--"The Lord open some light, and show both you and me our inheritance!"--Baxter. "Thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood."--Numbers, xviii, 1.

"For all are friends in heaven; all faithful friends; And many friendships in the days of Time Begun, are lasting here, and growing still: So grows ours evermore, both theirs and mine." --Pollok, C. of T., B. v, l. 335.

OBS 2.--The gender of pronouns, except in the third person singular, is distinguished only by their antecedents. In expressing that of a pronoun which has antecedents of different genders, the masculine should be preferred to the feminine, and the feminine to the neuter. The parser of English should remember, that this is a principle of General Grammar.

OBS 3.--When two words are taken separately as nominatives, they ought not to be united in the same sentence as antecedents. In the following example, therefore, them should be it: "The first has a lenis, and the other an asper over them."--Printer's Gram., p. 246. Better thus: "The first has a lenis over it, and the other an asper."

OBS. 4.--Nouns that stand as nominatives or antecedents, are sometimes taken conjointly when there is no conjunction expressed; as, "The historian, the orator, the philosopher, address themselves primarily to the understanding: their direct aim is, to inform, to persuade, to instruct."--Blair's Rhet., p. 377. The copulative and may here be said to be understood, because the verb and the pronouns are plural; but it seems better in general, either to introduce the connective word, or to take the nouns disjunctively: as, "They have all the copiousness, the fervour, the inculcating method, that is allowable and graceful in an orator; perhaps too much of it for a writer."--Blair's Rhet., p. 343. To this, however, there may be exceptions,--cases in which the plural form is to be preferred,--especially in poetry; as,

"Faith, justice, heaven itself, now quit their hold, When to false fame the captive heart is sold."--Brown, on Satire.

OBS. 5.--When two or more antecedents connected by and are nominally alike, one or more of them may be understood; and, in such a case, the pronoun must still be plural, as agreeing with all the nouns, whether expressed or implied: as, "But intellectual and moral culture ought to go hand in hand; they will greatly help each other."--Dr. Weeks. Here they stands for intellectual culture and moral culture. The following example is incorrect: "The Commanding and Unlimited mode may be used in an absolute sense, or without a name or substitute on which it can depend."--O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 80. Change it to they, or and to or. See Note 6th to Rule 16th.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XII.

PRONOUNS WITH ANTECEDENTS CONNECTED BY AND.

"Discontent and sorrow manifested itself in his countenance."--Brown's Inst., p. 146.

[FORMULE--Not proper, because the pronoun itself is of the singular number, and does not correctly represent its two antecedents discontent and sorrow, which are connected by and, and taken conjointly. But, according to Rule 12th, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by and, it must agree with then, jointly in the plural, because they are taken together." Therefore, itself should be themselves; thus, "Discontent and sorrow manifested themselves in his countenance."]

"Both conversation and public speaking became more simple and plain, such as we now find it."--Blair's Rhet., p. 59. "Idleness and ignorance, if it be suffered to proceed, &c."--JOHNSON: Priestley's Gram., p. 186. "Avoid questions and strife; it shows a busy and contentious disposition."--Wm. Penn. "To receive the gifts and benefits of God with thanksgiving, and witness it blessed and sanctified to us by the word and prayer, is owned by us."--Barclays Works, i, 213. "Both minister and magistrate are compelled to choose between his duty and his reputation."--Junius, p. 9. "All the sincerity, truth, and faithfulness, or disposition of heart or conscience to approve it, found among rational creatures, necessarily originate from God."--Brown's Divinity, p. 12. "Your levity and heedlessness, if it continue, will prevent all substantial improvement."--Brown's Inst., p. 147. "Poverty and obscurity will oppress him only who esteems it oppressive."--Ib. "Good sense and refined policy are obvious to few, because it cannot be discovered but by a train of reflection."--Ib. "Avoid haughtiness of behaviour, and affectation, of manners: it implies a want of solid merit."--Ib. "If love and unity continue, it will make you partakers of one an other's joy."--Ib. "Suffer not jealousy and distrust to enter: it will destroy, like a canker, every germ of friendship."--Ib. "Hatred and animosity are inconsistent with Christian charity; guard, therefore, against the slightest indulgence of it."--Ib. "Every man is entitled to liberty of conscience, and freedom of opinion, if he does not pervert it to the injury of others."--Ib.

"With the azure and vermilion Which is mix'd for my pavilion."--Byron's Manfred, p. 9.

RULE XIII.--PRONOUNS.

When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by or or nor, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together: as; "James or John will favour us with his company."--"Neither wealth nor honour can secure the happiness of its votaries."

"What virtue or what mental grace, But men unqualified and base Will boast it their possession?"--Cowper, on Friendship.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XIII.

OBS. 1.--When two or more singular antecedents are connected by or or nor, the pronoun which represents them, ought in general to be singular, because or and nor are disjunctives; and, to form a complete concord, the nouns ought also to be of the same person and gender, that the pronoun may agree in all respects with each of them. But when plural nouns are connected in this manner, the pronoun will of course be plural, though it still agrees with the antecedents singly; as, "Neither riches nor honours ever satisfy their pursuers." Sometimes, when different numbers occur together, we find the plural noun put last, and the pronoun made plural after both, especially if this noun is a mere substitute for the other; as,

"What's justice to a man, or laws, That never comes within their claws."--Hudibras.

OBS. 2.--When antecedents of different persons, numbers, or genders, are connected by or or nor, they cannot very properly be represented by any pronoun that is not applicable to each of them. The following sentences are therefore inaccurate; or at least they contradict the teachings of their own authors: "Either thou or I am greatly mistaken, in our judgment on this subject."--Murray's Key, p. 184 "Your character, which I, or any other writer, may now value ourselves by (upon) drawing."--SWIFT: Lowth's Gram., p. 96. "Either you or I will be in our place in due time."--Coopers Gram., p. 127. But different pronouns may be so connected as to refer to such antecedents taken separately; as, "By requiring greater labour from such slave or slaves, than he or she or they are able to perform."--Prince's Digest. Or, if the gender only be different, the masculine may involve the feminine by implication; as, "If a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake."--Exodus, xxi, 26.

OBS. 3.--It is however very common to resort to the plural number in such instances as the foregoing, because our plural pronouns are alike in all the genders; as, "When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite."--Numbers, vi, 2. "Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman unto thy gates, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die."--Deut., xvii, 5. "Not on outward charms could he or she build their pretensions to please."--Opie, on Lying, p. 148. "Complimenting either man or woman on agreeable qualities which they do not possess, in hopes of imposing on their credulity."--Ib., p. 108. "Avidien, or his wife, (no matter which,) sell their presented partridges and fruits."--Pope, Sat. ii, l. 50. "Beginning with Latin or Greek hexameter, which are the same."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 79.

"Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch, Transform themselves so strangely as the rich?" --Pope, Ep. i, l. 152.

OBS. 4.--From the observations and examples above, it may be perceived, that whenever there is a difference of person, number, or gender, in antecedents connected disjunctively, there is an inherent difficulty respecting the form of the pronoun personal. The best mode of meeting this inconvenience, or of avoiding it by a change of the phraseology, may be different on different occasions. The disjunctive connexion of explicit pronouns is the most correct, but it savours too much of legal precision and wordiness to be always eligible. Commonly an ingenious mind may invent some better expression, and yet avoid any syntactical anomaly. In Latin, when nouns are connected by the conjunctions which correspond to or or nor, the pronoun or verb is so often made plural, that no such principle as that of the foregoing Rule, or of Rule 17th, is taught by the common grammars of that language. How such usage can be logically right, however, it is difficult to imagine. Lowth, Murray, Webster, and most other English grammarians, teach, that, "The conjunction disjunctive has an effect contrary to that of the copulative; and, as the verb, noun, or pronoun, is referred to the preceding terms taken separately, it must be in the singular number."--Lowth's Gram., p. 75; L. Murray's, 151; Churchill's, 142; W. Allen's, 133; Lennie's, 83; and many others. If there is any allowable exception to this principle, it is for the adoption of the plural when the concord cannot be made by any one pronoun singular; as, "If I value my friend's wife or son upon account of their connexion with him."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 73. "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation."--Levit., x, 8. These examples, though they do not accord with the preceding rule, seem not to be susceptible of any change for the better. There are also some other modes of expression, in which nouns that are connected disjunctively, may afterwards be represented together; as "Foppery is a sort of folly much more contagious THAN pedantry; but as they result alike from affectation, they deserve alike to be proscribed."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 217.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XIII.

PRONOUNS WITH ANTECEDENTS CONNECTED BY OR OR NOR.

"Neither prelate nor priest can give their flocks any decisive evidence that you are lawful pastors."--Dr. Brownlee.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun their is of the plural number, and does not correctly represent its two antecedents prelate and priest, which are connected by nor, and taken disjunctively. But, according to Rule 13th, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by or or nor, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together." Therefore, their should be his; thus, "Neither prelate nor priest can give his flocks any decisive evidence that you are lawful pastors."]

"And is there a heart of parent or of child, that does not beat and burn within them?"--Maturin's Sermons, p. 367. "This is just as if an eye or a foot should demand a salary for their service to the body."--Collier's Antoninus, p. 178. "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee."--Matt., xviii, 8. "The same might as well be said of Virgil, or any great author, whose general character will infallibly raise many casual additions to their reputation."--Pope's Pref. to Homer. "Either James or John, one of them, will come."--Smith's New Gram., p. 37. "Even a rugged rock or barren heath, though in themselves disagreeable, contribute by contrast to the beauty of the whole."--Kames, El. of Crit., i, 185. "That neither Count Rechteren nor Monsieur Mesnager had behaved themselves right in this affair."--Spect., No. 481. "If an Aristotle, a Pythagoras, or a Galileo, suffer for their opinions, they are 'martyrs.'"--Gospel its own Witness, p. 80. "If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die; then the ox shall be surely stoned."--Exodus, xxi, 28. "She was calling out to one or an other, at every step, that a Habit was ensnaring them."--DR. JOHNSON: Murray's Sequel, 181. "Here is a Task put upon Children, that neither this Author, nor any other have yet undergone themselves."--Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 162. "Hence, if an adjective or participle be subjoined to the verb, when of the singular number, they will agree both in gender and number with the collective noun."--Adam's Lat. Gram., p. 154; Gould's, 158. "And if you can find a diphthong, or a triphthong, be pleased to point them out too."--Bucke's Classical Gram., p. 16. "And if you can find a diphthong, or a triphthong, a trissyllable, or a polysyllable, point them respectively out."--Ib., p. 25. "The false refuges in which the atheist or the sceptic have intrenched themselves."--Christian Spect., viii, 185. "While the man or woman thus assisted by art expects their charms will be imputed to nature alone."--Opie, 141. "When you press a watch, or pull a clock, they answer your question with precision; for they repeat exactly the hour of the day, and tell you neither more nor less than you desire to know."--Bolingbroke, on History, p. 102.

"Not the Mogul, or Czar of Muscovy, Not Prester John, or Cham of Tartary, Are in their houses Monarch more than I." --KING: Brit. Poets, Vol. iii, p. 613.

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