APPENDIX IV.
TO PART FOURTH, OR PROSODY.
OF POETIC DICTION.
Poetry, as defined by Dr. Blair, "is the language of passion, or of enlivened imagination, formed, most commonly, into regular numbers."—Rhet., p. 377. The style of poetry differs, in many respects, from that which is commonly adopted in prose. Poetic diction abounds in bold figures of speech, and unusual collocations of words. A great part of the figures, which have been treated of in one of the chapters of Prosody, are purely poetical. The primary aim of a poet, is, to please and to move; and, therefore, it is to the imagination, and the passions, that he speaks. He may also, and he should, have it in his view, to instruct and to reform; but it is indirectly, and by pleasing and moving, that such a writer accomplishes this end. The exterior and most obvious distinction of poetry, is versification: yet there are some forms of verse so loose and familiar, as to be hardly distinguishable from prose; and there is also a species of prose, so measured in its cadences, and so much raised in its tone, as to approach very nearly to poetic numbers.
This double approximation of some poetry to prose, and of some prose to poetry, not only makes it a matter of acknowledged difficulty to distinguish, by satisfactory definitions, the two species of composition, but, in many instances, embarrasses with like difficulty the attempt to show, by statements and examples, what usages or licenses, found in English works, are proper to be regarded as peculiarities of poetic diction. It is purposed here, to enumerate sundry deviations from the common style of prose; and perhaps all of them, or nearly all, may be justly considered as pertaining only to poetry.
POETICAL PECULIARITIES.
The following are among the chief peculiarities in which the poets indulge, and are indulged:—
I. They not unfrequently omit the ARTICLES, for the sake of brevity or metre; as,
"What dreadful pleasure! there to stand sublime,
Like shipwreck'd mariner on desert coast!"
—Beattie's Minstrel, p. 12.
"Sky lour'd, and, muttering thunder, some sad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal sin."
—Milton, P. L., B. ix, l. 1002.
II. They sometimes abbreviate common NOUNS, after a manner of their own: as, amaze, for amazement; acclaim, for acclamation; consult, for consultation; corse, for corpse; eve or even, for evening; fount, for fountain; helm, for helmet; lament, for lamentation; morn, for morning; plaint, for complaint; targe, for target; weal, for wealth.
III. By enallage, they use verbal forms substantively, or put verbs for nouns; perhaps for brevity, as above: thus,
1. "Instant, without disturb, they took alarm."
—P. Lost: Joh. Dict., w. Aware.
2. "The gracious Judge, without revile reply'd."
—P. Lost, B. x, l. 118.
3. "If they were known, as the suspect is great."
—Shakspeare.
4. "Mark, and perform it: seest thou? for the fail
Of any point in't shall be death."
—Shakspeare.
IV. They employ several nouns that are not used in prose, or are used but rarely; as, benison, boon, emprise, fane, guerdon, guise, ire, ken, lore, meed, sire, steed, welkin, yore.
V. They introduce the noun self after an other noun of the possessive case; as,
1. "Affliction's semblance bends not o'er thy tomb,
Affliction's self deplores thy youthful doom."—Byron.
2. "Thoughtless of beauty, she was beauty's self."—Thomson.
VI. They place before the verb nouns, or other words, that usually come after it; and, after it, those that usually come before it: as,
1. "No jealousy their dawn of love o'ercast,
Nor blasted were their wedded days with strife."
—Beattie.
2. "No hive hast thou of hoarded sweets."
—W. Allen's Gram.
3. "Thy chain a wretched weight shall prove."
—Langhorne.
4. "Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar."
—Thomson.
5. "That purple grows the primrose pale."
—Langhorne.
VII. They more frequently place ADJECTIVES after their nouns, than do prose writers; as,
1. "Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand,
Show'rs on her kings barbaric, pearl and gold."
—Milton, P. L., B. ii, l. 2.
2. "Come, nymph demure, with mantle blue."
—W. Allen's Gram., p. 189.
3. "This truth sublime his simple sire had taught."
—Beattie's Minstrel, p. 14.
VIII. They ascribe qualities to things to which they do not literally belong; as,
1. "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way."
—Gray's Elegy, l. 3.
2. "Or drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds."
—Ibidem, l. 8.
3. "Imbitter'd more and more from peevish day to day."
—Thomson.
4. "All thin and naked, to the numb cold night."
—Shakspeare.
IX. They use concrete terms to express abstract qualities; (i. e., adjectives for nouns;) as,
1. "Earth's meanest son, all trembling, prostrate falls,
And on the boundless of thy goodness calls."
—Young.
2. "Meanwhile, whate'er of beautiful or new,
Sublime or dreadful, in earth, sea, or sky,
By chance or search, was offer'd to his view,
He scann'd with curious and romantic eye."
—Beattie.
3. "Won from the void and formless infinite."
—Milton.
4. "To thy large heart give utterance due; thy heart
Contains of good, wise, just, the perfect shape."
—Id., P. R., B. iii, l. 10.
X. They often substitute quality for manner; (i. e., adjectives for adverbs;) as,
1. ——"The stately-sailing swan
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale,
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet,
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle."
—Thomson.
2. "Thither continual pilgrims crowded still."
—Id., Cos. of Ind., i, 8.
3. "Level at beauty, and at wit;
The fairest mark is easiest hit."
—Butler's Hudibras.
XI. They form new compound epithets, oftener than do prose writers; as,
1. "In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime."
—Thomson.
2. "The dewy-skirted clouds imbibe the sun."
—Idem.
3. "By brooks and groves in hollow-whispering gales."
—Idem.
4. "The violet of sky-woven vest."
—Langhorne.
5. "A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd,
Before the always-wind-obeying deep
Gave any tragic instance of our harm."
—Shakspeare.
6. "'Blue-eyed, strange-voiced, sharp-beaked, ill-omened fowl,
What art thou?' 'What I ought to be, an owl.'"
—Day's Punctuation, p. 139.
XII. They connect the comparative degree to the positive, before a verb; as,
1. "Near and more near the billows rise."
—Merrick.
2. "Wide and wider spreads the vale."
—Dyer's Grongar Hill.
3. "Wide and more wide, the overflowings of the mind
Take every creature in, of every kind."
—Pope.
4. "Thick and more thick the black blockade extends,
A hundred head of Aristotle's friends."
—Id., Dunciad.
XIII. They form many adjectives in y, which are not common in prose; as, The dimply flood,—dusky veil,—a gleamy ray,—heapy harvests,—moony shield,—paly circlet,—sheety lake,—stilly lake,—spiry temples,—steely casque,—steepy hill,—towery height,—vasty deep,—writhy snake.
XIV. They employ adjectives of an abbreviated form: as, dread, for dreadful; drear, for dreary; ebon, for ebony; hoar, for hoary; lone, for lonely; scant, for scanty; slope, for sloping: submiss, for submissive; vermil, for vermilion; yon, for yonder.
XV. They employ several adjectives that are not used in prose, or are used but seldom; as, azure, blithe, boon, dank, darkling, darksome, doughty, dun, fell, rife, rapt, rueful, sear, sylvan, twain, wan.
XVI. They employ the personal PRONOUNS, and introduce their nouns afterwards; as,
1. "It curl'd not Tweed alone, that breeze."
—Sir W. Scott.
2. "What may it be, the heavy sound
That moans old Branksome's turrets round?"
—Idem, Lay, p. 21.
3. "Is it the lightning's quivering glance,
That on the thicket streams;
Or do they flash on spear and lance,
The sun's retiring beams"
—Idem, L. of L., vi, 15.
XVII. They use the forms of the second person singular oftener than do others; as,
1. "Yet I had rather, if I were to chuse,
Thy service in some graver subject use,
Such as may make thee search thy coffers round,
Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound."
—Milton's Works, p. 133.
2. "But thou, of temples old, or altars new,
Standest alone—with nothing like to thee."
—Byron, Pilg., iv, 154.
3. "Thou seest not all; but piecemeal thou must break,
To separate contemplation, the great whole."
—Id., ib., iv, 157.
4. "Thou rightly deemst, fair youth, began the bard;
The form then sawst was Virtue ever fair."
—Pollok, C. of T., p. 16.
XVIII. They sometimes omit relatives that are nominatives; (see Obs. 22, at p. 555;) as,
"For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise?"
—Thomson.
XIX. They omit the antecedent, or introduce it after the relative; as,
1. "Who never fasts, no banquet e'er enjoys,
Who never toils or watches, never sleeps."
—Armstrong.
2. "Who dares think one thing and an other tell,
My soul detests him as the gates of hell."
—Pope's Homer.
XX. They remove relatives, or other connectives, into the body of their clauses; as,
1. "Parts the fine locks, her graceful head that deck."
—Darwin.
2. "Not half so dreadful rises to the sight
Orion's dog, the year when autumn weighs."
—Pope, Iliad, B. xxii, l. 37.
XXI. They make intransitive VERBS transitive, changing their class; as,
1. ——"A while he stands,
Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid
To meditate the blue profound below."
—Thomson.
2. "Still in harmonious intercourse, they liv'd
The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart."
—Idem.
3. ——"I saw and heard, for we sometimes
Who dwell this wild, constrain'd by want, come forth."
—Milton, P. R., B. i, l. 330.
XXII. They make transitive verbs intransitive, giving them no regimen; as,
1. "The soldiers should have toss'd me on their pikes,
Before I would have granted to that act."
—Shakspeare.
2. "This minstrel-god, well-pleased, amid the quire
Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre."
—Pope.
XXIII. They give to the imperative mood the first and the third person; as,
1. "Turn we a moment fancy's rapid flight."
—Thomson.
2. "Be man's peculiar work his sole delight."
—Beattie.
3. "And what is reason? Be she thus defin'd:
Reason is upright stature in the soul."
—Young.
XXIV. They employ can, could, and would, as principal verbs transitive; as,
1. "What for ourselves we can, is always ours."
—Anon.
2. "Who does the best his circumstance allows,
Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more."
—Young.
3. "What would this man? Now upward will he soar,
And, little less than angel, would be more."
—Pope.
XXV. They place the infinitive before the word on which it depends; as,
1. "When first thy sire to send on earth
Virtue, his darling child, design'd"
—Gray.
2. "As oft as I, to kiss the flood, decline;
So oft his lips ascend, to close with mine."
—Sandys.
3. "Besides, Minerva, to secure her care,
Diffus'd around a veil of thicken'd air."
—Pope.
XXVI. They place the auxiliary verb after its principal, by hyperbaton; as,
1. "No longer heed the sunbeam bright
That plays on Carron's breast he can"
—Langhorne.
2. "Follow I must, I cannot go before."
—Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 147.
3. "The man who suffers, loudly may complain;
And rage he may, but he shall rage in vain."
—Pope.
XXVII. Before verbs, they sometimes arbitrarily employ or omit prefixes: as, bide, or abide; dim, or bedim; gird, or begird; lure, or allure; move, or emove; reave, or bereave; vails, or avails; vanish, or evanish; wail, or bewail; weep, or beweep; wilder, or bewilder:—
1. "All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide
In heav'n, or earth, or under earth in hell."
—Milton, P. L., B. iii, l. 321.
2. "Of a horse, ware the heels; of a bull-dog, the jaws;
Of a bear, the embrace; of a lion, the paws."
—Churchills Cram., p. 215.
XXVIII. Some few verbs they abbreviate: as list, for listen; ope, for open; hark, for hearken; dark, for darken; threat, for threaten; sharp, for sharpen.
XXIX. They employ several verbs that are not used in prose, or are used but rarely; as, appal, astound, brook, cower, doff, ken, wend, ween, trow.
XXX. They sometimes imitate a Greek construction of the infinitive; as,
1. "Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme."
—Milton.
2. "For not, to have been dipp'd in Lethè lake,
Could save the son of Thetis from to die."
—Spenser.
XXXI. They employ the PARTICIPLES more frequently than prose writers, and in a construction somewhat peculiar; often intensive by accumulation: as,
1. "He came, and, standing in the midst, explain'd
The peace rejected, but the truce obtain'd."
—Pope.
2. "As a poor miserable captive thrall
Comes to the place where he before had sat
Among the prime in splendor, now depos'd,
Ejected, emptied, gaz'd, unpitied, shunn'd,
A spectacle of ruin or of scorn."
—Milton, P. R., B. i, l. 411.
3. "Though from our birth the faculty divine
Is chain'd and tortured—cabin'd, cribb'd, confined."
—Byron, Pilg., C. iv, St. 127.
XXXII. In turning participles to adjectives, they sometimes ascribe actions, or active properties, to things to which they do not literally belong; as,
"The green leaf quivering in the gale,
The warbling hill, the lowing vale."
—MALLET: Union Poems, p. 26.
XXXIII. They employ several ADVERBS that are not used in prose, or are used but seldom; as, oft, haply, inly, blithely, cheerily, deftly, felly, rifely, starkly.
XXXIV. They give to adverbs a peculiar location in respect to other words; as,
1. "Peeping from forth their alleys green."
—Collins.
2. "Erect the standard there of ancient Night"
—Milton.
3. "The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails."
—Shakspeare.
4. "Where Universal Love not smiles around."
—Thomson.
5. "Robs me of that which not enriches him."
—Shakspeare.
XXXV. They sometimes omit the introductory adverb there: as,
"Was nought around but images of rest." —Thomson.
XXXVI. They briefly compare actions by a kind of compound adverbs, ending in like; as,
"Who bid the stork, Columbus-like, explore
Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before?"
—Pope.
XXXVII. They employ the CONJUNCTIONS, or—or, and nor—nor, as correspondents; as,
1. "Or by the lazy Scheldt or wandering Po."
—Goldsmith.
2. "Wealth heap'd on wealth, nor truth, nor safety buys."
—Johnson.
3. "Who by repentance is not satisfied,
Is nor of heaven, nor earth; for these are pleas'd."
—Shakspeare.
4. "Toss it, or to the fowls, or to the flames."
—Young, N. T., p. 157.
5. "Nor shall the pow'rs of hell, nor wastes of time,
Or vanquish, or destroy."
—Gibbon's Elegy on Davies.
XXXVIII. They oftener place PREPOSITIONS and their adjuncts, before the words on which they depend, than do prose writers; as,
"Against your fame with fondness hate combines;
The rival batters, and the lover mines."
—Dr. Johnson.
XXXIX. They sometimes place a long or dissyllabic preposition after its object; as,
1. "When beauty, Eden's bowers within,
First stretched the arm to deeds of sin,
When passion burn'd and prudence slept,
The pitying angels bent and wept."
—James Hogg.
2. "The Muses fair, these peaceful shades among,
With skillful fingers sweep the trembling strings."
—Lloyd.
3. "Where Echo walks steep hills among,
List'ning to the shepherd's song."
—J. Warton, U. Poems, p. 33.
XL. They have occasionally employed certain prepositions for which, perhaps, it would not be easy to cite prosaic authority; as, adown, aloft, aloof, anear, aneath, askant, aslant, aslope, atween, atwixt, besouth, traverse, thorough, sans. (See Obs. 10th, and others, at p. 441.)
XLI. They oftener employ INTERJECTIONS than do prose writers; as,
"O let me gaze!—Of gazing there's no end.
O let me think!—Thought too is wilder'd here."
—Young.
XLII. They oftener employ ANTIQUATED WORDS and modes of expression; as,
1. "Withouten that, would come an heavier bale." —Thomson.
2. "He was, to weet, a little roguish page,
Save sleep and play, who minded nought at all."
—Id.
3. "Not one eftsoons in view was to be found."
—Id.
4. "To number up the thousands dwelling here,
An useless were, and eke an endless task."
—Id.
5. "Of clerks good plenty here you mote espy."
—Id.
6. "But these I passen by with nameless numbers moe."
—Id.
THE END OF APPENDIX FOURTH
INDEX TO THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS.
[Asterism] In the following Index, the page of the Grammar is directly referred to: Obs. or N. before a numeral, stands for Observation or Observations, or for Note or Notes of the text: R. after a reference, stands for RULE. The small letter n., with an asterisk or other mark affixed to it, relates to a footnote with such mark in the Grammar. Occasionally, t., m., or b., or u., or l., accompanies a reference, to indicate the top, middle, or bottom, or the upper or the lower half, of the page referred to. Few abbreviations are employed beyond those of the ordinary grammatical terms. The Index is not intended to supersede the use of the Table of Contents, which stands after the Preface. It is occupied wholly with the matter of the Grammar proper; hence there are in it no references to the Introduction Historical and Critical, which precedes the didactic portion of the work. In the Table before-mentioned must be sought the general division of English grammar, and matters pertaining to praxis, to examination, and to the writing of exercises.
A.
A, lett., names itself
—its plur.
—sounds properly its own
—numb. of sounds pertaining to, orthoëpists differ concerning
—diphthongs beginning with,
—triphth. do.
—its true sound to be carefully preserved at end of words,
A, as prep, or prefix
—before part, in ing.
A and an, in Gr. derivatives.
A or an, art., see An, A
Abbreviations, frequent in writt. lang.
—rule of punct. for.
C, M, D, &c., as numerals, see Letters.
Needless abbreviations, to be avoided
Able, ible, class of adjectives in, numerous in Eng.; difficulty with
resp. to the prop. form and signif. of; to what able most properly
belongs
—application of able to nouns, its propriety doubtf.
—Able or ible, prop. application of, how far determined from Lat.
etymol.
—Able and ible, words of the same meaning in, how formed from
different roots,
About, with infin., as substitute for Lat. fut. part, in rus —About, with of preced., ("OF ABOUT one hundred feet") —About, derivat. of, from Sax.
Abrupt transitions in the Bible
Absolute, when, and in what case, a noun or a pron. is put —Absol., case, defect of the common rule for —in how many ways the nom. case is put —nom. case put, with part., to what often equivalent; what part. frequently understood after nouns put —case, its existence denied by what authors —words put, punct. of,
Abstract numbers, synt. of the phraseology used in speaking of, ("Twice two IS four," or "Twice two ARE four")
Absurd or incompatible expressions, to be avoided
Absurdities of expression, Crit. N. concerning
Acatalectic, when a line is said to be
Accent and quantity, critical observations on
Accent, difficulty with respect to the import of the word —various definitions of, cited —Accent, confounded by some with emphasis —defined, as commonly understood —chief or primary and secondary —Accent, by what regulated —compared with emphasis —as affected by do. —is distinct from quantity —as understood by DR. JOH. —SHERID. teachings concerning; mostly adopted by MURR. —what lett. of a word receives the mark of —stress on a monosyl. more properly emphasis than —Accents, more than one on a word —DR. ADAM'S view of
Accentuation, modern, of Gr. and Lat. words, by what regulated; SANCTIUS'S rule for, new vers. of
According to, as to, resolved. Accordingly, whether may be said for the questionable according
Accusative before infin., in Lat. and Gr., of what reckoned the subject —whether the construc. can in general be imitated in Eng. —who adopt the Lat. doctrine of —what our nearest approach to the Lat. construc. of
Active, in reference to verbs, in what sense may be used
Active-transitive verb, defined
—Act.-trans. verbs gov. obj. case
—place of agent and object in respect to
—Act.-trans. verb, or part., has some noun or pron. for its object
—with two words in appos. ("Proclaim THEE KING,")
—with do., neither in appos. nor connected by conjunc., ("I paid HIM
the MONEY,")
—with redund. me, thee, you
—should not be used without an object
—should not assume a governm. incompatible with its signif.
Active-intransitive verb, defined
—Act.-intrans. verb, with prep. and its object, put in the pass.
form
—in pass. form with neut. signif. ("I AM COME,")
—should not be used transitively
Addison, undeservedly criticised by BLAIR, for his frequent use of that, as a relative
Addition, enumeration, of numbers, by what number of the verb to be expressed
Address, ordinary fashion of, in Eng., the plur. numb. —has introduced the anomal. compound yourself —Address, direct, nom. absol. by —terms of, your Majesty, your Highness, &c., in what construc. used —general usage of, in Fr.; in Span., Portug., or Germ.
ADJECTIVES, Etymol. of —Classes of, named and defined —Modifications of —Comparison of, reg.; by adverbs; irreg. —Adjectives in able and ible, (see Able, Ible.) —Adjectives, number of, in Eng. —how have been otherwise called —how distinguished from nouns —other parts of speech may become —MURR., on nouns assuming the nature of —whether nouns plur. can assume the character of —Adjectives that cannot be compared —that are compared by means of adverbs —(See Comparison, Comparative Deg., and Superlative Deg.) —Adjectives requiring the article the —denoting place or situation, comparison of —become adverbs —use of, for adv., improper —with prep., ellipt., equivalent to adv. —poet., for nouns —do., for adverbs —Adjectives, Synt. of —do., in what consists —to what relate —substituted ellipt. for their abstr. nouns —relate to nouns or pronouns understood —used with def. art., ellipt., as nouns —two or more before a noun, order of —two, joined by hyphens —denoting unity or plurality, how agree with their nouns —connected, position of —differing in numb., connected without repetition of noun ("ONE or more letters,") —much, little, &c., preceded by too, how, &c., taken substantively —Adjectives, punct. of —derivation of, from nouns, from adjectives, &c. —poet. peculiarities in respect to —Adjective, taken abstractly with infin. or part. —following a finite verb, without a noun —do. an infin. or a part. —position of, in Eng. —when may either precede or follow its noun —Whether adj. or adv. is required, how determined —Adjective, one superadded to an other, without conjunc., position of —when the figure of, affects the sense, what to be done —should not be represented by a pronoun —ellipsis of, shown
Adjectives, common, probable numb. of, in Eng.
—enumeration of, according to their endings
Adjectives, compound, analogies of their formation, traced
—nouns derived from, generally disapproved
Adjectives, numeral, kinds of, named
—Cardinal numb. and its corresponding numeral, what denote
—Construction and figure of the numerals
Adjectives, participial, what words to be referred to the class of —cannot be construed to govern obj. case
Adjectives, pronominal, list of —which, sometimes used adverbially —which, sometimes used partitively, appar. as nouns —without nouns expressed, how parsed —distribution of, by CHURCH See Other, &c.
Adjectives, proper, peculiarities of, considered —rule for initial capital in
Adjuncts of nominative in the agreement of a verb
Admitting, allowing, &c., appar. independent, to what may relate
ADVERBS, Etymol. of —Adverb, defined —Adverbs, serve to abbreviate expression —other classes of words sometimes take the nature of —appar. take the nat. of other parts of speech —how distinguished from adjectives —Classes of, named and defined —proper classification of, by what indicated —of time, place, and manner, with what connected; of degree, do. —conjunctive (see Conjunctive Adverb:) —Modifications of —number of, in Eng. —Whether adverb or adjective required, how determined —Adverbs, Synt. of —in what do. consists —to what relate —Adverb before a prep. ("CONSIDERABLY beyond,") —Adverbs, whether sometimes qualify nouns —of participles which become nouns, how managed —above, then, &c., as relating directly to a noun, how parsed —Adverbs, of degree, to what adjectives not applicable —direct use of, for pronouns, inelegant —position of —needless use of, for adjectives —hither, &c., for here, &c., with verb of motion —hence, &c., with from prefixed —when, &c., not to follow is in a definition ("Concord is WHEN," &c.,) —ever and never, to be carefully distinguished —in ly, when preferable to other forms —Adverb, appar. made object of a prep. ("At ONCE,") —emphatic, with verb of self-motion suppressed ("I'll HENCE,") —Adverb HOW, misuse of ("He said HOW," &c.,) —NO, not to be used in reference to a verb or a part. —Adverbial form or character, words of, how parsed —Adverbs, punct. of —Adverb, ellips. of, shown —Adverbs, derivation of, —many common Eng., of Anglo-Sax. origin —poet. peculiarities in the use of —peculiar use of those of two syllables in ly, by MILT. and his contemporaries —Adverbial phrase, a needless and improper designation in analysis
Affectation of fine writing, PREC. against
Ago and since, difference between
AGREEMENT, of words, defined —with what synonymous —Agreement, how many of the parts of speech in Eng., incapable of; none necessary between words unrelated —as differing from relation —of words in the same construc., not easy to determine —rules of, as applied to articles, impertinent —Agreements, syntactical, in Eng., specified —Agreement, general principles of —figurative, of pronouns with antecedents
Ah, sometimes departs from usage
Alexandrine verse, description of
Alias, for the equivocal or, use of, in judicial proceedings
All, when may be reckoned a noun
Allegory, defined —Allegory includes most parables of Script., and some fables
Alphabet, Eng., names and plur. numb. of the letters
—Hebrew, names and characters of, given,
—Greek, do.
—Latin, names of the letters of, scarcely known even to the learned;
account of its letters
—A perfect alphabet in Eng., what it would effect
—Letters of the alphabet, when and how used in the sciences
Alphabetic writing, its advantage over the syllabic
Ambiguous, construc., with respect to the class of a word —do., with resp. to the case of a word —expressions, PREC. against
Amen, use and import of
Among and amongst, amid and amidst, different in sense and construc.
from between and betwixt
—incompatible with the distributive one an other
—derivation of, from Sax.
Amphibrach, defined
Amphimac, amphimacer, or Cretic, defined.
An, conjunc., obsolete for if ("Nay, AN thou 'lt mouthe," &c., SHAK.,) —derivation of, from Sax.
An, a, art., one and the same
—preferable form before a particular sound
—A or an before genus
—how commonly limits the sense
—belongs to sing. numb. only
—with adjective of numb.
—its effect upon proper and common nouns
—is without agreem.
—Whether an is from a or a from an
—An, a, origin of
—of proportion
—with numerals
—by what definitives superseded
—implies unity; sometimes precedes collective noun conveying the idea
of plurality
—present usage of, how differs from that of ancient writers
—use of, before humble, and its compounds and derivatives
—erroneous use of, as relating to a plural
—not to be used for the, to denote emphat. a whole kind
Analysis, "to analyze a sentence," what
—Analysis of sentences shown in five different methods; which method
BROWN calls "the best and most thorough"
—Analysis, notices of the different methods of
—importance of, in teaching grammar; the truest method of, parsing
Anapest, defined
Anapestic verse, treated —what syll. of, has stress; first foot of, how may be varied —what variation of, produces composite verse —whether a surplus syll. in, may compensate for a deficient one —what number of syllables in the longest measure of —Anapestic verse shown in its four measures —Anapestic, measures, why few —poetry, pieces in general short —(instance of a long piece, L. HUNT'S "Feast of the Poets,")
And, discriminated from or
—when preferable to with, or, or nor
—whether emphatic of word or phrase following it ("Part pays, AND
justly;" &c., POPE,)
—derivation of, from Sax.
Anglo-Saxon dialect, and accessions thereto, as forming the modern Eng. lang.
An other, see Other
Antecedent, proper sense of the term
—sometimes placed after its pronoun
—sometimes doubly restricted
—of pron., applied figuratively
—sing., with the adj. many, and a plur. pron.
—suppressed
—Antecedents of different persons, numbers, and genders,
disjunctively connected, how represented
—joint, agreem. of pron. in ellipt. construct. of
Antibacchy, or hypobacchy, defined
Antiquated words and modes of expression, more frequent in poetry than in prose
Antithesis, defined
Aorist, or indefinite, may be applied to imperf. tense pot. and subjunc.
Aphæresis, defined
Apocope, defined
Apophasis, or paralipsis, explained
Apostrophe, mark, what denotes; for what sometimes used
—at what period introduced into the poss. case Apostrophe, figure,
defined
Apposition, Synt.
—agreement between words in
—Apposition, what, and from whom received this name
—different from same cases put after verbs and participles not
trans.; false teachings of MURR. et al. hereon
—the rule for, to which apposed term applied; whether words in,
should be parsed separately
—common rule and definition of, wherein faulty
—which word of, the explanatory term; when explan. word placed
first
—in what case of, either word may be taken as the explan. term,
—why two possessive words cannot be in
—two or more nouns in, where sign of possession put
—whether compat. with, to supply relative and verb between the apposed
words
—Apposition, appar., of noun without poss. sign, with pron.
possess. ("YOUR success as an INSTRUCTER,")
—noun or pron. emphat. repeated ("Cisterns, broken CISTERNS," &c.,)
—appar., of a noun to a sentence
—of words differing in numb. ("Go YE every MAN,")
—of proper nouns with appellatives ("The river THAMES,")
—act. verb followed by two words in
—whether requires any other agreem. than that of cases
—words in, punct. of
—of a common with a prop. name, use of capital lett.
Archaism, what
Aristotle, division of the Greek letters
—what neoterics wiser than; how considers the compounding or
non-compounding of terms
Arithmetical numbers, relation of the terms in
ARRANGEMENT of words, term defined
—Arrang. of words, of what importance in synt.; whether it affects
the method of parsing words
ARTICLES, Etymol. of
—Article, defined
—Article, common noun without; Eng. nouns without, taken
indefinitely partitive
—words of mere being, used without
—Articles, how often inserted
—needless, to be omitted
—Classes of, named and defined
—Modificat. (an short, to a, the only,)
—Articles, the frequent use of; freq. misapplication of
—to be distinguished from adjectives, and from each other
—appar. used for adverbs
—Article, Eng., its demonstrative character
—do., compared with the Gr. def. art.; no rule for agreement of,
appropriate in Eng.
—use of, before names of rivers
—Articles, Synt. of
—to what RELATE
—Article, with the poss. and its governing noun, only one, used
—one noun admits of one, only; before an adj., relates to a noun
understood
—why not repeated, as in Fr., before every noun of a series; why the
omission of, cannot constitute a proper ellips.
—position of, with respect to its noun; ditto, with respect to an adj.
and noun
—relative position of, and adj., not a matter of indifference
—excluded by certain pronom. adjectives; what ones precede it; its
position in respect to an adj. of quality, limited by too, so, as,
or how
—position of, when an adj. is preceded by another adv. than too, so,
as, or how
—do., when an adj. follows its noun
—whether the insertion or the omission of, can greatly affect the
import of a sentence
—Article, repetition of, with nouns connected
—do. with adjectives connected, and, oppos.
—added to each of two or more nouns sing., or a plural put ("THE
nominative and THE objective CASE," or "THE nominative and
objective CASES,")
—use of, in special correspondence of phrases
—do., in correspondence peculiar
—do., in a series of terms
—erroneous use of, before the species, for THE; do., when the
species is said to be of the genus ("A JAY is a sort of A
BIRD,")
—not used before names of the virtues, vices, &c., before limited
terms, and before nouns of definite signif.
—do. before titles or names mentioned merely as such
—do. before a part. not taken as a noun
—insertion or omission of, with respect to a comparison or an
alternation made with two nouns
—required in the construc. which converts a part. into a verbal noun
—Articles, what the false synt. of, includes
—Ellips. of article, shown
—Articles, derivation of
—frequently omitted by the poets See also Definite Article, and An,
A
Articulate or elementary sound, nature of
Articulation, as defined by COMST.; do. by BOLLES
—Articulation, how differs from pronunciation
—the principles of, what they constitute
—a good one, what, in the view of COMST.; do., in what consists,
according to SHERID.; do. importance of; do., how delivers words
As, as subject or object of a verb, its CLASS
—with a clause or sentence as anteced., do. As, as relative,
WEBST. absurd explanation of; CHAND. do.; BULL. denial
—to what construc. limited
—peculiarities with respect to position
—declined
—derivation of, from Teuton., DR. JOH.
—As follow, as follows, &c., construction of; MURR., himself
perplexed by TOOKE and CAMPB., delivers dubious instructions
concerning
—Opinion of NIX. and CROMB. concerning. As, as a conjunc., uniting
words in appos.
—between adj. or part. and its noun ("Actions AS such")
—with ellips. of latter term of comparison ("For such AS HE")
—As and than, character and import of
—words connected by, generally put in the same case
—As
—as; as
—so; so (preceded by a negative,)
—as; so
—as (with an infin. following;) correspondents
Asking and exclaiming, simple and appropriate names for the marks of, desirable
Aspirates, see Semivowels
Asterisk, use of. Asterism, do.
Ate, particular words ending in, peculiarities of
Auxiliary, defined —Auxiliary, form of a verb, when preferable to the simp. —verbs, are mostly defective —do., are needful in the conjug. of English verbs —do., inflection of, shown —Auxiliaries used as expletives —Auxiliary, poet. placed after verb
Averse, aversion, whether to be construed with from or to
Avoiding, verbs of, with part. in stead of infin.
Awkwardness, literary, Crit. N. censuring
Ay, I, assentive adv. —Ay, sometimes improp. written for ah
B.
B, its name and plur. number —its sound —in what situations silent
Bacchy, described
BE, how varied
—CONJUGATED, affirmat.
—Use of the form be for the pres. indic.
—Be, ellips. of the infin. often needlessly supposed by ALLEN et
al.
—whether it should be inserted after the verb make
—Is, contracted, giving its nom. the same form as that of the poss.
case ("A WIT'S a feather," &c., POPE)
Become, &c., whether they demand the auxiliary am or have
Besides, prep., in what cases proper to be used after else or other, in lieu of than
Between, cannot refer to more than two things —Between or betwixt, how differs in use from among or amongst —Between, betwixt, derivation of, from Sax.
Bible, the Holy, application of the name —what is shown by Italics in the text of —quotations in, how indicated —abrupt transitions in —its general accuracy of lang. —in the lang. of, ye and you, in what constructions not found
Bid, as commanding, or as promising, its construction with the infin.
Blair, Dr., unjustly censures Addison's frequent use of that, as a relative
Blank verse, as distinguished from rhyme
Blunders, as readily copied, as originated, by makers of school-books —literary, Crit. N. concerning
Bombast, as opposed to purity, PREC. against Books, mentioned by name, rule for capitals
Both, as conjunc., corresponding to and
—as adj.
—derivation of, acc. to DR. MURR.
Brace, its purpose
Breve, or stenotone, for what used
Brevity of expression, sought in the ordinary business of life
Brokenness, or hitching, as a fault of style, PREC. censuring
But, save, as well as, construc. of two nouns connected by
—But, how has acquired the signif. of only
—in ambiguous construc. ("There cannot be BUT one," &c., KAMES)
—as used for that, contrary to its import
—derivation of, from Sax.
—But and save, whether they ever govern the obj. case as
prepositions
—Cannot but, construc. and signif. of
—Not but, to what equivalent, and the class of but
C.
C, name and plur. numb. of —sounds of —where silent —with cedilla placed under (ç) —written for a number —Ch, sounds of —Arch, sound of, before a vowel, and before a conson. —Ck, final, for double c
Cadence, explained —faulty, precept against, by RIPP. —MURR. direction concerning
Cadmus, carried the Phoenician alphabet into Greece
Cæsura, signif. and application of
—Cæsural or divisional pause; demi-cæsuras, or minor rests;
(see Pauses)
Can, verb, varied
—derivation and signif. of
—Can not and cannot, with what distinction used
—Cannot, with a verb of avoiding, or with BUT
—Can, could, would, as principal verbs, by poet. use
Capital letters, capitals, for what used; how marked for the printer, in
manuscript
—what things are exhibited wholly in,
—Rules for the use of,
—use of, in comp. prop, names,
—needless,
—lavish use of, its effect,
—discrepancies with respect to, abound in books.
Cardinal numeral, distinguished from its corresponding ordinal,
—should follow the ordinal, in a specification of a part of a
series, ("The first TWO,").
Caret, in what used, and for what purpose.
Cases, in grammar, what,
—named and defined,
—nom. and obj., alike in form, how distinguished,
—on what founded, and to what parts of speech belong.
—(See Nominative Case, &c.)
—Cases, whether infinitives, participles, &c., can take the nature
of,
—what is the proper number of, to be assigned to Eng. nouns,
—what authorities for the true doctrine of three,
—discordant doctrine of sundry grammarians concerning the numb, of,
—WEBST. and MURR. opposite instructions concerning do.
—Cases, whether personal pronouns have two, only,
—rules for the construc. of,
—whether a noun may be in two, at once,
—whether Eng. verbs govern two,
—whether in Eng., as in Lat., when a verb governs two, the pass.
retains the latter case.
—Cases, same, (see Same Cases.)
—Cases, what kinds of words take different, after them.
—Case of noun or pron. after part. governed by prep., whether
undetermined; err. of SANB. and BULL. hereon expos.; GREE. false
teaching, do.,
—doubtful, after participles, in what kind of examples found; canon
concerning do.
Case, technical term with printers, ("Letters of the lower case.")
Catachresis, how commonly explained, and what sort of fig.
Catalectic, when a measure is said to be.
Cedilla, from whom borrowed, and how applied.
Change, of numb. in the second pers., ineleg.,
—of the connective of two nominatives appar. requiring a plur. verb,
canon concerning.
—Changing the scene, or deserting the principal subj., in a sent.,
PREC. against.
Chaucer's imperfect measures, DRYDEN'S remarks on.
Cherokee alphabet, some account of.
Cherubim and seraphim, Heb. plurals, sometimes mistaken for singulars.
Chief terms, or principal parts, of a verb, necessary to be first ascertained. —Chief words may be distinguished by capitals.
Circumflex, inflection, (see Inflection,) —mark, use of.
Classes under the parts of speech, what meant by.
Classification of words, explanations to assist beginners in making, —DR. WILSON'S observations on.
Clause, see Member.
Climax, defined.
Cognomination, relation of the article, in instances of, ("Alexander the Great").
Collective noun, defined.
—Collective nouns, forms of, sing. and plur.; how understood,
—gend. of, how determined,
—by what relative represented.
—Collec. noun, represented by plur. pron.,
—in what two ways may be taken, and with what accord of pron.; the
plur. construc. of, under what fig. of synt. ranked by the old
grammarians,
—whether with a sing. definitive, admits a plur. verb or pronoun.
—Collec. nouns generally admit of plur. form.
—Collect. noun, represented by sing. pron. neut.,
—uniformity of numb. to be preserved in words constructed with,
—agreem. of verb with,
—how determined whether it conveys the idea of plurality or not,
—strictures on the rules of ADAM, LOWTH, et. al., concerning,
—NIX. notion of the construc. of verb and.
—Coll. nouns, partitive of plur., construc. of,
—as expressing collections of persons, or coll. of things, which most
often taken plurally,
—when not plur. in form, whether it admits of plur. adj. before it.
Colon, from what takes its name,
—for what used,
—in what year adopted in England,
—its utility maintained against some objectors,
—Rules for the use of,
—used by some between numb. of chap. and that of verse, in quotations
from the Bible.
Comma, from what takes its name, —what denotes, —less common in Germ. than in Eng., —its ancient form, —Rules for the use of, —use of, in a series of words.
Commanding, desiring, expecting, &c., verbs of, to what actions or events, refer.
Commandments, the ten, how expressed as to forms of verb, —by what points divided in books, —example of, versified in iamb. hexameter, by DR. WATTS.
Common gender, unnecessary and improper term in Eng. gram.
Common noun, defined,
—when admits of no art.,
—with def. art. sometimes becomes proper,
—by personif. often do.
—Common nouns include the classes, collective, abstract, and
verbal.
—Common nouns, their nature and numerical distribution, as
distinguished from proper.
Comparative degree, defined.
—Compar. degree, why BROWN presents a new definit. of, in place of
his former one,
—true nature of
—whether always required in a comparison of two objects
—with what construc. proper in exclusive comparisons, canon of BROWN
—Comparatives, certain, not construed with the conjunc. than
—double, how to be considered and treated
—Comparative terminations, to what adjectives not to be applied
—Compar. degree in Gr. and in Lat., construc. of
—poet. connected to the positive
Comparison, defined
—Comparison, degrees of, named and defined
—what adjectives admit not of
—CHURCH. on the different, (and BROWN on CHURCH.)
—character of BROWN'S definitions of; do. of those of MURR. et al.,
exhibited
—MURR. definitions of, criticised
—relative nature of
—Comparison, regular
—to what adjectives applicable
—when preferable to the comparison by adverbs
—Comparison, HARR. on the degrees of; the positive a degree
—(in oppos. to HARR. et al.)
—Comparison of equality, what; sometimes involves solec.,
("Nothing SO uncertain AS,")
—Comparison of equality and of ineq., canon on
—Comparison, adaptation of the terms of, to the deg. to be expressed
—belongs chiefly to comm. adjectives
—Comparis., irregular
—Comparis., whether to be mentioned in parsing adverbs
—inclusive, and exclusive
—Comparisons, extra, their impropriety
—Crit. N. on, See also Comparative Degree, and Superlative Degree.
Comparison or contrast of things, the resemblance or opposition how rendered more striking
Complex prepositions, how may be formed
Composite orders of verse, what uniformity of construc. they require —Composite verse —description of; why requires rhythm —kinds of, unlimited; which preferable —liable to doubtful scansion
Composition, the frequent practice of, necessary, in order to acquire a good style, Composition of language, two kinds of
Compound or progressive form of verb, how made
—exemplified in the verb READ, conjugated, what verbs do not admit of;
what it implies
—verbs of, having a pass. signif.
Compound word, defined, Compounds, permanent, consolidated; temporary,
formed by hyphen
—Comp. words, not to be needlessly broken
—two or more, not to be split
—when to be written with hyphen; when without it
—Compounding of words, unsettled usage respecting; manner of, in
Lat. and Gr.; arbitrary practice of, in Eng., its effect
—does not necessarily preclude their separate use
—propriety of, sometimes difficult to decide
—Compounds, orthog. of
—Compounding the words of a reg. phrase, its impropriety
—Compound adjectives, see Adjectives, Compound.
Concord, (see Agreement.)
—Concords and governments, examples of false ones from the
grammarians
—in Lat., diversely enumerated by the Lat. grammarians
_Concrete _terms for abstract qualities, poet. use of
Confusion of senses, in use of pron., to be avoided
Conjugation of a verb, defined —what some teachers choose to understand by —Conjugating a verb, four ways of, named —Conjugation of an Eng. verb, what the simplest form of —Conjug. of verbs, shown in five Examples —(See also Compound or Progressive, &c.) —Conjugat. negative, how made, interrogative, do. —interrog. and negative, do.
CONJUNCTIONS, Etymol. of
—Conjunction, defined
—Conjunctions, how differ from other connectives
—nature and office of; R. F. MOTT quot.
—nature of the connexions made by
—how many in common use
—how parsed
—as "connecting the same moods, &c.," strictures on the doctrine of
MURR. et al., concerning
—Conjunctions, classes of, named and defined
—(See Copulative Conjunction, Disjunc. Conj., and Corresp.
Conjunc.)
—Conjunctions, List of
—appar. used as adverbs
—peculiar phrases having the force of
—importance of, as copulative or as disjunctive, to be carefully
observed
—Conjunctions, Synt. of
—do., in what consists, (MURR. et al. teaching erron.)
—what connect
—declinable words connected by, why in the same case
—power and position of those that connect sentences or clauses
—absurd and contradictory notions concerning the office of, by LENN.,
BULL., et al.
—two or three coming together, how parsed
—Conjunction, followed by a phrase, and not a whole member
—connecting two terms to one
—do. two terms the same in kind or quality
—Conjunctions, to be used with due regard to import and idiom
—punct. of
—ellips. of, shown
—derivation of
—are mostly of Anglo-Sax. origin
—H. TOOKE'S derivations of, given
—poet. usage of or
—or, and nor
—nor
Conjunctive adverbs, what office perform; what classes of words embrace
—often relate equally to two verbs in different clauses
—list of
—whence, whither, &c., sometimes partake of the nature of pronouns
Connected terms, two, limited by a third, what both must be
—should be the same in kind or quality. Connected adjectives, how
should be placed. Connective words, or connectives, kinds of, named
—do., how may be distinguished