The Grammar of English Grammars
by
Gould Brown
Part 28 out of 54
ruined _by his_ own _gaming_, or his _wife's squandering_.'"--_Ib._, p.
144. The plural here exhibited, if rightly written, would have the _s_, not
at the end, but in the middle; for _comings-in_, (an obsolete expression
for _revenues_,) is not two words, but one. Nor are _gaming_ and
_squandering_, to be here called participles, but nouns. Yet, among all his
rules and annotations, I do not find that Churchill any where teaches that
participles _become nouns_ when they are used substantively. The following
example he exhibits for the express purpose of showing that the nominatives
to "_is_" and "_may be_" are not nouns, but participles: "_Walking is_ the
best exercise, though riding _may be_ more pleasant."--_Ib._, p. 141. And,
what is far worse, though his book is professedly an amplification of
Lowth's brief grammar, he so completely annuls the advice of Lowth
concerning the distinguishing of participles from participial nouns, that
he not only misnames the latter when they are used correctly, but approves
and adopts well-nigh all the various forms of error, with which the mixed
and irregular construction of participles has filled our language: of these
forms, there are, I think, not fewer than a dozen.
OBS. 26.--Allen's account of the participle is no better than
Churchill's--and no worse than what the reader may find in many an English
Grammar now in use. This author's fault is not so much a lack of learning
or of comprehension, as of order and discrimination. We see in him, that it
is possible for a man to be well acquainted with English authors, ancient
as well as modern, and to read Greek and Latin, French and Saxon, and yet
to falter miserably in describing the nature and uses of the English
participle. Like many others, he does not acknowledge this sort of words to
be one of the parts of speech; but commences his account of it by the
following absurdity: "The participles _are adjectives_ derived from the
verb; as, _pursuing, pursued, having pursued_."--_Elements of E. Gram._, p.
62. This definition not only confounds the participle with the participial
adjective, but merges the whole of the former species in a part of speech
of which he had not even recognized the latter as a subdivision: "An
adjective shows the _quality_ of a thing. Adjectives may be reduced to five
classes: 1. Common--2. Proper--3. Numeral--4. Pronominal--5.
Compound."--_Ib._, p. 47. Now, if "participles are adjectives," to which of
these five classes do they belong? But there are participial or verbal
adjectives, very many; a sixth class, without which this distribution is
false and incomplete: as, "a _loving_ father; an _approved_ copy." The
participle differs from these, as much as it does from a noun. But says our
author, "Participles, as simple adjectives, belong to _a noun_; as, a
_loving_ father; an _approved_ copy;--as parts of the verb, they have the
same government _as_ their verbs have; as, his father, _recalling the
pleasures_ of past years, joined their party."--_Ib._, p. 170. What
confusion is this! a complete jumble of adjectives, participles, and "parts
of verbs!" Again: "Present participles are often construed as substantives;
as, early _rising_ is conducive to health; I like _writing_; we depend on
_seeing_ you."--_Ib._, p. 171. Here _rising_ and _writing_ are nouns; but
_seeing_ is a participle, because it is active and governs _you_, Compare
this second jumble with the definition above. Again he proceeds: "To
participles thus used, many of our best authors prefix the article; as,
'_The being chosen_ did not prevent disorderly behaviour.' Bp. Tomline.
'_The not knowing how to pass_ our vacant hours.' Seed."--_Ib._, p. 171.
These examples I take to be bad English. Say rather, "The _state of
election_ did not prevent disorderly behaviour."--"The _want of some
entertainment for_ our vacant hours." The author again proceeds: "If a noun
limits the meaning of a participle thus used, that noun is put in the
genitive; as, your _father's coming_ was unexected."--_Ib._, p. 171. Here
_coming_ is a noun, and no participle at all. But the author has a marginal
note, "A possessive pronoun is equivalent to a genitive;" (_ibid._;) and he
means to approve of possessives before active participles: as, "Some of
these irregularities arise from _our having received the words_ through a
French medium."--_Ib._, p. 116. This brings us again to that difficult and
apparently unresolvable problem, whether participles as such, by virtue of
their mixed gerundive character, can, or cannot, govern the possessive
case; a question, about which, the more a man examines it, the more he may
doubt.
OBS. 27.--But, before we say any thing more about the government of this
case, let us look at our author's next paragraph on participles: "An active
participle, preceded by _an article_ or by _a genitive_, is elegantly
followed by the preposition _of_, before the substantive which follows it;
as, _the_ compiling _of_ that book occupied several years; _his_ quitting
_of_ the army was unexpected."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 171. Here the
participial nouns _compiling_ and _quitting_ are improperly called active
participles, from which they are certainly as fairly distinguished by the
construction, as they can be by any means whatever. And this complete
distinction the author considers at least an elegance, if not an absolute
requisite, in English composition. And he immediately adds: "When this
construction produces _ambiguity_, the expression _must be
varied_."--_Ib._, p. 171. This suggestion is left without illustration; but
it doubtless refers to one of Murray's remarks, in which it is said: "A
phrase in which the article precedes the _present participle_ and the
possessive preposition follows it, will not, in every instance, convey the
same meaning as would be conveyed by the participle without the article and
preposition. 'He expressed the pleasure he had _in the hearing of_ the
philosopher,' is _capable of a different sense_ from, 'He expressed the
pleasure he had _in hearing_ the philosopher.'"--_Murray's Octavo Gram._,
p. 193; _R. C. Smith's Gram._, 161; _Ingersoll's_, 199; and others. Here
may be seen a manifest difference between the verbal or participial noun,
and the participle or gerund; but Murray, in both instances, absurdly calls
the word _hearing_ a "present participle;" and, having robbed the former
sentence of a needful comma, still more absurdly supposes it ambiguous:
whereas the phrase, "in the hearing _of the philosopher_," means only, "in
the _philosopher's_ hearing;" and not, "in hearing the philosopher," or,
"in hearing _of_ the philosopher." But the true question is, would it be
right to say, "He expressed the pleasure he had in the _philosopher's_
hearing _him_?" For here it would be _equivocal_ to say, "in the
philosopher's hearing _of_ him;" and some aver, that _of_ would be wrong,
in any such instance, even if the sense were clear. But let us recur to the
mixed example from Allen, and compare it with his own doctrines. To say,
"from _our_ having received _of_ the words through a French medium," would
certainly be no elegance; and if it be not an ambiguity, it is something
worse. The expression, then, "must be varied." But varied how? Is it right
without the _of_, though contrary to the author's rule for elegance?
OBS. 28.--The observations which have been made on this point, under the
rule for the possessive case, while they show, to some extent, the
inconsistencies in doctrine, and the improprieties of practice, into which
the difficulties of the mixed participle have betrayed some of our
principal grammarians, bring likewise the weight of much authority and
reason against the custom of blending without distinction the
characteristics of nouns and participles in the same word or words; but
still they may not be thought sufficient to prove this custom to be
altogether wrong; nor do they pretend to have fully established the dogma,
that such a construction is in no instance admissible. They show, however,
that possessives before participles are _seldom_ to be approved; and
perhaps, in the present instance, the meaning might be quite as well
expressed by a common substantive, or the regular participial noun: as,
"Some of these irregularities arise from _our reception of_ the words--or
_our receiving of_ the words--through a French medium." But there are some
examples which it is not easy to amend, either in this way, or in any
other; as, "The miscarriages of youth have very much proceeded from _their
being imprudently indulged_, or _left_ to themselves."--_Friends' N. E.
Discipline_, p. 13. And there are instances too, of a similar character, in
which the possessive case cannot be used. For example: "Nobody will doubt
of _this being_ a sufficient proof."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 66. "But
instead of _this being_ the fact of the case, &c."--_Butlers Analogy_, p.
137. "There is express historical or traditional evidence, as ancient as
history, of the _system_ of religion _being taught_ mankind by
revelation."--_Ibid._ "From _things_ in it _appearing_ to men
foolishness."--_Ib._, p. 175. "As to the consistency of the _members_ of
our society _joining_ themselves to those called free-masons."--_N. E.
Discip._, p. 51. "In _either of these cases happening_, the _person
charging_ is at liberty to bring the matter before the church, who are the
only _judges_ now _remaining_."--_Ib._, p. 36; _Extracts_, p. 57. "Deriving
its efficacy from the _power of God fulfilling_ his purpose."--_Religious
World_, Vol. ii, p. 235. "We have no idea of any certain _portion of time
intervening_ between the time of the action and the time of speaking of
it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 33: _Murray's_, i, 70; _Emmons's_, 41; and
others. The following example therefore, however the participle may seem to
be the leading word in sense, is unquestionably wrong; and that in more
respects than one: "The reason and time of the _Son of God's becoming_
man."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. xxii. Many writers would here be satisfied
with merely omitting the possessive sign; as does Churchill, in the
following example: "The chief cause of this appears to me to lie in
_grammarians having considered_ them solely as the signs of tense."--_New
Gram._, p. 243. But this sort of construction, too, whenever the noun
before the participle is not the leading word in sense, is ungrammatical.
In stead, therefore, of stickling for choice between two such errors, we
ought to adopt some better expression; as, "The reason and time of the
_Saviour's incarnation_."--"The chief cause of this appears to me to _be,
that_ grammarians _have_ considered them solely as signs of tense."
OBS. 29.--It is certain that the noun or pronoun which "limits the meaning
of a participle," cannot always be "put in the _genitive_" or _possessive_
case; for the sense intended sometimes positively forbids such a
construction, and requires the objective: as, "A syllable consists of one
or more _letters forming_ one sound."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 29. The word
_representing_ or _denoting_ would here be better than _forming_, because
the letters do not, strictly speaking, _form_ the sound. But chiefly let it
be noticed, that the word _letters_ could not with any propriety have been
put in the possessive case. Nor is it always necessary or proper, to prefer
that case, where the sense may be supposed to admit it; as, "'The example
which Mr. Seyer has adduced, of the _gerund governing_ the genitive of the
agent.' Dr. Crombie."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 237. "Which possibly might
have been prevented by _parents doing_ their duty."--_N. E. Discipline_, p.
187. "As to the seeming contradiction of _One being_ Three, and _Three_
One."--_Religious World_, Vol. ii, p. 113. "You have watched _them
climbing_ from chair to chair."--PIERPONT: _Liberator_, Vol. x, p. 22.
"Whether the world came into being as it is, by an intelligent _Agent
forming_ it thus, or not."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 129. "In the farther
supposition of necessary _agents being_ thus rewarded and
punished."--_Ib._, p. 140. "He grievously punished the _Israelites
murmuring_ for want of water."--_Leslie, on Tythes_, p. 21. Here too the
words, _gerund, parents, One, Three, them, Agent, agents_, and
_Israelites_, are rightly put in the objective case; yet doubtless some
will think, though I do not, that they might as well have been put in the
possessive. Respectable writers sometimes use the latter case, where the
former would convey the same meaning, and be more regular; as, "Which is
used, as active verbs often are, without its _regimen's_ being
expressed."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 302. Omit the apostrophe and _s_;
and, if you please, the word _being_ also. "The daily instances of _men's_
dying around us."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 113. Say rather,--"of _men_ dying
around us." "To prevent _our_ rashly engaging in arduous or dangerous
enterprises."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 17. Say, "To prevent _us from_," &c.
The following example is manifestly inconsistent with itself; and, in my
opinion, the three possessives are all wrong: "The kitchen too now begins
to give 'dreadful note of preparation;' not from _armourers_ accomplishing
the knights, but from the _shop maid's_ chopping _force meat_, the
_apprentice's_ cleaning knives, and the _journeyman's_ receiving a
practical lesson in the art of waiting at table."--_West's Letters to a
Lady_, p. 66. It should be--"not from _armorers_ accomplishing the knights,
but from the _shopmaid_ chopping _forcemeat_, the _apprentice_ cleaning
knives, and the _journeyman_ receiving," &c. The nouns are the principal
words, and the participles are adjuncts. They might be separated by commas,
if semicolons were put where the commas now are.
OBS. 30.--Our authors, good and bad, critics and no critics, with few
exceptions, write sometimes the objective case before the participle, and
sometimes the possessive, under precisely the same circumstances; as, "We
should, presently, be sensible of the _melody_ suffering."--_Blair's
Rhet._, p. 122. "We should, presently, be sensible of the _melody's_
suffering."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 327. "We _shall_ presently be
sensible of the _melody_ suffering."--_Murray's Exercises_, 8vo, p. 60. "We
shall presently be sensible of the _melody's_ suffering."--_Murray's Key_,
8vo, p. 195. "And I explain what is meant by the nominative _case
governing_ the verb, and by the _verb agreeing_ with its nominative
case."--_Rand's Gram._, p. 31. "Take the verb _study_, and speak of _John's
studying_ his lesson, at different times."--_Ib._, p. 53. "The following
are examples of the nominative _case being used_ instead of the
objective."--_J. M. Putnam's Gram._, p. 112. "The following are examples of
an _adverb's qualifying_ a whole sentence."--_Ib._, p. 128. "Where the noun
is the name of a _person_, the cases may also be distinguished by the
_nominative's_ answering to WHO, and the _objective_ to WHOM."--_Hart's
Gram._, p. 46. "This depends chiefly on _their_ being more or less
emphatic; and on the vowel _sound_ being long or short."--_Churchill's
Gram._, p. 182. "When they speak of a _monosyllable_ having the grave or
the acute accent."--_Walker's Key_, p. 328. Here some would erroneously
prefer the possessive case before "_having_;" but, if any amendment can be
effected it is only by inserting _as_ there. "The _event of Maria's loving_
her brother."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 55. "Between that and the _man
being_ on it."--_Ib._, p. 59. "The fact of _James placing_
himself."--_Ib._, p. 166. "The event of the _persons' going_."--_Ib._, p.
165. Here _persons'_ is carelessly put for _person's_, i.e., _James's_: the
author was _parsing_ the puerile text, "James went into a store and placed
himself beside Horatio."--_Ib._, p. 164. And I may observe, in passing,
that Murray and Blair are both wrong in using commas with the adverb
_presently_ above.
OBS. 31.--It would be easy to fill a page with instances of these two
cases, the objective and the possessive, used, as I may say,
indiscriminately; nor is there any other principle by which we can
determine which of them is right, or which preferable, than that the
leading word in sense ought not to be made the adjunct in the construction,
and that the participle, if it remain such, ought rather to relate to its
noun, as being the adjunct, than to govern it in the possessive, as being
the principal term. To what extent either of these cases may properly be
used before the participle, or in what instances either of them may be
preferable to the other, it is not very easy to determine. Both are used a
great deal too often, filling with blemishes the style of many authors: the
possessive, because the participle is not the name of any thing that can be
possessed; the objective, because no construction can be right in which the
relation of the terms is not formed according to the sense. The former
usage I have already criticised to a great extent. Let one example suffice
here: "There can be no objection to a _syllable's being long_, on the
ground of _its not being so long_, or so much protracted, as some other
long syllables are."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 242. Some would here prefer
_syllable_ to _syllable's_, but none would be apt to put _it_ for _its_,
without some other change. The sentence may be amended thus: "There can be
no objection to a _syllable as being long_, on the ground _that it is not
so long_ as some other syllables."
OBS. 32.--It should be observed, that the use of _as_ between the
participle and the noun is _very often_ better than either the adoption of
the possessive sign, or the immediate connexion of the two words; as,
"Another point constantly brought into the investigation now, is that of
military _success as forming_ a claim to civil position."--_Boston Daily
Advertiser_. Concerning examples like the following, it may be questioned,
whether the objective is proper or not; whether the possessive would be
preferable or not; or whether a better construction than either may not be
found: "There is scarce an instance of any _one being chosen_ for a
pattern."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 338. "Instead of its
_authenticity being shaken_, it has been rendered more sure than ever."--
_West's Letters_, p. 197. "When there is no longer a possibility of a
proper _candidate being nominated_ by either party."--_Liberator_, Vol. x.
p. 9. "On the first _stone being thrown_, it was returned by a fire of
musketry."--_Ib._, p. 16. "To raise a cry about an innocent _person being
circumvented_ by bribery."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 276. "Whose principles
forbid _them taking_ part in the administration of the government."--
_Liberator_, Vol. x, p. 15. "It can have no other ground than some such
imagination, as that of our gross _bodies being_ ourselves."--_Butler's
Analogy_, p. 150. "In consequence of this _revelation being made_."--_Ib._,
p. 162. If such relations between the participle and the objective be
disapproved, the substitution of the possessive case is liable to still
stronger objections; but both may be avoided, by the use of the nominative
or otherwise: thus, "_Scarcely is_ any one _ever_ chosen for a pattern."--
"_Its authenticity, in stead of being shaken_, has been rendered more sure
than ever."--"When there is no longer a possibility _that_ a proper
candidate _will be_ nominated by either party."--"_As soon as_ the first
stone _was_ thrown, _there_ was returned a fire of musketry."--"To raise a
cry, _as if_ an innocent person _had been_ circumvented by bribery."--
"Whose principles forbid them _to take_ part in the administration of the
government."--"It can have no other ground than some such imagination, as
that our gross bodies _are_ ourselves."--"In consequence of this revelation
_which is_ made."
OBS. 33.--A recent grammarian quotes Dr. Crombie thus: "Some _late writers_
have discarded a phraseology which appears unobjectionable, and substituted
one that seems less correct; and instead of saying, 'Lady _Macbeth's_
walking in her sleep is an incident full of tragic horror,' would say,
'Lady _Macbeth_ walking in her sleep is an incident full of tragic horror.'
This seems to me an idle affectation of the Latin idiom, less precise than
the common mode of expression, and less consonant with the genius of our
language; for, ask what was an incident full of tragic horror, and,
according to this phraseology, the answer must be, _Lady Macbeth_; whereas
the meaning is, not that _Lady Macbeth_, but her _walking in her sleep_, is
an incident full of tragic horror. This phraseology also, in many
instances, conveys not the intended idea; for, as Priestley remarks, if it
is said, 'What think you of my _horse's running_ to-day?' it is implied
that the horse did actually run. If it is said, 'What think you of my
_horse running_ to-day?' it is intended to ask whether it be proper for my
horse to run to-day. This distinction, though frequently neglected,
deserves attention; for it is obvious that ambiguity may arise from using
the latter only of these phraseologies to express both meanings."--
_Maunder's Compendious Eng. Gram._, p. 15. (See _Crombie's Treatise_, p.
288-290.) To this, before any comment is offered, let me add an other
quotation: "RULE. _A noun before the present participle is put in the
possessive case_; as, Much will depend on the _pupil's composing_
frequently. Sometimes, however, the sense forbids it to be put in the
possessive case; thus, What do you think of my _horse running_ to-day?
means, Do you think I should let him run? but, What do you think of my
_horse's running_? means, he _has_ run, do you think he ran well?"--
_Lennie's Gram._, p. 91; _Brace's Gram._, 94. See _Bullions's Gram._, p.
107; _Hiley's_, 94; _Murray's_, 8vo. 195: _Ingersoll's_, 201: and many
others.
OBS. 34.--Any phraseology that conveys not the intended idea, or that
involves such an absurdity as that of calling a lady an "incident" is
doubtless sufficiently reprehensible; but, compared with a rule of grammar
so ill-devised as to mislead the learner nine times in ten, an occasional
ambiguity or solecism is a mere trifle. The word _walking_, preceded by a
possessive and followed by a preposition, as above, is clearly a _noun_,
and not a participle; but these authors probably intend to justify the use
of possessives before _participles_, and even to hold all phraseology of
this kind "unobjectionable." If such is not their design, they write as
badly as they reason; and if it is, their doctrine is both false and
inconsistent. That a verbal noun may govern the possessive case, is
certainly no proof that a participle may do so too; and, if these parts of
speech are to be kept distinct the latter position must be disallowed: each
must "abide by its own construction," as says Lowth. But the practice which
these authors speak of, as an innovation of "some late writers," and "an
idle affectation of the Latin idiom," is in fact a practice as different
from the blunder which they quote, or feign, as their just correction of
that blunder is different from the thousand errors or irregularities which
they intend to shelter under it. To call a lady an "incident," is just as
far from any Latin idiom, as it is from good English; whereas the very
thing which they thus object to at first, they afterwards approve in this
text: "What think you of my _horse running_ to-day?" This phraseology
corresponds with "_the Latin idiom_;" and it is this, that, in fact, they
begin with pronouncing to be "less correct" than, "What think you of my
_horse's running_ to-day?"
OBS. 35.--Between these expressions, too, they pretend to fix a distinction
of signification; as, if "the _horse's running_ to-day," must needs imply a
past action, though, (they suppose,) "the _pupil's composing_ frequently,"
or, "the _horse running_ to-day," signifies a _future_ one. This
distinction of time is altogether _imaginary_; and the notion, that to
prefer the possessive case before participles, is merely to withstand an
error of "_some late writers_," is altogether false. The instructions above
cited, therefore, determine nothing rightly, except the inaccuracy of one
very uncommon form of expression. For, according to our best grammarians,
the simple mode of correction there adopted will scarcely be found
applicable to any other text. It will not be right where the participle
happens to be transitive, or even where it is qualified by an adverb. From
their subsequent examples, it is plain that these gentlemen think
otherwise; but still, who can understand what they mean by "_the common
mode of expression_?" What, for instance, would they substitute for the
following very inaccurate expression from the critical belles-lettres of
Dr. Blair? "A _mother accusing_ her son, and _accusing_ him of such
actions, _as having_ first _bribed_ judges to condemn her husband, and
_having_ afterwards _poisoned_ him, _were circumstances_ that naturally
raised strong prejudices against Cicero's client."--_Blair's Lectures_, p.
274. Would they say. "A _mother's accusing her son_, &c., _were
circumstances_," &c.? Is this their "common mode of expression?" and if it
is, do they not make "common" what is no better English than the Doctor's?
If, to accuse a son, and to accuse him greatly, can be considered different
circumstances of the same prosecution, the sentence may be corrected thus:
"A _mother's_ accusing _of_ her son, and _her charging of_ him _with_ such
actions, as _those of_ having first bribed judges to condemn her husband,
and having afterwards poisoned him, were circumstances that naturally
raised strong prejudices against Cicero's client."
OBS. 36.--On several occasions, as in the tenth and twelfth observations on
Rule 4th, and in certain parts of the present series, some notice has been
taken of the equivalence or difference of meaning, real or supposed,
between the construction of the possessive, and that of an other case,
before the participle; or between the participial and the substantive use
of words in _ing_. Dr. Priestley, to whom, as well as to Dr. Lowth, most of
our grammarians are indebted for some of their doctrines respecting this
sort of derivatives, pretends to distinguish them, both as constituting
different parts of speech, and as conveying different meanings. In one
place, he says, "When a word ending in _ing_ is preceded by an article, it
seems to be used as a _noun_; and therefore _ought not to govern an other
word_, without the intervention of a preposition."--_Priestley's Gram._, p.
157. And in an other: "Many nouns are derived from verbs, and end in _ing_,
like participles of the present tense. The difference between these nouns
and participles is often overlooked, and the accurate distinction of the
two senses not attended to. If I say, What think you of my _horse's
running_ to-day, I use the NOUN _running_, and suppose the horse to have
actually run; for it is the same thing as if I had said, What think you of
_the running of_ my horse. But if I say, What think you of my _horse
running_ to-day, I use the PARTICIPLE, and I mean to ask, whether it be
proper that my horse should run or not: which, therefore, supposes that he
had not then run."--_Ib._, p. 122. Whatever our other critics say about the
_horse running_ or the _horse's running_, they have in general borrowed
from Priestley, with whom the remark originated, as it here stands. It
appears that Crombie, Murray, Maunder, Lennie, Bullions, Ingersoll,
Barnard, Hiley, and others, approve the doctrine thus taught, or at least
some part of it; though some of them, if not all, thereby contradict
themselves.
ODS. 37.--By the two examples here contrasted, Priestley designed to
establish a distinction, not for these texts only, but for _all similar
expressions_--a distinction both of the noun from the participle, and of
the different senses which he supposed these two constructions to exhibit.
In all this, there is a complete failure. Yet with what remarkable
ductility and implicitness do other professed critics take for granted what
this superficial philologer so hastily prescribes! By acknowledging with
reference to such an application of them, that the two constructions above
are both _good English_, our grammarians do but the more puzzle their
disciples respecting the choice between them; just as Priestley himself was
puzzled, when he said, "So we _may either say_, I remember _it being
reckoned_, a great exploit; or, _perhaps more elegantly_, I remember _its
being reckoned_, &c."--_Gram._, p. 70. Murray and others omit this
"_perhaps_," and while they allow both forms to be good, decidedly prefer
the latter; but neither Priestley, nor any of the rest, ever pretended to
discern in these a difference of signification, or even of parts of speech.
For my part, in stead of approving either of these readings about the
"_great exploit_," I have rejected both, for reasons which have already
been given; and now as to the first two forms of the _horserace question_,
so far as they may strictly be taken for models, I cannot but condemn them
also, and for the same reasons: to which reasons may be joined the
additional one, that neither expression is well adapted to the sense which
the author himself gives to it in his interpretation. If the Doctor
designed to ask, "Do you think my horse ran well to-day?" or, "Do you think
it proper for my horse to run to-day?" he ought to have used one or the
other of these unequivocal and unobjectionable expressions. There is in
fact between the others, no such difference of meaning as he imagines; nor
does he well distinguish "the NOUN _running_" from the PARTICIPLE
_runnning_; because he apparently allows the word, in both instances, to be
qualified by the adverb _to-day_.[422]
OBS. 38.--It is clear, that the participle in _ing_ partakes sometimes the
nature of its verb and _an adjective_; so that it relates to a noun, like
an adjective, and yet implies time, and, if transitive, governs an object,
like a verb: as, "Horses _running_ a race." Hence, by dropping what here
distinguishes it as a participle, the word may become an adjective, and
stand before its noun; as, "A _running_ brook." So, too, this participle
sometimes partakes the nature of its verb and _a noun_; so that it may be
governed by a preposition, like a noun, though in itself it has no cases or
numbers, but is indeclinable: as "In _running_ a race." Hence, again, by
dropping what distinguishes it as a participle, it may become a noun; as,
"_Running_ is a safer sport than _wrestling_." Now, if to a participle we
prefix something which makes it an adjective, we also take away its
regimen, by inserting a preposition; as, "A doctrine _un_deserving _of_
praise,"--"A man _un_compromising _in_ his principles." So, if we put
before it an article, an adjective, or a possessive, and thus give to the
participle a substantive character or relation, there is reason to think,
that we ought, in like manner, to take away its regimen, and its adverb
too, if it have any, and be careful also to distinguish this noun from the
participial adjective; as, "_The_ running _of_ a race,"--"_No_ racing _of_
horses,"--"_Your_ deserving _of_ praise."--"A _man's_ compromising _of_ his
principles." With respect to the articles, or any adjectives, it seems now
to be generally conceded, that these are signs of _substantives_; and that,
if added to participles, they must cause them to be taken, in all respects,
_substantively_. But with respect to possessives before participles, the
common practice of our writers very extensively indulges the mixed
construction of which I have said so much, and concerning the propriety of
which, the opinions of our grammarians are so various, so confused, and so
self-contradictory.
OBS. 39.--Though the participle with a nominative or an objective before
it, is not _in general_, equivalent to the verbal noun or the mixed
participle with a possessive before it; and though the significations of
the two phrases are often so widely different as to make it palpably absurd
to put either for the other; yet the instances are not few in which it
makes little or no difference _to the sense_, which of the two forms we
prefer, and therefore, in these instances, I would certainly choose the
more simple and regular construction; or, where a better than either can
readily be found, reject both. It is also proper to have some regard to the
structure of other languages, and to the analogy of General Grammar. If
there be "some late writers" who are chargeable with "an idle affectation
of the Latin idiom," there are perhaps more who as idly affect what they
suppose "consonant with the genius of our language." I allude to those who
would prefer the possessive case in a text like the following: "Wherefore
is this noise of the _city being_ in an uproar?"'--_1 Kings_, i, 41. "Quid
sibi vult clamor civitatis tumultuantis?"--_Vulgate_. "[Greek: _Gis hae
phonae taes poleos aechousaes_];"--_Septuagint_. Literally: "What [_means_] the
clamour of the _city resounding_?" "Que veut dire ce bruit de la ville qui
est ainsi emue?"--_French Bible_. Literally: "What means this noise of the
_city which is so moved_?" Better English: "What means this noise _with
which the city rings_?" In the following example, there is a seeming
imitation of the foregoing Latin or Greek construction; but it may well be
doubted whether it would be any improvement to put the word "_disciples_"
in the possessive case; nor is it easy to find a third form which would be
better than these: "Their difficulties will not be increased by the
intended _disciples having ever resided_ in a Christian country."--_West's
Letters_, p. 119.
OBS. 40.--It may be observed of these different relations between
participles and other words, that _nouns_ are much more apt to be put in
the nominative or the objective case, than are _pronouns_. For example:
"There is no more of moral principle in the way of _abolitionists
nominating_ their own candidates, than in that of _their voting_ for those
nominated by others."--GERRIT SMITH: _Liberator_, Vol. X, p. 17. Indeed, a
pronoun of the nominative or the objective case is hardly ever used in such
a relation, unless it be so obviously the leading word in sense, as to
preclude all question about the construction.[423] And this fact seems to
make it the more doubtful, whether it be proper to use nouns in that
manner. But it may safely be held, that if the noun can well be considered
the leading word in sense, we are at least under no _necessity_ of
subjecting it to the government of a mere participle. If it be thought
desirable to vary the foregoing example, it may easily be done, thus:
"There is no more of moral principle _to prevent abolitionists_ from
nominating their own candidates, than _to prevent them from_ voting for
those nominated by others." The following example is much like the
preceding, but less justifiable: "We see comfort, security, strength,
pleasure, wealth, and prosperity, all flowing from _men combining
together_; and misery, weakness, and poverty, ensuing from _their acting
separately_ or in opposition to each other."--_West's Letters_, p. 133. Say
rather,--"from _men's combining-together_," or, "from _the just combination
of men in society_;" and,--"from their _separate action_, or _their_
opposition to _one an other_." Take an other example: "If _illorum_ be
governed here of _negotii_, it must be in this order, _gratia negotii
illorum videndi_; and this is, for the sake of their _business_ being seen,
and not, for the sake of _them_ being seen."--_Johnson's Grammatical
Commentaries_, p. 352. Here the learned critic, in disputing Perizonius's
resolution of the phrase, "_illorum videndi gratia_" has written disputable
English. But, had he _affected the Latin idiom_, a nearer imitation of it
would have been,--"for the sake of their _business's being seen_, and not
for the sake of _their being seen_." Or nearer still,--"for the sake of
_seeing of their business_, and not, for the sake of _seeing of them_." An
elegant writer would be apt to avoid all these forms, and say,--"for the
sake of _seeing their business_;" and,--"_for the sake of seeing them_;"
though the former phrase, being but a version of bad Latin, makes no very
good sense in any way.
OBS. 41.--Idioms, or peculiarities of expression, are never to be approved
or valued, but according to their convenience, utility, or elegance. By
this rule, some phrases that are not positively barbarous, may yet be
ungrammatical, and a construction that is sometimes allowable, may yet be
quite unworthy to be made or reckoned, "the common mode of expression."
Thus, in Latin, the infinitive verb is occasionally put for a noun, and
taken to signify a property possessed; as, "_Tuum scire_, [thy to know,]
the same as _tua scientia_, thy knowledge. Pers."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 153.
So, in English, the participle in _ing_ is often taken substantively, when
it does not actually become a substantive or noun; as, "Thy _knowing_
this,"--"Our _doing_ so."--_West_. Such forms of speech, because they are
idiomatical, seldom admit of any literal translation, and are never
naturalized by any transfer from one language or dialect into an other; nor
is it proper for grammarians to justify them, in vernacular speech, except
as figures or anomalies that ought not to be generally imitated. It cannot
be truly affirmed, that the genius of our language ever requires that
participles, as such, should assume the relations of a noun, or govern the
possessive case; nor, on the other hand, can it be truly denied, that very
excellent and learned writers do sometimes make use of such phraseology.
Without disrespect to the many users and approvers of these anomalies, I
set down for bad English every mixed construction of the participle, for
which the language can furnish an equivalent expression that is more simple
and more elegant. The extent to which these comparative barbarisms now
abound in English books, and the ridiculous fondness for them, which has
been shown by some writers on English grammar, in stead of amounting to any
argument in their favour, are in fact, plain proofs of the necessity of an
endeavour to arrest so obvious and so pernicious an innovation.
OBS. 42.--A late author observes as follows: "That the English gerund,
participle, or verbal noun, in _ing_, has both an active and a passive
signification, there can be little doubt.[424] Whether the Latin gerund has
precisely a similar import, or whether it is only active, it may be
difficult, and, indeed, after all, it is not of much moment, to
ascertain."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 234. The gerund in Latin most
commonly governs the case of its own verb, as does the active participle,
both in Latin and English: as, "Efferor studio _patres vestros videndi_.
Cic. de sen. 23."--_Lily's Gram._, p. 96. That is, "I am transported, with
a desire of _seeing your fathers_." But sometimes we find the gerund taken
substantively and made to govern the genitive. Or,--to adopt the language
of an old grammarian:--"Interdum _non invenuste_ additur gerundiis in _di_
etiam genitivus pluralis: ut, 'Quum _illorum videndi_ gratia me in forum
contulissem.'--'_Novarum_ [qui] _spectandi_ faciunt copiam.' Ter. Heaut.
prol. 29."--_Lily's Gram._, p. 97. That is, "To gerunds in _di_ there is
sometimes _not inelegantly_ added a genitive plural: as, 'When, for the
sake _of seeing of them_, I went into the forum.'--'Who present an
opportunity of _attending of new ones_:' i.e., new comedies." Here the _of_
which is inserted after the participle to mark the genitive case which is
added, forms rather an error than an elegance, though some English writers
do now and then adopt this idiom. The gerund thus governing the genitive,
is not analogous to our participle governing the possessive; because this
genitive stands, not for _the subject_ of the being or action, but for what
would otherwise be _the object_ of the gerund, or of the participle, as may
be seen above. The objection to the participle as governing the possessive,
is, that it retains its object or its adverb; for when it does not, it
becomes fairly a noun, and the objection is removed. R. Johnson, like many
others, erroneously thinks it a noun, even when it governs an objective,
and has merely a preposition before it; as, "For the sake _of seeing them_.
Where _seeing_ (says he) is a Substantive."--_Gram. Com._, p. 353.
OBS. 43.--If the Latin gerund were made to govern the genitive of the
_agent_, and allowed at the same time to retain its government as a gerund,
it would then correspond in every thing but declension, to the English
participle when made to govern both the possessive case and the objective.
But I have before observed that no such analogy appears. The following
example has been quoted by Seyer, as a proof that the gerund may govern the
genitive of the agent: "_Cujus autem in dicendo aliquid reprehensum
est_--Cic."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 236. That is, (as I understand it,)
"But in _whose speaking_ something is reprehended." This seems to me a case
in point; though Crombie and Grant will not allow it to be so. But a single
example is not sufficient. If the doctrine is true, there must be others.
In this solitary instance, it would be easier to doubt the accuracy even of
Cicero, than to approve the notion of these two critics, that _cujus_ is
here governed by _aliquid_, and not by the gerund. "Here," says Grant, "I
am inclined to concur in opinion with Dr. Crombie, whose words I take the
liberty to use, 'That, _for the sake of euphony_, the gerund is sometimes
found governing the genitive of the patient, or _subject_ [say _object_] of
the action, is unquestionable: thus, _studio videndi patrum vestrorum_.
[That is, literally, _By a desire of seeing of your fathers_.] But I
recollect no example, where the gerund is joined with a possessive
adjective, or genitive of a noun substantive, where the person is not the
patient, but the agent; as, _dicendum meum, ejus dicendum, cujus dicendum_.
[That is, _my speaking, his speaking, whose speaking_.] In truth, these
phraseologies appear to me, not only repugnant to the idiom of the
language, but also unfavourable to precision and perspicuity.'"--_Grant's
Latin Gram._, 8vo, p. 236.
OBS. 44.--Of that particular distinction between the participle and the
participial noun, which depends on the insertion or omission of the article
and the preposition _of_, a recent grammarian of considerable merit adopts
the following views: "This double nature of the participle has led to much
irregularity in its use. Thus we find, 'indulging which,' 'indulging _of_
which,' '_the_ indulging which,' and '_the_ indulging _of_ which,' used
indiscriminately. Lowth very properly instructs us, either to use both the
article and the preposition with the participle; as, '_the_ indulging _of_
which:' or to reject both; as, 'indulging which:' thus keeping the verbal
and substantive forms distinct. But he is wrong, as Dr. Crombie justly
remarks, in considering these two modes of expression as perfectly similar.
Suppose I am told, 'Bloomfield spoke warmly of the pleasure he had _in
hearing_ Fawcet:' I understand at once, that the eloquence of Fawcet gave
Bloomfield great pleasure. But were it said, 'Bloomfield spoke warmly of
the pleasure he had _in the hearing of_ Fawcet:' I should be led to
conclude merely that the orator was within hearing, when the poet spoke of
the pleasure he felt from something, about which I have no information.
Accordingly Dr. Crombie suggests as a general rule, conducive at least to
perspicuity, and perhaps to elegance; that, when the noun connected with
the participle is active, or doing something, the article should be
inserted before the participle, and the preposition after it; and, when the
noun is passive, or represents the object of an action, both the article
and the preposition should be omitted:[425] agreeably to the examples just
adduced. It is true, that when the noun following the participle denotes
something incapable of the action the participle expresses, no mistake can
arise _from using_ either form: as, 'The middle condition seems to be the
most advantageously situate for _the gaining of_ wisdom. Poverty turns our
thoughts too much upon _the supplying of_ our wants; and riches, upon
_enjoying_ our superfluities.' _Addison, Spect._, 464. Yet I cannot think
it by any means a commendable practice, thus to jumble together different
forms; and indeed it is certainly better, as _the two modes of expression
have different significations_, to confine each to its distinct and proper
use, agreeably to Dr. Crombie's rule, even when no mistake could arise
_from interchanging_ them."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 319.
OBS. 45.--The two modes of expression which these grammarians would thus
apply constantly to different uses, on the supposition that they have
always different significations, _are the same_ that Lindley Murray and his
copyists suppose to be _generally equivalent_, and concerning which it is
merely admitted by the latter, that they do "_not in every instance_ convey
the same meaning." (See Obs. 27th above.) If Dr. Lowth considered them "as
_perfectly similar_," he was undoubtedly very wrong in this matter: though
not more so than these gentlemen, who resolve to interpret them as being
perfectly and constantly dissimilar. Dr. Adam says, "There are, both in
Latin and [in] English, substantives derived from the verb, which so much
resemble the Gerund in their signification, that _frequently_ they may be
substituted in its place. They are generally used, however, in a more
undetermined sense than the Gerund, and in English, have the article
_always_[426] prefixed to them. Thus, with the gerund, _Detector legendo
Ciceronem_, I am delighted _with reading_ Cicero. But with the substantive,
_Delector lectione Ciceronis_, I am delighted with _the reading of_
Cicero."--_Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 142. "Gerunds are so called because
they, as it were, signify the thing _in gerendo_, (anciently written
_gerundo_,) _in doing_; and, along with the action, convey an idea of the
agent."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 70; _Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 353. "_The
reading of Cicero_," does not necessarily signify an action of which Cicero
is the _agent_, as Crombie, Churchill, and Hiley choose to expound it; and,
since the gerundive construction of words in _ing_ ought to have a definite
reference to the agent or subject of the action or being, one may perhaps
amend even some of their own phraseology above, by preferring the
participial noun: as, "No mistake can arise _from the using of_ either
form."--"And riches [turn our thoughts too much] _upon the enjoying of_ our
superfluities."--"Even when no mistake could arise _from the interchanging
of_ them." Where the agent of the action plainly appears, the gerundive
form is to be preferred on account of its brevity; as, "By _the_ observing
_of_ truth, you will command respect;" or, "By _observing_ truth,
&c."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 189. Here the latter phraseology is greatly
preferable, though this author did not perceive it. "I thought nothing was
to be done by me before _the giving of_ you thanks."--_Walker's Particles_,
p. 63. Say,--"before _giving_ you thanks;" for otherwise the word _thanks_
has no proper construction, the pronoun alone being governed by _of_--and
here again is an error; for "_you_" ought to be the object of _to_.
OBS. 46.--In Hiley's Treatise, a work far more comprehensive than the
generality of grammars, "the _established principles_ and _best usages_ of
the English" Participle are so adroitly summed up, as to occupy only two
pages, one in Etymology, and an other in Syntax. The author shows how the
participle differs from a verb, and how from an adjective; yet he neither
makes it a separate part of speech, nor tells us with what other it ought
to be included. In lieu of a general rule for the parsing of _all
participles_, he presents the remark, "Active transitive participles, like
their verbs, govern the objective case; as, 'I am desirous of _hearing
him_;' '_Having praised them_, he sat down.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 93. This
is a rule by which one may parse the _few objectives_ which are governed by
participles; but, for the usual construction of _participles themselves_,
it is no rule at all; neither does the grammar, full as it is, contain any.
"_Hearing_" is here governed by _of_, and "_Having praised_" relates to
_he_; but this author teaches neither of these facts, and the former he
expressly contradicts by his false definition of a preposition. In his
first note, is exhibited, in two parts, the false and ill-written rule
which Churchill quotes from Crombie. (1.) "When the noun, _connected with
the participle_, is _active or doing_ something, the _participle must have_
an article before it, and the preposition _of_ after it; as, 'In _the
hearing of_ the philosopher;' or, 'In the philosopher's _hearing_;' 'By
_the preaching of_ Christ;' or, 'By Christ's _preaching_.' In these
instances," says Hiley, "the words _hearing_ and _preaching_ are
_substantives_." If so, he ought to have corrected this rule, which twice
calls them _participles_; but, in stead of doing that, he blindly adds, by
way of alternative, two examples which expressly contradict what the rule
asserts. (2.) "But when the noun represents the _object_ of an _action_,
the article and the preposition _of_ must be _omitted_; as, 'In _hearing_
the philosopher.'"--_Ib._, p. 94. If this principle is right, my second
note below, and most of the corrections under it, are wrong. But I am
persuaded that the adopters of this rule did not observe how common is the
phraseology which it condemns; as, "For if _the casting-away of them_ be
_the reconciling of the world_, what shall _the receiving of them_ be, but
life from the dead?"--_Rom._, xi, 15. Finally, this author rejects the _of_
which most critics insert when a possessive precedes the verbal noun;
justifies and prefers the mixed or double construction of the participle;
and, consequently, neither wishes nor attempts to distinguish the
participle from the verbal noun. Yet he does not fail to repeat, with some
additional inaccuracy, the notion, that, "What do you think of my _horse's
running_? is different _to_ [say _from_,] What do you think of my _horse
running_?"--_Ib._, p. 94.
OBS. 47.--That English books in general, and the style of even our best
writers, should seldom be found exempt from errors in the construction of
participles, will not be thought wonderful, when we consider the
multiplicity of uses to which words of this sort are put, and the strange
inconsistencies into which all our grammarians have fallen in treating this
part of syntax. It is useless, and worse than useless, to teach for grammar
any thing that is not true; and no doctrine can be true of which one part
palpably oversets an other. What has been taught on the present topic, has
led me into a multitude of critical remarks, designed both for the
refutation of the principles which I reject, and for the elucidation and
defence of those which are presently to be summed up in notes, or special
rules, for the correction of false syntax. If my decisions do not agree
with the teaching of our common grammarians, it is chiefly because these
authors contradict themselves. Of this sort of teaching I shall here offer
but one example more, and then bring these strictures to a close: "When
present participles are preceded by an article, or pronoun adjective, they
become nouns, and must not be followed by objective pronouns, or nouns
without a preposition; as, _the reading of many books wastes the health_.
But such nouns, like all others, may be used without an article, being
sufficiently discovered by the following preposition; as, _he was sent to
prepare the way, by preaching of repentance_. Also an article, or pronoun
adjective, may precede a clause, used as a noun, and commencing with a
participle; as, _his teaching children was necessary_."--_Dr. Wilson's
Syllabus of English Gram._, p. xxx. Here the last position of the learned
doctor, if it be true, completely annuls the first; or, if the first be
true, the last must needs be false, And, according to Lowth, L. Murray, and
many others, the second is as bad as either. The bishop says, concerning
this very example, that by the use of the preposition _of_ after the
participle _preaching_, "the phrase is rendered _obscure_ and _ambiguous_:
for the obvious meaning of it, in its present form, is, 'by preaching
_concerning_ repentance, or on that subject;' whereas the sense intended
is, 'by publishing the covenant of repentance, and declaring repentance to
be a condition of acceptance with God.'"--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 82. "It ought
to be, 'by _the_ preaching _of_ repentance;' or, by _preaching_
repentance."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 193.
NOTES TO RULE XX.
NOTE I.--Active participles have the same government as the verbs from
which they are derived; the preposition _of_, therefore, should never be
used after the participle, when the verb does not require it. Thus, in
phrases like the following, _of_ is improper: "Keeping _of_ one day in
seven;"--"By preaching _of_ repentance;"--"They left beating _of_ Paul."
NOTE II.--When a transitive participle is converted into a noun, _of_ must
be inserted to govern the object following; as, "So that there was _no
withstanding of_ him."--_Walker's Particles_. p. 252. "The cause of their
salvation doth not so much arise from _their embracing of_ mercy, as from
_God's exercising of_ it"--_Penington's Works_, Vol. ii, p. 91. "Faith is
_the receiving of_ Christ with the whole soul."--_Baxter_. "In _thy
pouring-out of_ thy fury upon Jerusalem."--_Ezekiel_, ix, 8.
NOTE III.--When the insertion of the word _of_, to complete the conversion
of the transitive participle into a noun, produces ambiguity or harshness,
some better phraseology must be chosen. Example: "Because the action took
_place prior to the taking place of_ the other past action."--_Kirkham's
Gram._, p. 140. Here the words _prior_ and _place_ have no regular
construction; and if we say, "_prior_ to the taking _of place of_ the
other," we make the jumble still worse. Say therefore, "Because the action
took place _before_ the other past action;"--or, "Because the action took
place _previously_ to the other past action."
NOTE IV.--When participles become nouns, their adverbs should either become
adjectives, or be taken as parts of such nouns, written as compound words:
or, if neither of these methods be agreeable, a greater change should be
made. Examples of error: 1. "_Rightly_ understanding a sentence, depends
very much on a knowledge of its grammatical construction."--_Comly's
Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 8. Say, "_The right_ understanding _of_ a sentence,"
&c. 2. "Elopement is a running _away_, or private departure."--_Webster's
El. Spelling-Book_. p. 102. Write "_running-away_" as one word. 3. "If they
[Milton's descriptions] have any _faults_, it is their _alluding too
frequently_ to matters of learning, and to fables of antiquity."--_Blair's
Rhet._, p. 451. Say, "If they have any _fault_, it is _that they allude_
too frequently," &c.
NOTE V.--When the participle is followed by an adjective, its conversion
into a noun appears to be improper; because the construction of the
adjective becomes anomalous, and its relation doubtful: as, "When we speak
of _'ambition's being restless_' or, _'a disease's being
deceitful_.'"--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 346; _Kirkham's_, p. 224. This
ought to be, "When we speak of _ambition as_ being restless, or a _disease
as_ being deceitful;" but Dr. Blair, from whom the text originally came,
appears to have written it thus: "When we speak of _ambition's_ being
restless, or a _disease_ being deceitful."--LECT. xvi, p. 155. This is
_inconsistent with itself_; for one noun is possessive, and the other,
objective. NOTE VI.--When a compound participle is converted into a noun,
the hyphen seems to be necessary, to prevent ambiguity; but such compound
nouns are never elegant, and it is in general better to avoid them, by some
change in the expression. Example: "Even as _the being healed_ of a wound,
presupposeth the plaster or salve: but not, on the contrary; for the
application of the plaster presupposeth not _the being healed_."--_Barclays
Works_, Vol. i, p. 143. The phrase, "_the being healed_" ought to mean
only, _the creature healed_; and not, _the being-healed_, or _the healing
received_, which is what the writer intended. But the simple word _healing_
might have been used in the latter sense; for, in participial nouns, the
distinction of _voice_ and of _tense_ are commonly disregarded.
NOTE VII.--A participle should not be used where the infinitive mood, the
verbal noun, a common substantive, or a phrase equivalent, will better
express the meaning. Examples: 1. "But _placing_ an accent on the second
syllable of these words, would entirely derange them."--_Murray's Gram._,
Vol. i, p. 239. Say rather, "But, _to place_ an accent--But _the_ placing
_of_ an accent--or, But an _accent placed_ on the second syllable of these
words, would entirely derange them." 2. "To require _their being_ in that
case."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 21. Say, "To require _them_ to be in that case."
3. "She regrets not having read it."--_West's Letters_, p. 216. Say, "She
regrets _that she has not_ read it." Or, "She _does not regret that she
has_ read it." For the text is equivocal, and admits either of these
senses.
NOTE VIII.--A participle used for a nominative after _be, is, was_, &c.,
produces a construction which is more naturally understood to be a compound
form of the verb; and which is therefore not well adapted to the sense
intended, when one tells what something is, was, or may be. Examples: 1.
"Whose business _is shoeing_ animals."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 365.
Say, "Whose business _it_ is, _to shoe_ animals;"--or, "Whose business is
_the_ shoeing _of_ animals." 2. "This _was in fact converting_ the deposite
to his own use."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 200. Say rather, "This was in fact
_a_ converting _of_ the deposite to his own use."--_Ib._
NOTE IX.--Verbs of _preventing_ should be made to govern, not the
participle in _ing_, nor what are called substantive phrases, but the
objective case of a noun or pronoun; and if a participle follow, it ought
to be governed by the preposition _from_: as, "But the admiration due to so
eminent a poet, must not _prevent us from remarking_ some other particulars
in which he has failed."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 438. Examples of error: 1. "I
endeavoured to prevent _letting him_ escape"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 150.
Say,--"to prevent _his escape_." 2. "To prevent _its being connected_ with
the nearest noun."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 367. Say, "To prevent _it from_
being connected," &c. 3. "To prevent _it bursting_ out with open
violence."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. ii, p. 146. Say, "To prevent it
_from_ bursting out," &c. 4. "To prevent _their injuring or murdering of_
others."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. Say rather, "To prevent _them from_
injuring or murdering _others_."
NOTE X.--In the use of participles and of verbal nouns, the leading word in
sense should always be made the leading or governing word in the
construction; and where there is reason to doubt whether the possessive
case or some other ought to come before the participle, it is better to
reject both, and vary the expression. Examples: "Any person may easily
convince himself of the truth of this, by listening to _foreigners
conversing_ in a language [which] he does not understand."--_Churchill's
Gram._, p. 361. "It is a relic of the ancient _style abounding_ with
negatives."--_Ib._, p. 367. These forms are right; though the latter might
be varied, by the insertion of "_which abounds_" for "_abounding_." But the
celebrated examples before cited, about the "_lady holding up_ her train,"
or the "_lady's holding up_ her train,"--the "_person dismissing_ his
servant," or the "_person's dismissing_ his servant,"--the "_horse running_
to-day," or the "_horse's running_ to-day,"--and many others which some
grammarians suppose to be interchangeable, are equally bad in both forms.
NOTE XI.--Participles, in general, however construed, should have a clear
reference to the proper subject of the being, action, or passion. The
following sentence is therefore faulty: "By _establishing_ good laws, our
_peace_ is secured."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 88; _Folker's_, p. 27. Peace
not being the _establisher_ of the laws, these authors should have said,
"By _establishing_ good laws, _we_ secure our peace." "_There will be no
danger_ of _spoiling_ their faces, or of _gaining_ converts."--_Murray's
Key_, ii, p. 201. This sentence is to me utterly unintelligible. If the
context were known, there might possibly be some sense in saying, "_They_
will be in no danger of spoiling their faces," &c. "The law is annulled, in
the very _act of its being made_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 267. "The
_act of_ MAKING _a law_," is a phrase intelligible; but, "the _act of its_
BEING MADE," is a downright solecism--a positive absurdity.
NOTE XII.--A needless or indiscriminate use of participles for nouns, or of
nouns for participles, is inelegant, if not improper, and ought therefore
to be avoided. Examples: "_Of_ denotes possession or _belonging_."--
_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 118; _Ingersoll's_, 71. "The preposition _of_,
frequently implies possession, property, or _belonging to_."--_Cooper's Pl.
and Pr. Gram._, p. 137. Say, "_Of_ frequently denotes possession, or _the
relation of property_." "England perceives the folly _of the denying of_
such concessions."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 149. Expunge _the_ and the last
_of_, that _denying_ may stand as a participle.
NOTE XIII.--Perfect participles being variously formed, care should be
taken to express them agreeably to the best usage, and also to distinguish
them from the preterits of their verbs, where there is any difference of
form. Example: "It would be well, if all writers who endeavour to be
accurate, would be careful to avoid a corruption at present so prevalent,
of saying, _it was wrote_, for, _it was written; he was drove_, for, _he
was driven; I have went_, for, _I have gone_, &c., in all which instances a
verb is absurdly used to supply the proper participle, without any
necessity from the want of such word."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 186.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XX.
EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--EXPUNGE OF.
"In forming of his sentences, he was very exact."--_Error noticed by
Murray_, Vol. i, p. 194.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preposition _of_ is used after the
participle _forming_, whose verb does not require it. But, according to
Note 1st under Rule 20th, "Active participles have the same government as
the verbs from which they are derived; the preposition _of_, therefore,
should not be used after the participle, when the verb does not require
it." Therefore, _of_ should be omitted; thus, "In forming his sentences, he
was very exact."]
"For not believing of which I condemn them"--_Barclay's Works_, iii. 354.
"To prohibit his hearers from reading of that book."--_Ib._, i, 223. "You
will please them exceedingly, in crying down of ordinances."--MITCHELL:
_ib._, i, 219. "The war-wolf subsequently became an engine for casting of
stones,"--_Constable's Miscellany_, xxi, 117. "The art of dressing of hides
and working in leather was practised."--_Ib._, xxi, 101. "In the choice
they had made of him, for restoring of order."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 37.
"The Arabians exercised themselves by composing of orations and
poems."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 17. "Behold, the widow-woman was there
gathering of sticks."--_1 Kings_, xvii, 10. "The priests were busied in
offering of burnt-offerings."--_2 Chron._, xxxv, 14. "But Asahel would not
turn aside from following of him."--_2 Sam._, ii, 21. "He left off building
of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah."--_1 Kings_, xv, 21. "Those who accuse us of
denying of it, belie us."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 280. "And breaking of
bread from house to house."--_Ib._, i, 192. "Those that set about repairing
of the walls."--_Ib._, i, 459. "And secretly begetting of
divisions."--_Ib._, i, 521. "Whom he had made use of in gathering of his
church."--_Ib._, i, 535. "In defining and distinguishing of the acceptions
and uses of those particles."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 12.
"In punishing of this, we overthrow
The laws of nations, and of nature too."--_Dryden_, p. 92.
UNDER NOTE II.--ARTICLES REQUIRE OF.
"The mixing them makes a miserable jumble of truth and fiction."--_Kames,
El. of Crit._, ii, 357. "The same objection lies against the employing
statues."--_Ib._, ii, 358. "More efficacious than the venting opulence upon
the Fine Arts."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. viii. "It is the giving different names
to the same object."--_Ib._, ii, 19. "When we have in view the erecting a
column."--_Ib._, ii, 56. "The straining an elevated subject beyond due
bounds, is a vice not so frequent."--_Ib._, i, 206. "The cutting evergreens
in the shape of animals is very ancient."--_Ib._, ii, 327. "The keeping
juries, without meet, drink or fire, can be accounted for only on the same
idea."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 301. "The writing the verbs at length on his
slate, will be a very useful exercise."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 20. "The
avoiding them is not an object of any moment."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 180.
"Comparison is the increasing or decreasing the Signification of a Word by
degrees."--_British Gram._, p. 97. "Comparison is the Increasing or
Decreasing the Quality by Degrees."--_Buchanan's English Syntax_, p. 27.
"The placing a Circumstance before the Word with which it is connected, is
the easiest of all Inversion."--_Ib._, p. 140. "What is emphasis? It is the
emitting a stronger and fuller sound of voice," &c.--_Bradley's Gram._, p.
108. "Besides, the varying the terms will render the use of them more
familiar."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 25. "And yet the confining
themselves to this true principle, has misled them!"--_Horne Tooke's
Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 15. "What is here commanded, is merely the
relieving his misery."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 417. "The
accumulating too great a quantity of knowledge at random, overloads the
mind instead of adorning it."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 5. "For the
compassing his point."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 35. "To the introducing such
an inverted order of things."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 95. "Which require
only the doing an external action."--_Ib._, p. 185. "The imprisoning my
body is to satisfy your wills."--GEO. FOX: _Sewel's Hist._, p. 47. "Who
oppose the conferring such extensive command on one person."--_Duncan's
Cicero_, p. 130. "Luxury contributed not a little to the enervating their
forces."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 49. "The keeping one day of the week for a
sabbath."--_Barclay's Works_, i. 202. "The doing a thing is contrary to the
forbearing of it."--_Ib._, i, 527. "The doubling the Sigma is, however,
sometimes regular."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 29. "The inserting
the common aspirate too, is improper."--_Ib._, p. 134. "But in Spenser's
time the pronouncing the _ed_ seems already to have been something of an
archaism."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 656. "And to the reconciling
the effect of their verses on the eye."--_Ib._, i, 659. "When it was not in
their power to hinder the taking the whole."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 155.
"He had indeed given the orders himself for the shutting the
gates."--_Ibid._ "So his whole life was a doing the will of the
Father."--_Penington_, iv, 99. "It signifies the suffering or receiving the
action expressed."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 37. "The pretended crime
therefore was the declaring himself to be the Son of God."--_West's
Letters_, p. 210. "Parsing is the resolving a sentence into its different
parts of speech."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 26.
UNDER NOTE II.--ADJECTIVES REQUIRE OF.
"There is no expecting the admiration of beholders."--_Baxter_. "There is
no hiding you in the house."--_Shakspeare_. "For the better regulating
government in the province of Massachusetts."--_British Parliament_. "The
precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government."--_J. Q.
Adams's Rhet._, Vol. ii, p. 6. "[This state of discipline] requires the
voluntary foregoing many things which we desire, and setting ourselves to
what we have no inclination to."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 115. "This amounts
to an active setting themselves against religion."--_Ib._, p. 264. "Which
engaged our ancient friends to the orderly establishing our Christian
discipline."--_N. E. Discip._, p. 117. "Some men are so unjust that there
is no securing our own property or life, but by opposing force to
force."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. "An Act for the better securing the
Rights and Liberties of the Subject."--_Geo._ III, 31st. "Miraculous curing
the sick is discontinued."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 137. "It would have
been no transgressing the apostle's rule."--_Ib._, p. 146. "As far as
consistent with the proper conducting the business of the House."--_Elmore,
in Congress_, 1839. "Because he would have no quarrelling at the just
condemning them at that day."--_Law and Grace_, p. 42. "That transferring
this natural manner--will ensure propriety."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 372.
"If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the
key."--_Macbeth_, Act ii, Sc. 3.
UNDER NOTE II.--POSSESSIVES REQUIRE OF.
"So very simple a thing as a man's wounding himself."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.
97; _Murray's Gram._, p. 317. "Or with that man's avowing his
designs."--_Blair_, p. 104; _Murray_, p. 308; _Parker and Fox, Part III_,
p. 88. "On his putting the question."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. ii, p. 111.
"The importance of teachers' requiring their pupils to read each section
many times over."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 169. "Politeness is a kind of
forgetting one's self in order to be agreeable to others."--_Ramsay's
Cyrus_. "Much, therefore, of the merit, and the agreeableness of epistolary
writing, will depend on its introducing us into some acquaintance with the
writer."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 370; _Mack's Dissertation in his Gram._, p.
175. "Richard's restoration to respectability, depends on his paying his
debts."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 176. "Their supplying ellipses where
none ever existed; their parsing words of sentences already full and
perfect, as though depending on words understood."--_Ib._, p. 375. "Her
veiling herself and shedding tears," &c., "her upbraiding Paris for his
cowardice," &c.--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 433. "A preposition may be known by
its admitting after it a personal pronoun, in the objective
case."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 28; _Alger's_, 14; _Bacon's_, 10;
_Merchant's_, 18; and others. "But this forms no just objection to its
denoting time."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 65. "Of men's violating or
disregarding the relations which God has placed them in here."--_Butler's
Analogy_, p. 164. "Success, indeed, no more decides for the right, than a
man's killing his antagonist in a duel."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 295. "His
reminding them."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 123. "This mistake was
corrected by his preceptor's causing him to plant some beans."--_Ib._, p.
235. "Their neglecting this was ruinous."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 82.
"That he was serious, appears from his distinguishing the others as
'finite.'"--_Felch's Gram._, p. 10. "His hearers are not at all sensible of
his doing it."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 119.
UNDER NOTE III.--CHANGE THE EXPRESSION.
"An allegory is the saying one thing, and meaning another; a double-meaning
or dilogy is the saying only one thing, but having two in
view."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 461. "A verb may generally be
distinguished, by its making sense with any of the personal pronouns, or
the word _to_ before it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 28; _Alger's_, 13;
_Bacon's_, 10; _Comly's_, and many others. "A noun may, in general, be
distinguished by its taking an article before it, or by its making sense of
itself."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 17; _Murray's_, 27; &c. "An Adjective may
usually be known by its making sense with the addition of the word _thing_:
as, a _good_ thing; a _bad_ thing."--_Same Authors_. "It is seen in the
objective case, from its denoting the object affected by the act of
leaving."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 44. "It is seen in the possessive
case, from its denoting the _possessor_ of something."--_Ibid._ "The name
man is caused by the adname _whatever_ to be twofold subjective case, from
its denoting, of itself, one person as the subject of the two
remarks."--_Ib._, p. 56. "_When_, as used in the last line, is a
connective, from its joining that line to the other part of the
sentence."--_Ib._, p. 59. "From their denoting reciprocation."--_Ib._, p.
64. "To allow them the making use of that liberty."--_Sale's Koran_, p.
116. "The worst effect of it is, the fixing on your mind a habit of
indecision."--_Todd's Student's Manual_, p. 60. "And you groan the more
deeply, as you reflect that there is no shaking it off."--_Ib._, p. 47. "I
know of nothing that can justify the having recourse to a Latin translation
of a Greek writer."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p. 16. "Humour is the
making others act or talk absurdly."--_Hazlitt's Lectures_. "There are
remarkable instances of their not affecting each other."--_Butler's
Analogy_, p. 150. "The leaving Caesar out of the commission was not from any
slight."--_Life of Cicero_, p. 44. "Of the receiving this toleration
thankfully I shall say no more."--_Dryden's Works_, p. 88. "Henrietta was
delighted with Julia's working lace so very well."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._,
p. 255. "And it is from their representing each two different words that
the confusion has arisen."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 42. "AEschylus died of a
fracture of his skull, caused by an eagle's letting fall a tortoise on his
head."--_Biog. Dict._ "He doubted their having it."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._,
p. 81. "The making ourselves clearly understood, is the chief end of
speech."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 68. "There is no discovering in their
countenances, any signs which are the natural concomitants of the feelings
of the heart."--_Ib._, p. 165. "Nothing can be more common or less proper
than to speak of a _river's emptying itself_."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 186.
"Our not using the former expression, is owing to this."--_Bullions's E.
Gram._, p. 59.
UNDER NOTE IV.--DISPOSAL OF ADVERBS.
"To this generally succeeds the division, or the laying down the method of
the discourse."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "To the pulling down of strong
holds."--_2 Cor._, x, 4. "Can a mere buckling on a military weapon infuse
courage?"--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 62. "Living expensively and luxuriously
destroys health."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 234. "By living frugally and
temperately, health is preserved."--_Ibid._ "By living temperately, our
health is promoted."--_Ib._, p. 227. "By the doing away of the
necessity."--_The Friend_, xiii, 157. "He recommended to them, however, the
immediately calling of the whole community to the church."--_Gregory's
Dict., w. Ventriloquism_. "The separation of large numbers in this manner
certainly facilitates the reading them rightly."--_Churchill's Gram._, p.
303. "From their merely admitting of a twofold grammatical
construction."--_Philol. Museum_, i. 403. "His gravely lecturing his friend
about it."--_Ib._, i, 478. "For the blotting out of sin."--_Gurney's
Evidences_, p. 140. "From the not using of water."--_Barclay's Works_, i,
189. "By the gentle dropping in of a pebble."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p.
125. "To the carrying on a great part of that general course of
nature."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 127. "Then the not interposing is so far
from being a ground of complaint."--_Ib._, p. 147. "The bare omission, or
rather the not employing of what is used."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 180;
_Jamieson's_, 48. "Bringing together incongruous adverbs is a very common
fault."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 329. "This is a presumptive proof of its
not proceeding from them."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 186. "It represents him
in a character to which the acting unjustly is peculiarly
unsuitable."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 372. "They will aim at something
higher than merely the dealing out of harmonious sounds."--_Kirkham's
Elocution_, p. 65. "This is intelligible and sufficient; and going farther
seems beyond the reach of our faculties."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 147.
"Apostrophe is a turning off from the regular course of the
subject."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 348; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 185. "Even
Isabella was finally prevailed upon to assent to the sending out a
commission to investigate his conduct."--_Life of Columbus_. "For the
turning away of the simple shall slay them."--_Prov._, i, 32.
"Thick fingers always should command
Without the stretching out the hand."--_King's Poems_, p. 585.
UNDER NOTE V.--PARTICIPLES WITH ADJECTIVES.
"Is there any Scripture speaks of the light's being inward?"--_Barclay's
Works_, i, 367. "For I believe not the being positive therein essential to
salvation."--_Ib._, iii, 330. "Our not being able to act an uniform right
part without some thought and care."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 122. "Upon
supposition of its being reconcileable with the constitution of
nature."--_Ib._, p. 128. "Upon account of its not being discoverable by
reason or experience."--_Ib._, p. 170. "Upon account of their being unlike
the known course of nature."--_Ib._, p. 171. "Our being able to discern
reasons for them, gives a positive credibility to the history of
them."--_Ib._, p. 174. "From its not being universal."--_Ib._, p. 175.
"That they may be turned into the passive participle in _dus_ is no
decisive argument in favour of their being passive."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._,
p. 233. "With the implied idea of St. Paul's being then _absent_ from the
Corinthians."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 123. "On account of its becoming
gradually weaker, until it finally dies away into silence."--_Ib._, p. 32.
"Not without the author's being fully aware."--_Ib._, p. 84. "Being witty
out of season, is one sort of folly."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii. 172. "Its
being generally susceptible of a much stronger evidence."--_Campbell's
Rhet._, p. 102. "At least their being such rarely enhanceth our opinion,
either of their abilities or of their virtues."--_Ib._, p. 162. "Which were
the ground of our being one."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 513. "But they may be
distinguished from it by their being intransitive."--_Murray's Gram._, i,
60. "To distinguish the higher degree of our persuasion of a thing's being
possible."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 234.
"His being idle, and dishonest too,
Was that which caus'd his utter overthrow."--_Tobitt's Gram._, p. 61.
UNDER NOTE VI.--COMPOUND VERBAL NOUNS.
"When it denotes being subjected to the exertion of another."--_Booth's
Introd._, p. 37. "In a passive sense, it signifies being subjected to the
influence of the action."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 60. "The being
abandoned by our friends is very deplorable."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i,
181. "Without waiting for their being attacked by the Macedonians."--_Ib._,
ii, 97. "In progress of time, words were wanted to express men's being
connected with certain conditions of fortune."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 135.
"Our being made acquainted with pain and sorrow, has a tendency to bring us
to a settled moderation."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 121. "The chancellor's
being attached to the king secured his crown; The general's having failed
in this enterprise occasioned his disgrace; John's having been writing a
long time had wearied him."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 66; _Sanborn's_, 171;
_Cooper's_, 96; _Ingersoll's_, 46; _Fisk's_, 83; _and others_. "The
sentence should be, 'John's having been writing a long time has wearied
him.'"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 186. "Much depends on this rule's being
observed."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 195. "He mentioned a boy's having been
corrected for his faults; The boy's having been corrected is shameful to
him."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65; _Merchant's_, 93. "The greater the
difficulty of remembrance is, and the more important the being remembered
is to the attainment of the ultimate end."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 90. "If
the parts in the composition of similar objects were always in equal
quantity, their being compounded would make no odds."--_Ib._, p. 65.
"Circumstances, not of such importance as that the scope of the relation is
affected by their being known."--_Ib._, p. 379. "A passive verb expresses
the receiving of an action or the being acted upon; as, 'John is
beaten'"--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 16. "So our Language has another great
Advantage, namely its not being diversified by Genders."--_Buchanan's
Gram._, p. 20. "The having been slandered is no fault of Peter."--_Frost's
El. of Gram._, p. 82. "Without being Christ's friends, there is no being
justified."--_William Penn_. "Being accustomed to danger, begets
intrepidity, i.e. lessens fear."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 112. "It is, not
being affected so and so, but acting, which forms those habits."--_Ib._, p.
113. "In order to our being satisfied of the truth of the apparent
paradox."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 164. "Tropes consist in a word's being
employed to signify something that is different from its original and
primitive meaning."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 132; _Jamieson's_, 140; _Murray's
Gram._, 337; _Kirkham's_, 222. "A _Trope_ consists in a word's being
employed," &c.--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 133. "The scriptural view of our being
saved from punishment."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 124. "To submit and obey,
is not a renouncing a being led by the Spirit."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 542.
UNDER NOTE VII.--PARTICIPLES FOR INFINITIVES, &C.
"Teaching little children is a pleasant employment."--_Bartlett's School
Manual_, ii, 68. "Denying or compromising principles of truth is virtually
denying their divine Author."--_Reformer_, i, 34. "A severe critic might
point out some expressions that would bear being retrenched."--_Blair's
Rhet._, p. 206. "Never attempt prolonging the pathetic too much."--_Ib._,
p. 323. "I now recollect having mentioned a report of that nature."--
_Whiting's Reader_, p. 132. "Nor of the necessity which there is for their
being restrained in them."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 116. "But doing what God
commands, because he commands it, is obedience, though it proceeds from
hope or fear."--_Ib._, p. 124. "Simply closing the nostrils does not so
entirely prevent resonance."--_Music of Nature_, p. 484. "Yet they
absolutely refuse doing so."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 264. "But Artaxerxes
could not refuse pardoning him."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 173. "Doing them
in the best manner is signified by the name of these arts."--_Rush, on the
Voice_, p. 360. "Behaving well for the time to come, may be insufficient."
--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 198. "The compiler proposed publishing that part
by itself."--_Dr. Adam, Rom. Antiq._, p. v. "To smile upon those we should
censure, is bringing guilt upon ourselves."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 108.
"But it would be doing great injustice to that illustrious orator to bring
his genius down to the same level."--_Ib._, p. 28. "Doubting things go ill,
often hurts more than to be sure they do."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 203.
"This is called straining a metaphor."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 150; _Murray's
Gram._, i, 341. "This is what Aristotle calls giving manners to the
poem."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 427. "The painter's being entirely confined to
that part of time which he has chosen, deprives him of the power of
exhibiting various stages of the same action."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 195.
"It imports retrenching all superfluities, and pruning the expression."--
_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94; _Jamieson's_, 64; _Murray's Gram._, p. 301;
_Kirkham's_, 220. "The necessity for our being thus exempted is further
apparent."--_West's Letters_, p. 40. "Her situation in life does not allow
of her being genteel in every thing."--_Ib._, p. 57. "Provided you do not
dislike being dirty when you are invisible."--_Ib._, p. 58. "There is now
an imperious necessity for her being acquainted with her title to
eternity."--_Ib._, p. 120. "Discarding the restraints of virtue, is
misnamed ingenuousness."--_Ib._, p. 105. "The legislature prohibits opening
shop of a Sunday."--_Ib._, p. 66. "To attempt proving that any thing is
right."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 256. "The comma directs making a pause
of a second in duration, or less."--_Ib._, p. 280. "The rule which directs
putting other words into the place of it, is wrong."--_Ib._, p. 326. "They
direct calling the specifying adjectives or adnames adjective pronouns."--
_Ib._, p. 338. "William dislikes attending court."--_Frost's El. of Gram._,
p. 82. "It may perhaps be worth while remarking that Milton makes a
distinction."--_Philological Museum_, i, 659. "Professing regard, and
acting differently, discover a base mind."--_Murray's Key_, p. 206;
_Bullions's E. Gram._, pp. 82 and 112; _Lennie's_, 58. "Professing regard
and acting indifferently, discover a base mind."--_Weld's Gram., Improved
Edition_, p. 59. "You have proved beyond contradiction, that acting thus is
the sure way to procure such an object."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 92.
UNDER NOTE VIII.--PARTICIPLES AFTER BE, IS, &C.
"Irony is expressing ourselves in a manner contrary to our
thoughts."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 353; _Kirkham's_, 225; _Goldsbury's_, 90.
"Irony is saying one thing and meaning the reverse of what that expression
would represent."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 303. "An Irony is dissembling
or changing the proper signification of a word or sentence to quite the
contrary."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 151. "Irony is expressing ourselves
contrary to what we mean."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 280. "This is in a great
Measure delivering their own Compositions."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. xxvi.
"But purity is using rightly the words of the language."--_Jamieson's
Rhet._, p. 59. "But the most important object is settling the English
quantity."--_Walker's Key_. p. 17. "When there is no affinity, the
transition from one meaning to another is taking a very wide step."--
_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 293. "It would be losing time to attempt further to
illustrate it."--_Ib._, p. 79. "This is leaving the sentence too bare, and
making it to be, if not nonsense, hardly sense."--_Cobbett's Gram._, 220.
"This is requiring more labours from every private member."--_West's
Letters_, p. 120. "Is not this using one measure for our neighbours, and
another for ourselves?"--_Ib._, p. 200. "Is it not charging God foolishly,
when we give these dark colourings to human nature?"--_Ib._, p. 171. "This
is not enduring the cross as a disciple of Jesus Christ, but snatching at
it like a partizan of Swift's Jack."--_Ib._, p. 175. "What is Spelling? It
is combining letters to form syllables and words."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._,
p. 18. "It is choosing such letters to compose words," &c.--_Ibid._ "What
is Parsing? (1.) It is describing the nature, use, and powers of
words."--_Ib._, pp. 22 and 192. (2.) "For parsing is describing the words
of a sentence as they are used."--_Ib._, p. 10. (3.) "Parsing is only
describing the nature and relations of words as they are used."--_Ib._, p.
11. (4.) "Parsing, let the pupil understand and remember, is describing
facts concerning words; or representing them in their offices and relations
as they are."--_Ib._, p. 34. (5.) "Parsing is resolving and explaining
words according to the rules of grammar."--_Ib._, p. 326. (6.) "Parsing a
word, remember, is enumerating and describing its various relations and
qualities, and its grammatical relations to other words in the
sentence."--_Ib._, p. 325. (7.) "For parsing a word is enumerating and
describing its various properties and relations _to the_ sentence."--_Ib._,
p. 326. (8.) "Parsing a noun is telling of what person, number, gender, and
case, it is; and also telling all its grammatical relations in a sentence
with respect to other words."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 16. (9.) "Parsing
any part of speech is telling all its properties and relations."--_Ibid._
(10.) "Parsing is resolving a sentence into its elements."--_Fowler's E.
Gram._, 1850, Sec.588. "The highway of the righteous is, departing from
evil."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 168. "Besides, the first step towards
exhibiting truth should be removing the veil of error."--_Ib._, p. 377.
"Punctuation is dividing sentences and the words of sentences, by
pauses."--_Ib._, p. 280. "Another fault is using the preterimperfect
_shook_ instead of the participle _shaken_"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 259.
"Her employment is drawing maps."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65. "Going to the
play, according to his notion, is leading a sensual life, and exposing ones
self to the strongest temptations. This is begging the question, and
therefor requires no answer."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 217. "It is
overvaluing ourselves to reduce every thing to the narrow measure of our
capacities."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 193; _Ingersoll's_, 199. "What is vocal
language? It is speaking; or expressing ideas by the human
voice."--_Sanders, Spelling-Book_, p. 7.
UNDER NOTE IX.--VERBS OF PREVENTING.
"The annulling power of the constitution prevented that enactment's
becoming a law."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 267. "Which prevents the
manner's being brief."--_Ib._, p. 365. "This close prevents their bearing
forward as nominatives."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 153. "Because this
prevents its growing drowzy."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 5. "Yet this
does not prevent his being great."--_Ib._, p. 27. "To prevent its being
insipid."--_Ib._, p. 112. "Or whose interruptions did not prevent its being
continued."--_Ib._, p. 167. "This by no means prevents their being also
punishments."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 123. "This hinders not their
being also, in the strictest sense, punishments."--_Ibid._, "The noise made
by the rain and wind prevented their being heard."--_Goldsmith's Greece_,
Vol. i, p. 118. "He endeavoured to prevent its taking effect."--_Ib._, i,
128. "So sequestered as to prevent their being explored."--_West's
Letters_, p. 62. "Who prevented her making a more pleasant party."--_Ib._,
p. 65. "To prevent our being tossed about by every wind of
doctrine."--_Ib._, p. 123. "After the infirmities of age prevented his
bearing his part of official duty."--_Religious World_, ii, 193. "To
prevent splendid trifles passing for matters of importance."--_Kames, El.
of Crit._, i, 310. "Which prevents his exerting himself to any good
purpose."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 146. "The want of the observance
of this rule, very frequently prevents our being punctual in our
duties."--_Student's Manual_, p. 65. "Nothing will prevent his being a
student, and his possessing the means of study."--_Ib._, p. 127. "Does the
present accident hinder your being honest and brave?"--_Collier's
Antoninus_, p. 51. "The e is omitted to prevent two es coming
together."--_Fowle's Gram._, p. 34. "A pronoun is used for or in place of a
noun.--to prevent repeating the noun."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 13.
"Diversity in the style relieves the ear, and prevents it being tired with
the too frequent recurrence of the rhymes."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 166.
"Diversity in the style relieves the ear, and prevents its being tired,"
&c.--_Murray's Gram._, i. p. 362. "Timidity and false shame prevent our
opposing vicious customs."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 236; _Sanborn's Gram._,
171; _Merchant's_, 205. "To prevent their being moved by such."--
_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 155. "Some obstacle or impediment, that prevents its
taking place."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 38. "Which prevents our making a
progress towards perfection."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 4. "This method
of distinguishing words, must prevent any regular proportion of time being
settled."--_Ib._, p. 67. "That nothing but affectation can prevent its
always taking place."--_Ib._, p. 78. "This did not prevent John's being
acknowledged and solemnly inaugurated Duke of Normandy."--HENRY: _Webster's
Philos. Gram._, p. 182; his _Improved Gram._, 130; _Sanborn's Gram._, 189;
_Fowler's_, 8vo, 1850, p. 541.
UNDER NOTE X.--THE LEADING WORD IN SENSE.
"This would preclude the possibility of a _nouns'_ or any other word's ever
being in the possessive case."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 338. "A great
part of our pleasure arises from the plan or story being well
conducted."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 18, "And we have no reason to wonder at
this being the case."--_Ib._, p. 249. "She objected only, as Cicero says,
to Oppianicus having two sons by his present wife."--_Ib._, p. 274. "The
Britons being subdued by the Saxons, was a necessary consequence of their
having called in these Saxons, to their assistance."--_Ib._, p. 329. "What
he had there said, concerning the Saxons expelling the Britons, and
changing the customs, the religion, and the language of the country, is a
clear and good reason for our present language being Saxon rather than
British."--_Ib._, p. 230. "The only material difference between them,
besides the one being short and the other being prolonged, is, that a
metaphor always explains itself by the words that are connected with
it."--_Ib._, p. 151; _Murray's Gram._, p. 342. "The description of Death's
advancing to meet Satan, on his arrival."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 156.
"Is not the bare fact of God being the witness of it, sufficient ground for
its credibility to rest upon?"--_Chalmers, Serm._, p. 288. "As in the case
of one entering upon a new study."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 77. "The
manner of these affecting the copula is called the imperative mode."--BP.
WILKINS: _Lowth's Gram._, p. 43. "We are freed from the trouble, by our
nouns having no diversity of endings."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 20. "The
Verb is rather indicative of the actions being _doing_, or _done_, than
_the time when_, but indeed the ideas are undistinguishable."--_Booth's
Introd._, p. 69. "Nobody would doubt of this being a sufficient
proof."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 66. "Against the doctrine here maintained,
of conscience being, as well as reason, a natural faculty."--_Beattie's M.
Sci._, i, 263. "It is one cause of the Greek and English languages being
much more easy to learn, than the Latin."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p.
25. "I have not been able to make out a solitary instance of such being the
fact."--_Liberator_, x, 40. "An angel's forming the appearance of a hand,
and writing the king's condemnation on the wall, checked their mirth, and
filled them with terror."--_Wood's Dict., w. Belshazzar_. "The prisoners'
having attempted to escape, aroused the keepers."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._,
p. 357. "I doubt not, in the least, of this having been one cause of the
multiplication of divinities in the heathen world."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.
155. "From the general rule he lays down, of the verbs being the parent
word of all language."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 227. "He was
accused of himself being idle."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 52. "Our meeting
is generally dissatisfied with him so removing."--_Wm. Edmondson_. "The
spectacle is too rare of men's deserving solid fame while not seeking
it."--_Prof. Bush's Lecture on Swedenborg_. "What further need was there of
an other priest rising?"--See _Key_.
UNDER NOTE XI.--REFERENCE OF PARTICIPLES.
"Viewing them separately, different emotions are produced."--_Kames, El. of
Crit._, ii, 344. "But leaving this doubtful, another objection
occurs."--_Ib._, ii, 358. "Proceeding from one particular to another, the
subject grew under his hand."--_Ib._, i, 27. "But this is still an
interruption, and a link of the chain broken."--_Ib._, ii, 314. "After some
days hunting, Cyrus communicated his design to his officers."--_Rollin_,
ii, 66. "But it is made, without the appearance of making it in
form."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 358. "These would have had a better effect
disjoined thus."--_Ib._, p. 119; _Murray's Gram._, i, 309. "An improper
diphthong has but one of the vowels sounded."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 9;
_Alger's_, 12; _Merchant's_, 9; _Smith's_, 118; _Ingersoll's_, 4. "And
being led to think of both together, my view is rendered unsteady."--
_Blair's Rhet._, p. 95; _Murray's Gram._, 302; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 66. "By
often doing the same thing, it becomes habitual."--_Murray's Key_, p. 257.
"They remain with us in our dark and solitary hours, no less than when
surrounded with friends and cheerful society."--_Ib._, p. 238. "Besides
shewing what is right, the matter may be further explained by pointing out
what is wrong."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. viii. "The former teaches the
true pronunciation of words, comprising accent, quantity, emphasis, pause,
and tone."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol., i, p. 235. "Persons may be reproved for
their negligence, by saying; 'You have taken great care indeed.'"--_Ib._,
i, 354. "The words preceding and following it, are in apposition to each
other."--_Ib._, ii, p. 22. "Having finished his speech, the assembly
dispersed."--_Cooper's Pract. Gram._, p. 97. "Were the voice to fall at the
close of the last line, as many a reader is in the habit of doing."--
_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 101. "The misfortunes of his countrymen were but
negatively the effects of his wrath, by depriving them of his
assistance."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 299. "Taking them as nouns, this
construction may be explained thus."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 233. "These
have an active signification, those which come from neuter verbs being
excepted."--_Ib._, p. 233. "From the evidence of it not being
universal."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 84. "And this faith will continually
grow, by acquainting ourselves with our own nature."--_Channing's
Self-Culture_, p. 33. "Monosyllables ending with any consonant but _f, l_,
or _s_, and preceded by a single vowel, never double the final consonant;
excepting add, ebb," &c.--_Murray's Gram._, p. 23; _Picket's_, 10;
_Merchant's_, 13; _Ingersoll's_, 8; _Fisk's_, 44; _Blair's_, 7. "The
relation of being the object of the action is expressed by the change of
the Noun _Maria_ to _Mariam_"--_Booth's Introd._, p. 38. "In analyzing a
proposition, it is first to be divided into its logical subject and
predicate."--_Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Gram._, p. 254. "In analyzing a
simple sentence, it should first be resolved into its logical subject and
logical predicate."--_Wells's School Gram._, 113th Ed., p. 189.
UNDER NOTE XII.--OF PARTICIPLES AND NOUNS.
"The discovering passions instantly at their birth, is essential to our
well being."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 352. "I am now to enter on
considering the sources of the pleasures of taste."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.
28. "The varieties in using them are, indeed many."--_Murray's Gram._, i,
319. "Changing times and seasons, removing and setting up kings, belong to
Providence alone."--_Ib., Key_, ii, p. 200. "Adhering to the partitions
seemed the cause of France, accepting the will that of the house of
Bourbon."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 246. "Another source of darkness in
composing is, the injudicious introduction of technical words and
phrases."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 247. "These are the rules of grammar, by
the observing of which, you may avoid mistakes."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 192;
_Merchant's_, 93; _Fisk's_, 135; _Ingersoll's_, 198. "By the observing of
the rules you may avoid mistakes."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65. "By the
observing of these rules he succeeded."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 82.
"Being praised was his ruin."--_Ibid._ "Deceiving is not convincing."--
_Ibid._ "He never feared losing a friend."--_Ibid._ "Making books is his
amusement."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65. "We call it declining a noun."--
_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 22. "Washington, however, pursued the same policy
of neutrality, and opposed firmly, taking any part in the wars of
Europe."--_Hall and Baker's School Hist._, p. 294. "The following is a note
of Interrogation, or asking a question (?)."--_Infant School Gram._, p.
132. "The following is a note of Admiration, or expressing wonder
(!)."--_Ib._ "Omitting or using the article _a_ forms a nice distinction in
the sense."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 284. "Placing the preposition before the
word it governs is more graceful."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 150.
"Assistance is absolutely necessary to their recovery, and retrieving their
affairs."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 197. "Which termination, [_ish_,] when
added to adjectives, imports diminution, or lessening the
quality."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 131; _Kirkham's_, 172. "After what is said,
will it be thought refining too much to suggest, that the different orders
are qualified for different purposes?"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 114.
"Who has nothing to think of but killing time."--_West's Letters_, p. 58.
"It requires no nicety of ear, as in the distinguishing of tones, or
measuring time."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 65. "The _Possessive Case_
denotes possession, or belonging to."--_Hall's Gram._, p. 7.
UNDER NOTE XIII.--PERFECT PARTICIPLES.
"Garcilasso was master of the language spoke by the Incas."--_Robertson's
Amer._, ii, 459. "When an interesting story is broke off in the
middle."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 244. "Speaking of Hannibal's elephants
drove back by the enemy."--_Ib._, ii, 32. "If Du Ryer had not wrote for
bread, he would have equalled them."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 166.
"Pope describes a rock broke off from a mountain, and hurling to the
plain."--_Kames_, ii, 106. "I have wrote _or_ have written, Thou hast wrote
_or_ hast written. He hath or has wrote, _or_ hath or has written;"
&c.--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 47; _Maltby's_, 47. "This was spoke by a
pagan."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 174. "But I have chose to follow
the common arrangement."--_Ib._, p. 10. "The language spoke in
Bengal."--_Ib._, p. 78. "And sound Sleep thus broke off, with suddain
Alarms, is apt enough to discompose any one."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 32.
"This is not only the Case of those Open Sinners, before spoke of."--_Right
of Tythes_, p. 26. "Some Grammarians have wrote a very perplexed and
difficult doctrine on Punctuation."--_Ensell's Gram._, p. 340. "There hath
a pity arose in me towards thee."--_Sewel's Hist., fol._, p. 324. "Abel is
the only man that has underwent the awful change of death."--_Juvenile
Theatre_, p. 4.
"Meantime, on Afric's glowing sands,
Smote with keen heat, the Trav'ler stands."--_Union Poems_, p. 88.
CHAPTER VIII.--ADVERBS.
The syntax of an Adverb consists in its simple relation to a verb, a
participle, an adjective, or whatever else it qualifies; just as the syntax
of an English Adjective, (except in a few instances,) consists in its
simple relation to a noun or a pronoun.
RULE XXI.--ADVERBS.
Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs: as,
"Any passion that _habitually_ discomposes our temper, or unfits us for
_properly_ discharging the duties of life, has _most certainly_ gained a
_very_ dangerous ascendency."--_Blair_.
"_How_ bless'd this happy hour, should he appear,
Dear to us all, to me _supremely_ dear!"--_Pope's Homer_.
EXCEPTION FIRST.
The adverbs _yes, ay_, and _yea_, expressing a simple affirmation, and the
adverbs _no_ and _nay_, expressing a simple negation, are always
independent. They generally answer a question, and are equivalent to a
whole sentence. Is it clear, that they ought to be called adverbs? _No_.
"Can honour set to a leg? _No_. Or an arm? _No_. Or take away the grief of
a wound? _No_. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? _No_."--SHAK.: _First
Part of Hen. IV_, Act v, 1.
EXCEPTION SECOND.
The word _amen_, which is commonly called an adverb, is often used
independently at the beginning or end of a declaration or a prayer; and is
itself a prayer, meaning, _So let it be_: as, "Surely, I come quickly.
_Amen_: Even so, come Lord Jesus."--_Rev._, xxii, 20. When it does not
stand thus alone, it seems in general to be used substantively; as, "The
strangers among them stood on Gerizim, and echoed _amen_ to the
blessings."--_Wood's Dict._ "These things saith the _Amen_."--_Rev._, iii,
14
EXCEPTION THIRD.
An adverb before a preposition seems sometimes to relate to the latter,
rather than to the verb or participle to which the preposition connects its
object; as, "This mode of pronunciation runs _considerably beyond_ ordinary
discourse."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 334. "Yea, _all along_ the times of the
apostasy, this was the thing that preserved the witnesses."--_Penington's
Works_, Vol. iv, p. 12. [See Obs. 8th on Rule 7th.]
"_Right against_ the eastern gate,
Where the great sun begins his state."--_Milton, L'Allegro_.
EXCEPTION FOURTH.
The words _much, little, far_, and _all_, being originally adjectives, are
sometimes preceded by the negative _not_, or (except the last) by such an
adverb as _too, how, thus, so_, or _as_, when they are taken substantively;
as, "_Not all_ that glitters, is gold."--"_Too much_ should not be offered
at once."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 140. "_Thus far_ is consistent."--_Ib._, p.
161. "_Thus far_ is right."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 101.
OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XXI.
OBS. 1.--On this rule of syntax, Dr. Adam remarks, "Adverbs sometimes
likewise qualify _substantives_;" and gives Latin examples of the following
import: "Homer _plainly_ an orator:"--"_Truly_ Metellus;"--"_To-morrow_
morning." But this doctrine is not well proved by such imperfect phrases,
nor can it ever be very consistently admitted, because it destroys the
characteristic difference between an adjective and an adverb. _To-morrow_
is here an adjective; and as for _truly_ and _plainly_, they are not such
words as can make sense with nouns. I therefore imagine the phrases to be
elliptical: "_Vere Metellus_," may mean, "_This is truly_ Metellus;" and
"_Homerus plane orator_," "Homer _was plainly_ an orator." So, in the
example, "Behold an Israelite _indeed_," the true construction seems to be,
"Behold, _here is indeed_ an Israelite;" for, in the Greek or Latin, the
word _Israelite_ is a nominative, thus: "_Ecce vere Israelita_."--_Beza_;
also _Montanus_. "[Greek: Ide alaethos 'Israaelitaes.]"--_Greek Testament.
Behold_ appears to be here an interjection, like _Ecce_. If we make it a
transitive verb, the reading should be, "Behold a _true_ Israelite;" for
the text does not mean, "_Behold indeed_ an Israelite." At least, this is
not the meaning in our version. W. H. Wells, citing as authorities for the
doctrine, "Bullions, Allen and Cornwell, Brace, Butler, and Webber," has
the following remark: "There are, however, certain forms of expression in
which _adverbs_ bear a special relation to _nouns_ or _pronouns_; as,
'Behold I, _even I_, do bring a flood of waters.'--_Gen._ 6: 17. 'For our
gospel came not unto you in _word only_, but also in power.'--1 _Thes._ 1:
5."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 156; late Ed., 168. And again, in
his Punctuation, we find this: "When, however, the intervening word is an
_adverb_, the comma is more commonly omitted; as, 'It is _labor only_ which
gives a relish to pleasure.'"--_Ib._, p. 176. From all this, the doctrine
receives no better support than from Adam's suggestion above considered.
The word "_only_" is often an _adjective_, and wherever its "special
relation" is to a noun or a pronoun, it can be nothing else. "_Even_," when
it introduces a word repeated with emphasis, is a _conjunction_.
OBS. 2.--When participles become nouns, their adverbs are not unfrequently
left standing with them in their original relation; as, "For the fall and
_rising again_ of many in Israel."--_Luke_, ii, 34. "To denote the
_carrying forward_ of the action."--_Barnard's Gram._, p. 52. But in
instances like these, _the hyphen_ seems to be necessary. This mark would
make the terms _rising-again_ and _carrying-forward_ compound nouns, and
not participial nouns with adverbs relating to them.
"There is no _flying hence_, nor _tarrying here_."--_Shak., Macbeth_.
"What! in ill thoughts again? men must endure
Their _going hence_, ev'n as their _coming hither_."--_Id._
OBS. 3.--Whenever any of those words which are commonly used adverbially,
are made to relate directly to nouns or pronouns, they must be reckoned
_adjectives_, and parsed by Rule 9th. Examples: "The _above_ verbs."--_Dr.
Adam_. "To the _above_ remarks."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 318. "The _above
instance_."--_Ib._, p. 442. "After the _above_ partial illustration."--_Dr.
Murray's Hist. of Lang._, ii, 62. "The _above explanation_."--_Cobbett's
Gram._, 22. "For _very_ age."--_Zech._, viii, 4. "From its _very_
greatness."--_Phil. Museum_, i, 431. "In his _then_ situation."--_Johnson's
Life of Goldsmith_. "This was the _then_ state of Popery."--_Id., Life of
Dryden_, p. 185. "The servant becomes the master of his _once_
master."--_Shillitoe_. "Time _when_ is put in the ablative, time how _long_
is put in the accusative."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 201; _Gould's_, 198.
"Nouns signifying the time _when_ or how _long_, may be put in the
objective case without a preposition."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p.
24. "I hear the _far-off_ curfew sound."--_Milton_. "Far on the _thither_
side."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 58. "My _hither_ way."--"Since my _here_
remain in England."--_Shak._ "But short and _seldom_ truce."--_Fell_. "An
_exceeding_ knave."--_Pope_. "According to my _sometime_
promise."--_Zenobia_, i, 176. "Thine _often_ infirmities."--_Bible_. "A
_far_ country."--_Ib._ "_No_ wine,"--"_No_ new thing,"--"_No_ greater
joy."--_Ib._ "Nothing _else_."--_Blair_. "_Tomorrow_ noon."--_Scott_.
"Calamity _enough_."--_Tr. Sallust_. "For thou _only_ art holy."--_Rev._,
xv, 4.
OBS. 4.--It is not my design to justify any uncouth substitution of adverbs
for adjectives; nor do I affirm that all the foregoing examples are
indisputably good English, though most of them are so; but merely, that the
words, when they are thus used, _are adjectives_, and not adverbs. Lindley
Murray, and his copyists, strongly condemn some of these expressions, and,
by implication, most or all of them; but both he and they, as well as
others, have repeatedly employed at least one of the very models they
censure. They are too severe on all those which they specify. Their
objections stand thus; "_Such expressions_ as the following, though not
destitute of authority, _are very inelegant_, and do _not suit the idiom_
of our language; 'The _then_ ministry,' for, 'the ministry of that time;'
'The _above_ discourse,' for, 'the preceding discourse.'"--_Murray's
Gram._, i, p. 198; _Crombie's_, 294; _Ingersoll's_, 206. "The following
phrases are also exceptionable: 'The _then_ ministry;' 'The _above_
argument.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 190. "Adverbs used as adjectives, as,
'The _above_ statement;' 'The _then_ administration;' should be
avoided."--_Barnard's Gram._, p. 285. "_When_ and _then_ must not be used
for nouns _and pronouns_; thus, 'Since _when_,' 'since _then_,' 'the _then_
ministry,' ought to be, 'Since _which time_,' 'since _that time_,' 'the
ministry _of that period_.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 96. Dr. Priestley, from
whom Murray derived many of his critical remarks, noticed these
expressions; and, (as I suppose,) _approvingly_; thus, "Adverbs are often
put for adjectives, agreeably to the idiom of the Greek tongue: [as,] 'The
action was _amiss_.'--'The _then_ ministry.'--'The idea is _alike_ in
both.'--Addison. 'The _above_ discourse.'--Harris."--_Priestley's Gram._,
p. 135. Dr. Johnson, as may be seen above, thought it not amiss to use
_then_ as Priestley here cites it; and for such a use of _above_, we may
quote the objectors themselves: "To support the _above_
construction."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 149; _Ingersoll's_, p. 238. "In all
the _above_ instances."--_Mur._, p. 202; _Ing._, 230. "To the _above_
rule."--_Mur._, p. 270; _Ing._, 283. "The same as the _above_."--_Mur._, p.
66; _Ing._, 46. "In such instances as the _above_."--_Mur._, p. 24; _Ing._,
9; _Kirkham_, 23.[427]
OBS. 5.--When words of an adverbial character are used after the manner of
_nouns_, they must be parsed as nouns, and not as adverbs; as, "The Son of
God--was not _yea_ and _nay_, but in him was _yea_."--_Bible_. "For a great
_while_ to come."--_Ib._ "On this _perhaps_, this _peradventure_ infamous
for lies."--_Young_. "From the extremest _upward_ of thine head."--_Shak_.
"There are _upwards_ of fifteen millions of inhabitants."--_Murray's Key_,
8vo, p. 266. "Information has been derived from _upwards_ of two hundred
volumes."--_Worcester's Hist._, p. v. "An eternal _now_ does always
last"--_Cowley_. "Discourse requires an animated _no_."--_Cowper_. "Their
hearts no proud _hereafter_ swelled."--_Sprague_. An adverb after a
preposition is used substantively, and governed by the preposition; though
perhaps it is not necessary to call it a common noun: as, "For _upwards_ of
thirteen years."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. xvi. "That thou mayst curse me them
_from thence_."--_Numb._, xxiii, 27. "Yet _for once_ we'll try."--_Dr.
Franklin_. But many take such terms together, calling them "_adverbial
phrases_." Allen says, "Two adverbs sometimes come together; as, 'Thou hast
kept the good wine _until now_.'"--_Gram._, p. 174. But _until_ is here
more properly a preposition, governing _now_.
OBS. 6.--It is plain, that when words of an adverbial form are used either
adjectively or substantively, they cannot be parsed by the foregoing rule,
or explained as having the ordinary relation of _adverbs_; and if the
unusual relation or character which they thus assume, be not thought
sufficient to fix them in the rank of adjectives or nouns, the parser may
describe them as adverbs used adjectively, or substantively, and apply the
rule which their assumed construction requires. But let it be remembered,
that adverbs, as such, neither relate to nouns, nor assume the nature of
cases: but express the time, place, degree, or manner, of actions or
qualities. In some instances in which their construction may seem not to be
reconcilable with the common rule, there may be supposed an ellipsis of a
verb or a participle:[428] as, "From Monday to Saturday
_inclusively_."--_Webster's Dict._ Here, the Doctor ought to have used a
comma after _Saturday_; for the adverb relates, not to that noun, but to
the word _reckoned_, understood. "It was well said by Roscommon, '_too
faithfully is pedantically_.'"--_Com. Sch. Journal_, i, 167. This saying I
suppose to mean, "_To do a thing_ too faithfully, is, _to do it_
pedantically." "And, [_I say] truly_, if they had been mindful of that
country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have
returned."--_Heb._, xi, 15.
OBS 7.--To abbreviate expressions, and give them vivacity, verbs of
self-motion (such as _go, come, rise, get_, &c.) are sometimes suppressed,
being suggested to the mind by an emphatic adverb, which seems to be put
_for the verb_, but does in fact relate to it understood; as,
"I'll _hence_ to London, on a serious matter."--_Shak_. Supply "_go_."
"I'll _in_. I'll _in_. Follow your friend's counsel. I'll _in_"--_Id._
Supply "_get_."
"_Away_, old man; give me thy hand; _away_."--_Id._ Supply "_come_."
"Love hath wings, and will _away_"--_Waller_. Supply "_fly_."
"_Up, up_, Glentarkin! rouse thee, ho!"--_Scott_. Supply "_spring_."
"Henry the Fifth is crowned; _up_, vanity!" Supply "_stand_."
"_Down_, royal state! all you sage counsellors, _hence_!"--_Shak._ Supply
"_fall_," and "_get you_."
"But _up_, and enter now into full bliss."--_Milton_. Supply "_rise_."
OBS. 8.--We have, on some occasions, a singular way of expressing a
transitive action imperatively, or emphatically, by adding the preposition
_with_ to an adverb of direction; as, _up with it, down with it, in with
it, out with it, over with it, away with it_, and the like; in which
construction, the adverb seems to be used elliptically as above, though the
insertion of the verb would totally enervate or greatly alter the
expression. Examples: "She _up with_ her fist, and took him on the
face."--_Sydney, in Joh. Dictionary_. "_Away with_ him!"--_Acts_, xxi, 36.
"_Away with_ such a fellow from the earth."--_Ib._, xxii, 22. "The calling
of assemblies I cannot _away with_"--_Isaiah_, i, 13. "_Hence with_ denial
vain, and coy excuse."--_Milton's Comus_. Ingersoll says, "Sometimes a
whole phrase is used as an interjection, and we call such _interjectional
phrases_: as, _out upon him!--away with him!--Alas, what wonder!_
&c."--_Conversations on Gram._, p. 79. This method of lumping together
several different parts of speech under the notion of one, and calling the
whole an "_adverbial phrase_," a "_substantive phrase_," or an
"_interjectional phrase_," is but a forced put, by which some grammarians
would dodge certain difficulties which they know not how to meet. It is
directly repugnant to the idea of _parsing_; for the parser ever deals with
the parts of speech as such, and not with whole phrases in the lump. The
foregoing adverbs when used imperatively, have some resemblance to
interjections; but, in some of the examples above cited, they certainly are
not used in this manner.
OBS. 9.--A _conjunctive adverb_ usually relates to two verbs at the same
time, and thus connects two clauses of a compound sentence; as, "And the
rest will I set in order _when_ I come,"--_1 Cor._, xi, 34. Here _when_ is
a conjunctive adverb of time, and relates to the two verbs _will set_ and
_come_; the meaning being, "And the rest will I set in order _at the time
at which_ I come." This adverb _when_ is often used erroneously in lieu of
a nominative after _is_, to which construction of the word, such an
interpretation as the foregoing would not be applicable; because the person
means to tell, not _when_, but _what_, the thing is, of which he speaks:
as, "Another cause of obscurity is _when_ the structure of the sentence is
too much complicated, or too artificial; or _when_ the sense is too long
suspended by parentheses."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 246. Here the
conjunction _that_ would be much better than _when_, but the sentence might
advantageously spare them both; thus, "An other cause of obscurity is too
much _complication_, too artificial _a structure_ of the sentence, or too
long _a suspension_ of the sense by _parenthesis_."
OBS. 10.--For the _placing_ of adverbs, no definite general rule can be
given; yet is there no other part of speech so liable to be misplaced.
Those which relate to adjectives, or to other adverbs, with very few
exceptions, immediately precede them; and those which belong to compound
verbs, are commonly placed after the first auxiliary; or, if they be
emphatical, after the whole verb. Those which relate to simple verbs, or to
simple participles, are placed sometimes before and sometimes after them.
Examples are so very common, I shall cite but one: "A man may, in respect
to grammatical purity, speak _unexceptionably_, and yet speak _obscurely_,
or _ambiguously_; and though we cannot say, that a man may speak
_properly_, and at the same time speak _unintelligibly_, yet this last case
falls _more naturally_ to be considered as an offence against perspicuity,
than as a violation of propriety."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 239.
OBS. 11.--Of the infinitive verb and its preposition _to_, some grammarians
say, that they must never be separated by an adverb. It is true, that the
adverb is, in general, more elegantly placed before the preposition than
after it; but, possibly, the latter position of it may sometimes contribute
to perspicuity, which is more essential than elegance: as, "If any man
refuse _so to implore_, and _to so receive_ pardon, let him die the
death."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 209. The latter word _so_, if placed
like the former, might possibly be understood in a different sense from
what it now bears. But perhaps it would be better to say. "If any man
refuse so to implore, and _on such terms_ to receive pardon, let him die
the death." "Honour teaches us _properly_ to respect ourselves."--_Murray's
Key_, ii, 252. Here it is not quite clear, to which verb the adverb
"_properly_" relates. Some change of the expression is therefore needful.
The right to place an adverb sometimes between _to_ and its verb, should, I
think, be conceded to the poets: as,
"Who dared _to nobly stem_ tyrannic pride."--BURNS: _C. Sat. N._
OBS. 12.--The adverb _no_ is used independently, only when it is equivalent
to a whole sentence. This word is sometimes an adverb of _degree_; and as
such it has this peculiarity, that it can relate only to comparatives: as,
"_No_ more,"--"_No_ better,"--"_No_ greater,"--"_No_ sooner." When _no_ is
set before a noun, it is clearly an _adjective_, corresponding to the Latin
_nullus_; as, "_No_ clouds, _no_ vapours intervene."--_Dyer_. Dr. Johnson,
with no great accuracy, remarks, "It seems an _adjective_ in these phrases,
_no_ longer, _no_ more, _no_ where; though sometimes it may be so
commodiously changed to _not_, that it seems an adverb; as, 'The days are
yet _no_ shorter.'"--_Quarto Dict._ And his first example of what he calls
the "_adverb_ NO" is this: "'Our courteous Antony, Whom ne'er the word of
_no_ woman heard speak.' SHAKSPEARE."--_Ibid._ Dr. Webster says, "When it
precedes _where_, as in _no where_, it may be considered as adverbial,
though originally an adjective."--_Octavo Dict._ The truth is, that _no_ is
an adverb, whenever it relates to an adjective; an adjective, whenever it
relates to a noun; and a noun, whenever it takes the relation of a case.
Thus, in what Johnson cites from Shakspeare, it is a noun, and not an
adverb; for the meaning is, that a woman never heard Antony speak the word
_of no_--that is, _of negation_. And there ought to be a comma after this
word, to make the text intelligible. To read it thus: "_the word of no
woman_," makes _no_ an adjective. So, to say, "There are _no abler critics_
than these," is a very different thing from saying, "There are _critics no
abler_ than these;" because _no_ is an adjective in the former sentence,
and an adverb in the latter. _Somewhere, nowhere, anywhere, else-where_,
and _everywhere_, are adverbs of place, each of which is composed of the
noun _where_ and an _adjective_; and it is absurd to write a part of them
as compound words, and the rest as phrases, as many authors do.
OBS. 13.--In some languages, the more negatives one crowds into a sentence,
the stronger is the negation; and this appears to have been formerly the
case in English, or in what was anciently the language of Britain: as, "He
_never_ yet _no_ vilanie _ne_ sayde in alle his lif unto _no_ manere
wight."--_Chaucer_. "_Ne_ I _ne_ wol _non_ reherce, yef that I may."--_Id._
"Give _not_ me counsel; _nor_ let _no_ comforter delight mine
ear."--_Shakspeare_. "She _cannot_ love, _nor_ take _no_ shape _nor_
project of affection."--_Id._ Among people of education, this manner of
expression has now become wholly obsolete; though it still prevails, to
some extent, in the conversation of the vulgar. It is to be observed,
however, that the _repetition_ of an independent negative word or clause
yet strengthens the negation; as, "_No, no, no_."--"_No, never_."--"_No,
not_ for an hour."--_Gal._, ii, 5. "There is _none_ righteous, _no, not_
one."--_Rom._, iii, 10. But two negatives in the same clause, if they have
any bearing on each other, destroy the negation, and render the meaning
weakly affirmative; as, "_Nor_ did they _not_ perceive their evil
plight."--_Milton_. That is, they _did_ perceive it. "'His language, though
inelegant, is _not ungrammatical_;' that is, it _is_ grammatical."--
_Murray's Gram._, p. 198. The term _not only_, or _not merely_, being a
correspondent to _but_ or _but also_, may be followed by an other negative
without this effect, because the two negative words have no immediate
bearing on each other; as, "Your brother is _not only not_ present, and
_not_ assisting in prosecuting your injuries, _but_ is now actually with
Verres."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p, 19. "In the latter we have _not merely
nothing_, to denote what the point should be; _but no_ indication, that any
point at all is wanting."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 373. So the word
_nothing_, when taken positively for nonentity, or that which does not
exist, may be followed by an other negative; as,
"First, seat him somewhere, and derive his race,
Or else conclude that _nothing_ has _no_ place."--_Dryden_, p. 95.
OBS. 14.--The common rule of our grammars, "Two negatives, in English,
destroy each other, or are equivalent to an affirmative," is far from being
_true_ of all possible examples. A sort of informal exception to it, (which
is mostly confined to conversation,) is made by a familiar transfer of the
word _neither_ from the beginning of the clause to the end of it; as, "But
here is _no_ notice taken of that _neither_"--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p.
336. That is, "But _neither_ is _any_ notice here taken of that." Indeed a
negation may be repeated, by the same word or others, as often as we
please, if no two of the terms in particular contradict each other; as, "He
will _never_ consent, _not_ he, _no, never, nor_ I _neither_." "He will
_not_ have time, _no, nor_ capacity _neither_."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._,
p. 103. "Many terms and idioms may be common, which, nevertheless, have
_not_ the general sanction, _no, nor_ even the sanction of those that use
them."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 160; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 358. And as
to the equivalence spoken of in the same rule, such an expression as, "He
did _not_ say _nothing_," is in fact only a vulgar solecism, take it as you
will; whether for, "He did _not_ say _anything_," or for, "He _did_ say
_something_." The latter indeed is what the contradiction amounts to; but
double negatives must be shunned, whenever they _seem_ like blunders. The
following examples have, for this reason, been thought objectionable;
though Allen says, "Two negatives destroy each other, or _elegantly_ form
an affirmation."--_Gram._, p. 174.
------------"_Nor_ knew I _not_
To be both will and deed created free."
--_Milton, P. L._, B. v., l. 548.
"_Nor_ doth the moon _no_ nourishment exhale
From her moist continent to higher orbs."
--_Ib._, B. v, l. 421.
OBS. 15.--Under the head of _double negatives_, there appears in our
grammars a dispute of some importance, concerning the adoption of _or_ or
_nor_, when any other negative than _neither_ or _nor_ occurs in the
preceding clause or phrase: as, "We will _not_ serve thy gods, _nor_
worship the golden image."--_Dan._, iii., 18. "Ye have _no_ portion, _nor_
right, _nor_ memorial in Jerusalem."--_Neh._, ii, 20. "There is _no_
painsworthy difficulty _nor_ dispute about them."--_Horne Tooke, Div._,
Vol. i, p. 43. "So as _not_ to cloud that principal object, _nor_ to bury
it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 115; _Murray's Gram._, p. 322. "He did _not_
mention Leonora, _nor_ her father's death."--_Murray's Key_, p. 264. "Thou
canst _not_ tell whence it cometh, _nor_ whither it goeth."--_Ib._, p. 215.
The form of this text, in John iii, 8th. is--"But canst not tell whence it
cometh, _and_ whither it goeth;" which Murray inserted in his exercises as
bad English. I do not see that the copulative _and_ is here ungrammatical;
but if we prefer a disjunctive, ought it not to be _or_ rather than _nor_?
It appears to be the opinion of some, that in ail these examples, and in
similar instances innumerable, _nor_ only is proper. Others suppose, that
_or_ only is justifiable; and others again, that either _or_ or _nor_ is
perfectly correct. Thus grammar, or what should be grammar, differs in the
hands of different men! The principle to be settled here, must determine
the correctness or incorrectness of a vast number of very common
expressions. I imagine that none of these opinions is warrantable, if taken
in all that extent to which each of them has been, or may be, carried.
OBS. 16.--It was observed by Priestley, and after him by Lindley Murray,
from whom others again have copied the remark: "Sometimes the particles
_or_ and _nor_, may, either of them, be used with nearly equal propriety;
[as,] 'The king, whose character was not sufficiently vigorous, _nor_
decisive, assented to the measure.'--_Hume. Or_ would perhaps have been
better, but _nor_ seems to repeat the negation in the former part of the
sentence, and therefore gives more emphasis to the expression."--
_Priestley's Gram._, p. 138; _Murray's_, i, 212; _Ingersoll's_, 268; _R. C.
Smith's_, 177. The conjunction _or_ might doubtless have been used in this
sentence, but _not with the same meaning_ that is now conveyed; for, if
that connective had been employed, the adjective _decisive_ would have been
qualified by the adverb _sufficiently_, and would have seemed only an
alternative for the former epithet, _vigorous_. As the text now stands, it
not only implies a distinction between vigour of character and decision of
character, but denies the latter to the king absolutely, the former, with
qualification. If the author had meant to suggest such a distinction, and
also to qualify his denial of both, he ought to have said--"not
sufficiently vigorous, _nor sufficiently_ decisive." With this meaning,
however, he might have used _neither_ for _not_; or with the former, he
might have used _or_ for _nor_, had he transposed the terms--"was not
decisive, _or_ sufficiently vigorous."
OBS. 17.--In the tenth edition of John Burn's Practical Grammar, published
at Glasgow, in 1810, are the following suggestions: "It is not uncommon to
find the conjunctions _or_ and _nor_ used indiscriminately; but if there be
any real distinction in the proper application of them, it is to be wished
that it were settled. It is attempted thus:--Let the conjunction _or_ be
used simply to connect the members of a sentence, or to mark distribution,
opposition, or choice, without any preceding negative particle; and _nor_
to mark the subsequent part of a negative sentence, with some negative
particle in the preceding part of it. Examples of OR: 'Recreation of one
kind _or_ other is absolutely necessary to relieve the body _or_ mind from
too constant attention to labour or study.'--'After this life, succeeds a
state of rewards _or_ punishments.'--'Shall I come to you with a rod, _or_
in love?' Examples of NOR: 'Let no man be too confident, _nor_ too
diffident of his own abilities.'--'Never calumniate any man, _nor_ give the
least encouragement to calumniators.'--'There is _not_ a Christian duty to
which providence has not annexed a blessing, _nor_ any affliction for which
a remedy is not provided.' If the above distinction be just, the following
passage seems to be faulty:
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