"There can scarce be a greater Defect in a Gentleman, than not to express himself well either in Writing or Speaking."—Locke, on Ed., p. 335. "She seldom or ever wore a thing twice in the same way."—Castle Rackrent, p. 84. "So can I give no reason, nor I will not."—Beauties of Shak., p. 45. "Nor I know not where I did lodge last night."—Ib., p. 270. "It is to be presumed they would become soonest proficient in Latin."—Burn's Gram., p. xi. "The difficulty of which has not been a little increased by that variety."—Ward's Pref. to Lily's Gram., p. xi. "That full endeavours be used in every monthly meeting to seasonably end all business or cases that come before them."—N. E. Discipline, p. 44. "In minds where they had scarce any footing before."—Spectator, No. 566. "The negative form is when the adverb not is used."—Sanborn's Gram., p. 61. "The interrogative form is when a question is asked."—Ibid. "The finding out the Truth ought to be his whole Aim."—Brightland's Gram., p. 239. "Mention the first instance when that is used in preference to who, whom, or which."—Sanborn's Gram., p. 96. "The plot was always exceeding simple. It admitted of few incidents."—Blair's Rhet., p. 470. "Their best tragedies make not a deep enough impression on the heart."—Ib., p. 472. "The greatest genius on earth, not even a Bacon, can be a perfect master of every branch."—Webster's Essays, p. 13. "The verb OUGHT is only used in the indicative [and subjunctive moods]."—Dr. Ash's Gram., p. 70. "It is still a greater deviation from congruity, to affect not only variety in the words, but also in the construction."— Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 28. "It has besides been found that, generally, students attend those lectures more carefully for which they pay."—Dr. Lieber, Lit. Conv., p. 65. "This book I obtained through a friend, it being not exposed for sale."—Woolsey, ib., p. 76. "Here there is no manner of resemblance but in the word drown."—Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 163. "We have had often occasion to inculcate, that the mind passeth easily and sweetly along a train of connected objects."—Ib., ii, 197. "Observe the periods when the most illustrious persons flourished."—Worcester's Hist., p. iv. "For every horse is not called Bucephalus, nor every dog Turk."—Buchanan's Gram., p. 15. "One can scarce avoid smiling at the blindness of a certain critic."—Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 257. "Provided always, that we run not into the extreme of pruning so very close, so as to give a hardness and dryness to style."—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 92; Blair's, 111. "Agreement is when one word is like another in number, case, gender or person."—Frost's Gram., p. 43. "Government is when one word causes another to be in some particular number, person or case."—Ibid. "It seems to be nothing more than the simple form of the adjective, and to imply not either comparison or degree."—Murray's Gram., 2d Ed., p. 47.
EXERCISE VIII.—CONJUNCTIONS.
"The Indians had neither cows, horses, oxen, or sheep."—Olney's Introd. to Geog., p. 46. "Who have no other object in view, but, to make a show of their supposed talents."—Blair's Rhet., p. 344. "No other but these, could draw the attention of men in their rude uncivilized state."—Ib., p. 379. "That he shall stick at nothing, nor nothing stick with him."—Pope. "To enliven it into a passion, no more is required but the real or ideal presence of the object."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 110. "I see no more to be made of it but to-rest upon the final cause first mentioned."—Ib., i, 175. "No quality nor circumstance contributes more to grandeur than force."—Ib., i, 215. "It being a quotation, not from a poet nor orator, but from a grave author, writing an institute of law."—Ib., i, 233. "And our sympathy cannot be otherwise gratified but by giving all the succour in our power."—Ib., i, 362. "And to no verse, as far as I know, is a greater variety of time necessary."—Ib., ii, 79. "English Heroic verse admits no more but four capital pauses."—Ib., ii, 105. "The former serves for no other purpose but to make harmony."—Ib., 231. "But the plan was not perhaps as new as some might think it."—Literary Conv., p. 85. "The impression received would probably be neither confirmed or corrected."—Ib., p. 183. "Right is nothing else but what reason acknowledges."—Burlamaqui, on Law, p. 32. "Though it should be of no other use but this."—BP. WILKINS: Tooke's D. P., ii, 27. "One hope no sooner dies in us but another rises up."—Spect., No. 535. "This rule implies nothing else but the agreement of an adjective with a substantive."—Adams Latin Gram., p. 156; Gould's, 129. "There can be no doubt but the plan of exercise pointed out at page 132, is the best that can be adopted."—Blair's Gram., p. viii. "The exertions of this gentleman have done more than any other writer on the subject."—DR. ABERCROMBIE: Rec. in Murray's Gram., Vol. ii, p. 306. "No accidental nor unaccountable event ought to be admitted."—Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 273. "Wherever there was much fire and vivacity in the genius of nations."—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 5. "I aim at nothing else but your safety."—Walker's Particles, p. 90. "There are pains inflicted upon man for other purposes except warning."—Wayland's Moral Sci., p. 122. "Of whom we have no more but a single letter remaining."—Campbell's Pref. to Matthew. "The publisher meant no more but that W. Ames was the author."—Sewel's History, Preface, p. xii. "Be neether bashful, nor discuver uncommon solicitude."—Webster's Essays, p. 403. "They put Minos to death, by detaining him so long in a bath, till he fainted."— Lempriere's Dict. "For who could be so hard-hearted to be severe?"— Cowley. "He must neither be a panegyrist nor a satirist."—Blair's Rhet., p. 353. "No man unbiassed by philosophical opinions, thinks that life, air, or motion, are precisely the same things."—Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang., i, 426. "Which I had no sooner drank, but I found a pimple rising in my forehead."—ADDISON: Sanborn's Gram., p. 182. "This I view very important, and ought to be well understood."—Osborn's Key, p. 5. "So that neither emphases, tones, or cadences should be the same."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 5.
"You said no more but that yourselves must be
The judges of the scripture sense, not we."—Dryden, p. 96.
EXERCISE IX.—PREPOSITIONS.
"To be entirely devoid of relish for eloquence, poetry, or any of the fine arts, is justly construed to be an unpromising symptom of youth."—Blair's Rhet., p. 14. "Well met, George, for I was looking of you."—Walker's Particles, p. 441. "There is another fact worthy attention."—Channing's Emancip., p. 49. "They did not gather of a Lord's-day, in costly temples."—The Dial, No. ii, p. 209. "But certain ideas have, by convention between those who speak the same language, been agreed to be represented by certain articulate sounds."—Adams's Rhet., ii, 271. "A careful study of the language is previously requisite, in all who aim at writing it properly."—Blair's Rhet., p. 91. "He received his reward in a small place, which he enjoyed to his death."—Notes to the Dunciad, B. ii, l. 283. "Gaddi, the pupil of Cimabue, was not unworthy his master."—Literary History, p. 268. "It is a new, and picturesque, and glowing image, altogether worthy the talents of the great poet who conceived it."—Kirkham's Elocution, p. 100. "If the right does exist, it is paramount his title."—Angell, on Tide Waters, p. 237. "The most appropriate adjective should be placed nearest the noun."—Sanborn's Gram., p. 194. "Is not Mr. Murray's octavo grammar more worthy the dignified title of a 'Philosophical Grammar?'"—Kirkham's Gram., p. 39. "If it shall be found unworthy the approbation and patronage of the literary public."—Perley's Gram., p. 3. "When the relative is preceded by two words referring to the same thing, its proper antecedent is the one next it."—Bullions's E. Gram., p. 101. "The magistrates commanded them to depart the city."—Sewel's Hist., p. 97. "Mankind act oftener from caprice than reason."—Murray's Gram., i, 272. "It can never view, clearly and distinctly, above one object at a time."—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 65. "The theory of speech, or systematic grammar, was never regularly treated as a science till under the Macedonian kings."—Knight, on Greek Alph., p. 106. "I have been at London a year, and I saw the king last summer."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 198. "This is a crucifying of Christ, and a rebelling of Christ."—Waldenfield. "There is another advantage worthy our observation."—Bolingbroke, on Hist., p. 26. "Certain conjunctions also require the subjunctive mood after them, independently on the sense."—Grant's Lat. Gram., p. 77. "If the critical reader will think proper to admit of it at all."—Priestley's Gram., p. 191. "It is the business of an epic poet to copy after nature."—Blair's Rhet., p. 427. "Good as the cause is, it is one from which numbers have deserted."— Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 222. "In respect of the images it will receive from matter."—Spectator, No. 413. "Instead of following on to whither morality would conduct it."—Dymond's Essays, p. 85. "A variety of questions upon subjects on which their feelings, and wishes, and interests, are involved."—Ib., p. 147. "In the Greek, Latin, Saxon, and German tongues, some of these situations are termed CASES, and are expressed by additions to the Noun instead of by separate words and phrases."—Booth's Introd., p. 33. "Every teacher is bound during three times each week, to deliver a public lecture, gratis."—Howitt's Student-Life in Germany, p. 35. "But the professors of every political as well as religious creed move amongst each other in manifold circles."—Ib., p. 113.
EXERCISE X.—PROMISCUOUS.
"The inseparable Prepositions making no Sense alone, they are used only in Composition."—Buchanan's Gram., p. 66. "The English Scholar learns little from the two last Rules."—Ib., Pref., p. xi. "To prevent the body being stolen by the disciples."—Watson's Apology, p. 123. "To prevent the Jews rejoicing at his death."—Wood's Dict., p. 584. "After he had wrote the chronicles of the priesthood of John Hyrcanus."—Whiston's Josephus, v, 195. "Such words are sometimes parsed as a direct address, than which, nothing could be farther from the truth."—Goodenow's Gram., p. 89. "The signs of the tenses in these modes are as follows."—C. Adams's Gram., p. 33. "The signs of the tenses in the Potential mode are as follows."—Ibid. "And, if more promiscuous examples be found necessary, they may be taken from Mr. Murray's English Exercises."— Nesbit's Parsing, p. xvi. "One is a numeral adjective, the same as ten."—Ib., p. 95. "Nothing so much distinguishes a little mind as to stop at words."—MONTAGUE: Letter-Writer, p. 129. "But I say, again, What signifies words?"—Id., ib. "Obedience to parents is a divine command, given in both the Old and the New Testaments."—Nesbit's Parsing, p. 207. "A Compound Subject is a union of several Subjects to all which belong the same Attribute."—Fosdick's De Sacy, on General Gram., p. 22. "There are other languages in which the Conjunctive does not prevent our expressing the subject of the Conjunctive Proposition by a Pronoun."—Ib., p. 58. "This distinction must necessarily be expressed by language, but there are several different modes of doing it."—Ib., p. 64. "This action may be considered with reference to the person or thing upon whom the action falls."—Ib., p. 97. "There is nothing in the nature of things to prevent our coining suitable words."—Barnard's Gram., p. 41. "What kind of a book is this?"—Ib., p. 43. "Whence all but him had fled."—Ib., p. 58. "Person is a distinction between individuals, as speaking, spoken to, or spoken of."—Ib., p. 114. "He repented his having neglected his studies at college."—Emmons's Gram., p. 19. "What avails the taking so much medicine, when you are so careless about taking cold?"—Ib., p. 29. "Active transitive verbs are those where the action passes from the agent to the object."—Ib., p. 33. "Active intransitive verbs, are those where the action is wholly confined to the agent or actor."—Ibid. "Passive verbs express the receiving, or suffering, the action."—Ib., p. 34. "The pluperfect tense expresses an action or event that passed prior or before some other period of time specified in the sentence."—Ib., p. 42. "There is no doubt of his being a great statesman."—Ib., p. 64. "Herschell is the fartherest from the sun of any of the planets."—Fuller's Gram., p. 66. "There has not been introduced into the foregoing pages any reasons for the classifications therein adopted."—Ib., p. 80. "There must be a comma before the verb, as well as between each nominative case."—Ib., p. 98. "Yon, with former and latter, are also adjectives."—Brace's Gram., p. 17. "You was."—Ib., p. 32. "If you was."—Ib., p. 39. "Two words which end in ly succeeding each other are indeed a little offensive to the ear."—Ib., p. 85; Lennie's Gram., p. 102.
"Is endless life and happiness despis'd?
Or both wish'd here, where neither can be found?"—Young, p. 124.
EXERCISE XI.—PROMISCUOUS.
"Because any one of them is placed before a noun or pronoun, as you observe I have done in every sentence."—Rand's Gram., p. 74. "Might accompany is a transitive verb, because it expresses an action which effects the object me."—Gilbert's Gram., p. 94. "Intend is an intransitive verb because it expresses an action which does not effect any object."—Ib., p. 93. "Charles and Eliza were jealous of one another."—J. M. Putnam's Gram., p. 44. "Thus one another include both nouns."—Ibid. "When the antecedent is a child, that is elegantly used in preference to who, whom, or which."—Sanborn's Gram., p. 94. "He can do no more in words, but make out the expression of his will."—Bp. Wilkins. "The form of the first person plural of the imperative, love we, is grown obsolete."— Lowth's Gram., p. 38. "Excluding those verbs which are become obsolete."—Priestley's Gram., p. 47. "He who sighs for pleasure, the voice of wisdom can never reach, nor the power of virtue touch."—Wright's Athens, p. 64. "The other branch of wit in the thought, is that only which is taken notice of by Addison."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 312. "When any measure of the Chancellor was found fault with."—Professors' Reasons, p. 14. "Whether was formerly made use of to signify interrogation."— Murray's Gram., p. 54. "Under the article of Pronouns the following words must be taken notice of."—Priestley's Gram., p. 95. "In a word, we are afforded much pleasure, to be enabled to bestow our most unqualified approbation on this excellent work."—Wright's Gram., Rec., p. 4. "For Recreation is not being Idle, as every one may observe."—Locke, on Ed., p. 365. "In the easier valuing and expressing that sum."—Dilworth's Arith., p. 3. "Addition is putting together of two or more numbers."— Alexander's Arith., p. 8. "The reigns of some of our British Queens may fairly be urged in proof of woman being capable of discharging the most arduous and complicated duties of government."—West's Letters to Y. L., p. 43. "What is the import of that command to love such an one as ourselves?"—Wayland's Moral Science, p. 206. "It should seem then the grand question was, What is good?"—Harris's Hermes, p. 297. "The rectifying bad habits depends upon our consciousness of them."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 32. "To prevent our being misled by a mere name."— Campbell's Rhet., p. 168. "I was refused an opportunity of replying in the latter review."—Fowle's True English Gram., p. 10. "But how rare is such generosity and excellence as Howard displayed!"—M'Culloch's Gram., p. 39. "The noun is in the Nominative case when it is the name of the person or thing which acts or is spoken of."—Ib., p. 54. "The noun is in the Objective case when it is the name of the person or thing which is the object or end of an action or movement."—Ib., p. 54. "To prevent their being erased from your memory."—Mack's Gram., p. 17. "Pleonasm, is when a superfluous word is introduced abruptly."—Ib., p. 69.
"Man feels his weakness, and to numbers run,
Himself to strengthen, or himself to shun."—Crabbe, Borough, p. 137.
EXERCISE XII.—TWO ERRORS.
"Independent on the conjunction, the sense requires the subjunctive mood."—Grant's Latin Gram., p. 77. "A Verb in past time without a sign is Imperfect tense."—C. Adams's Gram., p. 33. "New modelling your household and personal ornaments is, I grant, an indispensable duty."—West's Letters to Y. L., p. 58. "For grown ladies and gentlemen learning to dance, sing, draw, or even walk, is now too frequent to excite ridicule."—Ib., p. 123. "It is recorded that a physician let his horse bleed on one of the evil days, and it soon lay dead."—Constable's Miscellany, xxi. 99. "As to the apostrophe, it was seldom used to distinguish the genitive case till about the beginning of the present century, and then seems to have been introduced by mistake."—Dr. Ash's Gram., p. 23. "One of the relatives only varied to express the three cases."—Lowth's Gram., p. 24. "What! does every body take their morning draught of this liquor?"—Collier's Cebes. "Here, all things comes round, and bring the same appearances a long with them."—Collier's Antoninus, p. 103. "Most commonly both the relative and verb are elegantly left out in the second member."—Buchanan's Gram., p. ix. "A fair receipt of water, of some thirty or forty foot square."—Bacon's Essays, p. 127. "The old know more indirect ways of outwiting others, than the young."—Burgh's Dignity, i, 60. "The pronoun singular of the third person hath three genders."—Lowth's Gram., p. 21. "The preposition to is made use of before nouns of place, when they follow verbs and participles of motion."—Murray's Gram., p. 203. "It is called, understanding human nature, knowing the weak sides of men, &c."—Wayland's Moral Science, p. 284. "Neither of which are taken notice of by this Grammar."—Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 279. "But certainly no invention is entitled to such degree of admiration as that of language."—Blair's Rhet., p. 54. "The Indians, the Persians, and Arabians, were all famous for their tales."—Ib., p. 374. "Such a leading word is the preposition and the conjunction."— Felch's Comp. Gram., p. 21. "This, of all others, is the most encouraging circumstance in these times."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 37. "The putting any constraint on the organs of speech, or urging them to a more rapid action than they can easily perform in their tender state, must be productive of indistinctness in utterance."—Ib., p. 35. "Good articulation is the foundation of a good delivery, in the same manner as the sounding the simple notes in music, is the foundation of good singing."—Ib., p. 33. "The offering praise and thanks to God, implies our having a lively and devout sense of his excellencies and of his benefits."—ATTERBURY: Blair's Rhet., p. 295. "The pause should not be made till the fourth or sixth syllable."—Blair, ib., p. 333. "Shenstone's pastoral ballad, in four parts, may justly be reckoned one of the most elegant poems of this kind, which we have in English."—Ib., p. 394. "What need Christ to have died, if heaven could have contained imperfect souls?"—Baxter. "Every person is not a man of genius, nor is it necessary that he should."—Seattle's Moral Science, i, 69. "They were alarmed from a quarter where they least expected."—Goldsmith's Greece, ii, 6.
"If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak,
And peg thee in his knotty intrails."—SHAK.: White's Verb, p. 94.
EXERCISE XIII.—TWO ERRORS.
"In consequence of this, much time and labor are unprofitably expended, and a confusion of ideas introduced into the mind, which, by never so wise a method of subsequent instruction, it is very difficult completely to remove."—Grenville's Gram., p. 3. "So that the restoring a natural manner of delivery, would be bringing about an entire revolution, in its most essential parts."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 170. "'Thou who loves us, will protect us still:' here who agrees with thou, and is nominative to the verb loves."—Alex. Murray's Gram., p. 67. "The Active voice signifies action; the Passive, suffering, or being the object of an action."—Adam's Latin Gram., p. 80; Gould's, 77. "They sudden set upon him, fearing no such thing."—Walker's Particles, p. 252. "That may be used as a pronoun, an adjective, and a conjunction, depending on the office which it performs in the sentence."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 110. "This is the distinguishing property of the church of Christ from all other antichristian assemblies or churches."—Barclay's Works, i, 533. "My lords, the course which the legislature formerly took with respect to the slave-trade, appears to me to be well deserving the attention both of the government and your lordships."—BROUGHAM: Antislavery Reporter, Vol. ii, p. 218. "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen."—John, iii, 11. "This is a consequence I deny, and remains for him to prove."—Barclay's Works, iii, 329. "To back this, He brings in the Authority of Accursius, and Consensius Romanus, to the latter of which he confesses himself beholding for this Doctrine."—Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 343. "The compound tenses of the second order, or those in which the participle present is made use of."—Priestley's Gram., p. 24. "To lay the accent always on the same syllable, and the same letter of the syllable, which they do in common discourse."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 78. "Though the converting the w into a v is not so common as the changing the v into a w."—Ib., p. 46. "Nor is this all; for by means of accent, the times of pauses also are rendered quicker, and their proportions more easily to be adjusted and observed."—Ib., p. 72. "By mouthing, is meant, dwelling upon syllables that have no accent: or prolonging the sounds of the accented syllables, beyond their due proportion of time."—Ib., p. 76. "Taunt him with the license of ink; if thou thou'st him thrice, it shall not be amiss."—SHAK.: Joh. Dict., w. Thou. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it."—Prov., xxx, 17. "Copying, or merely imitating others, is the death of arts and sciences."—Spurzheim, on Ed., p. 170. "He is arrived at that degree of perfection, as to surprise all his acquaintance."—Ensell's Gram., p. 296. "Neither the King nor Queen are gone."—Buchanan's E. Syntax, p. 155. "Many is pronounced as if it were wrote manny."—Dr. Johnson's Gram., with Dict., p. 2.
"And as the music on the waters float,
Some bolder shore returns the soften'd note."
—Crabbe, Borough, p. 118.
EXERCISE XIV.—THREE ERRORS.
"It appears that the Temple was then a building, because these Tiles must be supposed to be for the covering it."—Johnson's Gram. Com., p. 281. "It was common for sheriffs to omit or excuse the not making returns for several of the boroughs within their counties."—Brown's Estimate, Vol. ii, p. 132. "The conjunction as when it is connected with the pronoun, such, many, or same, is sometimes called a relative pronoun."—Kirkham's Gram., the Compend. "Mr. Addison has also much harmony in his style; more easy and smooth, but less varied than Lord Shaftesbury."—Blair's Rhet., p. 127; Jamieson's, 129. "A number of uniform lines having all the same pause, are extremely fatiguing; which is remarkable in French versification."—Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. ii, p. 104. "Adjectives qualify or distinguish one noun from another."—Fowle's True Eng. Gram., p. 13. "The words one, other, and none, are used in both numbers."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 107. "A compound word is made up of two or more words, usually joined by an hyphen, as summer-house, spirit-less, school-master."—Blair's Gram., p. 7. "There is an inconvenience in introducing new words by composition which nearly resembles others in use before; as, disserve, which is too much like deserve."—Priestley's Gram., p. 145. "For even in that case, the trangressing the limits in the least, will scarce be pardoned."—Sheridan's Lect., p. 119. "What other are the foregoing instances but describing the passion another feels."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 388. "'Two and three are five.' If each substantive is to be taken separately as a subject, then 'two is five,' and 'three is five.'"—Goodenow's Gram., p. 87. "The article a joined to the simple pronoun other makes it the compound another."— Priestley's Gram., p. 96. "The word another is composed of the indefinite article prefixed to the word other."—Murray's Gram., p. 57; et al. "In relating things that were formerly expressed by another person, we often meet with modes of expression similar to the following."—Ib., p. 191. "Dropping one l prevents the recurrence of three very near each other."—Churchill's Gram., p. 202. "Sometimes two or more genitive cases succeed each other; as, 'John's wife's father.'"—Dalton's Gram., p. 14. "Sometimes, though rarely, two nouns in the possessive case immediately succeed each other, in the following form: 'My friend's wife's sister.'"—Murray's Gram., p. 45.
EXERCISE XV.—MANY ERRORS.
"Number is of a two fold nature,—Singular and Plural: and comprehends, accordingly to its application, the distinction between them."—Wright's Gram., p. 37. "The former, Figures of Words, are commonly called Tropes, and consists in a word's being employed to signify something, which is different from its original and primitive meaning."—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 337. "The former, figures of words, are commonly called tropes, and consist in a word's being employed to signify something that is different from its original and primitive meaning."—Blair's Rhet., p. 132. "A particular number of connected syllables are called feet, or measured paces."—Blair's Gram., p. 118. "Many poems, and especially songs, are written in the dactyl or anapæstic measure, some consisting of eleven or twelve syllables, and some of less."—Ib., p. 121. "A Diphthong makes always a long Syllable, unless one of the vowels be droped."— British Gram., p. 34. "An Adverb is generally employed as an attributive, to denote some peculiarity or manner of action, with respect to the time, place, or order, of the noun or circumstance to which it is connected."— Wright's Definitions, Philos. Gram., pp. 35 and 114. "A Verb expresses the action, the suffering or enduring, or the existence or condition of a noun."—Ib., pp. 35 and 64. "These three adjectives should be written our's, your's, their's."—Fowle's True Eng. Gram., p. 22. "Never was man so teized, or suffered half the uneasiness as I have done this evening."— Tattler, No. 160; Priestley's Gram., p. 200; Murray's, i, 223. "There may be reckoned in English four different cases, or relations of a substantive, called the subjective, the possessive, the objective, and the absolute cases."—Goodenow's Gram., p. 31. "To avoid the too often repeating the Names of other Persons or Things of which we discourse, the words he, she, it, who, what, were invented."—Brightland's Gram., p. 85. "Names which denote a number of the same things, are called nouns of multitude."—Infant School Gram., p. 21. "But lest he should think, this were too slightly a passing over his matter, I will propose to him to be considered these things following."—Barclay's Works, Vol. iii, p. 472. "In the pronunciation of the letters of the Hebrew proper names, we find nearly the same rules prevail as in those of Greek and Latin."—Walker's Key, p. 223. "The distributive pronominal adjectives each, every, either, agree with the nouns, pronouns, and verbs of the singular number only."—Lowth's Gram., p. 89. "Having treated of the different sorts of words, and their various modifications, which is the first part of Etymology, it is now proper to explain the methods by which one word is derived from another."—L. Murray's Gram., p. 130.
EXERCISE XVI.—MANY ERRORS.
"A Noun with its Adjectives (or any governing Word with its Attendants) is one compound Word, whence the Noun and Adjective so joined, do often admit another Adjective, and sometimes a third, and so on; as, a Man, an old Man, a very good old Man, a very learned, judicious, sober Man."—British Gram., p. 195; Buchanan's, 79. "A substantive with its adjective is reckoned as one compounded word; whence they often take another adjective, and sometimes a third, and so on: as, 'An old man; a good old man; a very learned, judicious, good old man.'"—L. Murray's Gram., p. 169; Ingersoll's, 195; and others. "But though this elliptical style be intelligible, and is allowable in conversation and epistolary writing, yet in all writings of a serious or dignified kind, is ungraceful."—Blair's Rhet., p. 112. "There is no talent so useful towards rising in the world, or which puts men more out of the reach of fortune, than that quality generally possessed by the dullest sort of people, and is, in common language, called discretion."—SWIFT: Blair's Rhet., p. 113. "Which to allow, is just as reasonable as to own, that 'tis the greatest ill of a body to be in the utmost manner maimed or distorted; but that to lose the use only of one limb, or to be impaired in some single organ or member, is no ill worthy the least notice."— SHAFTESBURY: ib., p. 115; Murray's Gram., p. 322. "If the singular nouns and pronouns, which are joined together by a copulative conjunction, be of several persons, in making the plural pronoun agree with them in person, the second person takes place of the third, and the first of both."—Murray's Gram., p. 151; et al. "'The painter * * * cannot exhibit various stages of the same action.' In this sentence we see that the painter governs, or agrees with, the verb can, as its nominative case."—Ib., p. 195. "It expresses also facts which exist generally, at all times, general truths, attributes which are permanent, habits, customary actions, and the like, without the reference to a specific time."—Ib., p. 73; Webster's Philos. Gram., p. 71. "The different species of animals may therefore be considered, as so many different nations speaking different languages, that have no commerce with each other; each of which consequently understands none but their own."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 142. "It is also important to understand and apply the principles of grammar in our common conversation; not only because it enables us to make our language understood by educated persons, but because it furnishes the readiest evidence of our having received a good education ourselves."—Frost's Practical Gram., p. 16.
EXERCISE XVII.—MANY ERRORS.
"This faulty Tumour in Stile is like an huge unpleasant Rock in a Champion Country, that's difficult to be transcended."—Holmes's Rhet., Book ii, p. 16. "For there are no Pelops's, nor Cadmus's, nor Danaus's dwell among us."—Ib., p. 51. "None of these, except will, is ever used as a principal verb, but as an auxiliary to some principal, either expressed or understood."—Ingersoll's Gram., p. 134. "Nouns which signify either the male or female are common gender."—Perley's Gram., p. 11. "An Adjective expresses the kind, number, or quality of a noun."—Parker and Fox's Gram., Part I, p. 9. "There are six tenses; the Present, the Imperfect, the Perfect, the Pluperfect, the Future, and the Future Perfect tenses."—Ib., p. 18. "My refers to the first person singular, either gender. Our refers to the first person plural, either gender. Thy refers to the second person singular, either gender. Your refers to the second person plural, either gender. Their refers to the third person plural, either gender."—Parker and Fox's Gram., Part II, p. 14. "Good use, which for brevity's sake, shall hereafter include reputable, national, and present use, is not always uniform in her decisions."—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 44. "Nouns which denote but one object are considered in the singular number."—Edward's First Lessons in Gram., p. 35. "If, therefore, the example of Jesus should be plead to authorize accepting an invitation to dine on the sabbath, it should be plead just as it was."—Barnes's Notes: on Luke, xiv, 1. "The teacher will readily dictate what part may be omitted, the first time going through it."—Ainsworth's Gram., p. 4. "The contents of the following pages have been drawn chiefly, with various modifications, from the same source which has supplied most modern writers on this subject, viz. LINDLEY MURRAY'S GRAMMAR."—Felton's Gram., p. 3. "The term person in grammar distinguishes between the speaker, the person or thing spoken to, and the person or thing spoken of."—Ib., p. 9. "In my father's garden grow the Maiden's Blush and the Prince' Feather."—Felton, ib., p. 15. "A preposition is a word used to connect words with one another, and show the relation between them. They generally stand before nouns and pronouns."—Ib., p. 60. "Nouns or pronouns addressed are always either in the second person, singular or plural."—Hallock's Gram., p. 54. "The plural MEN not ending in s, is the reason for adding the apostrophie's."—T. Smith's Gram., p. 19. "Pennies denote real coin; pence, their value in computation."— Hazen's Gram., p. 24. "We commence, first, with letters, which is termed Orthography; secondly, with words, denominated Etymology; thirdly, with sentences, styled Syntax; fourthly, with orations and poems, called Prosody."—Barrett's Gram., p. 22. "Care must be taken, that sentences of proper construction and obvious import be not rendered obscure by the too free use of the ellipsis."—Felton's Grammar, Stereotype Edition, p. 80.
EXERCISE XVIII.—PROMISCUOUS.
"Tropes and metaphors so closely resemble each other that it is not always easy, nor is it important to be able to distinguish the one from the other."—Parker and Fox, Part III, p. 66. "With regard to relatives, it may be further observed, that obscurity often arises from the too frequent repetition of them, particularly of the pronouns WHO, and THEY, and THEM, and THEIRS. When we find these personal pronouns crowding too fast upon us, we have often no method left, but to throw the whole sentence into some other form."—Ib., p. 90; Murray's Gram., p. 311; Blair's Rhet., p. 106. "Do scholars acquire any valuable knowledge, by learning to repeat long strings of words, without any definite ideas, or several jumbled together like rubbish in a corner, and apparently with no application, either for the improvement of mind or of language?"— Cutler's Gram., Pref., p. 5. "The being officiously good natured and civil are things so uncommon in the world, that one cannot hear a man make professions of them without being surprised, or at least, suspecting the disinterestedness of his intentions."—FABLES: Cutler's Gram., p. 135. "Irony is the intentional use of words to express a sense contrary to that which the speaker or writer means to convey."—Parker and Fox's Gram., Part III, p. 68. "The term Substantive is derived from substare, to stand, to distinguish it from an adjective, which cannot, like the noun, stand alone."—Hiley's Gram., p. 11. "They have two numbers, like nouns, the singular and plural; and three persons in each number, namely, I, the first person, represents the speaker. Thou, the second person, represents the person spoken to. He, she, it, the third person, represents the person or thing spoken of."—Ib., p. 23. "He, She, It, is the Third Person singular; but he with others, she with others, or it with others, make each of them they, which is the Third Person plural."—White, on the English Verb, p. 97. "The words had I been, that is, the Third Past Tense of the Verb, marks the Supposition, as referring itself, not to the Present, but to some former period of time."—Ib., p. 88. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to avoid a too frequent repetition of the same word."—Frazee's Improved Gram., p. 122.
"That which he cannot use, and dare not show,
And would not give—why longer should he owe?"—Crabbe.
PART IV.
PROSODY.
Prosody treats of punctuation, utterance, figures, and versification.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.—The word prosody, (from the Greek—[Greek: pros], to, and [Greek: dæ], song,) is, with regard to its derivation, exactly equivalent to accent, or the Latin accentus, which is formed from ad, to, and cantus, song: both terms, perhaps, originally signifying a singing with, or sounding to, some instrument or voice. PROSODIA, as a Latin word, is defined by Littleton, "Pars Grammaticæ quæ docet accentus, h. e. rationem atollendi et depremendi syllabas, tum quantitatem carundem." And in English, "The art of ACCENTING, or the rule of pronouncing syllables truly, LONG or SHORT."—Litt. Dict., 4to. This is a little varied by Ainsworth thus: "The rule of ACCENTING, or pronouncing syllables truly, whether LONG or SHORT."—Ains. Dict., 4to. Accent, in English, belongs as much to prose as to poetry; but some deny that in Latin it belongs to either. There is also much difficulty about the import of the word; since some prosodists identify accent with tone; some take it for the inflections of voice; some call it the pitch of vocal sounds; and some, like the authors just cited, seem to confound it with quantity,—"LONG or SHORT." [459]
OBS. 2.—"Prosody," says a late writer, "strictly denotes only that musical tone or melody which accompanies speech. But the usage of modern grammarians justifies an extremely general application of the term."—Frost's Practical Grammar, p. 160. This remark is a note upon the following definition: "PROSODY is that part of grammar which treats of the structure of Poetical Composition."—Ibid. Agreeably to this definition, Frost's Prosody, with all the generality the author claims for it, embraces only a brief account of Versification, with a few remarks on "Poetical License." Of Pronunciation and the Figures of Speech, he takes no notice; and Punctuation, which some place with Orthography, and others distinguish as one of the chief parts of grammar, he exhibits as a portion of Syntax. Not more comprehensive is this part of grammar, as exhibited in the works of several other authors; but, by Lindley Murray, R. C. Smith, and some others, both Punctuation and Pronunciation are placed here; though no mention is made of the former in their subdivision of Prosody, which, they not very aptly say, "consists of two parts, Pronunciation and Versification." Dr. Bullions, no less deficient in method, begins with saying, "PROSODY consists of two parts; Elocution and Versification;" (Principles of E. Gram., p. 163;) and then absurdly proceeds to treat of it under the following six principal heads: viz., Elocution, Versification, Figures of Speech, Poetic License, Hints for Correct and Elegant Writing, and Composition.
OBS. 3.—If, in regard to the subjects which may be treated under the name of Prosody, "the usage of modern grammarians justifies an extremely general application of the term," such an application is certainly not less warranted by the usage of old authors. But, by the practice of neither, can it be easily determined how many and what things ought to be embraced under this head. Of the different kinds of verse, or "the structure of Poetical Compostion," some of the old prosodists took little or no notice; because they thought it their chief business, to treat of syllables, and determine the orthoëpy of words. The Prosody of Smetius, dated 1509, (my edition of which was published in Germany in 1691,) is in fact a pronouncing dictionary of the Latin language. After a brief abstract of the old rules of George Fabricius concerning quantity and accent, it exhibits, in alphabetic order, and with all their syllables marked, about twenty-eight thousand words, with a poetic line quoted against each, to prove the pronunciation just. The Prosody of John Genuensis, an other immense work, concluded by its author in 1286, improved by Badius in 1506, and printed at Lyons in 1514, is also mainly a Latin dictionary, with derivations and definitions as in other dictionaries. It is a folio volume of seven hundred and thirty closely-printed pages; six hundred of which are devoted to the vocabulary, the rest to orthography, accent, etymology, syntax, figures, points—almost everything but versification. Yet this vast sum of grammar has been entitled Prosody—"Prosodia seu Catholicon"—"Catholicon seu Universale Vocabularium ac Summa Grammatices."—See pp. 1 and 5.
CHAPTER I—PUNCTUATION.
Punctuation is the art of dividing literary composition, by points, or stops, for the purpose of showing more clearly the sense and relation of the words; and of noting the different pauses and inflections required in reading.
The following are the principal points, or marks; namely, the Comma [,],
the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period [.], the Dash [—], the
Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation [?], the Ecphoneme, or Note of
Exclamation [!], and the Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis, [()].
The Comma denotes the shortest pause; the Semicolon, a pause double that of the comma; the Colon, a pause double that of the semicolon; and the Period, or Full Stop, a pause double that of the colon. The pauses required by the other four, vary according to the structure of the sentence, and their place in it. They may be equal to any of the foregoing.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.—The pauses that are made in the natural flow of speech, have, in reality, no definite and invariable proportions. Children are often told to pause at a comma while they might count one; at a semicolon, one, two; at a colon, one, two, three; at a period, one, two, three, four. This may be of some use, as teaching them to observe the necessary stops, that they may catch the sense; but the standard itself is variable, and so are the times which good sense gives to the points. As a final stop, the period is immeasurable; and so may be the pause after a question or an exclamation.
OBS. 2.—The first four points take their names from the parts of discourse, or of a sentence, which are distinguished by them. The Period, or circuit, is a complete round of words, often consisting of several clauses or members, and always bringing out full sense at the close. The Colon, or member, is the greatest division or limb of a period, and is the chief constructive part of a compound sentence. The Semicolon, half member, or half limb, is the greatest division of a colon, and is properly a smaller constructive part of a compound sentence. The Comma, or segment, is a small part of a clause cut off, and is properly the least constructive part of a compound sentence. A simple sentence is sometimes a whole period, sometimes a chief member, sometimes a half member, sometimes a segment, and sometimes perhaps even less. Hence it may require the period, the colon, the semicolon, the comma, or even no point, according to the manner in which it is used. A sentence whose relatives and adjuncts are all taken in a restrictive sense, may be considerably complex, and yet require no division by points; as,
"Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge
On you who wrong me not for him who wrong'd."—Milton.
OBS. 3.—The system of punctuation now used in English, is, in its main features, common to very many languages. It is used in Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, and perhaps most of the tongues in which books are now written or printed. The Germans, however, make less frequent use of the comma than we; and the Spaniards usually mark a question or an exclamation doubly, inverting the point at the beginning of the sentence. In Greek, the difference is greater: the colon, expressed by the upper dot alone, is the only point between the comma and the period; the ecphoneme, or note of exclamation, is hardly recognized, though some printers of the classics have occasionally introduced it; and the eroteme, or note of interrogation, retains in that language its pristine form, which is that of our semicolon. In Hebrew, a full stop is denoted by a heavy colon, or something like it; and this is the only pointing adopted, when the vowel points and the accents are not used.
OBS. 4.—Though the points in use, and the principles on which they ought to be applied, are in general well fixed, and common to almost all sorts of books; yet, through the negligence of editors, the imperfections of copy, the carelessness of printers, or some other means, it happens, that different editions and different versions of the same work are often found pointed very variously. This circumstance, provided the sense is still preserved, is commonly thought to be of little moment. But all writers will do well to remember, that they owe it to their readers, to show them at once how they mean to be read; and since the punctuation of the early printers was unquestionably very defective, the republishers of ancient books should not be over scrupulous about an exact imitation of it; they may, with proper caution, correct obvious faults.
OBS. 5.—The precise origin of the points, it is not easy to trace in the depth of antiquity. It appears probable, from ancient manuscripts and inscriptions, that the period is the oldest of them; and it is said by some, that the first system of punctuation consisted in the different positions of this dot alone. But after the adoption of the small letters, which improvement is referred to the ninth century, both the comma and the colon came into use, and also the Greek note of interrogation. In old books, however, the comma is often found, not in its present form, but in that of a straight stroke, drawn up and down obliquely between the words. Though the colon is of Greek origin, the practice of writing it with two dots we owe to the Latin authors, or perhaps to the early printers of Latin books. The semicolon was first used in Italy, and was not adopted in England till about the year 1600. Our marks for questions and exclamations were also derived from the same source, probably at a date somewhat earlier. The curves of the parenthesis have likewise been in use for several centuries. But the clash is a more recent invention: Lowth, Ash, and Ward,—Buchanan, Bicknell, and Burn,—though they name all the rest, make no mention of this mark; but it appears by their books, that they all occasionally used it.
OBS. 6—Of the colon it may be observed, that it is now much less frequently used than it was formerly; its place being usurped, sometimes by the semicolon, and sometimes by the period. For this ill reason, some late grammarians have discarded it altogether. Thus Felton: "The COLON is now so seldom used by good writers, that rules for its use are unnecessary."—Concise Manual of English Gram., p. 140. So Nutting: "It will be noticed, that the colon is omitted in this system; because it is omitted by the majority of the writers of the present age; three points, with the dash, being considered sufficient to mark the different lengths of the pauses."—Practical Grammar, p. 120. These critics, whenever they have occasion to copy such authors as Milton and Pope, do not scruple to mutilate their punctuation by putting semicolons or periods for all the colons they find. But who cannot perceive, that without the colon, the semicolon becomes an absurdity? It can no longer be a semicolon, unless the half can remain when the whole is taken away! The colon, being the older point of the two, and once very fashionable, is doubtless on record in more instances than the semicolon; and, if now, after both have been in common use for some hundreds of years, it be found out that only one is needed, perhaps it would be more reasonable to prefer the former. Should public opinion ever be found to coincide with the suggestions of the two authors last quoted, there will be reason to regret that Caxton, the old English typographer of the fifteenth century, who for a while successfully withstood, in his own country, the introduction of the semicolon, had not the power to prevent it forever. In short, to leave no literary extravagance unbroached, the latter point also has not lacked a modern impugner. "One of the greatest improvements in punctuation," says Justin Brenan, "is the rejection of the eternal semicolons of our ancestors. In latter times, the semicolon has been gradually disappearing, not only from the newspapers, but from books."—Brenan's "Composition and Punctuation familiarly Explained", p. 100; London, 1830. The colon and the semicolon are both useful, and, not unfrequently, necessary; and all correct writers will, I doubt not, continue to use both.
OBS. 7—Since Dr. Blair published his emphatic caution against too frequent a use of parentheses, there has been, if not an abatement of the kind of error which he intended to censure, at least a diminution in the use of the curves, the sign of a parenthesis. These, too, some inconsiderate grammarians now pronounce to be out of vogue. "The parenthesis is now generally exploded as a deformity."—Churchill's Gram., p. 362. "The Parenthesis, () has become nearly obsolete, except in mere references, and the like; its place, by modern writers, being usually supplied by the use of the comma, and the dash."—Nutting's Practical Gram., p. 126; Frazee's Improved Grammar, p. 187. More use may have been made of the curves than was necessary, and more of the parenthesis itself than was agreeable to good taste; but, the sign being well adapted to the construction, and the construction being sometimes sprightly and elegant, there are no good reasons for wishing to discard either of them; nor is it true, that the former "has become nearly obsolete."
OBS. 8—The name parenthesis is, which literally means a putting-in-between, is usually applied both to the curves, and to the incidental clause which they enclose. This twofold application of the term involves some inconvenience, if not impropriety. According to Dr. Johnson, the enclosed "sentence" alone is the parenthesis; but Worcester, agreeably to common usage, defines the word as meaning also "the mark thus ()." But, as this sign consists of two distinct parts, two corresponding curves, it seems more natural to use a plural name: hence L. Murray, when he would designate the sign only, adopted a plural expression; as, "the parenthetical characters,"—"the parenthetical marks." So, in another case, which is similar: "the hooks in which words are included," are commonly called crotchets or brackets; though Bucke, in his Classical Grammar, I know not why, calls the two "[ ] a Crotchet;" (p. 23;) and Webster, in his octavo Dictionary, defines a "Bracket, in printing," as Johnson does a "Crotchet" by a plural noun: "hooks; thus, [ ]." Again, in his grammars, Dr. Webster rather confusedly says: "The parenthesis () and hooks [] include a remark or clause, not essential to the sentence in construction."—Philosophical Gram., p. 219; Improved Gram., p. 154. But, in his Dictionary, he forgets both the hooks and the parenthesis that are here spoken of; and, with still worse confusion or inaccuracy, says: "The parenthesis is usually included in hooks or curved lines, thus, ()." Here he either improperly calls these regular little curves "hooks," or erroneously suggests that both the hooks and the curves are usual and appropriate signs of "the parenthesis." In Garner's quarto Dictionary, the French word Crochet, as used by printers, is translated, "A brace, a crotchet, a parenthesis;" and the English word Crotchet is defined, "The mark of a parenthesis, in printing, thus [ ]." But Webster defines Crotchet, "In printing, a hook including words, a sentence or a passage distinguished from the rest, thus []." This again is both ambiguous and otherwise inaccurate. It conveys no clear idea of what a crotchet is. One hook includes nothing. Therefore Johnson said: "Hooks in which words are included [thus]." But if each of the hooks is a crotchet, as Webster suggests, and almost every body supposes, then both lexicographers are wrong in not making the whole expression plural: thus, "Crotchets, in printing, are angular hooks usually including some explanatory words." But is this all that Webster meant? I cannot tell. He may be understood as saying also, that a Crotchet is "a sentence or a passage distinguished from the rest, thus [];" and doubtless it would be much better to call a hint thus marked, a crotchet, than to call it a parenthesis, as some have done. In Parker and Fox's Grammar, and also in Parker's Aids to English Composition, the term Brackets only is applied to these angular hooks; and, contrary to all usage of other authors, so far as I know, the name of Crotchets is there given to the Curves. And then, as if this application of the word were general, and its propriety indisputable, the pupil is simply told: "The curved lines between which a parenthesis is enclosed are called Crotchets."—Gram., Part III, p. 30; Aids, p. 40. "Called Crotchets" by whom? That not even Mr. Parker himself knows them by that name, the following most inaccurate passage is a proof: "The note of admiration and interrogation, as also the parenthesis, the bracket, and the reference marks, [are noted in the margin] in the same manner as the apostrophe."—Aids, p. 314. In some late grammars, (for example, Hazen's and Day's,) the parenthetic curves are called "the Parentheses" From this the student must understand that it always takes two parentheses to make one parenthesis! If then it is objectionable, to call the two marks "a parenthesis," it is much more so, to call each of them by that name, or both "the parentheses." And since Murray's phrases are both entirely too long for common use, what better name can be given them than this very simple one, the Curves?
OBS. 9.—The words eroteme and ecphoneme, which, like aposteme and philosopheme, are orderly derivatives from Greek roots[460], I have ventured to suggest as fitter names for the two marks to which they are applied as above, than are any of the long catalogue which other grammarians, each choosing for himself have presented. These marks have not unfrequently been called "the interrogation and the exclamation;" which names are not very suitable, because they have other uses in grammar. According to Dr. Blair, as well as L. Murray and others, interrogation and exclamation are "passionate figures" of rhetoric, and oftentimes also plain "unfigured" expressions. The former however are frequently and more fitly called by their Greek names erotesis and ecphonesis, terms to which those above have a happy correspondence. By Dr. Webster and some others, all interjections are called "exclamations;" and, as each of these is usually followed by the mark of emotion, it cannot but be inconvenient to call both by the same name.
OBS. 10.—For things so common as the marks of asking and exclaiming, it is desirable to have simple and appropriate names, or at least some settled mode of denomination; but, it is remarkable, that Lindley Murray, in mentioning these characters six times, uses six different modes of expression, and all of them complex: (1.) "Notes of Interrogation and Exclamation." (2.) "The point of Interrogation,?"—"The point of Exclamation,!" (3.) "The Interrogatory Point."—"The Exclamatory Point." (4.) "A note of interrogation,"—"The note of exclamation." (5.) "The interrogation and exclamation points." (6.) "The points of Interrogation and Exclamation."—Murray, Flint, Ingersoll, Alden, Pond. With much better taste, some writers denote them uniformly thus: (7.) "The Note of Interrogation,"—"The Note of Exclamation."—Churchill, Hiley. In addition to these names, all of which are too long, there may be cited many others, though none that are unobjectionable: (8.) "The Interrogative sign,"—"The Exclamatory sign."—Peirce, Hazen. (9.) "The Mark of Interrogation,"—"The Mark of Exclamation."—Ward, Felton, Hendrick. (10.) "The Interrogative point,"—"The Exclamation point."—T. Smith, Alger. (11.) "The interrogation point,"—"The exclamation point."—Webster, St. Quentin, S. Putnam. (12.) "A Note of Interrogation,"—"A Note of Admiration."—Coar, Nutting. (13.) "The Interrogative point,"—"The Note of Admiration, or of vocation."—Bucke. (14.) "Interrogation (?),"—"Admiration (!) or Exclamation."—Lennie, Bullions. (15.) "A Point of Interrogation,"—"A Point of Admiration or Exclamation."—Buchanan. (16.) "The Interrogation Point (?),"—"The Admiration Point (!)."—Perley. (17.) "An interrogation (?),"—"An exclamation (!)."—Cutler. (18.) "The interrogator?"—"The exclaimor!"—Day's Gram., p. 112. [The putting of "exclaimor" for exclaimer, like this author's changing of quoters to "quotors," as a name for the guillemets, is probably a mere sample of ignorance.] (19.) "Question point,"—"Exclamation point."—Sanborn, p. 272.
SECTION I.—THE COMMA.
The Comma is used to separate those parts of a sentence, which are so nearly connected in sense, as to be only one degree removed from that close connexion which admits no point.
RULE I.—SIMPLE SENTENCES.
A simple sentence does not, in general, admit the comma; as, "The weakest reasoners are the most positive."—W. Allen's Gram., p. 202. "Theology has not hesitated to make or support a doctrine by the position of a comma."—Tract on Tone, p. 4.
"Then pain compels the impatient soul to seize
On promis'd hopes of instantaneous ease."—Crabbe.
EXCEPTION.—LONG SIMPLE SENTENCES.
When the nominative in a long simple sentence is accompanied by inseparable adjuncts, or when several words together are used in stead of a nominative, a comma should be placed immediately before the verb; as, "Confession of sin without amendment, obtains no pardon."—Dillwyn's Reflections, p. 6. "To be totally indifferent to praise or censure, is a real defect in character."—Murray's Gram., p. 268.
"O that the tenor of my just complaint,[461]
Were sculpt with steel in rocks of adamant!"—Sandys.
RULE II.—SIMPLE MEMBERS.
The simple members of a compound sentence, whether successive or involved, elliptical or complete, are generally divided by the comma; as,
1. "Here stand we both, and aim we at the best."—Shak.
2. "I, that did never weep, now melt in woe."—Id.
3. "Tide life, tide death, I come without delay."—Id.
4. "I am their mother, who shall bar me from them?"—Id.
5. "How wretched, were I mortal, were my state!"—Pope.
6. "Go; while thou mayst, avoid the dreadful fate."—Id.
7. "Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings, And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings."—Johnson.
EXCEPTION I.—RESTRICTIVE RELATIVES.
When a relative immediately follows its antecedent, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be introduced before it; as, "For the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal."—2 Cor., iv, 18. "A letter is a character that expresses a sound without any meaning."—St. Quentin's General Gram., p. 3.
EXCEPTION II.—SHORT TERMS CLOSELY CONNECTED.
When the simple members are short, and closely connected by a conjunction or a conjunctive adverb, the comma is generally omitted; as, "Honest poverty is better than wealthy fraud."—Dillwyn's Ref., p. 11. "Let him tell me whether the number of the stars be even or odd."—TAYLOR: Joh. Dict., w. Even. "It is impossible that our knowledge of words should outstrip our knowledge of things."—CAMPBELL: Murray's Gram., p 359.
EXCEPTION III.—ELLIPTICAL MEMBERS UNITED.
When two simple members are immediately united, through ellipsis of the relative, the antecedent, or the conjunction that, the comma is not inserted; as, "Make an experiment on the first man you meet."—Berkley's Alciphron, p. 125. "Our philosophers do infinitely despise and pity whoever shall propose or accept any other motive to virtue."—Ib., p. 126. "It is certain we imagine before we reflect."—Ib., p. 359.
"The same good sense that makes a man excel,
Still makes him doubt he ne'er has written well."—Young.
RULE III.—MORE THAN TWO WORDS.
When more than two words or terms are connected in the same construction, or in a joint dependence on some other term, by conjunctions expressed or understood, the comma should be inserted after every one of them but the last; and, if they are nominatives before a verb, the comma should follow the last also:[462] as,
1. "Who, to the enraptur'd heart, and ear, and eye, Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody."—Beattie.
2. "Ah! what avails * * * * * * * * * All that art, fortune, enterprise, can bring, If envy, scorn, remorse, or pride, the bosom wring?"—Id..
3. "Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible; Thou, stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless."—Shak.
4. "She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs there."—Young.
5. ——"So eagerly the Fiend
O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies."—Milton.
RULE IV.—ONLY TWO WORDS.
When only two words or terms are connected by a conjunction, they should not be separated by the comma; as, "It is a stupid and barbarous way to extend dominion by arms; for true power is to be got by arts and industry"—Spectator, No. 2.
"Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul."—Goldsmith.
EXCEPTION I.—TWO WORDS WITH ADJUNCTS.
When the two words connected have several adjuncts, or when one of them has an adjunct that relates not to both, the comma is inserted; as, "I shall spare no pains to make their instruction agreeable, and their diversion useful."—Spectator, No. 10. "Who is applied to persons, or things personified."—Bullions.
"With listless eyes the dotard views the store,
He views, and wonders that they please no more."—Johnson.
EXCEPTION II.—TWO TERMS CONTRASTED.
When two connected words or phrases are contrasted, or emphatically distinguished, the comma is inserted; as, "The vain are easily obliged, and easily disobliged."—Kames.
"Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand."—Beattie.
"'Tis certain he could write, and cipher too."—Goldsmith.
EXCEPTION III.—ALTERNATIVE OF WORDS.
When there is merely an alternative of names, or an explanatory change of terms, the comma is usually inserted; as, "We saw a large opening, or inlet."—W. Allen. "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles?"—Cor., ix, 5.
EXCEPTION IV.—CONJUNCTION UNDERSTOOD.
When the conjunction is understood, the comma is inserted; and, if two separated words or terms refer alike to a third term, the second requires a second comma: as, "Reason, virtue, answer one great aim."—L. Murray, Gram., p. 269.
"To him the church, the realm, their pow'rs consign."—Johnson.
"She thought the isle that gave her birth.
The sweetest, wildest land on earth."—Hogg.
RULE V.—WORDS IN PAIRS.
When successive words are joined in pairs by conjunctions, they should be separated in pairs by the comma; as, "Interest and ambition, honour and shame, friendship and enmity, gratitude and revenge, are the prime movers in public transactions."—W. Allen. "But, whether ingenious or dull, learned or ignorant, clownish or polite, every innocent man, without exception, has as good a right to liberty as to life."—Beattie's Moral Science, p. 313.
"Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate,
O'erspread with snares the crowded maze of fate."—Dr. Johnson.
RULE VI.—WORDS PUT ABSOLUTE.
Nouns or pronouns put absolute, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma; as, "The prince, his father being dead, succeeded."—"This done, we parted."—"Zaccheus, make haste and come down."—"His proctorship in Sicily, what did it produce?"—Cicero.
"Wing'd with his fears, on foot he strove to fly,
His steeds too distant, and the foe too nigh"
—Pope, Iliad, xi, 440.
RULE VII.—WORDS IN APPOSITION.
Words in apposition, (especially if they have adjuncts,) are generally set off by the comma; as, "He that now calls upon thee, is Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe."—Johnson. "LOWTH, Dr. Robert, bishop of London, born in 1710, died in 1787."—Biog. Dict. "HOME, Henry, lord Kames."—Ib.
"What next I bring shall please thee, be assur'd,
Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,
Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire."—Milton, P. L., viii, 450.
"And he, their prince, shall rank among my peers."—Byron.
EXCEPTION I.—COMPLEX NAMES.
When several words, in their common order, are used as one compound name, the comma is not inserted; as, "Dr. Samuel Johnson,"—"Publius Gavius Cosanus."
EXCEPTION II.—CLOSE APPOSITION.
When a common and a proper name are closely united, the comma is not inserted; as, "The brook Kidron,"—"The river Don,"—"The empress Catharine,"—"Paul the Apostle."
EXCEPTION III.—PRONOUN WITHOUT PAUSE.
When a pronoun is added to an other word merely for emphasis and distinction, the comma is not inserted; as, "Ye men of Athens,"—"I myself,"—"Thou flaming minister,"—"You princes."
EXCEPTION IV.—NAMES ACQUIRED.
When a name acquired by some action or relation, is put in apposition with a preceding noun or pronoun, the comma is not inserted; as, "I made the ground my bed;"—"To make him king;"—"Whom they revered as God;"—"With modesty thy guide."—Pope.
RULE VIII.—ADJECTIVES.
Adjectives, when something depends on them, or when they have the import of a dependent clause, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma; as,
1. ——————————————"Among the roots
Of hazel, pendent o'er the plaintive stream,
They frame the first foundation of their domes."—Thomson.
2. ————————————-"Up springs the lark, Shrill-voic'd and loud, the messenger of morn."—Id.
EXCEPTION.—ADJECTIVES RESTRICTIVE.
When an adjective immediately follows its noun, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be used before it; as,
——"And on the coast averse
From entrance or cherubic watch."—Milton, P. L., B. ix, l. 68.
RULE IX.—FINITE VERBS.
Where a finite verb is understood, a comma is generally required; as, "From law arises security; from security, curiosity; from curiosity, knowledge."—Murray.
"Else all my prose and verse were much the same;
This, prose on stilts; that, poetry fallen lame."—Pope.
EXCEPTION.—VERY SLIGHT PAUSE.
As the semicolon must separate the clauses when the comma is inserted by this rule, if the pause for the omitted verb be very slight, it may be left unmarked, and the comma be used for the clauses; as, "When the profligate speaks of piety, the miser of generosity, the coward of valour, and the corrupt of integrity, they are only the more despised by those who know them."—Comstock's Elocution, p. 132.
RULE X.—INFINITIVES.
The infinitive mood, when it follows a verb from which it must be separated, or when it depends on something remote or understood, is generally, with its adjuncts, set off by the comma; as, "One of the greatest secrets in composition is, to know when to be simple."—Jamieson's Rhet., p. 151. "To confess the truth, I was much in fault."—Murray's Gram., p. 271.