CHAPTER 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.
CHAPTER 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.