PART I.

_THE PARTS OF SPEECH_.

NOUNS.

1. In the more simple _state_ of the _Arabs_, the _nation_ is free, because each of her _sons_ disdains a base _submission_ to the _will_ of a _master_.--GIBBON.

[Sidenote: _Name words_]

By examining this sentence we notice several words used as names. The plainest name is _Arabs_, which belongs to a people; but, besides this one, the words _sons_ and _master_ name objects, and may belong to any of those objects. The words _state, submission,_ and _will_ are evidently names of a different kind, as they stand for ideas, not objects; and the word _nation_ stands for a whole group.

When the meaning of each of these words has once been understood, the word naming it will always call up the thing or idea itself. Such words are called nouns.

[Sidenote: _Definition_.]

2. A noun is a name word, representing directly to the mind an object, substance, or idea.

[Sidenote: _Classes of nouns_.]

3. Nouns are classified as follows:--

(1) Proper.

(2) Common. (a) CLASS NAMES: i. Individual. ii. Collective. (b) MATERIAL.

(3) Abstract. (a) ATTRIBUTE. (b) VERBAL

[Sidenote: _Names for special objects._]

4. A proper noun is a name applied to a particular object, whether person, place, or thing.

It specializes or limits the thing to which it is applied, reducing it to a narrow application. Thus, _city_ is a word applied to any one of its kind; but _Chicago_ names one city, and fixes the attention upon that particular city. _King_ may be applied to any ruler of a kingdom, but _Alfred the Great_ is the name of one king only.

The word _proper_ is from a Latin word meaning _limited, belonging to one_. This does not imply, however, that a proper name can be applied to only one object, but that each time such a name is applied it is fixed or proper to that object. Even if there are several Bostons or Manchesters, the name of each is an individual or proper name.

[Sidenote: _Name for any individual of a class._]

5. A common noun is a name possessed by _any_ one of a class of persons, animals, or things.

_Common_, as here used, is from a Latin word which means _general, possessed by all_.

For instance, _road_ is a word that names _any_ highway outside of cities; _wagon_ is a term that names _any_ vehicle of a certain kind used for hauling: the words are of the widest application. We may say, _the man here_, or _the man in front of you_, but the word _man_ is here hedged in by other words or word groups: the name itself is of general application.

[Sidenote: _Name for a group or collection of objects._]

Besides considering persons, animals, and things separately, we may think of them in groups, and appropriate names to the groups.

Thus, men in groups may be called a _crowd_, or a _mob_, a _committee_, or a _council_, or a _congress_, etc.

These are called COLLECTIVE NOUNS. They properly belong under common nouns, because each group is considered as a unit, and the name applied to it belongs to any group of its class.

[Sidenote: _Names for things thought of in mass._]

6. The definition given for common nouns applies more strictly to class nouns. It may, however, be correctly used for another group of nouns detailed below; for they are common nouns in the sense that the names apply to _every particle of similar substance_, instead of to each individual or separate object.

They are called MATERIAL NOUNS. Such are _glass_, _iron_, _clay_, _frost_, _rain_, _snow_, _wheat_, _wine_, _tea_, _sugar_, etc.

They may be placed in groups as follows:--

(1) The metals: _iron_, _gold_, _platinum_, etc.

(2) Products spoken of in bulk: _tea_, _sugar_, _rice_, _wheat_, etc.

(3) Geological bodies: _mud_, _sand_, _granite_, _rock_, _stone_, etc.

(4) Natural phenomena: _rain_, _dew_, _cloud_, _frost_, _mist_, etc.

(5) Various manufactures: _cloth_ (and the different kinds of cloth), _potash_, _soap_, _rubber_, _paint_, _celluloid_, etc.

7. NOTE.--There are some nouns, such as _sun_, _moon_, _earth_, which seem to be the names of particular individual objects, but which are not called proper names.

[Sidenote: _Words naturally of limited application not proper._]

The reason is, that in proper names the intention is _to exclude_ all other individuals of the same class, and fasten a special name to the object considered, as in calling a city _Cincinnati_; but in the words _sun_, _earth_, etc., there is no such intention. If several bodies like the center of our solar system are known, they also are called _suns_ by a natural extension of the term: so with the words _earth_, _world_, etc. They remain common class names.

[Sidenote: _Names of ideas, not things._]

8. Abstract nouns are names of qualities, conditions, or actions, considered abstractly, or apart from their natural connection.

When we speak of a _wise man_, we recognize in him an attribute or quality. If we wish to think simply of that quality without describing the person, we speak of the _wisdom_ of the man. The quality is still there as much as before, but it is taken merely as a name. So _poverty_ would express the condition of a poor person; _proof_ means the act of proving, or that which shows a thing has been proved; and so on.

Again, we may say, "_Painting_ is a fine art," "_Learning_ is hard to acquire," "a man of _understanding_."

9. There are two chief divisions of abstract nouns:--

(1) ATTRIBUTE NOUNS, expressing attributes or qualities.

(2) VERBAL NOUNS, expressing state, condition, or action.

[Sidenote: _Attribute abstract nouns._]

10. The ATTRIBUTE ABSTRACT NOUNS are derived from adjectives and from common nouns. Thus, (1) _prudence_ from _prudent_, _height_ from _high_, _redness_ from _red_, _stupidity_ from _stupid_, etc.; (2) _peerage_ from _peer_, _childhood_ from _child_, _mastery_ from _master_, _kingship_ from _king_, etc.

[Sidenote: _Verbal abstract nouns._]

II. The VERBAL ABSTRACT NOUNS Originate in verbs, as their name implies. They may be--

(1) Of the same form as the simple verb. The verb, by altering its function, is used as a noun; as in the expressions, "a long _run_" "a bold _move_," "a brisk _walk_."

(2) Derived from verbs by changing the ending or adding a suffix: _motion_ from _move_, _speech_ from _speak_, _theft_ from _thieve_, _action_ from _act_, _service_ from _serve_.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

(3) Derived from verbs by adding _-ing_ to the simple verb. It must be remembered that these words are _free from any verbal function_. They cannot govern a word, and they cannot _express_ action, but are merely _names_ of actions. They are only the husks of verbs, and are to be rigidly distinguished from _gerunds_ (Secs. 272, 273).

To avoid difficulty, study carefully these examples:

The best thoughts and _sayings_ of the Greeks; the moon caused fearful _forebodings_; in the _beginning_ of his life; he spread his _blessings_ over the land; the great Puritan _awakening_; our birth is but a sleep and a _forgetting_; a _wedding_ or a festival; the rude _drawings_ of the book; masterpieces of the Socratic _reasoning_; the _teachings_ of the High Spirit; those opinions and _feelings_; there is time for such _reasonings_; the _well-being_ of her subjects; her _longing_ for their favor; _feelings_ which their original _meaning_ will by no means justify; the main _bearings_ of this matter.

[Sidenote: _Underived abstract nouns._]

12. Some abstract nouns were not derived from any other part of speech, but were framed directly for the expression of certain ideas or phenomena. Such are _beauty_, _joy_, _hope_, _ease_, _energy_; _day_, _night_, _summer_, _winter_; _shadow_, _lightning_, _thunder_, etc.

The adjectives or verbs corresponding to these are either themselves derived from the nouns or are totally different words; as _glad_--_joy_, _hopeful_--_hope_, etc.

Exercises.

1. From your reading bring up sentences containing ten common nouns, five proper, five abstract.

--NOTE.--Remember that all sentences are to be _selected_ from standard literature.

2. Under what class of nouns would you place (_a_) the names of diseases, as _pneumonia_, _pleurisy_, _catarrh_, _typhus_, _diphtheria_; (_b_) branches of knowledge, as _physics_, _algebra_, _geology_, _mathematics_?

3. Mention collective nouns that will embrace groups of each of the following individual nouns:--

man horse bird fish partridge pupil bee soldier book sailor child sheep ship ruffian

4. Using a dictionary, tell from what word each of these abstract nouns is derived:--

sight speech motion pleasure patience friendship deceit bravery height width wisdom regularity advice seizure nobility relief death raid honesty judgment belief occupation justice service trail feeling choice simplicity

SPECIAL USES OF NOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Nouns change by use._]

13. By being used so as to vary their usual meaning, nouns of one class may be made to approach another class, or to go over to it entirely. Since words alter their meaning so rapidly by a widening or narrowing of their application, we shall find numerous examples of this shifting from class to class; but most of them are in the following groups. For further discussion see the remarks on articles (p. 119).

[Sidenote: _Proper names transferred to common use._]

14. Proper nouns are used as common in either of two ways:--

(1) _The origin of a thing is used for the thing itself_: that is, the name of the inventor may be applied to the thing invented, as a _davy_, meaning the miner's lamp invented by Sir Humphry Davy; the _guillotine_, from the name of Dr. Guillotin, who was its inventor. Or the name of the country or city from which an article is derived is used for the article: as _china_, from China; _arras_, from a town in France; _port_ (wine), from Oporto, in Portugal; _levant_ and _morocco_ (leather).

Some of this class have become worn by use so that at present we can scarcely discover the derivation from the form of the word; for example, the word _port_, above. Others of similar character are _calico_, from Calicut; _damask_, from Damascus; _currants_, from Corinth; etc.

(2) _The name of a person or place noted for certain qualities is transferred to any person or place possessing those qualities_; thus,--

Hercules and Samson were noted for their strength, and we call a very strong man _a Hercules_ or _a Samson_. Sodom was famous for wickedness, and a similar place is called _a Sodom_ of sin.

_A Daniel_ come to judgment!--SHAKESPEARE.

If it prove a mind of uncommon activity and power, _a Locke_, _a Lavoisier_, _a Hutton_, _a Bentham_, _a Fourier_, it imposes its classification on other men, and lo! a new system.--EMERSON.

[Sidenote: _Names for things in bulk altered for separate portions._]

15. Material nouns may be used as class names. Instead of considering the whole body of material of which certain uses are made, one can speak of particular uses or phases of the substance; as--

(1) _Of individual objects_ made from metals or other substances capable of being wrought into various shapes. We know a number of objects made of iron. The material _iron_ embraces the metal contained in them all; but we may say, "The cook made the _irons_ hot," referring to flat-irons; or, "The sailor was put in _irons_" meaning chains of iron. So also we may speak of _a glass_ to drink from or to look into; _a steel_ to whet a knife on; _a rubber_ for erasing marks; and so on.

(2) _Of classes_ or _kinds_ of the same substance. These are the same in material, but differ in strength, purity, etc. Hence it shortens speech to make the nouns plural, and say _teas_, _tobaccos_, _paints_, _oils_, _candies_, _clays_, _coals_.

(3) _By poetical use_, of certain words necessarily singular in idea, which are made plural, or used as class nouns, as in the following:--

The lone and level _sands_ stretch far away.--SHELLEY.

From all around-- Earth and her _waters_, and the depths of air-- Comes a still voice.--BRYANT.

Their airy ears _The winds_ have stationed on the mountain peaks. --PERCIVAL.

(4) _Of detached portions_ of matter used as class names; as _stones_, _slates_, _papers_, _tins_, _clouds_, _mists_, etc.

[Sidenote: _Personification of abstract ideas._]

16. Abstract nouns are frequently used as proper names by being personified; that is, the ideas are spoken of as residing in living beings. This is a poetic usage, though not confined to verse.

Next _Anger_ rushed; his eyes, on fire, In lightnings owned his secret stings.--COLLINS.

_Freedom's_ fame finds wings on every wind.--BYRON.

_Death_, his mask melting like a nightmare dream, smiled.--HAYNE.

_Traffic_ has lain down to rest; and only _Vice_ and _Misery_, to prowl or to moan like night birds, are abroad.--CARLYLE.

[Sidenote: _A halfway class of words. Class nouns in use, abstract in meaning._]

17. Abstract nouns are made half abstract by being spoken of in the plural.

They are not then pure abstract nouns, nor are they common class nouns. For example, examine this:--

The _arts_ differ from the _sciences_ in this, that their power is founded not merely on _facts_ which can be communicated, but on _dispositions_ which require to be created.--RUSKIN.

When it is said that _art_ differs from _science_, that the power of art is founded on _fact_, that _disposition_ is the thing to be created, the words italicized are pure abstract nouns; but in case _an art_ or _a science_, or _the arts_ and _sciences_, be spoken of, the abstract idea is partly lost. The words preceded by the article _a_, or made plural, are still names of abstract ideas, not material things; but they widen the application to separate kinds of _art_ or different branches of _science_. They are neither class nouns nor pure abstract nouns: they are more properly called _half abstract_.

Test this in the following sentences:--

Let us, if we must have great _actions_, make our own so.--EMERSON.

And still, as each repeated _pleasure_ tired, Succeeding _sports_ the mirthful band inspired.--GOLDSMITH.

But ah! those _pleasures_, _loves_, and _joys_ Which I too keenly taste, The Solitary can despise.--BURNS.

All these, however, were mere _terrors_ of the night.--IRVING.

[Sidenote: _By ellipses, nouns used to modify._]

18. Nouns used as descriptive terms. Sometimes a noun is attached to another noun to add to its meaning, or describe it; for example, "a _family_ quarrel," "a _New York_ bank," "the _State Bank Tax_ bill," "a _morning_ walk."

It is evident that these approach very near to the function of adjectives. But it is better to consider them as nouns, for these reasons: they do not give up their identity as nouns; they do not express quality; they cannot be compared, as descriptive adjectives are.

They are more like the possessive noun, which belongs to another word, but is still a noun. They may be regarded as elliptical expressions, meaning a walk _in the morning_, a bank _in New York_, a bill _as to tax on the banks_, etc.

NOTE.--If the descriptive word be a _material_ noun, it may be regarded as changed to an adjective. The term "_gold_ pen" conveys the same idea as "_golden_ pen," which contains a pure adjective.

WORDS AND WORD GROUPS USED AS NOUNS.

[Sidenote: _The noun may borrow from any part of speech, or from any expression._]

19. Owing to the scarcity of distinctive forms, and to the consequent flexibility of English speech, words which are usually other parts of speech are often used as nouns; and various word groups may take the place of nouns by being used as nouns.

[Sidenote: _Adjectives, Conjunctions, Adverbs._]

(1) _Other parts of speech_ used as nouns:--

_The great_, _the wealthy_, fear thy blow.--BURNS.

Every _why_ hath a _wherefore_.--SHAKESPEARE.

When I was young? Ah, woeful _When_! Ah! for the change 'twixt _Now_ and _Then_! --COLERIDGE.

(2) _Certain word groups_ used like single nouns:--

_Too swift_ arrives as tardy as _too slow_.--SHAKESPEARE.

Then comes the "_Why, sir_!" and the "_What then, sir_?" and the "_No, sir_!" and the "_You don't see your way through the question, sir_!"--MACAULAY

(3) Any part of speech may be considered merely as a word, without reference to its function in the sentence; also titles of books are treated as simple nouns.

The _it_, at the beginning, is ambiguous, whether it mean the sun or the cold.--Dr BLAIR

In this definition, is the word "_just_," or "_legal_," finally to stand?--RUSKIN.

There was also a book of Defoe's called an "_Essay on Projects_," and another of Dr. Mather's called "_Essays to do Good_."--B. FRANKLIN.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

20. It is to be remembered, however, that the above cases are shiftings of the _use_, of words rather than of their _meaning_. We seldom find instances of complete conversion of one part of speech into another.

When, in a sentence above, the terms _the great_, _the wealthy_, are used, they are not names only: we have in mind the idea of persons and the quality of being _great_ or _wealthy_. The words are used in the sentence where nouns are used, but have an adjectival meaning.

In the other sentences, _why_ and _wherefore_, _When_, _Now_, and _Then_, are spoken of as if pure nouns; but still the reader considers this not a natural application of them as name words, but as a figure of speech.

NOTE.--These remarks do not apply, of course, to such words as become pure nouns by use. There are many of these. The adjective _good_ has no claim on the noun _goods_; so, too, in speaking of the _principal_ of a school, or a state _secret_, or a faithful _domestic_, or a _criminal_, etc., the words are entirely independent of any adjective force.

Exercise.

Pick out the nouns in the following sentences, and tell to which class each belongs. Notice if any have shifted from one class to another.

1. Hope springs eternal in the human breast.

2. Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate.

3. Stone walls do not a prison make. Nor iron bars a cage.

4. Truth-teller was our England's Alfred named.

5. A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage.

6. Power laid his rod aside, And Ceremony doff'd her pride.

7. She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies.

8. Learning, that cobweb of the brain.

9. A little weeping would ease my heart; But in their briny bed My tears must stop, for every drop Hinders needle and thread.

10. A fool speaks all his mind, but a wise man reserves something for hereafter.

11. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.

12. Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.

13. And see, he cried, the welcome, Fair guests, that waits you here.

14. The fleet, shattered and disabled, returned to Spain.

15. One To-day is worth two To-morrows.

16. Vessels carrying coal are constantly moving.

17. Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

18. And oft we trod a waste of pearly sands.

19. A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays And confident to-morrows.

20. The hours glide by; the silver moon is gone.

21. Her robes of silk and velvet came from over the sea.

22. My soldier cousin was once only a drummer boy.

23. But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed.

24. All that thou canst call thine own Lies in thy To-day.

INFLECTIONS OF NOUNS.

GENDER.

[Sidenote: _What gender means in English. It is founded on sex._]

21. In Latin, Greek, German, and many other languages, some general rules are given that names of male beings are usually masculine, and names of females are usually feminine. There are exceptions even to this general statement, but not so in English. Male beings are, in English grammar, always masculine; female, always feminine.

When, however, _inanimate_ things are spoken of, these languages are totally unlike our own in determining the gender of words. For instance: in Latin, _hortus_ (garden) is masculine, _mensa_ (table) is feminine, _corpus_ (body) is neuter; in German, _das Messer_ (knife) is neuter, _der Tisch_ (table) is masculine, _die Gabel_ (fork) is feminine.

The great difference is, that in English the gender follows the _meaning_ of the word, in other languages gender follows the _form_; that is, in English, gender depends on _sex_: if a thing spoken of is of the male sex, the _name_ of it is masculine; if of the female sex, the _name_ of it is feminine. Hence:

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

22. Gender is the mode of distinguishing sex by words, or additions to words.

23. It is evident from this that English can have but two genders,--masculine and feminine.

[Sidenote: _Gender nouns. Neuter nouns._]

All nouns, then, must be divided into two principal classes,--gender nouns, those distinguishing the sex of the object; and neuter nouns, those which do not distinguish sex, or names of things without life, and consequently without sex.

Gender nouns include names of persons and some names of animals; neuter nouns include some animals and all inanimate objects.

[Sidenote: _Some words either gender or neuter nouns, according to use._]

24. Some words may be either gender nouns or neuter nouns, according to their use. Thus, the word _child_ is neuter in the sentence, "A little _child_ shall lead them," but is masculine in the sentence from Wordsworth,--

I have seen A curious _child_ ... applying to _his_ ear The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell.

Of animals, those with which man comes in contact often, or which arouse his interest most, are named by gender nouns, as in these sentences:--

Before the barn door strutted the gallant _cock_, that pattern of a husband, ... clapping _his_ burnished wings.--IRVING.

_Gunpowder_ ... came to a stand just by the bridge, with a suddenness that had nearly sent _his_ rider sprawling over _his_ head--_id._

Other animals are not distinguished as to sex, but are spoken of as neuter, the sex being of no consequence.

Not a _turkey_ but he [Ichabod] beheld daintily trussed up, with _its_ gizzard under _its_ wing.--IRVING.

He next stooped down to feel the _pig_, if there were any signs of life in _it_.--LAMB.

[Sidenote: _No "common gender._"]

25. According to the definition, there can be no such thing as "common gender:" words either distinguish sex (or the sex is distinguished by the context) or else they do not distinguish sex.

If such words as _parent_, _servant_, _teacher_, _ruler_, _relative_, _cousin_, _domestic_, etc., do not show the sex to which the persons belong, they are neuter words.

26. Put in convenient form, the division of words according to sex, or the lack of it, is,--

(MASCULINE: Male beings. Gender nouns { (FEMININE: Female beings.

Neuter nouns: Names of inanimate things, or of living beings whose sex cannot be determined.

27. The inflections for gender belong, of course, only to masculine and feminine nouns. _Forms_ would be a more accurate word than _inflections_, since inflection applies only to the _case_ of nouns.

There are three ways to distinguish the genders:--

(1) By prefixing a gender word to another word.

(2) By adding a suffix, generally to a masculine word.

(3) By using a different word for each gender.

I. Gender shown by Prefixes.

[Sidenote: _Very few of class I._]

28. Usually the gender words _he_ and _she_ are prefixed to neuter words; as _he-goat_--_she-goat_, _cock sparrow_--_hen sparrow_, _he-bear_--_she-bear_.

One feminine, _woman_, puts a prefix before the masculine _man_. _Woman_ is a short way of writing _wifeman_.

II. Gender shown by Suffixes.

29. By far the largest number of gender words are those marked by suffixes. In this particular the native endings have been largely supplanted by foreign suffixes.

[Sidenote: _Native suffixes._]

The native suffixes to indicate the feminine were _-en_ and _-ster_. These remain in _vixen_ and _spinster_, though both words have lost their original meanings.

The word _vixen_ was once used as the feminine of _fox_ by the Southern-English. For _fox_ they said _vox_; for _from_ they said _vram_; and for the older word _fat_ they said _vat_, as in _wine vat_. Hence _vixen_ is for _fyxen_, from the masculine _fox_.

_Spinster_ is a relic of a large class of words that existed in Old and Middle English,[1] but have now lost their original force as feminines. The old masculine answering to _spinster_ was _spinner_; but _spinster_ has now no connection with it.

The foreign suffixes are of two kinds:--

[Sidenote: _Foreign suffixes. Unaltered and little used._]

(1) Those belonging to borrowed words, as _czarina_, _señorita_, _executrix_, _donna_. These are attached to foreign words, and are never used for words recognized as English.

[Sidenote: _Slightly changed and widely used._]

(2) That regarded as the standard or regular termination of the feminine, _-ess_ (French _esse_, Low Latin _issa_), the one most used. The corresponding masculine may have the ending _-er_ (_-or_), but in most cases it has not. Whenever we adopt a new masculine word, the feminine is formed by adding this termination _-ess_.

Sometimes the _-ess_ has been added to a word already feminine by the ending _-ster_; as _seam-str-ess_, _song-str-ess_. The ending _-ster_ had then lost its force as a feminine suffix; it has none now in the words _huckster_, _gamester_, _trickster_, _punster_.

[Sidenote: _Ending of masculine not changed._]

30. The ending _-ess_ is added to many words without changing the ending of the masculine; as,--

baron--baroness count--countess lion--lioness Jew--Jewess heir--heiress host--hostess priest--priestess giant--giantess

[Sidenote: _Masculine ending dropped._]

The masculine ending may be dropped before the feminine _-ess_ is added; as,--

abbot--abbess negro--negress murderer--murderess sorcerer--sorceress

[Sidenote: _Vowel dropped before adding_ -ess.]

The feminine may discard a vowel which appears in the masculine; as in--

actor--actress master--mistress benefactor--benefactress emperor--empress tiger--tigress enchanter--enchantress

_Empress_ has been cut down from _emperice_ (twelfth century) and _emperesse_ (thirteenth century), from Latin _imperatricem_.

_Master_ and _mistress_ were in Middle English _maister_--_maistresse_, from the Old French _maistre_--_maistresse_.

31. When the older _-en_ and _-ster_ went out of use as the distinctive mark of the feminine, the ending _-ess_, from the French _-esse_, sprang into a popularity much greater than at present.

[Sidenote: _Ending_ -ess _less used now than formerly._]

Instead of saying _doctress_, _fosteress_, _wagoness_, as was said in the sixteenth century, or _servauntesse_, _teacheresse_, _neighboresse_, _frendesse_, as in the fourteenth century, we have dispensed with the ending in many cases, and either use a prefix word or leave the masculine to do work for the feminine also.

Thus, we say _doctor_ (masculine and feminine) or _woman doctor_, _teacher_ or _lady teacher_, _neighbor_ (masculine and feminine), etc. We frequently use such words as _author_, _editor_, _chairman_, to represent persons of either sex.

NOTE.--There is perhaps this distinction observed: when we speak of a female _as an active agent_ merely, we use the masculine termination, as, "George Eliot is the _author_ of 'Adam Bede;'" but when we speak purposely _to denote a distinction from a male_, we use the feminine, as, "George Eliot is an eminent _authoress_."

III. Gender shown by Different Words.

32. In some of these pairs, the feminine and the masculine are entirely different words; others have in their origin the same root. Some of them have an interesting history, and will be noted below:--

bachelor--maid boy--girl brother--sister drake--duck earl--countess father--mother gander--goose hart--roe horse--mare husband--wife king--queen lord--lady wizard--witch nephew--niece ram--ewe sir--madam son--daughter uncle--aunt bull--cow boar--sow

Girl originally meant a child of either sex, and was used for male or female until about the fifteenth century.

Drake is peculiar in that it is formed from a corresponding feminine which is no longer used. It is not connected historically with our word _duck_, but is derived from _ened_ (duck) and an obsolete suffix _rake_ (king). Three letters of _ened_ have fallen away, leaving our word _drake_.

Gander and goose were originally from the same root word. _Goose_ has various cognate forms in the languages akin to English (German _Gans_, Icelandic _gás_, Danish _gaas_, etc.). The masculine was formed by adding _-a_, the old sign of the masculine. This _gansa_ was modified into _gan-ra_, _gand-ra_, finally _gander_; the _d_ being inserted to make pronunciation easy, as in many other words.

Mare, in Old English _mere_, had the masculine _mearh_ (horse), but this has long been obsolete.

Husband and wife are not connected in origin. _Husband_ is a Scandinavian word (Anglo-Saxon _hūsbonda_ from Icelandic _hús-bóndi_, probably meaning house dweller); _wife_ was used in Old and Middle English to mean woman in general.

King and queen are said by some (Skeat, among others) to be from the same root word, but the German etymologist Kluge says they are not.

Lord is said to be a worn-down form of the Old English _hlāf-weard_ (loaf keeper), written _loverd_, _lhauerd_, or _lauerd_ in Middle English. Lady is from _hlœ̄̄fdige_ (_hlœ̄̄f_ meaning loaf, and _dige_ being of uncertain origin and meaning).

Witch is the Old English _wicce_, but wizard is from the Old French _guiscart_ (prudent), not immediately connected with _witch_, though both are ultimately from the same root.

Sir is worn down from the Old French _sire_ (Latin _senior_). Madam is the French _ma dame_, from Latin _mea domina_.

[Sidenote: _Two masculines from feminines._]

33. Besides _gander_ and _drake_, there are two other masculine words that were formed from the feminine:--

Bridegroom, from Old English _brȳd-guma_ (bride's man). The _r_ in _groom_ has crept in from confusion with the word _groom_.

Widower, from the weakening of the ending _-a_ in Old English to _-e_ in Middle English. The older forms, _widuwa_--_widuwe_, became identical, and a new masculine ending was therefore added to distinguish the masculine from the feminine (compare Middle English _widuer_--_widewe_).

Personification.

34. Just as abstract ideas are personified (Sec. 16), material objects may be spoken of like gender nouns; for example,--

"Now, where the swift _Rhone_ cleaves _his_ way."--BYRON.

The _Sun_ now rose upon the right: Out of the sea came _he_. --COLERIDGE.

And haply the _Queen Moon_ is on _her_ throne, Clustered around by all her starry Fays. --KEATS,

_Britannia_ needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; _Her_ march is o'er the mountain waves, _Her_ home is on the deep. --CAMPBELL

This is not exclusively a poetic use. In ordinary speech personification is very frequent: the pilot speaks of his boat as feminine; the engineer speaks so of his engine; etc.

[Sidenote: _Effect of personification._]

In such cases the gender is marked by the pronoun, and not by the form of the noun. But the fact that in English the distinction of gender is confined to difference of sex makes these departures more effective.

NUMBER.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

35. In nouns, number means the mode of indicating whether we are speaking of one thing or of more than one.

36. Our language has two numbers,--_singular_ and _plural_. The singular number denotes that one thing is spoken of; the plural, more than one.

37. There are three ways of changing the singular form to the plural:--

(1) By adding _-en_.

(2) By changing the root vowel.

(3) By adding _-s_ (or _-es_).

The first two methods prevailed, together with the third, in Old English, but in modern English _-s_ or _-es_ has come to be the "standard" ending; that is, whenever we adopt a new word, we make its plural by adding _-s_ or _-es._

I. Plurals formed by the Suffix _-en_.

[Sidenote: _The_ -en _inflection._]

38. This inflection remains only in the word oxen, though it was quite common in Old and Middle English; for instance, _eyen_ (eyes), _treen_ (trees), _shoon_ (shoes), which last is still used in Lowland Scotch. _Hosen_ is found in the King James version of the Bible, and _housen_ is still common in the provincial speech in England.

39. But other words were inflected afterwards, in imitation of the old words in _-en_ by making a double plural.

[Sidenote: -En _inflection imitated by other words._]

Brethren has passed through three stages. The old plural was _brothru_, then _brothre_ or _brethre_, finally _brethren_. The weakening of inflections led to this addition.

Children has passed through the same history, though the intermediate form _childer_ lasted till the seventeenth century in literary English, and is still found in dialects; as,--

"God bless me! so then, after all, you'll have a chance to see your _childer_ get up like, and get settled."--QUOTED BY DE QUINCEY.

Kine is another double plural, but has now no singular.

In spite of wandering _kine_ and other adverse circumstance.--THOREAU.

II. Plurals formed by Vowel Change.

40. Examples of this inflection are,--

man--men foot--feet goose--geese louse--lice mouse--mice tooth--teeth

Some other words--as _book_, _turf_, _wight_, _borough_--formerly had the same inflection, but they now add the ending _-s_.

41. Akin to this class are some words, originally neuter, that have the singular and plural alike; such as _deer_, _sheep_, _swine_, etc.

Other words following the same usage are, _pair_, _brace_, _dozen_, after numerals (if not after numerals, or if preceded by the prepositions _in_, _by_, etc, they add _-s_): also _trout_, _salmon_; _head_, _sail_; _cannon_; _heathen_, _folk_, _people_.

The words _horse_ and _foot_, when they mean soldiery, retain the same form for plural meaning; as,--

The _foot_ are fourscore thousand, The _horse_ are thousands ten. --MACAULAY.

Lee marched over the mountain wall,-- Over the mountains winding down, _Horse_ and _foot_, into Frederick town. --WHITTIER.

III. Plurals formed by Adding -s or -es.

42. Instead of _-s,_ the ending _-es_ is added--

(1) If a word ends in a letter which cannot add _-s_ and be pronounced. Such are _box, cross, ditch, glass, lens, quartz_, etc.

[Sidenote: _-Es added in certain cases_.]

If the word ends in a _sound_ which cannot add _-s_, a new syllable is made; as, _niche--niches, race--races, house--houses, prize--prizes, chaise--chaises_, etc.

_-Es_ is also added to a few words ending in -o, though this sound combines readily with _-s_, and does not make an extra syllable: _cargo--cargoes, negro--negroes, hero--heroes, volcano--volcanoes_, etc.

Usage differs somewhat in other words of this class, some adding _-s_, and some _-es_.

(2) If a word ends in _-y_ preceded by a consonant (the _y_ being then changed to _i_); e.g., _fancies, allies, daisies, fairies_.

[Sidenote: _Words in -ies._]

Formerly, however, these words ended in _-ie_, and the real ending is therefore _-s_. Notice these from Chaucer (fourteenth century):--

[Sidenote: _Their old form._]

The _lilie_ on hir stalke grene. Of _maladie_ the which he hadde endured.

And these from Spenser (sixteenth century):--

Be well aware, quoth then that _ladie_ milde. At last fair Hesperus in highest _skie_ Had spent his lampe.

(3) In the case of some words ending in -_f_ or -_fe_, which have the plural in _-ves_: _calf_--_calves_, _half_--_halves_, _knife_--_knives_, _shelf_--_shelves_, etc.

Special Lists.

43. Material nouns and abstract nouns are always singular. When such words take a plural ending, they lose their identity, and go over to other classes (Secs. 15 and 17).

44. Proper nouns are regularly singular, but may be made plural when we wish to speak of several persons or things bearing the same name; e.g., _the Washingtons_, _the Americas_.

45. Some words are usually singular, though they are plural in form. Examples of these are, _optics_, _economics_, _physics_, _mathematics_, _politics_, and many branches of learning; also _news_, _pains_ (care), _molasses_, _summons_, _means_: as,--

_Politics_, in its widest extent, is both the science and the art of government.--_Century Dictionary_.

So live, that when thy _summons comes_, etc.--BRYANT.

It served simply as _a means_ of sight.--PROF. DANA.

[Sidenote: Means _plural_.]

Two words, means and politics, _may be plural_ in their construction with verbs and adjectives:--

Words, by strongly conveying the passions, by _those means_ which we have already mentioned, fully compensate for their weakness in other respects.--BURKE.

With great dexterity _these means_ were now applied.--MOTLEY.

By _these means_, I say, riches will accumulate.--GOLDSMITH.

[Sidenote: Politics _plural_.]

Cultivating a feeling that _politics_ are tiresome.--G.W. CURTIS.

The _politics_ in which he took the keenest interest _were politics_ scarcely deserving of the name.--MACAULAY.

Now I read all the _politics_ that _come_ out.--GOLDSMITH.

46. Some words have no corresponding singular.

aborigines amends annals assets antipodes scissors thanks spectacles vespers victuals matins nuptials oats obsequies premises bellows billiards dregs gallows tongs

[Sidenote: _Occasionally singular words_.]

Sometimes, however, a few of these words have the construction of singular nouns. Notice the following:--

They cannot get on without each other any more than one blade of _a scissors_ can cut without the other.--J.L. LAUGHLIN.

A relic which, if I recollect right, he pronounced to have been _a tongs_.--IRVING.

Besides this, it is furnished with _a forceps_.--GOLDSMITH.

The air,--was it subdued when...the wind was trained only to turn a windmill, carry off chaff, or work in _a bellows_?--PROF. DANA.

In Early Modern English _thank_ is found.

What _thank_ have ye?--_Bible_

47. Three words were _originally singular_, the present ending _-s_ not being really a plural inflection, but they are regularly construed as plural: _alms, eaves, riches_.

[Sidenote: _two plurals_.]

48. A few nouns have two plurals differing in meaning.

brother--brothers (by blood), brethren (of a society or church).

cloth--cloths (kinds of cloth), clothes (garments).

die--dies (stamps for coins, etc.), dice (for gaming).

fish--fish (collectively), fishes (individuals or kinds).

genius--geniuses (men of genius), genii (spirits).

index--indexes (to books), indices (signs in algebra).

pea--peas (separately), pease (collectively).

penny--pennies (separately), pence (collectively).

shot--shot (collective balls), shots (number of times fired).

In speaking of coins, _twopence_, _sixpence_, etc., may add _-s_, making a double plural, as two _sixpences_.

[Sidenote: _One plural, two meanings._]

49. Other words have one plural form with two meanings,--one corresponding to the singular, the other unlike it.

custom--customs: (1) habits, ways; (2) revenue duties.

letter--letters: (1) the alphabet, or epistles; (2) literature.

number--numbers: (1) figures; (2) poetry, as in the lines,--

I lisped in _numbers_, for the numbers came.--POPE.

Tell me not, in mournful _numbers_.--LONGFELLOW.

_Numbers_ also means issues, or copies, of a periodical.

pain--pains: (1) suffering; (2) care, trouble,

part--parts: (1) divisions; (2) abilities, faculties.

[Sidenote: _Two classes of compound words._]

50. Compound words may be divided into two classes:--

(1) _Those whose parts are so closely joined as to constitute one word._ These make the last part plural.

courtyard dormouse Englishman fellow-servant fisherman Frenchman forget-me-not goosequill handful mouthful cupful maidservant pianoforte stepson spoonful titmouse

(2) _Those groups in which the first part is the principal one, followed by a word or phrase making a modifier._ The chief member adds _-s_ in the plural.

aid-de-camp attorney at law billet-doux commander in chief court-martial cousin-german father-in-law knight-errant hanger-on

NOTE.--Some words ending in _-man_ are not compounds of the English word _man_, but add _-s_; such as _talisman_, _firman_, _Brahman_, _German_, _Norman_, _Mussulman_, _Ottoman_.

51. Some groups pluralize both parts of the group; as _man singer_, _manservant_, _woman servant_, _woman singer_.

[Sidenote: _Two methods in use for names with titles._]

52. As to plurals of names with titles, there is some disagreement among English writers. The title may be plural, as _the Messrs. Allen_, _the Drs. Brown_, _the Misses Rich_; or the name may be pluralized.

The former is perhaps more common in present-day use, though the latter is often found; for example,--

Then came Mr. and Mrs. Briggs, and then _the three Miss Spinneys_, then Silas Peckham.--DR. HOLMES.

Our immortal Fielding was of the younger branch of the _Earls of Denbigh_, who drew their origin from the _Counts of Hapsburgh_.--GIBBON.

The _Miss Flamboroughs_ were reckoned the best dancers in the parish.--GOLDSMITH.

The _Misses Nettengall's_ young ladies come to the Cathedral too.--DICKENS.

The _Messrs. Harper_ have done the more than generous thing by Mr. Du Maurier.--_The Critic_.

53. A number of foreign words have been adopted into English without change of form. These are said to be _domesticated_, and retain their foreign plurals.

Others have been adopted, and by long use have altered their power so as to conform to English words. They are then said to be _naturalized_, or _Anglicized_, or _Englished_.

[Sidenote: _Domesticated words._]

The domesticated words may retain the original plural. Some of them have a secondary English plural in _-s_ or _-es_.

Exercise.

Find in the dictionary the plurals of these words:--

I. FROM THE LATIN.

apparatus appendix axis datum erratum focus formula genus larva medium memorandum nebula radius series species stratum terminus vertex

II. FROM THE GREEK.

analysis antithesis automaton basis crisis ellipsis hypothesis parenthesis phenomenon thesis

[Sidenote: _Anglicized words._]

When the foreign words are fully naturalized, they form their plurals in the regular way; as,--

bandits cherubs dogmas encomiums enigmas focuses formulas geniuses herbariums indexes seraphs apexes

[Sidenote: _Usage varies in plurals of letters, figures, etc._]

54. Letters, figures, etc., form their plurals by adding _-s_ or _'s_. Words quoted merely as words, without reference to their meaning, also add _-s_ or _'s_; as, "His _9's_ (or _9s_) look like _7's_ (or _7s_)," "Avoid using too many _and's_ (or _ands_)," "Change the _+'s_ (or _+s_) to _-'s_ (or _-s_)."

CASE.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

55. Case is an inflection or use of a noun (or pronoun) to show its relation to other words in the sentence.

In the sentence, "He sleeps in a felon's cell," the word _felon's_ modifies _cell_, and expresses a relation akin to possession; _cell_ has another relation, helping to express the idea of place with the word _in_.

56. In the general wearing-away of inflections, the number of case forms has been greatly reduced.

[Sidenote: _Only two_ case forms.]

There are now only two case forms of English nouns,--one for the _nominative_ and _objective_, one for the _possessive_: consequently the matter of inflection is a very easy thing to handle in learning about cases.

[Sidenote: _Reasons for speaking of_ three cases _of nouns_.]

But there are reasons why grammars treat of _three_ cases of nouns when there are only two forms:--

(1) Because the relations of all words, whether inflected or not, must be understood for purposes of analysis.

(2) Because pronouns still have three case forms as well as three case relations.

57. Nouns, then, may be said to have three cases,--the nominative, the objective, and the possessive.

I. Uses of the Nominative.

58. The nominative case is used as follows:--

(1) _As the subject of a verb_: "_Water_ seeks its level."

(2) _As a predicate noun_, completing a verb, and referring to or explaining the subject: "A bent twig makes a crooked _tree_."

(3) _In apposition_ with some other nominative word, adding to the meaning of that word: "The reaper _Death_ with his sickle keen."

(4) _In direct address_: "_Lord Angus_, thou hast lied!"

(5) _With a participle in an absolute or independent phrase_ (there is some discussion whether this is a true nominative): "The _work_ done, they returned to their homes."

(6) _With an infinitive in exclamations_: "_David_ to die!"

Exercise.

Pick out the nouns in the nominative case, and tell which use of the nominative each one has.

1. Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead; excessive grief, the enemy of the living.

2. Excuses are clothes which, when asked unawares, Good Breeding to naked Necessity spares.

3. Human experience is the great test of truth.

4. Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers.

5. Three properties belong to wisdom,--nature, learning, and experience; three things characterize man,--person, fate, and merit.

6. But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send, Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend!

7. Conscience, her first law broken, wounded lies.

8. They charged, sword in hand and visor down.

9. O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee?

II. Uses of the Objective.

59. The objective case is used as follows:--

(1) _As the direct object of a verb_, naming the person or thing directly receiving the action of the verb: "Woodman, spare that _tree_!"

(2) _As the indirect object of a verb_, naming the person or thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb: "Give the _devil_ his due."

(3) _Adverbially_, defining the action of a verb by denoting _time_, _measure_, _distance_, etc. (in the older stages of the language, this took the regular accusative inflection): "Full _fathom_ five thy father lies;" "Cowards die many _times_ before their deaths."

(4) _As the second object_, completing the verb, and thus becoming part of the predicate in acting upon an object: "Time makes the worst enemies _friends_;" "Thou makest the storm a _calm_." In these sentences the real predicates are _makes friends_, taking the object _enemies_, and being equivalent to one verb, _reconciles_; and _makest a calm_, taking the object _storm_, and meaning calmest. This is also called the _predicate objective_ or the _factitive object_.

(5) _As the object of a preposition_, the word toward which the preposition points, and which it joins to another word: "He must have a long spoon that would eat with the _devil_."

The preposition sometimes takes the _possessive_ case of a noun, as will be seen in Sec. 68.

(6) _In apposition with another objective_: "The opinions of this junto were completely controlled by Nicholas Vedder, a _patriarch_ of the village, and _landlord_ of the inn."

Exercise.

Point out the nouns in the objective case in these sentences, and tell which use each has:--

1. Tender men sometimes have strong wills.

2. Necessity is the certain connection between cause and effect.

3. Set a high price on your leisure moments; they are sands of precious gold.

4. But the flood came howling one day.

5. I found the urchin Cupid sleeping.

6. Five times every year he was to be exposed in the pillory.

7. The noblest mind the best contentment has.

8. Multitudes came every summer to visit that famous natural curiosity, the Great Stone Face.

9. And whirling plate, and forfeits paid, His winter task a pastime made.

10. He broke the ice on the streamlet's brink, And gave the leper to eat and drink.

III. Uses of the Possessive.

60. The possessive case always modifies another word, expressed or understood. There are three forms of possessive showing how a word is related in sense to the modified word:--

(1) _Appositional possessive_, as in these expressions,--

The blind old man of _Scio's_ rocky isle.--BYRON.

Beside a pumice isle in _Baiæ's_ bay.--SHELLEY.

In these sentences the phrases are equivalent to _of the rocky isle [of] Scio_, and _in the bay [of] Baiæ_, the possessive being really equivalent here to an appositional objective. It is a poetic expression, the equivalent phrase being used in prose.

(2) _Objective possessive_, as shown in the sentences,--

Ann Turner had taught her the secret before this last good lady had been hanged for _Sir Thomas Overbury's_ murder.--HAWTHORNE.

He passes to-day in building an air castle for to-morrow, or in writing _yesterday's_ elegy.--THACKERAY

In these the possessives are equivalent to an objective after a verbal expression: as, _for murdering Sir Thomas Overbury_; _an elegy to commemorate yesterday_. For this reason the use of the possessive here is called objective.

(3) _Subjective possessive_, the most common of all; as,--

The unwearied sun, from day to day, Does his Creator's power display. --ADDISON.

If this were expanded into _the power which his Creator possesses_, the word _Creator_ would be the subject of the verb: hence it is called a subjective possessive.

61. This last-named possessive expresses a variety of relations. _Possession_ in some sense is the most common. The kind of relation may usually be found by expanding the possessive into an equivalent phrase: for example, "_Winter's_ rude tempests are gathering now" (i.e., tempests that winter is likely to have); "His beard was of _several days'_ growth" (i.e., growth which several days had developed); "The _forest's_ leaping panther shall yield his spotted hide" (i.e., the panther which the forest hides); "Whoso sheddeth _man's_ blood" (blood that man possesses).

[Sidenote: _How the possessive is formed._]

62. As said before (Sec. 56), there are only two case forms. One is the simple form of a word, expressing the relations of nominative and objective; the other is formed by adding _'s_ to the simple form, making the possessive singular. To form the possessive plural, only the apostrophe is added if the plural nominative ends in _-s_; the _'s_ is added if the plural nominative does not end in _-s_.

Case Inflection.

[Sidenote: _Declension or inflection of nouns._]

63. The full declension of nouns is as follows:--

SINGULAR. PLURAL.

1. _Nom. and Obj._ lady ladies _Poss._ lady's ladies'

2. _Nom. and Obj._ child children _Poss._ child's children's

[Sidenote: _A suggestion._]

NOTE.--The difficulty that some students have in writing the possessive plural would be lessened if they would remember there are two steps to be taken:--

(1) Form the nominative plural according to Secs 39-53

(2) Follow the rule given in Sec. 62.

Special Remarks on the Possessive Case.

[Sidenote: _Origin of the possessive with its apostrophe._]

64. In Old English a large number of words had in the genitive case singular the ending _-es_; in Middle English still more words took this ending: for example, in Chaucer, "From every _schires_ ende," "Full worthi was he in his _lordes_ werre [war]," "at his _beddes_ syde," "_mannes_ herte [heart]," etc.

[Sidenote: _A false theory._]

By the end of the seventeenth century the present way of indicating the possessive had become general. The use of the apostrophe, however, was not then regarded as standing for the omitted vowel of the genitive (as _lord's_ for _lordes_): by a false theory the ending was thought to be a contraction of _his_, as schoolboys sometimes write, "George Jones _his_ book."

[Sidenote: _Use of the apostrophe._]

Though this opinion was untrue, the apostrophe has proved a great convenience, since otherwise words with a plural in _-s_ would have three forms alike. To the eye all the forms are now distinct, but to the ear all may be alike, and the connection must tell us what form is intended.

The use of the apostrophe in the plural also began in the seventeenth century, from thinking that _s_ was not a possessive sign, and from a desire to have distinct forms.

[Sidenote: _Sometimes_ s _is left out in the possessive singular._]

65. Occasionally the _s_ is dropped in the possessive singular if the word ends in a hissing sound and another hissing sound follows, but the apostrophe remains to mark the possessive; as, _for goodness' sake, Cervantes' satirical work_.

In other cases the _s_ is seldom omitted. Notice these three examples from Thackeray's writings: "Harry ran upstairs to his _mistress's_ apartment;" "A postscript is added, as by the _countess's_ command;" "I saw what the _governess's_ views were of the matter."

[Sidenote: _Possessive with compound expressions._]

66. In compound expressions, containing words in apposition, a word with a phrase, etc., the possessive sign is usually last, though instances are found with both appositional words marked.

Compare the following examples of literary usage:--

Do not the Miss Prys, my neighbors, know the amount of my income, the items of my _son's_, _Captain Scrapegrace's_, tailor's bill--THACKERAY.

The world's pomp and power sits there on this hand: on that, stands up for God's truth one man, the _poor miner Hans Luther's_ son.--CARLYLE.

They invited me in the _emperor their master's_ name.--SWIFT.

I had naturally possessed myself of _Richardson the painter's_ thick octavo volumes of notes on the "Paradise Lost."--DE QUINCEY.

They will go to Sunday schools to teach classes of little children the age of Methuselah or the dimensions of _Og the king of Bashan's_ bedstead.--HOLMES.

More common still is the practice of turning the possessive into an equivalent phrase; as, _in the name of the emperor their master_, instead of _the emperor their master's name_.

[Sidenote: _Possessive and no noun limited._]

67. The possessive is sometimes used without belonging to any noun in the sentence; some such word as _house_, _store_, _church_, _dwelling_, etc., being understood with it: for example,--

Here at the _fruiterer's_ the Madonna has a tabernacle of fresh laurel leaves.--RUSKIN.

It is very common for people to say that they are disappointed in the first sight of _St. Peter's_.--LOWELL.

I remember him in his cradle at _St. James's_.--THACKERAY.

Kate saw that; and she walked off from the _don's_.--DE QUINCEY.

[Sidenote: _The double possessive._]

68. A peculiar form, a double possessive, has grown up and become a fixed idiom in modern English.

In most cases, a possessive relation was expressed in Old English by the inflection _-es_, corresponding to _'s_. The same relation was expressed in French by a phrase corresponding to _of_ and its object. Both of these are now used side by side; sometimes they are used together, as one modifier, making a double possessive. For this there are several reasons:--

[Sidenote: _Its advantages: Euphony_.]

(1) When a word is modified by _a_, _the_, _this_, _that_, _every_, _no_, _any_, _each_, etc., and at the same time by a possessive noun, it is distasteful to place the possessive before the modified noun, and it would also alter the meaning: we place it after the modified noun with _of_.

[Sidenote: _Emphasis._]

(2) It is more emphatic than the simple possessive, especially when used with _this_ or _that_, for it brings out the modified word in strong relief.

[Sidenote: _Clearness._]

(3) It prevents ambiguity. For example, in such a sentence as, "This introduction _of Atterbury's_ has all these advantages" (Dr. Blair), the statement clearly means only one thing,--the introduction which Atterbury made. If, however, we use the phrase _of Atterbury_, the sentence _might_ be understood as just explained, or it might mean this act of introducing Atterbury. (See also Sec. 87.)

The following are some instances of double possessives:--

This Hall _of Tinville's_ is dark, ill-lighted except where she stands.--CARLYLE.

Those lectures _of Lowell's_ had a great influence with me, and I used to like whatever they bade me like.--HOWELLS

Niebuhr remarks that no pointed sentences _of Cæsar's_ can have come down to us.--FROUDE.

Besides these famous books _of Scott's and Johnson's_, there is a copious "Life" by Thomas Sheridan.--THACKERAY

Always afterwards on occasions of ceremony, he wore that quaint old French sword _of the Commodore's_.--E.E. HALE.

Exercises.

(_a_) Pick out the possessive nouns, and tell whether each is appositional, objective, or subjective.

(_b_) Rewrite the sentence, turning the possessives into equivalent phrases.

1. I don't choose a hornet's nest about my ears.

2. Shall Rome stand under one man's awe?

3. I must not see thee Osman's bride.

4. At lovers' perjuries, They say, Jove laughs.

5. The world has all its eyes on Cato's son.

6. My quarrel and the English queen's are one.

7. Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the East.

8. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore, let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.

9. 'Tis all men's office to speak patience To those that wring under the load of sorrow.

10. A jest's prosperity lies in the ear Of him that hears it, never in the tongue Of him that makes it.

11. No more the juice of Egypt's grape shall moist his lip.

12. There Shakespeare's self, with every garland crowned, Flew to those fairy climes his fancy sheen.

13. What supports me? dost thou ask? The conscience, Friend, to have lost them [his eyes] overplied In liberty's defence.

14. Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies, A weary waste expanding to the skies.

15. Nature herself, it seemed, would raise A minster to her Maker's praise!

HOW TO PARSE NOUNS.

69. Parsing a word is putting together all the facts about its form and its relations to other words in the sentence.

In parsing, some idioms--the double possessive, for example--do not come under regular grammatical rules, and are to be spoken of merely as idioms.

70. Hence, in parsing a noun, we state,--

(1) The class to which it belongs,--common, proper, etc.

(2) Whether a neuter or a gender noun; if the latter, which gender.

(3) Whether singular or plural number.

(4) Its office in the sentence, determining its case.

[Sidenote: _The correct method._]

71. In parsing any word, the following method should always be followed: tell the facts about what the word _does_, then make the grammatical statements as to its class, inflections, and relations.

MODEL FOR PARSING.

"What is bolder than a miller's neckcloth, which takes a thief by the throat every morning?"

_Miller's_ is a name applied to every individual of its class, hence it is a common noun; it is the name of a male being, hence it is a gender noun, masculine; it denotes only one person, therefore singular number; it expresses possession or ownership, and limits _neckcloth_, therefore possessive case.

_Neckcloth_, like _miller's_, is a common class noun; it has no sex, therefore neuter; names one thing, therefore singular number; subject of the verb _is_ understood, and therefore nominative case.

_Thief_ is a common class noun; the connection shows a male is meant, therefore masculine gender; singular number; object of the verb _takes_, hence objective case.

_Throat_ is neuter, of the same class and number as the word _neckcloth_; it is the object of the preposition _by_, hence it is objective case.

NOTE.--The preposition sometimes takes the possessive case (see Sec. 68).

_Morning_ is like _throat_ and _neckcloth_ as to class, gender, and number; as to case, it expresses time, has no governing word, but is the adverbial objective.

Exercise.

Follow the model above in parsing all the nouns in the following sentences:--

1. To raise a monument to departed worth is to perpetuate virtue.

2. The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.

3. An old cloak makes a new jerkin; a withered serving man, a fresh tapster.

4. That in the captain's but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

5. Now, blessings light on him that first invented ... sleep!

6. Necker, financial minister to Louis XVI., and his daughter, Madame de Staël, were natives of Geneva.

7. He giveth his beloved sleep.

8. Time makes the worst enemies friends.

9. A few miles from this point, where the Rhone enters the lake, stands the famous Castle of Chillon, connected with the shore by a drawbridge,--palace, castle, and prison, all in one.

10. Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth, And hated her for her pride.

11. Mrs. Jarley's back being towards him, the military gentleman shook his forefinger.

PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _The need of pronouns._]

72. When we wish to speak of a name several times in succession, it is clumsy and tiresome to repeat the noun. For instance, instead of saying, "_The pupil_ will succeed in _the pupil's_ efforts if _the pupil_ is ambitious," we improve the sentence by shortening it thus, "The pupil will succeed in _his_ efforts if _he_ is ambitious."

Again, if we wish to know about the ownership of a house, we evidently cannot state the owner's name, but by a question we say, "_Whose_ house is that?" thus placing a word instead of the name till we learn the name.

This is not to be understood as implying that pronouns were _invented_ because nouns were tiresome, since history shows that pronouns are as old as nouns and verbs. The use of pronouns must have sprung up naturally, from a necessity for short, definite, and representative words.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

A pronoun is a reference word, standing for a name, or for a person or thing, or for a group of persons or things.

[Sidenote: _Classes of pronouns._]

73. Pronouns may be grouped in five classes:--

(1) Personal pronouns, which distinguish person by their form (Sec. 76).

(2) Interrogative pronouns, which are used to ask questions about persons or things.

(3) Relative pronouns, which relate or refer to a noun, pronoun, or other word or expression, and at the same time connect two statements They are also called conjunctive.

(4) Adjective pronouns, words, primarily adjectives, which are classed as adjectives when they modify nouns, but as pronouns when they stand for nouns.

(5) Indefinite pronouns, which cannot be used as adjectives, but stand for an indefinite number of persons or things.

Numerous examples of all these will be given under the separate classes hereafter treated.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Person in grammar._]

74. Since pronouns stand for persons as well as names, they must represent the person talking, the person or thing spoken to, and the person or thing talked about.

This gives rise to a new term, "the distinction of _person_."

[Sidenote: Person _of nouns_.]

75. This distinction was not needed in discussing nouns, as nouns have the _same form_, whether representing persons and things spoken to or spoken of. It is evident that a noun could not represent the person speaking, even if it had a special form.

From analogy to pronouns, which have _forms_ for person, nouns are sometimes spoken of as first or second person by their _use_; that is, if they are in apposition with a pronoun of the first or second person, they are said to have person by agreement.

But usually nouns represent something spoken of.

[Sidenote: _Three persons of pronouns._]

76. Pronouns naturally are of three persons:--

(1) First person, representing the person speaking.

(2) Second person, representing a person or thing spoken to.

(3) Third person, standing for a person or thing spoken of.

FORMS OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

77. Personal pronouns are inflected thus:--

FIRST PERSON. _Singular._ _Nom._ I _Poss._ mine, my _Obj._ me

_Plural._ _Nom._ we _Poss._ our, ours _Obj._ us

SECOND PERSON. _Singular._ _Old Form_ _Common Form._ _Nom._ thou you _Poss._ thine, thy your, yours _Obj._ thee you

_Plural._ _Nom._ ye you _Poss._ your, yours your, yours _Obj._ you you

THIRD PERSON. _Singular._ _Masc._ _Fem._ _Neut._. _Nom._ he she it _Poss._ his her, hers its _Obj._ him her it

_Plur. of all Three_. _Nom._ they _Poss._ their, theirs _Obj._ them

Remarks on These Forms.

[Sidenote: _First and second persons without gender._]

78. It will be noticed that the pronouns of the first and second persons have no forms to distinguish gender. The speaker may be either male or female, or, by personification, neuter; so also with the person or thing spoken to.

[Sidenote: _Third person_ singular _has gender_.]

But the third person has, in the singular, a separate form for each gender, and also for the neuter.

[Sidenote: _Old forms_.]

In Old English these three were formed from the same root; namely, masculine _hē_, feminine _hēo_, neuter _hit_.

The form _hit_ (for _it_) is still heard in vulgar English, and _hoo_ (for _hēo_) in some dialects of England.

The plurals were _hī_, _heora_, _heom_, in Old English; the forms _they_, _their_, _them_, perhaps being from the English demonstrative, though influenced by the cognate Norse forms.

[Sidenote: _Second person always plural in ordinary English._]

79. _Thou_, _thee_, etc., are old forms which are now out of use in ordinary speech. The consequence is, that we have no singular pronoun of the second person in ordinary speech or prose, but make the plural _you_ do duty for the singular. We use it with a plural verb always, even when referring to a single object.

[Sidenote: _Two uses of the old singulars._]

80. There are, however, two modern uses of _thou, thy_, etc.:--

(1) _In elevated style_, especially in poetry; as,--

With _thy_ clear keen joyance Languor cannot be; Shadow of annoyance Never came near _thee_; _Thou_ lovest; but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.--SHELLEY.

(2) _In addressing the Deity_, as in prayers, etc.; for example,--

Oh, _thou_ Shepherd of Israel, that didst comfort _thy_ people of old, to _thy_ care we commit the helpless.--BEECHER.

[Sidenote: _The form_ its.]

81. It is worth while to consider the possessive _its_. This is of comparatively recent growth. The old form was _his_ (from the nominative _hit_), and this continued in use till the sixteenth century. The transition from the old _his_ to the modern _its_ is shown in these sentences:--

1 He anointed the altar and all _his_ vessels.--_Bible_

Here _his_ refers to _altar_, which is a neuter noun. The quotation represents the usage of the early sixteenth century.

2 It's had _it_ head bit off by _it_ young--SHAKESPEARE

Shakespeare uses _his_, _it_, and sometimes _its_, as possessive of _it_.

In Milton's poetry (seventeenth century) _its_ occurs only three times.

3 See heaven _its_ sparkling portals wide display--POPE

[Sidenote: _A relic of the olden time._]

82. We have an interesting relic in such sentences as this from Thackeray: "One of the ways to know '_em_ is to watch the scared looks of the ogres' wives and children."

As shown above, the Old English objective was _hem_ (or _heom_), which was often sounded with the _h_ silent, just as we now say, "I saw '_im_ yesterday" when the word _him_ is not emphatic. In spoken English, this form '_em_ has survived side by side with the literary _them_.

[Sidenote: _Use of the pronouns in personification._]

83. The pronouns _he_ and _she_ are often used in poetry, and sometimes in ordinary speech, to personify objects (Sec. 34).

CASES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

I The Nominative.

[Sidenote: _Nominative forms._]

84. The nominative forms of personal pronouns have the same uses as the nominative of nouns (see Sec. 58). The case of most of these pronouns can be determined more easily than the case of nouns, for, besides a nominative _use_, they have a nominative form. The words _I_, _thou_, _he_, _she_, _we_, _ye_, _they_, are very rarely anything but nominative in literary English, though _ye_ is occasionally used as objective.

[Sidenote: _Additional nominatives in spoken English._]

85. In spoken English, however, there are some others that are added to the list of nominatives: they are, _me_, _him_, _her_, _us_, _them_, when they occur in the _predicate position_. That is, in such a sentence as, "I am sure it was _him_," the literary language would require _he_ after _was_; but colloquial English regularly uses as predicate nominatives the forms _me_, _him_, _her_, _us_, _them_, though those named in Sec. 84 are always subjects. Yet careful speakers avoid this, and follow the usage of literary English.

II. The Possessive.

[Sidenote: _Not a separate class._]

86. The forms _my_, _thy_, _his_, _her_, _its_, _our_, _your_, _their_, are sometimes grouped separately as POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, but it is better to speak of them as the possessive case of personal pronouns, just as we speak of the possessive case of nouns, and not make more classes.

[Sidenote: Absolute _personal pronouns._]

The forms _mine_, _thine_, _yours_, _hers_, _theirs_, sometimes _his_ and _its_, have a peculiar use, standing apart from the words they modify instead of immediately before them. From this use they are called ABSOLUTE PERSONAL PRONOUNS, or, some say, ABSOLUTE POSSESSIVES.

As instances of the use of absolute pronouns, note the following:--

'Twas _mine_, 'tis _his_, and has been slave to thousands. --SHAKESPEARE.

And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee _mine_.--COWPER.

My arm better than _theirs_ can ward it off.--LANDOR.

_Thine_ are the city and the people of Granada.--BULWER.

[Sidenote: _Old use of_ mine _and_ thine.]

Formerly _mine_ and _thine_ stood before their nouns, if the nouns began with a vowel or _h_ silent; thus,--

Shall I not take _mine_ ease in _mine_ inn?--SHAKESPEARE.

Give every man _thine_ ear, but few thy voice.--_Id._

If _thine_ eye offend thee, pluck it out.--_Bible._

My greatest apprehension was for _mine_ eyes.--SWIFT.

This usage is still preserved in poetry.

[Sidenote: _Double and triple possessives._]

87. The forms _hers_, _ours_, _yours_, _theirs_, are really double possessives, since they add the possessive _s_ to what is already a regular possessive inflection.

Besides this, we have, as in nouns, a possessive phrase made up of the preposition _of_ with these double possessives, _hers_, _ours_, _yours_, _theirs_, and with _mine_, _thine_, _his_, sometimes _its_.

[Sidenote: _Their uses._]

Like the noun possessives, they have several uses:--

(1) _To prevent ambiguity_, as in the following:--

I have often contrasted the habitual qualities of that gloomy friend _of theirs_ with the astounding spirits of Thackeray and Dickens.--J.T. FIELDS.

No words _of ours_ can describe the fury of the conflict.--J.F. COOPER.

(2) _To bring emphasis_, as in these sentences:--

This thing _of yours_ that you call a Pardon of Sins, it is a bit of rag-paper with ink.--CARLYLE.

This ancient silver bowl _of mine_, it tells of good old times. --HOLMES.

(3) _To express contempt, anger, or satire_; for example,--

"Do you know the charges that unhappy sister _of mine_ and her family have put me to already?" says the Master.--THACKERAY.

He [John Knox] had his pipe of Bordeaux too, we find, in that old Edinburgh house _of his_.--CARLYLE.

"Hold thy peace, Long Allen," said Henry Woodstall, "I tell thee that tongue _of thine_ is not the shortest limb about _thee_."--SCOTT.

(4) _To make a noun less limited in application_; thus,--

A favorite liar and servant _of mine_ was a man I once had to drive a brougham.--THACKERAY.

In New York I read a newspaper criticism one day, commenting upon a letter _of mine_.--_Id._

What would the last two sentences mean if the word _my_ were written instead of _of mine_, and preceded the nouns?

[Sidenote: _About the case of absolute pronouns._]

88. In their function, or use in a sentence, the absolute possessive forms of the personal pronouns are very much like adjectives used as nouns.

In such sentences as, "_The good_ alone are great," "None but _the brave_ deserves _the fair_," the words italicized have an adjective force and also a noun force, as shown in Sec. 20.

So in the sentences illustrating absolute pronouns in Sec. 86: _mine_ stands for _my property_, _his_ for _his property_, in the first sentence; _mine_ stands for _my praise_ in the second. But the first two have a nominative use, and _mine_ in the second has an objective use.

They may be spoken of as possessive in form, but nominative or objective in use, according as the modified word is in the nominative or the objective.

III. The Objective.

[Sidenote: _The old_ dative _case._]

89. In Old English there was one case which survives in use, but not in form. In such a sentence as this one from Thackeray, "Pick _me_ out a whip-cord thong with some dainty knots in it," the word _me_ is evidently not the direct object of the verb, but expresses _for whom_, _for whose benefit_, the thing is done. In pronouns, this dative use, as it is called, was marked by a separate case.

[Sidenote: _Now the objective._]

In Modern English the same _use_ is frequently seen, but the _form_ is the same as the objective. For this reason a word thus used is called a dative-objective.

The following are examples of the dative-objective:--

Give _me_ neither poverty nor riches.--_Bible._

Curse _me_ this people.--_Id._

Both joined in making _him_ a present.--MACAULAY

Is it not enough that you have _burnt me_ down three houses with your dog's tricks, and be hanged to you!--LAMB

I give _thee_ this to wear at the collar.--SCOTT

[Sidenote: _Other uses of the objective._]

90. Besides this use of the objective, there are others:--

(1) _As the direct object of a verb._

They all handled _it_.--LAMB

(2) _As the object of a preposition._

Time is behind _them_ and before _them_.--CARLYLE.

(3) _In apposition._

She sate all last summer by the bedside of the blind beggar, _him_ that so often and so gladly I talked with.--DE QUINCEY.

SPECIAL USES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Indefinite use of_ you _and_ your.]

91. The word _you_, and its possessive case _yours_ are sometimes used without reference to a particular person spoken to. They approach the indefinite pronoun in use.

_Your_ mere puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of the rod, was passed by with indulgence.--IRVING

To empty here, _you_ must condense there.--EMERSON.

The peasants take off their hats as _you_ pass; _you_ sneeze, and they cry, "God bless you!" The thrifty housewife shows _you_ into her best chamber. _You_ have oaten cakes baked some months before.--LONGFELLOW

[Sidenote: _Uses of_ it.]

92. The pronoun _it_ has a number of uses:--

(1) _To refer to some single word preceding_; as,--

Ferdinand ordered the _army_ to recommence _its_ march.--BULWER.

_Society_, in this century, has not made _its_ progress, like Chinese skill, by a greater acuteness of ingenuity in trifles.--D. WEBSTER.

(2) _To refer to a preceding word group_; thus,--

If any man should do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet _it_ is but like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch because they can do no other.--BACON.

Here _it_ refers back to the whole sentence before it, or to the idea, "any man's doing wrong merely out of ill nature."

(3) _As a grammatical subject, to stand for the real, logical subject, which follows the verb_; as in the sentences,--

_It_ is easy in the world _to live after the world's opinion_. --EMERSON.

_It_ is this _haziness_ of intellectual vision which is the malady of all classes of men by nature.--NEWMAN.

_It_ is a pity _that he has so much learning, or that he has not a great deal more_.--ADDISON.

(4) _As an impersonal subject in certain expressions which need no other subject_; as,--

_It_ is finger-cold, and prudent farmers get in their barreled apples.--THOREAU.

And when I awoke, _it_ rained.--COLERIDGE.

For when _it_ dawned, they dropped their arms.--_Id._

_It_ was late and after midnight.--DE QUINCEY.

(5) _As an impersonal or indefinite object of a verb or a preposition_; as in the following sentences:--

(_a_) Michael Paw, who _lorded it_ over the fair regions of ancient Pavonia.--IRVING.

I made up my mind _to foot it_.--HAWTHORNE.

A sturdy lad ... who in turn tries all the professions, who _teams it, farms it, peddles it_, keeps a school.--EMERSON.

(_b_) "Thy mistress leads thee a dog's life _of it_."--IRVING.

There was nothing _for it_ but to return.--SCOTT.

An editor has only to say "respectfully declined," and there is an end _of it_.--HOLMES.

Poor Christian was hard put _to it_.--BUNYAN.

[Sidenote: _Reflexive use of the personal pronouns._]

93. The personal pronouns in the objective case are often used _reflexively_; that is, referring to the same person as the subject of the accompanying verb. For example, we use such expressions as, "I found _me_ a good book," "He bought _him_ a horse," etc. This reflexive use of the _dative_-objective is very common in spoken and in literary English.

The personal pronouns are not often used reflexively, however, when they are _direct_ objects. This occurs in poetry, but seldom in prose; as,--

Now I lay _me_ down to sleep.--ANON.

I set _me_ down and sigh.--BURNS.

And millions in those solitudes, since first The flight of years began, have laid _them_ down In their last sleep.--BRYANT.

REFLEXIVE OR COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Composed of the personal pronouns with_ -self, -selves.]

94. The REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS, or COMPOUND PERSONAL, as they are also called, are formed from the personal pronouns by adding the word _self_, and its plural _selves_.

They are _myself_, (_ourself_), _ourselves_, _yourself_, (_thyself_), _yourselves_, _himself_, _herself_, _itself_, _themselves_.

Of the two forms in parentheses, the second is the old form of the second person, used in poetry.

_Ourself_ is used to follow the word _we_ when this represents a single person, especially in the speech of rulers; as,--

Methinks he seems no better than a girl; As girls were once, as we _ourself_ have been.--TENNYSON.

[Sidenote: _Origin of these reflexives._]

95. The question might arise, Why are _himself_ and _themselves_ not _hisself_ and _theirselves_, as in vulgar English, after the analogy of _myself_, _ourselves_, etc.?

The history of these words shows they are made up of the dative-objective forms, not the possessive forms, with _self_. In Middle English the forms _meself_, _theself_, were changed into the possessive _myself_, _thyself_, and the others were formed by analogy with these. _Himself_ and _themselves_ are the only ones retaining a distinct objective form.

In the forms _yourself_ and _yourselves_ we have the possessive _your_ marked as singular as well as plural.

[Sidenote: _Use of the reflexives._]

96. There are three uses of reflexive pronouns:--

(1) _As object of a verb or preposition, and referring to the same person or thing as the subject_; as in these sentences from Emerson:--

He who offers _himself_ a candidate for that covenant comes up like an Olympian.

I should hate _myself_ if then I made my other friends my asylum.

We fill _ourselves_ with ancient learning.

What do we know of nature or of _ourselves_?

(2) _To emphasize a noun or pronoun_; for example,--

The great globe _itself_ ... shall dissolve.--SHAKESPEARE.

Threats to all; To _you yourself_, to us, to every one.--_Id._

Who would not sing for Lycidas! he knew _Himself_ to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.--MILTON.

NOTE.--In such sentences the pronoun is sometimes omitted, and the reflexive modifies the pronoun understood; for example,--

Only _itself_ can inspire whom it will.--EMERSON.

My hands are full of blossoms plucked before, Held dead within them till _myself_ shall die.--E.B. BROWNING.

As if it were _thyself_ that's here, I shrink with pain.--WORDSWORTH.

(3) _As the precise equivalent of a personal pronoun_; as,--

Lord Altamont designed to take his son and _myself_.--DE QUINCEY.

Victories that neither _myself_ nor my cause always deserved.--B. FRANKLIN.

For what else have our forefathers and _ourselves_ been taxed?--LANDOR.

Years ago, Arcturus and _myself_ met a gentleman from China who knew the language.--THACKERAY.

Exercises on Personal Pronouns.

(_a_) Bring up sentences containing ten personal pronouns, some each of masculine, feminine, and neuter.

(_b_) Bring up sentences containing five personal pronouns in the possessive, some of them being double possessives.

(_c_) Tell which use each _it_ has in the following sentences:--

1. Come and trip it as we go, On the light fantastic toe.

2. Infancy conforms to nobody; all conform to it.

3. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.

4. Courage, father, fight it out.

5. And it grew wondrous cold.

6. To know what is best to do, and how to do it, is wisdom.

7. If any phenomenon remains brute and dark, it is because the corresponding faculty in the observer is not yet active.

8. But if a man do not speak from within the veil, where the word is one with that it tells of, let him lowly confess it.

9. It behooved him to keep on good terms with his pupils.

10. Biscuit is about the best thing I know; but it is the soonest spoiled; and one would like to hear counsel on one point, why it is that a touch of water utterly ruins it.

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Three now in use._]

97. The interrogative pronouns now in use are _who_ (with the forms _whose_ and _whom_), _which_, and _what_.

[Sidenote: _One obsolete._]

There is an old word, _whether_, used formerly to mean which of two, but now obsolete. Examples from the Bible:--

_Whether_ of them twain did the will of his father?

_Whether_ is greater, the gold, or the temple?

From Steele (eighteenth century):--

It may be a question _whether_ of these unfortunate persons had the greater soul.

[Sidenote: _Use of_ who _and its forms._]

98. The use of _who_, with its possessive and objective, is seen in these sentences:--

_Who_ is she in bloody coronation robes from Rheims?--DE QUINCEY.

_Whose_ was that gentle voice, that, whispering sweet, Promised, methought, long days of bliss sincere?--BOWLES.

What doth she look on? _Whom_ doth she behold?--WORDSWORTH.

From these sentences it will be seen that interrogative _who_ refers to _persons only_; that it is not inflected for gender or number, but for case alone, having three forms; it is always third person, as it always asks _about_ somebody.

[Sidenote: _Use of_ which.]

99. Examples of the use of interrogative _which_:--

_Which_ of these had speed enough to sweep between the question and the answer, and divide the one from the other?--DE QUINCEY.

_Which_ of you, shall we say, doth love us most?--SHAKESPEARE.

_Which_ of them [the sisters] shall I take?--_Id._

As shown here, _which_ is not inflected for gender, number, or case; it refers to either persons or things; it is selective, that is, picks out one or more from a number of known persons or objects.

[Sidenote: _Use of_ what.]

100. Sentences showing the use of interrogative _what_:--

Since I from Smaylho'me tower have been, _What_ did thy lady do?--SCOTT.

_What_ is so rare as a day in June?--LOWELL.

_What_ wouldst thou do, old man?--SHAKESPEARE.

These show that _what_ is not inflected for case; that it is always singular and neuter, referring to things, ideas, actions, etc., not to persons.

DECLENSION OF INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.

101. The following are all the interrogative forms:--

SING. AND PLUR. SING. AND PLUR. SINGULAR

_Nom._ who? which? what? _Poss._ whose? -- -- _Obj._ whom? which? what?

In spoken English, _who_ is used as objective instead of _whom_; as, "_Who_ did you see?" "_Who_ did he speak to?"

[Sidenote: _To tell the case of interrogatives._]

102. The interrogative _who_ has a separate form for each case, consequently the case can be told by the form of the word; but the case of _which_ and _what_ must be determined exactly as in nouns,--by the _use_ of the words.

For instance, in Sec. 99, _which_ is nominative in the first sentence, since it is subject of the verb _had_; nominative in the second also, subject of _doth love_; objective in the last, being the direct object of the verb _shall take_.

[Sidenote: _Further treatment of_ who, which _and_ what.]

103. _Who_, _which_, and _what_ are also relative pronouns; _which_ and _what_ are sometimes adjectives; _what_ may be an adverb in some expressions.

They will be spoken of again in the proper places, especially in the treatment of indirect questions (Sec. 127).

RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Function of the relative pronoun_.]

104. Relative pronouns differ from both personal and interrogative pronouns in referring to an antecedent, and also in having a conjunctive use. The advantage in using them is to unite short statements into longer sentences, and so to make smoother discourse. Thus we may say, "The last of all the Bards was he. These bards sang of Border chivalry." Or, it may be shortened into,--

"The last of all the Bards was he, _Who_ sung of Border chivalry."

In the latter sentence, _who_ evidently refers to _Bards_, which is called the antecedent of the relative.

[Sidenote: _The antecedent._]

105. The antecedent of a pronoun is the noun, pronoun, or other word or expression, for which the pronoun stands. It usually precedes the pronoun.

Personal pronouns of the third person may have antecedents also, as they take the place usually of a word already used; as,--

The priest hath _his_ fee who comes and shrives us.--LOWELL

In this, both _his_ and _who_ have the antecedent _priest_.

The pronoun _which_ may have its antecedent following, and the antecedent may be a word or a group of words, as will be shown in the remarks on _which_ below.

[Sidenote: _Two kinds._]

106. Relatives may be SIMPLE or INDEFINITE.

When the word _relative_ is used, a simple relative is meant. Indefinite relatives, and the indefinite use of simple relatives, will be discussed further on.

The SIMPLE RELATIVES are _who_, _which_, _that_, _what_.

[Sidenote: Who _and its forms._]

107. Examples of the relative _who_ and its forms:--

1. Has a man gained anything _who_ has received a hundred favors and rendered none?--EMERSON.

2. That man is little to be envied _whose_ patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon.--DR JOHNSON.

3. For her enchanting son, _Whom_ universal nature did lament.--MILTON.

4. The nurse came to us, _who_ were sitting in an adjoining apartment.--THACKERAY.

5. Ye mariners of England, That guard our native seas; _Whose_ flag has braved, a thousand years, The battle and the breeze!--CAMPBELL.

6. The men _whom_ men respect, the women _whom_ women approve, are the men and women _who_ bless their species.--PARTON

[Sidenote: Which _and its forms._]

108. Examples of the relative _which_ and its forms:--

1. They had not their own luster, but the look _which_ is not of the earth.--BYRON.

2. The embattled portal arch he pass'd, _Whose_ ponderous grate and massy bar Had oft roll'd back the tide of war.--SCOTT.

3. Generally speaking, the dogs _which_ stray around the butcher shops restrain their appetites.--COX.

4. The origin of language is divine, in the same sense in _which_ man's nature, with all its capabilities ..., is a divine creation.--W.D. WHITNEY.

5. (_a_) This gradation ... ought to be kept in view; else this description will seem exaggerated, _which_ it certainly is not.--BURKE.

(_b_) The snow was three inches deep and still falling, _which_ prevented him from taking his usual ride.--IRVING.

[Sidenote: That.]

109. Examples of the relative _that_:--

1. The man _that_ hath no music in himself,... Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. --SHAKESPEARE

2. The judge ... bought up all the pigs _that_ could be had.--LAMB

3. Nature and books belong to the eyes _that_ see them.--EMERSON.

4. For the sake of country a man is told to yield everything _that_ makes the land honorable.--H.W. BEECHER

5. Reader, _that_ do not pretend to have leisure for very much scholarship, you will not be angry with me for telling you.--DE QUINCEY.

6. The Tree Igdrasil, _that_ has its roots down in the kingdoms of Hela and Death, and whose boughs overspread the highest heaven!--CARLYLE.

[Sidenote: What.]

110. Examples of the use of the relative _what_:--

1. Its net to entangle the enemy seems to be _what_ it chiefly trusts to, and _what_ it takes most pains to render as complete as possible.--GOLDSMITH.

2. For _what_ he sought below is passed above, Already done is all that he would do.--MARGARET FULLER.

3. Some of our readers may have seen in India a crowd of crows picking a sick vulture to death, no bad type of _what_ often happens in that country.--MACAULAY

[_To the Teacher._--If pupils work over the above sentences carefully, and test every remark in the following paragraphs, they will get a much better understanding of the relatives.]

REMARKS ON THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: Who.]

111. By reading carefully the sentences in Sec. 107, the following facts will be noticed about the relative _who_:--

(1) It usually refers to persons: thus, in the first sentence, Sec. 107, _a man...who_; in the second, _that man...whose_; in the third, _son_, _whom_; and so on.

(2) It has three case forms,--_who_, _whose_, _whom_.

(3) The forms do not change for person or number of the antecedent. In sentence 4, _who_ is first person; in 5, _whose_ is second person; the others are all third person. In 1, 2, and 3, the relatives are singular; in 4, 5, and 6, they are plural.

[Sidenote: Who _referring to animals_.]

112. Though in most cases _who_ refers to persons there are instances found where it refers to animals. It has been seen (Sec. 24) that animals are referred to by personal pronouns when their characteristics or habits are such as to render them important or interesting to man. Probably on the same principle the personal relative _who_ is used not infrequently in literature, referring to animals.

Witness the following examples:--

And you, warm little housekeeper [the cricket], _who_ class With those who think the candles come too soon.--LEIGH HUNT.

The robins...have succeeded in driving off the bluejays _who_ used to build in our pines.--LOWELL.

The little gorilla, _whose_ wound I had dressed, flung its arms around my neck.--THACKERAY.

A lake frequented by every fowl _whom_ Nature has taught to dip the wing in water.--DR. JOHNSON.

While we had such plenty of domestic insects _who_ infinitely excelled the former, because they understood how to weave as well as to spin.--SWIFT.

My horse, _who_, under his former rider had hunted the buffalo, seemed as much excited as myself.--IRVING.

Other examples might be quoted from Burke, Kingsley, Smollett, Scott, Cooper, Gibbon, and others.

[Sidenote: Which.]

113. The sentences in Sec. 108 show that--

(1) _Which_ refers to animals, things, or ideas, not persons.

(2) It is not inflected for gender or number.

(3) It is nearly always third person, rarely second (an example of its use as second person is given in sentence 32, p. 96).

(4) It has two case forms,--_which_ for the nominative and objective, _whose_ for the possessive.

[Sidenote: _Examples of_ whose, _possessive case of_ which.]

114. Grammarians sometimes object to the statement that _whose_ is the possessive of _which_, saying that the phrase _of which_ should always be used instead; yet a search in literature shows that the possessive form _whose_ is quite common in prose as well as in poetry: for example,--

I swept the horizon, and saw at one glance the glorious elevations, on _whose_ tops the sun kindled all the melodies and harmonies of light.--BEECHER.

Men may be ready to fight to the death, and to persecute without pity, for a religion _whose_ creed they do not understand, and _whose_ precepts they habitually disobey.--MACAULAY

Beneath these sluggish waves lay the once proud cities of the plain, _whose_ grave was dug by the thunder of the heavens.--SCOTT.

Many great and opulent cities _whose_ population now exceeds that of Virginia during the Revolution, and _whose_ names are spoken in the remotest corner of the civilized world.--MCMASTER.

Through the heavy door _whose_ bronze network closes the place of his rest, let us enter the church itself.--RUSKIN.

This moribund '61, _whose_ career of life is just coming to its terminus.--THACKERAY.

So in Matthew Arnold, Kingsley, Burke, and numerous others.

[Sidenote: Which _and its antecedents_.]

115. The last two sentences in Sec. 108 show that _which_ may have other antecedents than nouns and pronouns. In 5 (_a_) there is a participial adjective used as the antecedent; in 5 (_b_) there is a complete clause employed as antecedent. This often occurs.

Sometimes, too, the antecedent follows _which_; thus,--

And, which is worse, _all you have done Hath been but for a wayward son_. --SHAKESPEARE.

Primarily, which is very notable and curious, I observe that _men of business rarely know the meaning of the word "rich_."--RUSKIN.

I demurred to this honorary title upon two grounds,--first, as being one toward which I had no natural aptitudes or predisposing advantages; secondly (which made her stare), _as carrying with it no real or enviable distinction_.--DE QUINCEY.

[Sidenote: That.]

116. In the sentences of Sec. 109, we notice that--

(1) _That_ refers to persons, animals, and things.

(2) It has only one case form, no possessive.

(3) It is the same form for first, second, and third persons.

(4) It has the same form for singular and plural.

It sometimes borrows the possessive _whose_, as in sentence 6, Sec. 109, but this is not sanctioned as good usage.

[Sidenote: What.]

117. The sentences of Sec. 110 show that--

(1) _What_ always refers to things; is always neuter.

(2) It is used almost entirely in the singular. 1. The man _that_ hath no music in himself,... Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. --SHAKESPEARE (3) Its antecedent is hardly ever expressed. When expressed, it usually follows, and is emphatic; as, for example,--

What I would, _that_ do I not; but what I hate, _that_ do I.--_Bible_

What fates impose, _that_ men must needs abide.--SHAKESPEARE.

What a man does, _that_ he has.--EMERSON.

Compare this:--

Alas! is _it_ not too true, what we said?--CARLYLE.

DECLENSION OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

118. These are the forms of the simple relatives:--

SINGULAR AND PLURAL.

_Nom._ who which that what _Poss._ whose whose -- -- _Obj._ whom which that what

HOW TO PARSE RELATIVES.

119. The _gender_, _number_, and _person_ of the relatives _who_, _which_, and _that_ must be determined by those of the antecedent; the _case_ depends upon the function of the relative in its own clause.

For example, consider the following sentence:

"He uttered truths _that_ wrought upon and molded the lives of those _who_ heard him."

Since the relatives hold the sentence together, we can, by taking them out, let the sentence fall apart into three divisions: (1) "He uttered truths;" (2) "The truths wrought upon and molded the lives of the people;" (3) "These people heard him."

_That_ evidently refers to _truths_, consequently is neuter, third person, plural number. _Who_ plainly stands for _those_ or _the people_, either of which would be neuter, third person, plural number. Here the relative agrees with its antecedent.

We cannot say the relative agrees with its antecedent in _case_. _Truths_ in sentence (2), above, is subject of _wrought upon and molded_; in (1), it is object of _uttered_. In (2), _people_ is the object of the preposition _of_; in (3), it is subject of the verb _heard_. Now, _that_ takes the case of _the truths_ in (2), not of _truths_ which is expressed in the sentence: consequently _that_ is in the nominative case. In the same way _who_, standing for _the people_ understood, subject of _heard_, is in the nominative case.

Exercise.

First find the antecedents, then parse the relatives, in the following sentences:--

1. How superior it is in these respects to the pear, whose blossoms are neither colored nor fragrant!

2. Some gnarly apple which I pick up in the road reminds me by its fragrance of all the wealth of Pomona.

3. Perhaps I talk with one who is selecting some choice barrels for filling an order.

4. Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.

5. Alas! it is we ourselves that are getting buried alive under this avalanche of earthly impertinences.

6. This method also forces upon us the necessity of thinking, which is, after all, the highest result of all education.

7. I know that there are many excellent people who object to the reading of novels as a waste of time.

8. I think they are trying to outwit nature, who is sure to be cunninger than they.

[Sidenote: _Parsing_ what, _the simple relative_.]

120. The relative _what_ is handled differently, because it has usually no antecedent, but is singular, neuter, third person. Its case is determined exactly as that of other relatives. In the sentence, "What can't be cured must be endured," the verb _must be endured_ is the predicate of something. What must be endured? Answer, _What can't be cured_. The whole expression is its subject. The word _what_, however, is subject of the verb _can't be cured_, and hence is in the nominative case.

"What we call nature is a certain self-regulated motion or change." Here the subject of _is_, etc., is _what we call nature_; but of this, _we_ is the subject, and _what_ is the direct object of the verb _call_, so is in the objective case.

[Sidenote: _Another way._]

Some prefer another method of treatment. As shown by the following sentences, _what_ is equivalent to _that which_:--

It has been said that "common souls pay with _what_ they do, nobler souls with _that which_ they are."--EMERSON.

_That which_ is pleasant often appears under the name of evil; and _what_ is disagreeable to nature is called good and virtuous.--BURKE.

Hence some take _what_ as a double relative, and parse _that_ in the first clause, and _which_ in the second clause; that is, "common souls pay with _that_ [singular, object of _with_] _which_ [singular, object of _do_] they do."

INDEFINITE RELATIVES.

[Sidenote: _List and examples._]

121. INDEFINITE RELATIVES are, by meaning and use, not as direct as the simple relatives.

They are _whoever_, _whichever_, _whatever_, _whatsoever_; less common are _whoso_, _whosoever_, _whichsoever_, _whatsoever_. The simple relatives _who_, _which_, and _what_ may also be used as indefinite relatives. Examples of indefinite relatives (from Emerson):--

1. _Whoever_ has flattered his friend successfully must at once think himself a knave, and his friend a fool.

2. It is no proof of a man's understanding, to be able to affirm _whatever_ he pleases.

3. They sit in a chair or sprawl with children on the floor, or stand on their head, or _what_ else _soever_, in a new and original way.

4. _Whoso_ is heroic will always find crises to try his edge.

5. Only itself can inspire _whom_ it will.

6. God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take _which_ you please,--you cannot have both.

7. Do _what_ we can, summer will have its flies.

[Sidenote: _Meaning and use._]

122. The fitness of the term _indefinite_ here cannot be shown better than by examining the following sentences:--

1. There is something so overruling in _whatever_ inspires us with awe, in _all things which_ belong ever so remotely to terror, that nothing else can stand in their presence.--BURKE.

2. Death is there associated, not with _everything that_ is most endearing in social and domestic charities, but with _whatever_ is darkest in human nature and in human destiny.--MACAULAY.

It is clear that in 1, _whatever_ is equivalent to _all things which_, and in 2, to _everything that_; no certain antecedent, no particular thing, being referred to. So with the other indefinites.

[Sidenote: What _simple relative and_ what _indefinite relative_.]

123. The above helps us to discriminate between _what_ as a simple and _what_ as an indefinite relative.

As shown in Sec. 120, the simple relative _what_ is equivalent to _that which_ or the _thing which_,--some particular thing; as shown by the last sentence in Sec. 121, _what_ means _anything that_, _everything that_ (or _everything which_). The difference must be seen by the meaning of the sentence, as _what_ hardly ever has an antecedent.

The examples in sentences 5 and 6, Sec. 121, show that _who_ and _which_ have no antecedent expressed, but mean _any one whom_, _either one that_, etc.

OTHER WORDS USED AS RELATIVES.

[Sidenote: But _and_ as.]

124. Two words, but and as, are used with the force of relative pronouns in some expressions; for example,--

1. There is not a leaf rotting on the highway _but_ has force in it: how else could it rot?--CARLYLE.

2. This, amongst such other troubles _as_ most men meet with in this life, has been my heaviest affliction.--DE QUINCEY.

[Sidenote: _Proof that they have the force of relatives._]

Compare with these the two following sentences:--

3. There is nothing _but_ is related to us, nothing _that_ does _not_ interest us.--EMERSON.

4. There were articles of comfort and luxury such _as_ Hester never ceased to use, but _which_ only wealth could have purchased.--HAWTHORNE.

Sentence 3 shows that _but_ is equivalent to the relative _that_ with _not_, and that _as_ after _such_ is equivalent to _which_.

For _as_ after _same_ see "Syntax" (Sec. 417).

[Sidenote: _Former use of_ as.]

125. In early modern English, _as_ was used just as we use _that_ or _which_, not following the word _such_; thus,--

I have not from your eyes that gentleness And show of love _as_ I was wont to have.--SHAKESPEARE

This still survives in vulgar English in England; for example,--

"Don't you mind Lucy Passmore, _as_ charmed your warts for you when you was a boy? "--KINGSLEY

This is frequently illustrated in Dickens's works.

[Sidenote: _Other substitutes._]

126. Instead of the phrases _in which_, _upon which_, _by which_, etc., the conjunctions _wherein_, _whereupon_, _whereby_, etc., are used.

A man is the facade of a temple _wherein_ all wisdom and good abide.--EMERSON.

The sovereignty of this nature _whereof_ we speak.--_Id._

The dear home faces _whereupon_ That fitful firelight paled and shone.--WHITTIER.

PRONOUNS IN INDIRECT QUESTIONS.

[Sidenote: _Special caution needed here._]

127. It is sometimes hard for the student to tell a relative from an interrogative pronoun. In the regular direct question the interrogative is easily recognized; so is the relative when an antecedent is close by. But compare the following in pairs:--

1. (_a_) Like a gentleman of leisure _who_ is strolling out for pleasure.

(_b_) Well we knew _who_ stood behind, though the earthwork hid them.

2. (_a_) But _what_ you gain in time is perhaps lost in power.

(_b_) But _what_ had become of them they knew not.

3. (_a_) These are the lines _which_ heaven-commanded Toil shows on his deed.

(_b_) And since that time I thought it not amiss To judge _which_ were the best of all these three.

In sentences 1 (_a_), 2 (_a_) and 3 (_a_) the regular relative use is seen; _who_ having the antecedent _gentleman_, _what_ having the double use of pronoun and antecedent, _which_ having the antecedent _lines_.

But in 1 (_b_), 2 (_b_), and 3 (_b_), there are two points of difference from the others considered: first, no antecedent is expressed, which would indicate that they are not relatives; second, a question is disguised in each sentence, although each sentence as a whole is declarative in form. Thus, 1 (_b_), if expanded, would be, "Who stood behind? We knew," etc., showing that _who_ is plainly interrogative. So in 2 (_b_), _what_ is interrogative, the full expression being, "But what had become of them? They knew not." Likewise with _which_ in 3 (_b_).

[Sidenote: _How to decide._]

In studying such sentences, (1) see whether there is an antecedent of _who_ or _which_, and whether _what_ = _that_ + _which_ (if so, it is a simple relative; if not, it is either an indefinite relative or an interrogative pronoun); (2) see if the pronoun introduces an indirect question (if it does, it is an interrogative; if not, it is an indefinite relative).

[Sidenote: _Another caution._]

128. On the other hand, care must be taken to see whether the pronoun is the word that really _asks the question_ in an interrogative sentence. Examine the following:--

1. Sweet rose! whence is this hue _Which_ doth all hues excel? --DRUMMOND

2. And then what wonders shall you do _Whose_ dawning beauty warms us so? --WALKER

3. Is this a romance? Or is it a faithful picture of _what_ has lately been in a neighboring land?--MACAULAY

These are interrogative sentences, but in none of them does the pronoun ask the question. In the first, _whence_ is the interrogative word, _which_ has the antecedent _hue_. In the second, _whose_ has the antecedent _you_, and asks no question. In the third, the question is asked by the verb.

OMISSION OF THE RELATIVES.

[Sidenote: _Relative omitted when_ object.]

129. The relative is frequently omitted in spoken and in literary English when it would be the object of a preposition or a verb. Hardly a writer can be found who does not leave out relatives in this way when they can be readily supplied in the mind of the reader. Thus,--

These are the sounds we feed upon.--FLETCHER.

I visited many other apartments, but shall not trouble my reader with all the curiosities I observed.--SWIFT.

Exercise.

Put in the relatives _who_, _which_, or _that_ where they are omitted from the following sentences, and see whether the sentences are any smoother or clearer:--

1. The insect I am now describing lived three years,--GOLDSMITH.

2. They will go to Sunday schools through storms their brothers are afraid of.--HOLMES.

3. He opened the volume he first took from the shelf.--G. ELIOT.

4. He could give the coals in that queer coal scuttle we read of to his poor neighbor.--THACKERAY.

5. When Goldsmith died, half the unpaid bill he owed to Mr. William Filby was for clothes supplied to his nephew.--FORSTER

6. The thing I want to see is not Redbook Lists, and Court Calendars, but the life of man in England.--CARLYLE.

7. The material they had to work upon was already democratical by instinct and habitude.--LOWELL.

[Sidenote: _Relative omitted when_ subject.]

130. We often hear in spoken English expressions like these:--

There isn't one here ‸ knows how to play ball.

There was such a crowd ‸ went, the house was full.

Here the omitted relative would be in the nominative case. Also in literary English we find the same omission. It is rare in prose, and comparatively so in poetry. Examples are,--

The silent truth that it was she was superior.--THACKERAY

I have a mind presages me such thrift.--SHAKESPEARE.

There is a nun in Dryburgh bower, Ne'er looks upon the sun. --SCOTT.

And you may gather garlands there Would grace a summer queen. _Id._

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.--CAMPBELL.

Exercises on the Relative Pronoun.

(_a_) Bring up sentences containing ten instances of the relatives _who_, _which_, _that_, and _what_.

(_b_) Bring up sentences having five indefinite relatives.

(_c_) Bring up five sentences having indirect questions introduced by pronouns.

(_d_) Tell whether the pronouns in the following are interrogatives, simple relatives, or indefinite relatives:--

1. He ushered him into one of the wherries which lay ready to attend the Queen's barge, which was already proceeding.

2. The nobles looked at each other, but more with the purpose to see what each thought of the news, than to exchange any remarks on what had happened.

3. Gracious Heaven! who was this that knew the word?

4. It needed to be ascertained which was the strongest kind of men; who were to be rulers over whom.

5. He went on speaking to who would listen to him.

6. What kept me silent was the thought of my mother.

ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Function of adjective pronouns._]

131. Most of the words how to be considered are capable of a double use,--they may be pure modifiers of nouns, or they may stand for nouns. In the first use they are adjectives; in the second they retain an adjective _meaning_, but have lost their adjective _use_. Primarily they are adjectives, but in this function, or use, they are properly classed as adjective pronouns.

The following are some examples of these:--

_Some_ say that the place was bewitched.--IRVING.

That mysterious realm where _each_ shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death. --BRYANT.

How happy is he born or taught That serveth not _another's_ will. --WOTTON

_That_ is more than any martyr can stand.--EMERSON.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

[Sidenote: _Adjectives, not pronouns._]

Hence these words are like adjectives used as nouns, which we have seen in such expressions as, "_The dead_ are there;" that is, a word, in order to be an adjective pronoun, _must not modify any word, expressed or understood_. It must come under the requirement of pronouns, and _stand for a noun_. For instance, in the following sentences--"The cubes are of stainless ivory, and on _each_ is written, in letters of gold, '_Truth_;'" "You needs must play such pranks as _these_;" "They will always have one bank to sun themselves upon, and _another_ to get cool under;" "Where two men ride on a horse, _one_ must ride behind"--the words italicized modify nouns understood, necessarily thought of: thus, in the first, "each _cube_;" in the second, "these _pranks_," in the others, "another _bank_," "one _man_."

[Sidenote: _Classes of adjective pronouns._]

132. Adjective pronouns are divided into three classes:--

(1) DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, such as _this_, _that_, _the former_, etc.

(2) DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS, such as _each_, _either_, _neither_, etc.

(3) NUMERAL PRONOUNS, as _some_, _any_, _few_, _many_, _none_, _all_, etc.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Definition and examples._]

133. A DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN is one that definitely points out what persons or things are alluded to in the sentence.

The person or thing alluded to by the demonstrative may be in another sentence, or may be the whole of a sentence. For example, "Be _that_ as it may" could refer to a sentiment in a sentence, or an argument in a paragraph; but the demonstrative clearly points to that thing.

The following are examples of demonstratives:--

I did not say _this_ in so many words.

All _these_ he saw; but what he fain had seen He could not see.

Beyond _that_ I seek not to penetrate the veil.

How much we forgive in _those_ who yield us the rare spectacle of heroic manners!

The correspondence of Bonaparte with his brother Joseph, when _the latter_ was the King of Spain.

_Such_ are a few isolated instances, accidentally preserved.

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap _the same_.

They know that patriotism has its glorious opportunities and its sacred duties. They have not shunned _the one_, and they have well performed _the other_.

NOTE.--It will be noticed in the first four sentences that _this_ and _that_ are inflected for number.

Exercises.

(_a_) Find six sentences using demonstrative adjective pronouns.

(_b_) In which of the following is _these_ a pronoun?--

1. Formerly the duty of a librarian was to keep people as much as possible from the books, and to hand _these_ over to his successor as little worn as he could.--LOWELL.

2. They had fewer books, but _these_ were of the best.--_Id._

3. A man inspires affection and honor, because he was not lying in wait for _these_.--EMERSON

4. Souls such as _these_ treat you as gods would.--_Id._

5. _These_ are the first mountains that broke the uniform level of the earth's surface.--AGASSIZ

DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Definition and examples._]

134. The DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS are those which stand for the names of persons or things considered singly.

[Sidenote: _Simple._]

Some of these are _simple_ pronouns; for example,--

They stood, or sat, or reclined, as seemed good to _each_.

As two yoke devils sworn to _other's_ purpose.

Their minds accorded into one strain, and made delightful music which _neither_ could have claimed as all his own.

[Sidenote: _Compound_.]

Two are compound pronouns,--_each other_, _one another_. They may be separated into two adjective pronouns; as,

We violated our reverence _each_ for _the other's_ soul. --HAWTHORNE.

More frequently they are considered as one pronoun.

They led one another, as it were, into a high pavilion of their thoughts.--HAWTHORNE.

Men take each other's measure when they react.--EMERSON.

Exercise.--Find sentences containing three distributive pronouns.

NUMERAL PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Definition and examples_.]

135. The NUMERAL PRONOUNS are those which stand for an uncertain number or quantity of persons or things.

The following sentences contain numeral pronouns:--

Trusting too much to _others'_ care is the ruin of _many_.

'Tis of no importance how large his house, you quickly come to the end of _all_.

_Another_ opposes him with sound argument.

It is as if _one_ should be so enthusiastic a lover of poetry as to care nothing for Homer or Milton.

There were plenty _more_ for him to fall in company with, as _some_ of the rangers had gone astray.

The Soldan, imbued, as _most_ were, with the superstitions of his time, paused over a horoscope.

If those [taxes] were the only _ones_ we had to pay, we might the more easily discharge them.

_Much_ might be said on both sides.

If hand of mine _another's_ task has lightened. It felt the guidance that it does not claim. So perish _all_ whose breast ne'er learned to glow For _others_' good, or melt for _others_' woe.

_None_ shall rule but the humble.

[Sidenote: _Some inflected._]

It will be noticed that some of these are inflected for case and number; such as _one other_, _another_.

The word _one_ has a reflexive form; for example,--

[Sidenote: One _reflexive_.]

The best way to punish _oneself_ for doing ill seems to me to go and do good.--KINGSLEY.

The lines sound so prettily to _one's self_. HOLMES.

Exercise.--Find sentences containing ten numeral pronouns.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Definition and examples._]

136. Indefinite pronouns are words which stand for an indefinite number or quantity of persons or things; but, unlike adjective pronouns, they are never used as adjectives.

Most of them are compounds of two or more words:--

[Sidenote: _List._]

_Somebody_, _some one_, _something_; _anybody_, _any one_ (or _anyone_), _anything_; _everybody_, _every one_ (or _everyone_), _everything_; _nobody_, _no one_, _nothing_; _somebody else_, _anyone else_, _everybody else_, _every one else_, etc.; also _aught_, _naught_; and _somewhat_, _what_, and _they_.

The following sentences contain indefinite pronouns:--

As he had them of all hues, he hoped to fit _everybody's_ fancy.

_Every one_ knows how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences.

_Nothing_ sheds more honor on our early history than the impression which these measures everywhere produced in America.

Let us also perform _something_ worthy to be remembered.

William of Orange was more than _anything else_ a religious man.

Frederick was discerned to be a purchaser of _everything_ that _nobody else_ would buy.

These other souls draw me as _nothing else_ can.

The genius that created it now creates _somewhat else_.

_Every one else_ stood still at his post.

That is perfectly true: I did not want _anybody else's_ authority to write as I did.

_They_ indefinite means people in general; as,--

At lovers' perjuries, _they_ say, Jove laughs.--SHAKESPEARE.

_What_ indefinite is used in the expression "I tell you _what_." It means _something_, and was indefinite in Old English.

Now, in building of chaises, I tell you _what_, There is always somewhere a weakest spot.

Exercise.--Find sentences with six indefinite pronouns.

137. Some indefinite pronouns are inflected for case, as shown in the words _everybody's_, _anybody else's_, etc.

See also "Syntax" (Sec. 426) as to the possessive case of the forms with _else_.

HOW TO PARSE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _A reminder._]

138. In parsing pronouns the student will need particularly to guard against the mistake of parsing words according to _form_ instead of according to function or use.

Exercise.

Parse in full the pronouns in the following sentences:--

1. She could not help laughing at the vile English into which they were translated.

2. Our readers probably remember what Mrs. Hutchinson tells us of herself.

3. Whoever deals with M. de Witt must go the plain way that he pretends to, in his negotiations.

4. Some of them from whom nothing was to be got, were suffered to depart; but those from whom it was thought that anything could be extorted were treated with execrable cruelty.

5. All was now ready for action.

6. Scarcely had the mutiny broken up when he was himself again.

7. He came back determined to put everything to the hazard.

8. Nothing is more clear than that a general ought to be the servant of his government, and of no other.

9. Others did the same thing, but not to quite so enormous an extent.

10. On reaching the approach to this about sunset of a beautiful evening in June, I first found myself among the mountains,--a feature of natural scenery for which, from my earliest days, it was not extravagant to say that I hungered and thirsted.

11. I speak of that part which chiefly it is that I know.

12. A smaller sum I had given to my friend the attorney (who was connected with the money lenders as their lawyer), to which, indeed, he was entitled for his unfurnished lodgings.

13. Whatever power the law gave them would be enforced against me to the utmost.

14. O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers!

15. But there are more than you ever heard of who die of grief in this island of ours.

16. But amongst themselves is no voice nor sound.

17. For this did God send her a great reward.

18. The table was good; but that was exactly what Kate cared little about.

19. Who and what was Milton? That is to say, what is the place which he fills in his own vernacular literature?

20. These hopes are mine as much as theirs.

21. What else am I who laughed or wept yesterday, who slept last night like a corpse?

22. I who alone am, I who see nothing in nature whose existence I can affirm with equal evidence to my own, behold now the semblance of my being, in all its height, variety, and curiosity reiterated in a foreign form.

23. What hand but would a garland cull For thee who art so beautiful?

24. And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe.

25. Whatever he knows and thinks, whatever in his apprehension is worth doing, that let him communicate.

26. Rip Van Winkle was one of those foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble.

27. And will your mother pity me, Who am a maiden most forlorn?

28. They know not I knew thee, Who knew thee too well.

29. I did remind thee of our own dear Lake, By the old Hall which may be mine no more.

30. He sate him down, and seized a pen, and traced Words which I could not guess of.

31. Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow: Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.

32. Wild Spirit which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!

33. A smile of hers was like an act of grace.

34. No man can learn what he has not preparation for learning.

35. What can we see or acquire but what we are?

36. He teaches who gives, and he learns who receives.

37. We are by nature observers; that is our permanent state.

38. He knew not what to do, and so he read.

39. Who hears me, who understands me, becomes mine.

40. The men who carry their points do not need to inquire of their constituents what they should say.

41. Higher natures overpower lower ones by affecting them with a certain sleep.

42. Those who live to the future must always appear selfish to those who live to the present.

43. I am sorry when my independence is invaded or when a gift comes from such as do not know my spirit.

44. Here I began to howl and scream abominably, which was no bad step towards my liberation.

45. The only aim of the war is to see which is the stronger of the two--which is the master.

ADJECTIVES.

[Sidenote: _Office of Adjectives._]

139. Nouns are seldom used as names of objects without additional words joined to them to add to their meaning. For example, if we wish to speak of a friend's house, we cannot guide one to it by merely calling it _a house_. We need to add some words to tell its color, size, position, etc., if we are at a distance; and if we are near, we need some word to point out the house we speak of, so that no other will be mistaken for it. So with any object, or with persons.

As to the kind of words used, we may begin with the common adjectives telling the _characteristics_ of an object. If a chemist discovers a new substance, he cannot describe it to others without telling its qualities: he will say it is _solid_, or _liquid_, or _gaseous_; _heavy_ or _light_; _brittle_ or _tough_; _white_ or _red_; etc.

Again, in _pointing out_ an object, adjectives are used; such as in the expressions "_this_ man," "_that_ house," "_yonder_ hill," etc.

Instead of using nouns indefinitely, the _number_ is limited by adjectives; as, "_one_ hat," "_some_ cities," "_a hundred_ men."

The office of an adjective, then, is to narrow down or limit the application of a noun. It may have this office alone, or it may at the same time add to the meaning of the noun.

[Sidenote: _Substantives._]

140. Nouns are not, however, the only words limited by adjectives: pronouns and other words and expressions also have adjectives joined to them. Any word or word group that performs the same office as a noun may be modified by adjectives.

To make this clear, notice the following sentences:--

[Sidenote: _Pronoun._]

If _he_ be _thankful_ for small benefits, it shows that he weighs men's minds, and their trash.--BACON.

[Sidenote: _Infinitives._]

_To err_ is _human_; _to forgive, divine_.--POPE.

With exception of the "and then," the "and there," and the still less _significant_ "_and so_," they constitute all his connections.--COLERIDGE.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

141. An adjective is a word joined to a noun or other substantive word or expression, to describe it or to limit its application.

[Sidenote: _Classes of adjectives._]

142. Adjectives are divided into four classes:--

(1) Descriptive adjectives, which describe by expressing qualities or attributes of a substantive.

(2) Adjectives of quantity, used to tell how many things are spoken of, or how much of a thing.

(3) Demonstrative adjectives, pointing out particular things.

(4) Pronominal adjectives, words primarily pronouns, but used adjectively sometimes in modifying nouns instead of standing for them. They include relative and interrogative words.

DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES.

143. This large class includes several kinds of words:--

(1) SIMPLE ADJECTIVES expressing quality; such as _safe_, _happy_, _deep_, _fair_, _rash_, _beautiful_, _remotest_, _terrible_, etc.

(2) COMPOUND ADJECTIVES, made up of various words thrown together to make descriptive epithets. Examples are, "_Heaven-derived_ power," "this _life-giving_ book," "his spirit wrapt and _wonder-struck_," "_ice-cold_ water," "_half-dead_ traveler," "_unlooked-for_ burden," "_next-door_ neighbor," "_ivory-handled_ pistols," "the _cold-shudder-inspiring_ Woman in White."

(3) PROPER ADJECTIVES, derived from proper nouns; such as, "an old _English_ manuscript," "the _Christian_ pearl of charity," "the well-curb had a _Chinese_ roof," "the _Roman_ writer Palladius."

(4) PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES, which are either pure participles used to describe, or participles which have lost all verbal force and have no function except to express quality. Examples are,--

_Pure participial adjectives_: "The _healing_ power of the Messiah," "The _shattering_ sway of one strong arm," "_trailing_ clouds," "The _shattered_ squares have opened into line," "It came on like the _rolling_ simoom," "God tempers the wind to the _shorn_ lamb."

_Faded participial adjectives_: "Sleep is a _blessed_ thing;" "One is hungry, and another is _drunken_;" "under the _fitting_ drapery of the jagged and trailing clouds;" "The clearness and quickness are _amazing_;" "an _aged_ man;" "a _charming_ sight."

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

144. Care is needed, in studying these last-named words, to distinguish between a participle that forms part of a verb, and a participle or participial adjective that belongs to a noun.

For instance: in the sentence, "The work was well and rapidly accomplished," _was accomplished_ is a verb; in this, "No man of his day was more brilliant or more accomplished," _was_ is the verb, and _accomplished_ is an adjective.

Exercises.

1. Bring up sentences with twenty descriptive adjectives, having some of each subclass named in Sec. 143.

2. Is the italicized word an adjective in this?--

The old sources of intellectual excitement seem to be well-nigh _exhausted_.

ADJECTIVES OF QUANTITY.

145. Adjectives of quantity tell _how much_ or _how many_. They have these three subdivisions:--

[Sidenote: _How much._]

(1) QUANTITY IN BULK: such words as _little_, _much_, _some_, _no_, _any_, _considerable_, sometimes _small_, joined usually to singular nouns to express an indefinite measure of the thing spoken of.

The following examples are from Kingsley:--

So he parted with _much_ weeping of the lady. Which we began to do with _great_ labor and _little_ profit. Because I had _some_ knowledge of surgery and blood-letting. But ever she looked on Mr. Oxenham, and seemed to take _no_ care as long as he was by.

Examples of _small_ an adjective of quantity:--

"The deil's in it but I bude to anger him!" said the woman, and walked away with a laugh of _small_ satisfaction.--MACDONALD.

'Tis midnight, but _small_ thoughts have I of sleep.--COLERIDGE.

It gives _small_ idea of Coleridge's way of talking.--CARLYLE.

When _some_, _any_, _no_, are used with plural nouns, they come under the next division of adjectives.

[Sidenote: _How many._]

(2) QUANTITY IN NUMBER, which may be expressed exactly by numbers or remotely designated by words expressing indefinite amounts. Hence the natural division into--

(_a_) _Definite numerals_; as, "_one_ blaze of musketry;" "He found in the pathway _fourteen_ Spaniards;" "I have lost _one_ brother, but I have gained _fourscore_;" "_a dozen_ volunteers."

(_b_) _Indefinite numerals_, as the following from Kingsley: "We gave _several_ thousand pounds for it;" "In came some five and twenty more, and with them _a few_ negroes;" "Then we wandered for _many_ days;" "Amyas had evidently _more_ schemes in his head;" "He had lived by hunting for _some_ months;" "That light is far too red to be the reflection of _any_ beams of hers."

[Sidenote: _Single ones of any number of changes._]

(3) DISTRIBUTIVE NUMERALS, which occupy a place midway between the last two subdivisions of numeral adjectives; for they are indefinite in telling how many objects are spoken of, but definite in referring to the objects one at a time. Thus,--

_Every_ town had its fair; _every_ village, its wake.--THACKERAY.

An arrow was quivering in _each_ body.--KINGSLEY.

Few on _either_ side but had their shrewd scratch to show.--_Id._

Before I taught my tongue to wound My conscience with a sinful sound, Or had the black art to dispense A _several_ sin to _every_ sense.--VAUGHAN.

Exercise.--Bring up sentences with ten adjectives of quantity.

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES.

[Sidenote: _Not primarily pronouns._]

146. The words of this list are placed here instead of among pronominal adjectives, for the reason that they are felt to be primarily adjectives; their pronominal use being evidently a shortening, by which the words point out but stand for words omitted, instead of modifying them. Their natural and original use is to be joined to a noun following or in close connection.

[Sidenote: _The list._]

The demonstrative adjectives are _this_, _that_, (plural _these_, _those_), _yonder_ (or _yon_), _former_, _latter_; also the pairs _one_ (or _the one_)--_the other_, _the former_--_the latter_, used to refer to two things which have been already named in a sentence.

[Sidenote: _Examples._]

The following sentences present some examples:--

The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love, The matron's glance that would _those_ looks reprove.--GOLDSMITH.

These were thy charms...but all _these_ charms are fled.--_Id._

About _this_ time I met with an odd volume of the "Spectator."--B. FRANKLIN.

_Yonder_ proud ships are not means of annoyance to you.--D. WEBSTER.

_Yon_ cloud with _that_ long purple cleft.--WORDSWORTH.

I chose for the students of Kensington two characteristic examples of early art, of equal skill; but in _the one_ case, skill which was progressive--in _the other_, skill which was at pause.--RUSKIN.

Exercise.--Find sentences with five demonstrative adjectives.

[Sidenote: _Ordinal numerals classed under demonstratives._]

147. The class of numerals known as ordinals must be placed here, as having the same function as demonstrative adjectives. They point out which thing is meant among a series of things mentioned. The following are examples:--

The _first_ regular provincial newspapers appear to have been created in the last decade of the _seventeenth_ century, and by the middle of the _eighteenth_ century almost every important provincial town had its local organ.--BANCROFT.

These do not, like the other numerals, tell _how many_ things are meant. When we speak of the seventeenth century, we imply nothing as to how many centuries there may be.

PRONOMINAL ADJECTIVES.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

148. As has been said, pronominal adjectives are primarily pronouns; but, when they _modify_ words instead of referring to them as antecedents, they are changed to adjectives. They are of two kinds,--RELATIVE and INTERROGATIVE,--and are used to join sentences or to ask questions, just as the corresponding pronouns do.

[Sidenote: _Modify names of persons or things._]

149. The RELATIVE ADJECTIVES are _which_ and _what_; for example,--

It matters not _what_ rank he has, _what_ revenues or garnitures. --CARLYLE.

The silver and laughing Xenil, careless _what_ lord should possess the banks that bloomed by its everlasting course.--BULWER.

The taking of _which_ bark. I verily believe, was the ruin of every mother's son of us.--KINGSLEY.

In _which_ evil strait Mr. Oxenham fought desperately.--_Id._

[Sidenote: _Indefinite relative adjectives._]

150. The INDEFINITE RELATIVE adjectives are _what_, _whatever_, _whatsoever_, _whichever_, _whichsoever_. Examples of their use are,--

He in his turn tasted some of its flavor, which, make _what_ sour mouths he would for pretense, proved not altogether displeasing to him.--LAMB.

_Whatever_ correction of our popular views from insight, nature will be sure to bear us out in.--EMERSON.

_Whatsoever_ kind of man he is, you at least give him full authority over your son.--RUSKIN.

Was there, as it rather seemed, a circle of ominous shadow moving along with his deformity, _whichever_ way he turned himself?--HAWTHORNE.

New torments I behold, and new tormented Around me, _whichsoever_ way I move, And _whichsoever_ way I turn, and gaze. --LONGFELLOW (FROM DANTE).

151. The INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVES are _which_ and _what_. They may be used in direct and indirect questions. As in the pronouns, _which_ is selective among what is known; _what_ inquires about things or persons not known.

[Sidenote: _In direct questions._]

Sentences with _which_ and _what_ in direct questions:--

_Which_ debt must I pay first, the debt to the rich, or the debt to the poor?--EMERSON.

But when the Trojan war comes, _which_ side will you take? --THACKERAY.

But _what_ books in the circulating library circulate?--LOWELL.

_What_ beckoning ghost along the moonlight shade Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?--POPE.

[Sidenote: _In indirect questions._]

Sentences with _which_ and _what_ in indirect questions:--

His head...looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck to tell _which_ way the wind blew.--IRVING.

A lady once remarked, he [Coleridge] could never fix _which_ side of the garden walk would suit him best.--CARLYLE.

He was turned before long into all the universe, where it was uncertain _what_ game you would catch, or whether any.--_Id._

At _what_ rate these materials would be distributed and precipitated in regular strata, it is impossible to determine.--AGASSIZ.

[Sidenote: _Adjective_ what _in exclamations_.]

152. In exclamatory expressions, _what_ (or _what a_) has a force somewhat like a descriptive adjective. It is neither relative nor interrogative, but might be called an EXCLAMATORY ADJECTIVE; as,--

Oh, _what a_ revolution! and _what a_ heart must I have, to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall!--BURKE.

_What a_ piece of work is man!--SHAKESPEARE.

And yet, alas, the making of it right, _what a_ business for long time to come!--CARLYLE

Through _what_ hardships it may attain to bear a sweet fruit!--THOREAU.

Exercise.--Find ten sentences containing pronominal adjectives.

INFLECTIONS OF ADJECTIVES.

153 .Adjectives have two inflections,--number and comparison.

NUMBER.--_This_, _That_.

[Sidenote: _History of_ this--these _and_ that--those.]

154. The only adjectives having a plural form are _this_ and _that_ (plural _these_, _those_).

_This_ is the old demonstrative; _that_ being borrowed from the forms of the definite article, which was fully inflected in Old English. The article _that_ was used with neuter nouns.

In Middle English the plural of _this_ was _this_ or _thise_, which changed its spelling to the modern form _these_.

[Sidenote: Those _borrowed from_ this.]

But _this_ had also another plural, _thās_ (modern _those_). The old plural of _that_ was _tha_ (Middle English _tho_ or _thow_): consequently _tho_ (plural of _that_) and _those_ (plural of _this_) became confused, and it was forgotten that _those_ was really the plural of _this_; and in Modern English we speak of _these_ as the plural of _this_, and _those_ as the plural of _that_.

COMPARISON.

155. Comparison is an inflection not possessed by nouns and pronouns: it belongs to adjectives and adverbs.

[Sidenote: _Meaning of comparison._]

When we place two objects side by side, we notice some differences between them as to size, weight, color, etc. Thus, it is said that a cow is _larger_ than a sheep, gold is _heavier_ than iron, a sapphire is _bluer_ than the sky. All these have certain qualities; and when we compare the objects, we do so by means of their qualities,--cow and sheep by the quality of largeness, or size; gold and iron by the quality of heaviness, or weight, etc.,--but not the same degree, or amount, of the quality.

The degrees belong to any beings or ideas that may be known or conceived of as possessing quality; as, "untamed thought, great, giant-like, enormous;" "the commonest speech;" "It is a nobler valor;" "the largest soul."

Also words of quantity may be compared: for example, "more matter, with less wit;" "no fewer than a hundred."

[Sidenote: _Words that cannot be compared._]

156. There are some descriptive words whose meaning is such as not to admit of comparison; for example,--

His company became very agreeable to the brave old professor of arms, whose _favorite_ pupil he was.--THACKERAY.

A _main_ difference betwixt men is, whether they attend their own affair or not.--EMERSON

It was his business to administer the law in its _final_ and closest application to the offender--HAWTHORNE.

Freedom is a _perpetual, organic, universal_ institution, in harmony with the Constitution of the United States.--SEWARD.

So with the words _sole_, _sufficient_, _infinite_, _immemorial_, _indefatigable_, _indomitable_, _supreme_, and many others.

It is true that words of comparison are sometimes prefixed to them, but, strictly considered, they are not compared.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

157. Comparison means the changes that words undergo to express degrees in quality, or amounts in quantity.

[Sidenote: _The two forms._]

158. There are two forms for this inflection: the comparative, expressing a greater degree of quality; and the superlative, expressing the greatest degree of quality.

These are called degrees of comparison.

These are properly the only degrees, though the simple, uninflected form is usually called the positive degree.

159. The comparative is formed by adding _-er_, and the superlative by adding _-est_, to the simple form; as, _red_, _redder_, _reddest_; _blue_, _bluer_, _bluest_; _easy_, _easier_, _easiest_.

[Sidenote: _Substitute for inflection in comparison._]

160. Side by side with these inflected forms are found comparative and superlative expressions making use of the adverbs more and most. These are often useful as alternative with the inflected forms, but in most cases are used before adjectives that are never inflected.

They came into use about the thirteenth century, but were not common until a century later.

[Sidenote: _Which rule_,-- -er _and_ -est _or_ more _and_ most?]

161. The English is somewhat capricious in choosing between the inflected forms and those with _more_ and _most_, so that no inflexible rule can be given as to the formation of the comparative and the superlative.

The general rule is, that monosyllables and easily pronounced words of two syllables add _-er_ and _-est_; and other words are preceded by _more_ and _most_.

But room must be left in such a rule for pleasantness of sound and for variety of expression.

To see how literary English overrides any rule that could be given, examine the following taken at random:--

From Thackeray: "The _handsomest_ wives;" "the _immensest_ quantity of thrashing;" "the _wonderfulest_ little shoes;" "_more odd, strange_, and yet familiar;" "_more austere_ and _holy_."

From Ruskin: "The sharpest, finest chiseling, and _patientest_ fusing;" "_distantest_ relationships;" "_sorrowfulest_ spectacles."

Carlyle uses _beautifulest_, _mournfulest_, _honestest_, _admirablest_, _indisputablest_, _peaceablest_, _most small_, etc.

These long, harsh forms are usually avoided, but _more_ and _most_ are frequently used with monosyllables.

162. Expressions are often met with in which a superlative form does not carry the superlative meaning. These are equivalent usually to _very_ with the positive degree; as,--

To this the Count offers a _most wordy_ declaration of the benefits conferred by Spain.--_The Nation_, No 1507

In all formulas that Johnson could stand by, there needed to be a _most genuine_ substance.--CARLYLE

A gentleman, who, though born in no very high degree, was _most finished_, _polished_, _witty_, _easy_, _quiet_.--THACKERAY

He had actually nothing else save a rope around his neck, which hung behind in the _queerest_ way.--_Id._

"So help me God, madam, I will," said Henry Esmond, falling on his knees, and kissing the hand of his _dearest_ mistress.--_Id._

[Sidenote: _Adjectives irregularly compared._]

163. Among the variously derived adjectives now in our language there are some which may always be recognized as native English. These are adjectives irregularly compared.

Most of them have worn down or become confused with similar words, but they are essentially the same forms that have lived for so many centuries.

The following lists include the majority of them:--

LIST I.

1. Good or well Better Best 2. Evil, bad, ill Worse Worst 3. Little Less, lesser Least 4. Much or many More Most 5. Old Elder, older Eldest, oldest 6. Nigh Nigher Nighest, next 7. Near Nearer Nearest 8. Far Farther, further Farthest, furthest 9. Late Later, latter Latest, last 10. Hind Hinder Hindmost, hindermost

LIST II.

These have no adjective positive:--

1. [In] Inner Inmost, innermost 2. [Out] Outer, utter {Outmost, outermost {Utmost, uttermost 3. [Up] Upper Upmost, uppermost

LIST III.

A few of comparative form but not comparative meaning:--

After Over Under Nether

Remarks on Irregular Adjectives.

[Sidenote: _List I._]

164. (1) The word good has no comparative or superlative, but takes the place of a positive to _better_ and _best_. There was an old comparative _bet_, which has gone out of use; as in the sentence (14th century), "Ich singe _bet_ than thu dest" (I sing better than thou dost). The superlative I form was _betst_, which has softened to the modern _best_.

(2) In Old English, evil was the positive to _worse_, _worst_; but later _bad_ and _ill_ were borrowed from the Norse, and used as positives to the same comparative and superlative. _Worser_ was once used, a double comparative; as in Shakespeare,--

O, throw away the _worser_ part of it.--HAMLET.

(3) Little is used as positive to _less_, _least_, though from a different root. A double comparative, _lesser_, is often used; as,--

We have it in a much _lesser_ degree.--MATTHEW ARNOLD.

Thrust the _lesser_ half by main force into the fists of Ho-ti. --LAMB.

(4) The words much and many now express quantity; but in former times _much_ was used in the sense of _large_, _great_, and was the same word that is found in the proverb, "Many a little makes _a mickle_." Its spelling has been _micel_, _muchel_, _moche_, _much_, the parallel form _mickle_ being rarely used.

The meanings _greater_, _greatest_, are shown in such phrases as,--

The _more_ part being of one mind, to England we sailed.--KINGSLEY.

The _most_ part kept a stolid indifference.--_Id._

The latter, meaning _the largest part_, is quite common.

(5) The forms elder, eldest, are earlier than _older_, _oldest_. A few other words with the vowel _o_ had similar change in the comparative and superlative, as _long_, _strong_, etc.; but these have followed _old_ by keeping the same vowel _o_ in all the forms, instead of _lenger_, _strenger_, etc., the old forms.

(6) and (7) Both nigh and near seem regular in Modern English, except the form _next_; but originally the comparison was _nigh_, _near_, _next_. In the same way the word high had in Middle English the superlative _hexte_.

By and by the comparative _near_ was regarded as a positive form, and on it were built a double comparative _nearer_, and the superlative _nearest_, which adds _-est_ to what is really a comparative instead of a simple adjective.

(8) These words also show confusion and consequent modification, coming about as follows: further really belongs to another series,--_forth_, _further_, _first_. First became entirely detached from the series, and _furthest_ began to be used to follow the comparative _further_; then these were used as comparative and superlative of _far_.

The word far had formerly the comparative and superlative _farrer_, _farrest_. In imitation of _further_, _furthest_, _th_ came into the others, making the modern _farther_, _farthest_. Between the two sets as they now stand, there is scarcely any distinction, except perhaps _further_ is more used than _farther_ in the sense of _additional_; as, for example,--

When that evil principle was left with no _further_ material to support it.--HAWTHORNE.

(9) Latter and last are the older forms. Since _later_, _latest_, came into use, a distinction has grown up between the two series. _Later_ and _latest_ have the true comparative and superlative force, and refer to time; _latter_ and _last_ are used in speaking of succession, or series, and are hardly thought of as connected in meaning with the word _late_.

(10) Hinder is comparative in form, but not in meaning. The form _hindmost_ is really a double superlative, since the _m_ is for _-ma_, an old superlative ending, to which is added _-ost_, doubling the inflection. _Hind-er-m-ost_ presents the combination comparative + superlative + superlative.

[Sidenote: _List II._]

165. In List II. (Sec. 163) the comparatives and superlatives are adjectives, but they have no adjective positives.

The comparatives are so in form, but not in their meaning.

The superlatives show examples again of double inflection, and of comparative added to double-superlative inflection.

Examples (from Carlyle) of the use of these adjectives: "revealing the _inner_ splendor to him;" "a mind that has penetrated into the _inmost_ heart of a thing;" "This of painting is one of the _outermost_ developments of a man;" "The _outer_ is of the day;" "far-seeing as the sun, the _upper_ light of the world;" "the _innermost_ moral soul;" "their _utmost_ exertion."

[Sidenote: -Most _added to other words_.]

166. The ending _-most_ is added to some words that are not usually adjectives, or have no comparative forms.

There, on the very _topmost_ twig, sits that ridiculous but sweet-singing bobolink.--H.W. BEECHER.

Decidedly handsome, having such a skin as became a young woman of family in _northernmost_ Spain.--DE QUINCEY.

Highest and _midmost_, was descried The royal banner floating wide.--SCOTT.

[Sidenote: _List III._]

167. The adjectives in List III. are like the comparative forms in List II. in having no adjective positives. They have no superlatives, and have no comparative force, being merely descriptive.

Her bows were deep in the water, but her _after_ deck was still dry.--KINGSLEY.

Her, by the by, in _after_ years I vainly endeavored to trace.--DE QUINCEY.

The upper and the _under_ side of the medal of Jove.--EMERSON.

Have you ever considered what a deep _under_ meaning there lies in our custom of strewing flowers?--RUSKIN.

Perhaps he rose out of some _nether_ region.--HAWTHORNE.

_Over_ is rarely used separately as an adjective.

CAUTION FOR ANALYZING OR PARSING.

[Sidenote: _Think what each adjective belongs to._]

168. Some care must be taken to decide what word is modified by an adjective. In a series of adjectives in the same sentence, all may belong to the same noun, or each may modify a different word or group of words.

For example, in this sentence, "The young pastor's voice was tremulously sweet, rich, deep, and broken," it is clear that all four adjectives after _was_ modify the noun _voice_. But in this sentence, "She showed her usual prudence and her usual incomparable decision," _decision_ is modified by the adjective _incomparable_; _usual_ modifies _incomparable decision_, not _decision_ alone; and the pronoun _her_ limits _usual incomparable decision_.

Adjectives modifying the same noun are said to be of the _same rank_; those modifying different words or word groups are said to be adjectives of _different rank_. This distinction is valuable in a study of punctuation.

Exercise.

In the following quotations, tell what each adjective modifies:--

1. Whenever that look appeared in her wild, bright, deeply black eyes, it invested them with a strange remoteness and intangibility.--HAWTHORNE.

2. It may still be argued, that in the present divided state of Christendom a college which is positively Christian must be controlled by some religious denomination.--NOAH PORTER.

3. Every quaking leaf and fluttering shadow sent the blood backward to her heart.--MRS. STOWE.

4. This, our new government, is the first in the history of the world based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.--A.H. STEPHENS

5. May we not, therefore, look with confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgment of the truths upon which our system rests?--_Id._

6. A few improper jests and a volley of good, round, solid, satisfactory, and heaven-defying oaths.--HAWTHORNE.

7. It is well known that the announcement at any private rural entertainment that there is to be ice cream produces an immediate and profound impression.--HOLMES.

ADVERBS USED AS ADJECTIVES.

169. By a convenient brevity, adverbs are sometimes used as adjectives; as, instead of saying, "the one who was then king," in which _then_ is an adverb, we may say "the _then_ king," making _then_ an adjective. Other instances are,--

My _then_ favorite, in prose, Richard Hooker.--RUSKIN.

Our _sometime_ sister, now our queen.--SHAKESPEARE

Messrs. Bradbury and Evans, the _then_ and _still_ owners. --TROLLOPE.

The _seldom_ use of it.--TRENCH.

For thy stomach's sake, and thine _often_ infirmities.--_Bible._

HOW TO PARSE ADJECTIVES.

[Sidenote: _What to tell in parsing._]

170. Since adjectives have no gender, person, or case, and very few have number, the method of parsing is simple.

In parsing an adjective, tell--

(1) The class and subclass to which it belongs.

(2) Its number, if it has number.

(3) Its degree of comparison, if it can be compared.

(4) What word or words it modifies.

MODEL FOR PARSING.

These truths are not unfamiliar to your thoughts.

_These_ points out _what_ truths, therefore demonstrative; plural number, having a singular, _this_; cannot be compared; modifies the word _truths_.

_Unfamiliar_ describes _truths_, therefore descriptive; not inflected for number; compared by prefixing _more_ and _most_; positive degree; modifies _truths_.

Exercise.

Parse in full each adjective in these sentences:--

1. A thousand lives seemed concentrated in that one moment to Eliza.

2. The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched and creaked.

3. I ask nothing of you, then, but that you proceed to your end by a direct, frank, manly way.

4. She made no reply, and I waited for none.

5. A herd of thirty or forty tall ungainly figures took their way, with awkward but rapid pace, across the plain.

6. Gallantly did the lion struggle in the folds of his terrible enemy, whose grasp each moment grew more fierce and secure, and most astounding were those frightful yells.

7. This gave the young people entire freedom, and they enjoyed it to the fullest extent.

8. I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice.

9. To every Roman citizen he gives, To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

10. Each member was permitted to entertain all the rest on his or her birthday, on which occasion the elders of the family were bound to be absent.

11. Instantly the mind inquires whether these fishes under the bridge, yonder oxen in the pasture, those dogs in the yard, are immutably fishes, oxen, and dogs.

12. I know not what course others may take.

13. With every third step, the tomahawk fell.

14. What a ruthless business this war of extermination is!

15. I was just emerging from that many-formed crystal country.

16. On what shore has not the prow of your ships dashed?

17. The laws and institutions of his country ought to have been more to him than all the men in his country.

18. Like most gifted men, he won affections with ease.

19. His letters aim to elicit the inmost experience and outward fortunes of those he loves, yet are remarkably self-forgetful.

20. Their name was the last word upon his lips.

21. The captain said it was the last stick he had seen.

22. Before sunrise the next morning they let us out again.

23. He was curious to know to what sect we belonged.

24. Two hours elapsed, during which time I waited.

25. In music especially, you will soon find what personal benefit there is in being serviceable.

26. To say what good of fashion we can, it rests on reality, and hates nothing so much as pretenders.

27. Here lay two great roads, not so much for travelers that were few, as for armies that were too many by half.

28. On whichever side of the border chance had thrown Joanna, the same love to France would have been nurtured.

29. What advantage was open to him above the English boy?

30. Nearer to our own times, and therefore more interesting to us, is the settlement of our own country.

31. Even the topmost branches spread out and drooped in all directions, and many poles supported the lower ones.

32. Most fruits depend entirely on our care.

33. Even the sourest and crabbedest apple, growing in the most unfavorable position, suggests such thoughts as these, it is so noble a fruit.

34. Let him live in what pomps and prosperities he like, he is no literary man.

35. Through what hardships it may bear a sweet fruit!

36. Whatsoever power exists will have itself organized.

37. A hard-struggling, weary-hearted man was he.

ARTICLES.

171. There is a class of words having always an adjectival use in general, but with such subtle functions and various meanings that they deserve separate treatment. In the sentence, "He passes an ordinary brick house on the road, with an ordinary little garden," the words _the_ and _an_ belong to nouns, just as adjectives do; but they cannot be accurately placed under any class of adjectives. They are nearest to demonstrative and numeral adjectives.

[Sidenote: _Their origin._]

172. The article the comes from an old demonstrative adjective (_sē_, _sēo_, _ðat_, later _thē_, _thēo_, _that_) which was also an article in Old English. In Middle English _the_ became an article, and _that_ remained a demonstrative adjective.

An or a came from the old numeral _ān_, meaning _one_.

[Sidenote: _Two relics._]

Our expressions _the one_, _the other_, were formerly _that one_, _that other_; the latter is still preserved in the expression, in vulgar English, _the tother_. Not only this is kept in the Scotch dialect, but the former is used, these occurring as _the tane, the tother_, or _the tane, the tither_; for example,--

We ca' her sometimes _the tane_, sometimes _the tother_.--SCOTT.

[Sidenote: An _before vowel sounds_, a _before consonant sounds_.]

173. Ordinarily _an_ is used before vowel sounds, and _a_ before consonant sounds. Remember that a _vowel sound_ does not necessarily mean beginning with a vowel, nor does _consonant sound_ mean beginning with a consonant, because English spelling does not coincide closely with the sound of words. Examples: "_a_ house," "_an_ orange," "_a_ European," "_an_ honor," "_a_ yelling crowd."

[Sidenote: An _with consonant sounds_.]

174. Many writers use _an_ before _h_, even when not silent, when the word is not accented on the first syllable.

_An_ historian, such as we have been attempting to describe, would indeed be an intellectual prodigy.--MACAULAY.

The Persians were _an_ heroic people like the Greeks.--BREWER.

He [Rip] evinced _an_ hereditary disposition to attend to anything else but his business.--IRVING.

_An_ habitual submission of the understanding to mere events and images.--COLERIDGE.

_An_ hereditary tenure of these offices.--THOMAS JEFFERSON.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

175. An article is a limiting word, not descriptive, which cannot be used alone, but always joins to a substantive word to denote a particular thing, or a group or class of things, or any individual of a group or class.

[Sidenote: _Kinds._]

176. Articles are either definite or indefinite.

The is the definite article, since it points out a particular individual, or group, or class.

An or a is the indefinite article, because it refers to any one of a group or class of things.

An and a are different forms of the same word, the older _ān_.

USES OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE.

[Sidenote: _Reference to a known object._]

177. The most common use of the definite article is to refer to an object that the listener or reader is already acquainted with; as in the sentence,--

Don't you remember how, when _the_ dragon was infesting _the_ neighborhood of Babylon, _the_ citizens used to walk dismally out of evenings, and look at _the_ valleys round about strewed with _the_ bones?--THACKERAY.

NOTE.--This use is noticed when, on opening a story, a person is introduced by _a_, and afterwards referred to by _the_:--

By and by _a_ giant came out of the dark north, and lay down on the ice near Audhumla.... _The_ giant frowned when he saw the glitter of the golden hair.--_Heroes of Asgard._

[Sidenote: _With names of rivers._]

178. _The_ is often prefixed to the names of rivers; and when the word _river_ is omitted, as "_the_ Mississippi," "_the_ Ohio," the article indicates clearly that a river, and not a state or other geographical division, is referred to.

No wonder I could face _the_ Mississippi with so much courage supplied to me.--THACKERAY.

The Dakota tribes, doubtless, then occupied the country southwest of _the_ Missouri.--G. BANCROFT.

[Sidenote: _To call attention to attributes._]

179. When _the_ is prefixed to a proper name, it alters the force of the noun by directing attention to _certain qualities_ possessed by the person or thing spoken of; thus,--

_The_ Bacon, _the_ Spinoza, _the_ Hume, Schelling, Kant, or whosoever propounds to you a philosophy of the mind, is only a more or less awkward translator of things in your consciousness.--EMERSON.

[Sidenote: _With plural of abstract nouns._]

180. _The_, when placed before the pluralized abstract noun, marks it as half abstract or a common noun.

[Sidenote: _Common._]

His messages to _the_ provincial _authorities_.--MOTLEY.

[Sidenote: _Half abstract._]

He was probably skilled in _the subtleties_ of Italian statesmanship.--_Id._

[Sidenote: _With adjectives used as nouns._]

181. When _the_ precedes adjectives of the positive degree used substantively, it marks their use as common and plural nouns when they refer to persons, and as singular and abstract when they refer to qualities.

1. _The simple_ rise as by specific levity, not into a particular virtue, but into the region of all the virtues.--EMERSON.

2. If _the good_ is there, so is _the evil_.--_Id._

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

NOTE.--This is not to be confused with words that have shifted from adjectives and become pure nouns; as,--

As she hesitated to pass on, _the gallant_, throwing his cloak from his shoulders, laid it on the miry spot.--SCOTT.

But De Soto was no longer able to abate the confidence or punish the temerity of _the natives_.--G. BANCROFT.

[Sidenote: _One thing for its class._]

182. _The_ before class nouns may mark one thing as a representative of the class to which it belongs; for example,--

The faint, silvery warblings heard over the partially bare and moist fields from _the bluebird_, _the song sparrow_, and _the redwing_, as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell!--THOREAU.

In the sands of Africa and Arabia _the camel_ is a sacred and precious gift.--GIBBON.

[Sidenote: _For possessive person pronouns._]

183. _The_ is frequently used instead of the possessive case of the personal pronouns _his_, _her_, etc.

More than one hinted that a cord twined around _the head_, or a match put between _the fingers_, would speedily extract the required information.--KINGSLEY.

_The_ mouth, and the region of the mouth, were about the strongest features in Wordsworth's face.--DE QUINCEY.

[Sidenote: The _for_ a.]

184. In England and Scotland _the_ is often used where we use _a_, in speaking of measure and price; as,--

Wheat, the price of which necessarily varied, averaged in the middle of the fourteenth century tenpence _the bushel_, barley averaging at the same time three shillings _the quarter_.--FROUDE.

[Sidenote: _A very strong restrictive._]

185. Sometimes _the_ has a strong force, almost equivalent to a descriptive adjective in emphasizing a word,--

No doubt but ye are _the_ people, and wisdom shall die with you.--_Bible._

As for New Orleans, it seemed to me _the_ city of the world where you can eat and drink the most and suffer the least.--THACKERAY.

He was _the_ man in all Europe that could (if any could) have driven six-in-hand full gallop over Al Sirat.--DE QUINCEY.

[Sidenote: _Mark of a substantive._]

186. _The_, since it belongs distinctively to substantives, is a sure indication that a word of verbal form is not used participially, but substantively.

In the hills of Sacramento there is gold for _the gathering_.--EMERSON.

I thought _the writing_ excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it.--FRANKLIN.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

187. There is one use of _the_ which is different from all the above. It is an adverbial use, and is spoken of more fully in Sec. 283. Compare this sentence with those above:--

There was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed, and which grew still _the more obvious_ to the sight _the oftener_ they looked upon him.--HAWTHORNE.

Exercise.--Find sentences with five uses of the definite article.

USES OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE.

[Sidenote: _Denotes any one of a class._]

188. The most frequent use of the indefinite article is to denote any one of a class or group of objects: consequently it belongs to singular words; as in the sentence,--

Near the churchyard gate stands _a_ poor-box, fastened to _a_ post by iron bands and secured by _a_ padlock, with _a_ sloping wooden roof to keep off the rain.--LONGFELLOW

[Sidenote: _Widens the scope of proper nouns._]

189. When the indefinite article precedes proper names, it alters them to class names. The qualities or attributes of the object are made prominent, and transferred to any one possessing them; as,--

The vulgar riot and debauchery, which scarcely disgraced _an Alcibiades_ or _a Cæsar_, have been exchanged for the higher ideals of _a Bayard_ or _a Sydney_.--PEARSON

[Sidenote: _With abstract nouns._]

190. _An_ or _a_ before abstract nouns often changes them to half abstract: the idea of quality remains, but the word now denotes only one instance or example of things possessing the quality.

[Sidenote: _Become half abstract._]

The simple perception of natural forms is _a delight_.--EMERSON

If thou hadst _a sorrow_ of thine own, the brook might tell thee of it.--HAWTHORNE

In the first sentence, instead of the general abstract notion of delight, which cannot be singular or plural, _a delight_ means one thing delightful, and implies others having the same quality.

So _a sorrow_ means one cause of sorrow, implying that there are other things that bring sorrow.

[Sidenote: _Become pure class nouns._]

NOTE.--Some abstract nouns become common class nouns with the indefinite article, referring simply to persons; thus,--

If the poet of the "Rape of the Lock" be not _a wit_, who deserves to be called so?--THACKERAY.

He had a little brother in London with him at this time,--as great _a beauty_, as great a dandy, as great a villain.--_Id._

_A youth_ to fortune and to fame unknown.--GRAY.

[Sidenote: _Changes material to class nouns._]

191. _An_ or _a_ before a material noun indicates the change to a class noun, meaning one kind or a detached portion; as,--

They that dwell up in the steeple,... Feel a glory in so rolling On the human heart _a stone_. --POE.

When God at first made man, Having _a glass_ of blessings standing by. --HERBERT.

The roofs were turned into arches of massy stone, joined by _a cement_ that grew harder by time.--JOHNSON.

[Sidenote: _Like the numeral adjective_ one.]

192. In some cases _an_ or _a_ has the full force of the numeral adjective _one_. It is shown in the following:--

To every room there was _an_ open and _a_ secret passage.--JOHNSON.

In a short time these become a small tree, _an_ inverted pyramid resting on the apex of the other.--THOREAU.

All men are at last of _a_ size.--EMERSON.

At the approach of spring the red squirrels got under my house, two at _a_ time.--THOREAU.

[Sidenote: _Equivalent to the word_ each _or_ every.]

193. Often, also, the indefinite article has the force of _each_ or _every_, particularly to express measure or frequency.

It would be so much more pleasant to live at his ease than to work eight or ten hours _a day_.--BULWER

[Sidenote: _Compare to Sec. 184._]

Strong beer, such as we now buy for eighteenpence _a gallon_, was then a penny _a gallon_.--FROUDE

[Sidenote: _With_ such, many, what.]

194. _An_ or _a_ is added to the adjectives _such_, _many_, and _what_, and may be considered a part of these in modifying substantives.

How was I to pay _such a_ debt?--THACKERAY.

_Many a_ one you and I have had here below.--THACKERAY.

_What a_ world of merriment then melody foretells!--POE.

[Sidenote: _With_ not _and_ many.]

195 LIST III.

A few of comparative form but not comparative meaning:--

After Over Under Nether.

_Not_ and _never_ with _a_ or _an_ are numeral adjectives, instead of adverbs, which they are in general.

_Not a_ drum was heard, _not a_ funeral note.--WOLFE

My Lord Duke was as hot as a flame at this salute, but said _never a_ word.--THACKERAY.

NOTE.--All these have the function of adjectives; but in the last analysis of the expressions, _such_, _many_, _not_, etc., might be considered as adverbs modifying the article.

[Sidenote: _With_ few _or_ little.]

196. The adjectives _few_ and _little_ have the negative meaning of _not much_, _not many_, without the article; but when _a_ is put before them, they have the positive meaning of _some_. Notice the contrast in the following sentences:--

Of the country beyond the Mississippi _little_ more was known than of the heart of Africa.--MCMASTER

To both must I of necessity cling, supported always by the hope that when _a little_ time, _a few_ years, shall have tried me more fully in their esteem, I may be able to bring them together.--_Keats's Letters_.

_Few_ of the great characters of history have been so differently judged as Alexander.--SMITH, _History of Greece_

[Sidenote: _With adjectives, changed to nouns_.]

197. When _the_ is used before adjectives with no substantive following (Sec. 181 and note), these words are adjectives used as nouns, or pure nouns; but when _an_ or _a_ precedes such words, they are always nouns, having the regular use and inflections of nouns; for example,--

Such are the words _a brave_ should use.--COOPER.

In the great society of wits, John Gay deserves to be _a favorite_, and to have a good place.--THACKERAY

Only the name of one obscure epigrammatist has been embalmed for use in the verses of _a rival_.--PEARSON.

Exercise.--Bring up sentences with five uses of the indefinite article.

HOW TO PARSE ARTICLES.

198. In parsing the article, tell--

(1) What word it limits.

(2) Which of the above uses it has.

Exercise.

Parse the articles in the following:--

1. It is like gathering a few pebbles off the ground, or bottling a little air in a phial, when the whole earth and the whole atmosphere are ours.

2. Aristeides landed on the island with a body of Hoplites, defeated the Persians and cut them to pieces to a man.

3. The wild fire that lit the eye of an Achilles can gleam no more.

4. But it is not merely the neighborhood of the cathedral that is mediæval; the whole city is of a piece.

5. To the herdsman among his cattle in remote woods, to the craftsman in his rude workshop, to the great and to the little, a new light has arisen.

6. When the manners of Loo are heard of, the stupid become intelligent, and the wavering, determined.

7. The student is to read history actively, and not passively.

8. This resistance was the labor of his life.

9. There was always a hope, even in the darkest hour.

10. The child had a native grace that does not invariably coexist with faultless beauty.

11. I think a mere gent (which I take to be the lowest form of civilization) better than a howling, whistling, clucking, stamping, jumping, tearing savage.

12. Every fowl whom Nature has taught to dip the wing in water.

13. They seem to be lines pretty much of a length.

14. Only yesterday, but what a gulf between now and then!

15. Not a brick was made but some man had to think of the making of that brick.

16. The class of power, the working heroes, the Cortes, the Nelson, the Napoleon, see that this is the festivity and permanent celebration of such as they; that fashion is funded talent.

VERBS AND VERBALS..

VERBS.

[Sidenote: _Verb,--the word of the sentence._]

199. The term _verb_ is from the Latin _verbum_ meaning _word_: hence it is _the_ word of a sentence. A thought cannot be expressed without a verb. When the child cries, "Apple!" it means, _See_ the apple! or I _have_ an apple! In the mariner's shout, "A sail!" the meaning is, "Yonder _is_ a sail!"

Sentences are in the form of declarations, questions, or commands; and none of these can be put before the mind without the use of a verb.

[Sidenote: _One group or a group of words._]

200. The verb may not always be a single word. On account of the lack of inflections, _verb phrases_ are very frequent. Hence the verb may consist of:

(1) _One word_; as, "The young man _obeyed_."

(2) _Several words of verbal nature, making one expression_; as, (_a_) "Some day it _may be considered_ reasonable," (_b_) "Fearing lest he _might have been anticipated_."

(3) _One or more verbal words united with other words to compose one verb phrase_: as in the sentences, (_a_) "They knew well that this woman _ruled over_ thirty millions of subjects;" (_b_) "If all the flummery and extravagance of an army _were done away with_, the money could be made to go much further;" (_c_) "It is idle cant to pretend anxiety for the better distribution of wealth until we can devise means by which this preying upon people of small incomes _can be put a stop to_."

In (_a_), a verb and a preposition are used as one verb; in (_b_), a verb, an adverb, and a preposition unite as a verb; in (_c_), an article, a noun, a preposition, are united with verbs as one verb phrase.

[Sidenote: _Definition and caution._]

201. A verb is a word used as a predicate, to say something to or about some person or thing. In giving a definition, we consider a verb as one word.

Now, it is indispensable to the nature of a verb that it is "a word used as a predicate." Examine the sentences in Sec. 200: In (1), _obeyed_ is a predicate; in (2, _a_), _may be considered_ is a unit in doing the work of one predicate; in (2, _b_), _might have been anticipated_ is also one predicate, but _fearing_ is not a predicate, hence is not a verb; in (3, _b_), _to go_ is no predicate, and not a verb; in (3, _c_), _to pretend_ and _preying_ have something of verbal nature in expressing action in a faint and general way, but cannot be predicates.

In the sentence, "_Put_ money in thy purse," _put_ is the predicate, with some word understood; as, "Put _thou_ money in thy purse."

VERBS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO MEANING AND USE.

TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS.

[Sidenote: _The nature of the transitive verb._]

202. By examining a few verbs, it may be seen that not all verbs are used alike. All do not express action: some denote state or condition. Of those expressing action, all do not express it in the same way; for example, in this sentence from Bulwer,--"The proud lone _took_ care to conceal the anguish she _endured_; and the pride of woman _has_ an hypocrisy which _can deceive_ the most penetrating, and _shame_ the most astute,"--every one of the verbs in Italics has one or more words before or after it, representing something which it influences or controls. In the first, lone _took_ what? answer, _care_; _endured_ what? _anguish_; etc. Each influences some object, which may be a person, or a material thing, or an idea. _Has_ takes the object _hypocrisy_; _can deceive_ has an object, _the most penetrating_; (can) _shame_ also has an object, _the most astute_.

In each case, the word following, or the object, is necessary to the completion of the action expressed in the verb.

All these are called transitive verbs, from the Latin _transire_, which means _to go over_. Hence

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

203. A transitive verb is one which must have an object to complete its meaning, and to receive the action expressed.

[Sidenote: _The nature of intransitive verbs._]

204. Examine the verbs in the following paragraph:--

She _sprang up_ at that thought, and, taking the staff which always guided her steps, she _hastened_ to the neighboring shrine of Isis. Till she _had been_ under the guardianship of the kindly Greek, that staff _had sufficed_ to conduct the poor blind girl from corner to corner of Pompeii.--BULWER

In this there are some verbs unlike those that have been examined. _Sprang_, or _sprang up_, expresses action, but it is complete in itself, does not affect an object; _hastened_ is similar in use; _had been_ expresses condition, or state of being, and can have no object; _had sufficed_ means _had been sufficient_, and from its meaning cannot have an object.

Such verbs are called intransitive (not crossing over). Hence

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

205. An intransitive verb is one which is complete in itself, or which is completed by other words without requiring an object.

[Sidenote: _Study_ use, _not_ form, _of verbs here._]

206. Many verbs can be either transitive or intransitive, according to their use in the sentence, It can be said, "The boy _walked_ for two hours," or "The boy _walked_ the horse;" "The rains _swelled_ the river," or "The river _swelled_ because of the rain;" etc.

The important thing to observe is, many words must be distinguished as transitive or intransitive by _use_, not by _form_.

207. Also verbs are sometimes made transitive by prepositions. These may be (1) compounded with the verb; or (2) may follow the verb, and be used as an integral part of it: for example,--

Asking her pardon for having _withstood_ her.--SCOTT.

I can wish myself no worse than to have it all to _undergo_ a second time.--KINGSLEY.

A weary gloom in the deep caverns of his eyes, as of a child that has _outgrown_ its playthings.--HAWTHORNE.

It is amusing to walk up and down the pier and _look at_ the countenances passing by.--B. TAYLOR.

He was at once so out of the way, and yet so sensible, that I loved, _laughed at_, and pitied him.--GOLDSMITH.

My little nurse told me the whole matter, which she had cunningly _picked out_ from her mother.--SWIFT.

Exercises.

(_a_) Pick out the transitive and the intransitive verbs in the following:--

1. The women and children collected together at a distance.

2. The path to the fountain led through a grassy savanna.

3. As soon as I recovered my senses and strength from so sudden a surprise, I started back out of his reach where I stood to view him; he lay quiet whilst I surveyed him.

4. At first they lay a floor of this kind of tempered mortar on the ground, upon which they deposit a layer of eggs.

5. I ran my bark on shore at one of their landing places, which was a sort of neck or little dock, from which ascended a sloping path or road up to the edge of the meadow, where their nests were; most of them were deserted, and the great thick whitish eggshells lay broken and scattered upon the ground.

6. Accordingly I got everything on board, charged my gun, set sail cautiously, along shore. As I passed by Battle Lagoon, I began to tremble.

7. I seized my gun, and went cautiously from my camp: when I had advanced about thirty yards, I halted behind a coppice of orange trees, and soon perceived two very large bears, which had made their way through the water and had landed in the grove, and were advancing toward me.

(_b_) Bring up sentences with five transitive and five intransitive verbs.

VOICE, ACTIVE AND PASSIVE.

[Sidenote: _Meaning of active voice._]

208. As has been seen, transitive verbs are the only kind that can express action so as to go over to an object. This implies three things,--the agent, or person or thing acting; the verb representing the action; the person or object receiving the act.

In the sentence, "We reached the village of Sorgues by dusk, and accepted the invitation of an old dame to lodge at her inn," these three things are found: the actor, or agent, is expressed by _we_; the action is asserted by _reached_ and _accepted_; the things acted upon are _village_ and _invitation_. Here the subject is represented as doing something. The same word is the subject and the agent. This use of a transitive verb is called the active voice.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

209. The active voice is that form of a verb which represents the subject as acting; or

The active voice is that form of a transitive verb which makes the _subject_ and the _agent_ the same word.

[Sidenote: _A question._]

210. Intransitive verbs are _always active voice_. Let the student explain why.

[Sidenote: _Meaning of passive voice._]

211. In the assertion of an action, it would be natural to suppose, that, instead of always representing the subject as acting upon some person or thing, it must often happen that the subject is spoken of as _acted upon_; and the person or thing acting may or may not be expressed in the sentence: for example,--

All infractions of love and equity in our social relations are speedily punished. They are punished by fear.--EMERSON.

Here the subject _infractions_ does nothing: it represents the object toward which the action of _are punished_ is directed, yet it is the subject of the same verb. In the first sentence the agent is not expressed; in the second, _fear_ is the agent of the same action.

So that in this case, instead of having the agent and subject the same word, we have the _object_ and _subject_ the same word, and the agent may be omitted from the statement of the action.

_Passive_ is from the Latin word _patior_, meaning _to endure_ or _suffer_; but in ordinary grammatical use _passive_ means _receiving an action_.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

212. The passive voice is that form of the verb which represents the subject as being acted upon; or--

The passive voice is that form of the verb which represents the _subject_ and the _object_ by the same word.

Exercises.

(_a_) Pick out the verbs in the active and the passive voice:--

1. In the large room some forty or fifty students were walking about while the parties were preparing.

2. This was done by taking off the coat and vest and binding a great thick leather garment on, which reached to the knees.

3. They then put on a leather glove reaching nearly to the shoulder, tied a thick cravat around the throat, and drew on a cap with a large visor.

4. This done, they were walked about the room a short time; their faces all this time betrayed considerable anxiety.

5. We joined the crowd, and used our lungs as well as any.

6. The lakes were soon covered with merry skaters, and every afternoon the banks were crowded with spectators.

7. People were setting up torches and lengthening the rafts which had been already formed.

8. The water was first brought in barrels drawn by horses, till some officer came and opened the fire plug.

9. The exclusive in fashionable life does not see that he excludes himself from enjoyment, in the attempt to appropriate it.

(_b_) Find sentences with five verbs in the active and five in the passive voice.

MOOD.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

213. The word _mood_ is from the Latin _modus_, meaning _manner_, _way_, _method_. Hence, when applied to verbs,--

Mood means the manner of conceiving and expressing action or being of some subject.

[Sidenote: _The three ways._]

214. There are three chief ways of expressing action or being:--

(1) As a fact; this may be a question, statement, or assumption.

(2) As doubtful, or merely conceived of in the mind.

(3) As urged or commanded.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

[Sidenote: _Deals with facts._]

215. The term _indicative_ is from the Latin _indicare_ (to declare, or assert). The indicative represents something as a fact,--

[Sidenote: _Affirms or denies._]

(1) _By declaring a thing to be true or not to be true_; thus,--

Distinction _is_ the consequence, never the object, of a great mind.--ALLSTON.

I _do not remember_ when or by whom I _was taught_ to read; because I _cannot_ and never _could recollect_ a time when I _could not read_ my Bible.--D. WEBSTER.

[Sidenote: _Assumed as a fact._]

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

(2) _By assuming a thing to be true_ without declaring it to be so. This kind of indicative clause is usually introduced by _if_ (meaning _admitting that, granting that_, etc.), _though, although_, etc. Notice that the action is not merely conceived as possible; it is assumed to be a fact: for example,--

If the penalties of rebellion hung over an unsuccessful contest; if America was yet in the cradle of her political existence; if her population little exceeded two millions; if she was without government, without fleets or armies, arsenals or magazines, without military knowledge,--still her citizens had a just and elevated sense of her rights.--A. HAMILTON.

(3) _By asking a question to find out some fact_; as,--

Is private credit the friend and patron of industry?--HAMILTON.

With respect to novels what shall I say?--N. WEBSTER.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

216 .The indicative mood is that form of a verb which represents a thing as a fact, or inquires about some fact.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

[Sidenote: _Meaning of the word._]

217. _Subjunctive_ means _subjoined_, or joined as dependent or subordinate to something else.

[Sidenote: _This meaning is misleading._]

If its original meaning be closely adhered to, we must expect every dependent clause to have its verb in the subjunctive mood, and every clause _not_ dependent to have its verb in some other mood.

But this is not the case. In the quotation from Hamilton (Sec. 215, 2) several subjoined clauses introduced by _if_ have the indicative mood, and also independent clauses are often found having the verb in the subjunctive mood.

[Sidenote: _Cautions._]

Three cautions will be laid down which must be observed by a student who wishes to understand and use the English subjunctive:--

(1) You cannot tell it always by the form of the word. The main difference is, that the subjunctive has no _-s_ as the ending of the present tense, third person singular; as, "If he _come_."

(2) The fact that its clause is dependent or is introduced by certain words will not be a safe rule to guide you.

(3) The _meaning_ of the verb itself must be keenly studied.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

218. The subjunctive mood is that form or use of the verb which expresses action or being, not as a fact, but as merely conceived of in the mind.

Subjunctive in Independent Clauses.

I. Expressing a Wish.

219. The following are examples of this use:--

Heaven _rest_ her soul!--MOORE.

God _grant_ you find one face there You loved when all was young.--KINGSLEY.

Now _tremble_ dimples on your cheek, Sweet _be_ your lips to taste and speak.--BEDDOES.

Long _die_ thy happy days before thy death.--SHAKESPEARE.

II. A Contingent Declaration or Question.

220. This really amounts to the conclusion, or principal clause, in a sentence, of which the condition is omitted.

Our chosen specimen of the hero as literary man [if we were to choose one] _would be_ this Goethe.--CARLYLE.

I _could lie_ down like a tired child, And _weep_ away the life of care Which I have borne and yet must bear.--SHELLEY.

Most excellent stranger, as you come to the lakes simply to see their loveliness, _might_ it not _be_ as well to ask after the most beautiful road, rather than the shortest?--DE QUINCEY.

Subjunctive in Dependent Clauses.

I. Condition or Supposition.

221. The most common way of representing the action or being as merely thought of, is by putting it into the form of a _supposition_ or _condition_; as,--

Now, if the fire of electricity and that of lightning _be_ the same, this pasteboard and these scales may represent electrified clouds.--FRANKLIN.

Here no assertion is made that the two things _are_ the same; but, if the reader merely _conceives_ them for the moment to be the same, the writer can make the statement following. Again,--

If it _be_ Sunday [supposing it to be Sunday], the peasants sit on the church steps and con their psalm books.--LONGFELLOW.

STUDY OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES.

222. There are three kinds of conditional sentences:--

[Sidenote: _Real or true._]

(1) Those in which an assumed or admitted fact is placed before the mind in the form of a condition (see Sec. 215, 2); for example,--

If they _were_ unacquainted with the works of philosophers and poets, they were deeply read in the oracles of God. If their names _were not found_ in the registers of heralds, they were recorded in the Book of Life.--MACAULAY.

[Sidenote: _Ideal,--may or may not be true._]

(2) Those in which the condition depends on something uncertain, and _may or may not be regarded true, or be fulfilled_; as,--

If, in our case, the representative system ultimately _fail_, popular government must be pronounced impossible.--D. WEBSTER.

If this _be_ the glory of Julius, the first great founder of the Empire, so it is also the glory of Charlemagne, the second founder.--BRYCE.

If any man _consider_ the present aspects of what is called by distinction society, he will see the need of these ethics. --EMERSON.

[Sidenote: _Unreal--cannot be true._]

(3) Suppositions _contrary to fact_, which cannot be true, or conditions that cannot be fulfilled, but are presented only in order to suggest what _might be_ or _might have been_ true; thus,--

If these things _were_ true, society could not hold together. --LOWELL.

_Did not_ my writings _produce_ me some solid pudding, the great deficiency of praise would have quite discouraged me.--FRANKLIN.

_Had_ he for once _cast_ all such feelings aside, and _striven_ energetically to save Ney, it _would have cast_ such an enhancing light over all his glories, that we cannot but regret its absence.--BAYNE.

NOTE.--Conditional sentences are usually introduced by _if_, _though_, _except_, _unless_, etc.; but when the verb precedes the subject, the conjunction is often omitted: for example, "_Were I bidden_ to say how the highest genius could be most advantageously employed," etc.

Exercise.

In the following conditional clauses, tell whether each verb is indicative or subjunctive, and what kind of condition:--

1. The voice, if he speak to you, is of similar physiognomy, clear, melodious, and sonorous.--CARLYLE.

2. Were you so distinguished from your neighbors, would you, do you think, be any the happier?--THACKERAY.

3. Epaminondas, if he was the man I take him for, would have sat still with joy and peace, if his lot had been mine.--EMERSON.

4. If a damsel had the least smattering of literature, she was regarded as a prodigy.--MACAULAY.

5. I told him, although it were the custom of our learned in Europe to steal inventions from each other,... yet I would take such caution that he should have the honor entire.--SWIFT.

6. If he had reason to dislike him, he had better not have written, since he [Byron] was dead.--N.P. WILLIS.

7. If it were prostrated to the ground by a profane hand, what native of the city would not mourn over its fall?--GAYARRE.

8. But in no case could it be justified, except it be for a failure of the association or union to effect the object for which it was created.--CALHOUN.

II. Subjunctive of Purpose.

223. The subjunctive, especially _be_, _may_, _might_, and _should_, is used to express purpose, the clause being introduced by _that_ or _lest_; as,--

It was necessary, he supposed, to drink strong beer, that he _might be_ strong to labor.--FRANKLIN.

I have been the more particular...that you _may compare_ such unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made there.--_Id._

He [Roderick] with sudden impulse that way rode, To tell of what had passed, lest in the strife They _should engage_ with Julian's men.--SOUTHEY.

III. Subjunctive of Result.

224. The subjunctive may represent the result toward which an action tends:--

So many thoughts move to and fro, That vain it _were_ her eyes to close. --COLERIDGE.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan... Thou _go_ not, like the quarry-slave at night. --BRYANT.

IV. In Temporal Clauses.

225. The English subjunctive, like the Latin, is sometimes used in a clause to express the time when an action is to take place.

Let it rise, till it _meet_ the sun in his coming.--D. WEBSTER.

Rise up, before it _be_ too late!--HAWTHORNE.

But it will not be long Ere this _be thrown_ aside. --WORDSWORTH.

V. In Indirect Questions.

226. The subjunctive is often found in indirect questions, the answer being regarded as doubtful.

Ask the great man if there _be_ none greater.--EMERSON

What the best arrangement _were_, none of us could say.--CARLYLE.

Whether it _were_ morning or whether it _were_ afternoon, in her confusion she had not distinctly known.--DE QUINCEY.

VI. Expressing a Wish.

227. After a verb of wishing, the subjunctive is regularly used in the dependent clause.

The transmigiation of souls is no fable. I would it _were_! --EMERSON.

Bright star! Would I _were_ steadfast as thou art!--KEATS.

I've wished that little isle _had_ wings, And we, within its fairy bowers, _Were wafted_ off to seas unknown. --MOORE.

VII. In a Noun Clause.

[Sidenote: _Subject._]

228. The noun clause, in its various uses as subject, object, in apposition, etc., often contains a subjunctive.

The essence of originality is not that it _be_ new.--CARLYLE

[Sidenote: _Apposition or logical subject._]

To appreciate the wild and sharp flavors of those October fruits, it is necessary that you _be breathing_ the sharp October or November air.--THOREAU.

[Sidenote: _Complement._]

The first merit, that which admits neither substitute nor equivalent, is, that everything _be_ in its place.--COLERIDGE.

[Sidenote: _Object._]

As sure as Heaven shall rescue me, I have no thought what men they _be_.--COLERIDGE.

Some might lament that I _were_ cold.--SHELLEY.

[Sidenote: _After verbs of commanding._]

This subjunctive is very frequent after verbs of _commanding_.

See that there _be_ no traitors in your camp.--TENNYSON.

Come, tell me all that thou hast seen, And look thou _tell_ me true. --SCOTT.

See that thy scepter _be_ heavy on his head.--DE QUINCEY.

VIII. Concessive Clauses.

229. The concession may be expressed--

(1) In the nature of the verb; for example,--

_Be_ the matter how it may, Gabriel Grub was afflicted with rheumatism to the end of his days.--DICKENS.

_Be_ the appeal _made_ to the understanding or the heart, the sentence is the same--that rejects it.--BROUGHAM

(2) By an indefinite relative word, which may be

(_a_) _Pronoun._

Whatever _betide_, we'll turn aside, And see the Braes of Yarrow. --WORDSWORTH.

(_b_) _Adjective._

That hunger of applause, of cash, or whatsoever victual it _may be_, is the ultimate fact of man's life.--CARLYLE.

(_c_) _Adverb._

Wherever he _dream_ under mountain or stream, The spirit he loves remains. --SHELLEY.

Prevalence of the Subjunctive Mood.

230. As shown by the wide range of literature from which these examples are selected, the subjunctive is very much used in literary English, especially by those who are artistic and exact in the expression of their thought.

At the present day, however, the subjunctive is becoming less and less used. Very many of the sentences illustrating the use of the subjunctive mood could be replaced by numerous others using the indicative to express the same thoughts.

The three uses of the subjunctive now most frequent are, to express a wish, a concession, and condition contrary to fact.

In spoken English, the subjunctive _were_ is much used in a wish or a condition contrary to fact, but hardly any other subjunctive forms are.

It must be remembered, though, that many of the verbs in the subjunctive have the same form as the indicative. Especially is this true of unreal conditions in past time; for example,--

Were we of open sense as the Greeks were, we _had found_ [should have found] a poem here.--CARLYLE.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

231. The imperative mood is the form of the verb used in direct commands, entreaties, or requests.

[Sidenote: _Usually second person._]

232. The imperative is naturally used mostly with the second person, since commands are directed to a person addressed.

(1) _Command._

_Call up_ the shades of Demosthenes and Cicero to vouch for your words; _point_ to their immortal works.--J.Q. ADAMS.

_Honor_ all men; _love_ all men; _fear_ none.--CHANNING.

(2) _Entreaty._

Oh, from these sterner aspects of thy face _Spare_ me and mine, nor _let_ us need the wrath Of the mad unchained elements. --BRYANT.

(3) _Request._

"_Hush_! mother," whispered Kit. "_Come_ along with me."--DICKENS

_Tell_ me, how was it you thought of coming here?--_Id._

[Sidenote: _Sometimes with_ first person _in the plural_.]

But the imperative may be used with the plural of the first person. Since the first person plural person is not really I + I, but I + you, or I + they, etc., we may use the imperative with _we_ in a command, request, etc., to _you_ implied in it. This is scarcely ever found outside of poetry.

_Part we_ in friendship from your land, And, noble earl, receive my hand. --SCOTT.

Then _seek we_ not their camp--for there The silence dwells of my despair. --CAMPBELL.

_Break we_ our watch up.--SHAKESPEARE.

Usually this is expressed by _let_ with the objective: "_Let_ us go." And the same with the third person: "_Let_ him be accursed."

Exercises on the Moods.

(_a_) Tell the mood of each verb in these sentences, and what special use it is of that mood:--

1. Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart and her prayers be.

2. Mark thou this difference, child of earth! While each performs his part, Not all the lip can speak is worth The silence of the heart.

3. Oh, that I might be admitted to thy presence! that mine were the supreme delight of knowing thy will!

4. 'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life, One glance at their array!

5. Whatever inconvenience ensue, nothing is to be preferred before justice.

6. The vigorous sun would catch it up at eve And use it for an anvil till he had filled The shelves of heaven with burning thunderbolts.

7. Meet is it changes should control Our being, lest we rust in ease.

8. Quoth she, "The Devil take the goose, And God forget the stranger!"

9. Think not that I speak for your sakes.

10. "Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.

11. Were that a just return? Were that Roman magnanimity?

12. Well; how he may do his work, whether he do it right or wrong, or do it at all, is a point which no man in the world has taken the pains to think of.

13. He is, let him live where else he like, in what pomps and prosperities he like, no literary man.

14. Could we one day complete the immense figure which these flagrant points compose!

15. "Oh, then, my dear madam," cried he, "tell me where I may find my poor, ruined, but repentant child."

16. That sheaf of darts, will it not fall unbound, Except, disrobed of thy vain earthly vaunt, Thou bring it to be blessed where saints and angels haunt?

17. Forget thyself to marble, till With a sad leaden downward cast Thou fix them on the earth as fast.

18. He, as though an instrument, Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls, That they might answer him.

19. From the moss violets and jonquils peep, And dart their arrowy odor through the brain, Till you might faint with that delicious pain.

20. That a man parade his doubt, and get to imagine that debating and logic is the triumph and true work of what intellect he has; alas! this is as if you should overturn the tree.

21. The fat earth feed thy branchy root That under deeply strikes! The northern morning o'er thee shoot, High up in silver spikes!

22. Though abyss open under abyss, and opinion displace opinion, all are at last contained in the Eternal cause.

23. God send Rome one such other sight!

24. "Mr. Marshall," continued Old Morgan, "see that no one mentions the United States to the prisoner."

25. If there is only one woman in the nation who claims the right to vote, she ought to have it.

26. Though he were dumb, it would speak.

27. Meantime, whatever she did,--whether it were in display of her own matchless talents, or whether it were as one member of a general party,--nothing could exceed the amiable, kind, and unassuming deportment of Mrs. Siddons.

28. It makes a great difference to the force of any sentence whether there be a man behind it or no.

(_b_) Find sentences with five verbs in the indicative mood, five in the subjunctive, five in the imperative.

TENSE.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

233. _Tense_ means _time_. The tense of a verb is the form or use indicating the time of an action or being.

[Sidenote: _Tenses in English._]

Old English had only two tenses,--the present tense, which represented present and future time; and the past tense. We still use the present for the future in such expressions as, "I _go_ away to-morrow;" "If he _comes_, tell him to wait."

But English of the present day not only has a tense for each of the natural time divisions,--present, past, and future,--but has other tenses to correspond with those of highly inflected languages, such as Latin and Greek.

The distinct inflections are found only in the present and past tenses, however: the others are compounds of verbal forms with various helping verbs, called auxiliaries; such as _be_, _have_, _shall_, _will_.

[Sidenote: _The tenses in detail._]

234. Action or being may be represented as occurring in present, past, or future time, by means of the present, the past, and the future tense. It may also be represented as _finished_ in present or past or future time by means of the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses.

Not only is this so: there are what are called definite forms of these tenses, showing more exactly the time of the action or being. These make the English speech even more exact than other languages, as will be shown later on, in the conjugations.

PERSON AND NUMBER.

235. The English verb has never had full inflections for number and person, as the classical languages have.

When the older pronoun _thou_ was in use, there was a form of the verb to correspond to it, or agree with it, as, "Thou walk_est_," present; "Thou walked_st_," past; also, in the third person singular, a form ending in -_eth_, as, "It is not in man that walk_eth_, to direct his steps."

But in ordinary English of the present day there is practically only one ending for person and number. This is the third person, singular number; as, "He walk_s_;" and this only in the present tense indicative. This is important in questions of agreement when we come to syntax.

CONJUGATION.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

236. Conjugation is the regular arrangement of the forms of the verb in the various voices, moods, tenses, persons, and numbers.

In classical languages, conjugation means _joining together_ the numerous endings to the stem of the verb; but in English, inflections are so few that conjugation means merely the exhibition of the forms and the different verb phrases that express the relations of voice, mood, tense, etc.

[Sidenote: _Few forms._]

237. Verbs in modern English have only four or five forms; for example, _walk_ has _walk_, _walks_, _walked_, _walking_, sometimes adding the old forms _walkest_, _walkedst_, _walketh_. Such verbs as _choose_ have five,--_choose_, _chooses_, _chose_, _choosing_, _chosen_ (old, _choosest_, _chooseth_, _chosest_).

The verb _be_ has more forms, since it is composed of several different roots,--_am_, _are_, _is_, _were_, _been_, etc.

238. INFLECTIONS OF THE VERB _BE_.

Indicative Mood.

PRESENT TENSE. | PAST TENSE. | _Singular_ _Plural_ | _Singular_ _Plural_ | 1. I am We are | 1. I was We were 2. You are You are | 2. You were You were (thou art) | (thou wast, wert) 3. [He] is [They] are | 3. [He] was [They were]

Subjunctive Mood.

PRESENT TENSE. | PAST TENSE. | _Singular_ _Plural_ | _Singular_ _Plural_ | 1. I be We be | 1. I were We were 2. You (thou) be You be | 2. You were You were | (thou wert) 3. [He] be [They] be | 3. [He] were [They] were

Imperative Mood.

PRESENT TENSE, _Singular and Plural_, Be.

[Sidenote: _Remarks on the verb_ be.]

239. This conjugation is pieced out with three different roots: (1) _am_, _is_; (2) _was_, _were_; (3) _be_.

Instead of the plural _are_, Old English had _beoth_ and _sind_ or _sindon_, same as the German _sind_. _Are_ is supposed to have come from the Norse language.

The old indicative third person plural _be_ is sometimes found in literature, though it is usually a dialect form; for example,--

Where _be_ the sentries who used to salute as the Royal chariots drove in and out?--THACKERAY

Where _be_ the gloomy shades, and desolate mountains?--WHITTIER

[Sidenote: _Uses of_ be.]

240. The forms of the verb _be_ have several uses:--

(1) _As principal verbs._

The light that never _was_ on sea and land.--WORDSWORTH.

(2) _As auxiliary verbs_, in four ways,--

(_a_) With verbal forms in _-ing_ (imperfect participle) to form the definite tenses.

Broadswords _are maddening_ in the rear,--Each broadsword bright _was brandishing_ like beam of light.--SCOTT.

(_b_) With the past participle in _-ed_, _-en_, etc., to form the passive voice.

By solemn vision and bright silver dream, His infancy _was nurtured_. --SHELLEY.

(_c_) With past participle of intransitive verbs, being equivalent to the present perfect and past perfect tenses active; as,

When we _are gone_ From every object dear to mortal sight. --WORDSWORTH

We drank tea, which _was_ now _become_ an occasional banquet.--GOLDSMITH.

(_d_) With the infinitive, to express intention, obligation, condition, etc.; thus,

It _was to have been called_ the Order of Minerva.--THACKERAY.

Ingenuity and cleverness _are to be rewarded_ by State prizes.--_Id._

If I _were to explain_ the motion of a body falling to the ground.--BURKE

241. INFLECTIONS OF THE VERB _CHOOSE_.

Indicative Mood.

PRESENT TENSE.

_Singular._ _Plural._

1. I choose We choose 2. You choose You choose 3. [He] chooses [They] choose

PAST TENSE.

_Singular._ _Plural._

1. I chose We chose 2. You chose You chose 3. [He] chose [They] chose

Subjunctive Mood.

PRESENT TENSE.

_Singular._ _Plural._

1. I choose We choose 2. You choose You choose 3. [He] choose [They] choose

PAST TENSE.

_Singular._ _Plural._

1. I chose We chose 2. You chose You chose 3. [He] chose [They] chose

Imperative Mood.

PRESENT TENSE, _Singular and Plural_, Choose.

FULL CONJUGATION OF THE VERB _CHOOSE_.

[Sidenote: _Machinery of a verb in the voices, tenses, etc._]

242. In addition to the above _inflected_ forms, there are many periphrastic or _compound_ forms, made up of auxiliaries with the infinitives and participles. Some of these have been indicated in Sec. 240, (2).

The ordinary tenses yet to be spoken of are made up as follows:--

(1) _Future tense_, by using _shall_ and _will_ with the simple or root form of the verb; as, "I _shall be_," "He _will choose._"

(2) _Present perfect_, _past perfect_, _future perfect_, tenses, by placing _have_, _had_, and _shall_ (or _will_) _have_ before the past participle of any verb; as, "I _have gone_" (present perfect), "I _had gone_" (past perfect), "I _shall have gone_" (future perfect).

(3) The _definite form_ of each tense, by using auxiliaries with the imperfect participle active; as, "I _am running_," "They _had been running_."

(4) The _passive forms_, by using the forms of the verb _be_ before the past participle of verbs; as, "I _was chosen_," "You _are chosen_."

243. The following scheme will show how rich our language is in verb phrases to express every variety of meaning. Only the third person, singular number, of each tense, will be given.

ACTIVE VOICE.

Indicative Mood.

_Present._ He chooses. _Present definite._ He is choosing. _Past._ He chose. _Past definite._ He was choosing. _Future._ He will choose. _Future definite._ He will be choosing. _Present perfect._ He has chosen. _Present perfect definite._ He has been choosing. _Past perfect._ He had chosen. _Past perfect definite._ He had been choosing. _Future perfect._ He will have chosen. _Future perfect definite._ He will have been choosing.

Subjunctive Mood.

_Present._ [If, though, he choose. _Present definite._ lest, etc.] he be choosing. _Past._ " he chose (or were to choose). _Past definite._ " he were choosing (or were to be choosing). _Present perfect._ " he have chosen. _Present perfect definite._ " he have been choosing. _Past perfect._ " Same as indicative. _Past perfect definite._ " " "

Imperative Mood.

_Present._ (2d per.) Choose. _Present definite._ " Be choosing.

NOTE.--Since participles and infinitives are not really verbs, but verbals, they will be discussed later (Sec. 262).

PASSIVE VOICE.

Indicative Mood.

_Present._ He is chosen. _Present definite._ He is being chosen. _Past._ He was chosen. _Past definite._ He was being chosen. _Future._ He will be chosen. _Future definite._ None. _Present perfect._ He has been chosen. _Present perfect definite._ None. _Past perfect._ He had been chosen. _Past perfect definite._ None. _Future perfect._ He will have been chosen. _Future perfect definite._ None.

Subjunctive Mood.

_Present._. [If, though, he be chosen. _Present definite._ lest, etc.] None. _Past._ " he were chosen (or were to be chosen). _Past definite._ " he were being chosen. _Present perfect._ " he have been chosen. _Present perfect definite._ " None. _Past Perfect._ " he had been chosen. _Past perfect definite._ " None.

Imperative Mood.

_Present tense._ (2d per.) Be chosen.

Also, in _affirmative sentences_, the indicative present and past tenses have emphatic forms made up of _do_ and _did_ with the infinitive or simple form; as, "He _does strike_," "He _did strike_."

[_Note to Teacher_.--This table is not to be learned now; if learned at all, it should be as practice work on strong and weak verb forms. Exercises should be given, however, to bring up sentences containing such of these conjugation forms as the pupil will find readily in literature.]

VERBS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO FORM.

[Sidenote: _Kinds._]

244. According to form, verbs are strong or weak.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

A strong verb forms its past tense by changing the vowel of the present tense form, but adds no ending; as, _run_, _ran_; _drive_, _drove_.

A weak verb always adds an ending to the present to form the past tense, and _may_ or _may not_ change the vowel: as, _beg_, _begged_; _lay_, _laid_; _sleep_, _slept_; _catch_, _caught_.

245. TABLE OF STRONG VERBS.

NOTE. Some of these also have weak forms, which are in parentheses

_Present Tense._ _Past Tense._ _Past Participle._

abide abode abode arise arose arisen awake awoke (awaked) awoke (awaked) bear bore {borne (active) {born (passive) begin began begun behold beheld beheld bid bade, bid bidden, bid bind bound {bound, {[_adj._ bounden] bite bit bitten, bit blow blew blown break broke broken chide chid chidden, chid choose chose chosen cleave clove, clave (cleft) cloven (cleft) climb [clomb] climbed climbed cling clung clung come came come crow crew (crowed) (crowed) dig dug dug do did done draw drew drawn drink drank {drunk, drank {[_adj._ drunken] drive drove driven eat ate, eat eaten, eat fall fell fallen fight fought fought find found found fling flung flung fly flew flown forbear forbore forborne forget forgot forgotten forsake forsook forsaken freeze froze frozen get got got [gotten] give gave given go went gone grind ground ground grow grew grown hang hung (hanged) hung (hanged) hold held held know knew known lie lay lain ride rode ridden ring rang rung run ran run see saw seen shake shook shaken shear shore (sheared) shorn (sheared) shine shone shone shoot shot shot shrink shrank or shrunk shrunk shrive shrove shriven sing sang or sung sung sink sank or sunk sunk _[adj._ sunken] sit sat [sate] sat slay slew slain slide slid slidden, slid sling slung slung slink slunk slunk smite smote smitten speak spoke spoken spin spun spun spring sprang, sprung sprung stand stood stood stave stove (staved) (staved) steal stole stolen stick stuck stuck sting stung stung stink stunk, stank stunk stride strode stridden strike struck struck, stricken string strung strung strive strove striven swear swore sworn swim swam or swum swum swing swung swung take took taken tear tore torn thrive throve (thrived) thriven (thrived) throw threw thrown tread trod trodden, trod wear wore worn weave wove woven win won won wind wound wound wring wrung wrung write wrote written

Remarks on Certain Verb Forms.

246. Several of the perfect participles are seldom used except as adjectives: as, "his _bounden_ duty," "the _cloven_ hoof," "a _drunken_ wretch," "a _sunken_ snag." _Stricken_ is used mostly of diseases; as, "_stricken_ with paralysis."

The verb bear (to bring forth) is peculiar in having one participle (_borne_) for the active, and another (_born_) for the passive. When it means _to carry_ or to _endure_, _borne_ is also a passive.

The form clomb is not used in prose, but is much used in vulgar English, and sometimes occurs in poetry; as,--

Thou hast _clomb_ aloft.--WORDSWORTH

Or pine grove whither woodman never _clomb_.--COLERIDGE

The forms of cleave are really a mixture of two verbs,--one meaning _to adhere_ or _cling_; the other, _to split_. The former used to be _cleave_, _cleaved_, _cleaved_; and the latter, _cleave_, _clave_ or _clove_, _cloven_. But the latter took on the weak form _cleft_ in the past tense and past participle,--as (from Shakespeare), "O Hamlet! thou hast _cleft_ my heart in twain,"--while _cleave_ (to cling) sometimes has _clove_, as (from Holmes), "The old Latin tutor _clove_ to Virgilius Maro." In this confusion of usage, only one set remains certain,--_cleave_, _cleft_, _cleft_ (to split).

Crew is seldom found in present-day English.

Not a cock _crew_, nor a dog barked.--IRVING.

Our cock, which always _crew_ at eleven, now told us it was time for repose.--GOLDSMITH.

Historically, drunk is the one correct past participle of the verb _drink_. But _drunk_ is very much used as an adjective, instead of _drunken_ (meaning intoxicated); and, probably to avoid confusion with this, drank is a good deal used as a past participle: thus,--

We had each _drank_ three times at the well.--B. TAYLOR.

This liquor _was_ generally _drank_ by Wood and Billings. --THACKERAY.

Sometimes in literary English, especially in that of an earlier period, it is found that the verb eat has the past tense and past participle _eat_ (ĕt), instead of _ate_ and _eaten_; as, for example,--

It ate the food it ne'er had _eat_.--COLERIDGE.

How fairy Mab the junkets _eat_.--MILTON.

The island princes overbold Have _eat_ our substance.--TENNYSON.

This is also very much used in spoken and vulgar English.

The form gotten is little used, _got_ being the preferred form of past participle as well as past tense. One example out of many is,--

We _had_ all _got_ safe on shore.--DE FOE.

Hung and hanged both are used as the past tense and past participle of _hang_; but _hanged_ is the preferred form when we speak of execution by hanging; as,

The butler _was hanged_.--_Bible._

The verb sat is sometimes spelled _sate_; for example,--

Might we have _sate_ and talked where gowans blow.--WORDSWORTH.

He _sate_ him down, and seized a pen.--BYRON.

"But I _sate_ still and finished my plaiting."--KINGSLEY.

Usually shear is a weak verb. _Shorn_ and _shore_ are not commonly used: indeed, _shore_ is rare, even in poetry.

This heard Geraint, and grasping at his sword, _Shore_ thro' the swarthy neck.--TENNYSON.

_Shorn_ is used sometimes as a participial adjective, as "a _shorn_ lamb," but not much as a participle. We usually say, "The sheep were _sheared_" instead of "The sheep were _shorn_."

Went is borrowed as the past tense of _go_ from the old verb _wend_, which is seldom used except in poetry; for example,--

If, maiden, thou would'st _wend_ with me To leave both tower and town.--SCOTT.

Exercises.

(_a_) From the table (Sec. 245), make out lists of verbs having the same vowel changes as each of the following:--

1. Fall, fell, fallen.

2. Begin, began, begun.

3. Find, found, found.

4. Give, gave, given.

5. Drive, drove, driven.

6. Throw, threw, thrown.

7. Fling, flung, flung.

8. Break, broke, broken.

9. Shake, shook, shaken.

10. Freeze, froze, frozen.

(_b_) Find sentences using ten past-tense forms of strong verbs.

(_c_) Find sentences using ten past participles of strong verbs.

[_To the Teacher_,--These exercises should be continued for several lessons, for full drill on the forms.]

DEFECTIVE STRONG VERBS.

247. There are several verbs which are lacking in one or more principal parts. They are as follows:--

PRESENT. PAST. | PRESENT. PAST. | may might | [ought] ought can could | shall should [must] must | will would

248. May is used as either indicative or subjunctive, as it has two meanings. It is indicative when it expresses _permission_, or, as it sometimes does, _ability_, like the word _can_: it is subjunctive when it expresses doubt as to the reality of an action, or when it expresses wish, purpose, etc.

[Sidenote: _Indicative Use: Permission. Ability._]

If I _may_ lightly employ the Miltonic figure, "far off his coming shines."--WINIER.

A stripling arm _might_ sway A mass no host could raise.--SCOTT.

His superiority none _might_ question.--CHANNING.

[Sidenote: _Subjunctive use._]

In whatever manner the separate parts of a constitution _may_ be arranged, there is one general principle, etc.--PAINE.

[Sidenote: (_See also Sec. 223._)]

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh _May_ violets spring! --SHAKESPEARE.

249. Can is used in the indicative only. The _l_ in _could_ did not belong there originally, but came through analogy with _should_ and _would_. _Could_ may be subjunctive, as in Sec. 220.

250. Must is historically a past-tense form, from the obsolete verb _motan_, which survives in the sentence, "So _mote_ it be." _Must_ is present or past tense, according to the infinitive used.

All _must concede_ to him a sublime power of action.--CHANNING

This, of course, _must have been_ an ocular deception.--HAWTHORNE.

251. The same remarks apply to ought, which is historically the past tense of the verb _owe_. Like _must_, it is used only in the indicative mood; as,

The just imputations on our own faith _ought_ first _to be removed_.... Have we valuable territories and important posts...which _ought_ long since _to have been surrendered_?--A. HAMILTON.

It will be noticed that all the other defective verbs take the pure infinitive without _to_, while _ought_ always has _to_.

Shall and Will.

252. The principal trouble in the use of _shall_ and _will_ is the disposition, especially in the United States, to use _will_ and _would_, to the neglect of _shall_ and _should_, with pronouns of the first person; as, "I think I _will_ go."

[Sidenote: _Uses of_ shall _and_ should.]

The following distinctions must be observed:--

(1) With the FIRST PERSON, shall and should are used,--

[Sidenote: _Futurity and questions--first person._]

(_a_) In making simple statements or predictions about future time; as,--

The time will come full soon, I _shall_ be gone.--L.C. MOULTON.

(_b_) In questions asking for orders, or implying obligation or authority resting upon the subject; as,--

With respect to novels, what _shall_ I say?--N. WEBSTER.

How _shall_ I describe the luster which at that moment burst upon my vision?--C. BROCKDEN BROWN.

[Sidenote: _Second and third persons._]

(2) With the SECOND AND THIRD PERSONS, _shall_ and _should_ are used,--

(_a_) To express authority, in the form of command, promise, or confident prediction. The following are examples:--

Never mind, my lad, whilst I live thou _shalt_ never want a friend to stand by thee.--IRVING.

They _shall_ have venison to eat, and corn to hoe.--COOPER.

The sea _shall_ crush thee; yea, the ponderous wave up the loose beach _shall_ grind and scoop thy grave.--THAXTER.

She _should_ not walk, he said, through the dust and heat of the noonday; Nay, she _should_ ride like a queen, not plod along like a peasant.--LONGFELLOW.

(_b_) In _indirect quotations_, to express the same idea that the original speaker put forth (i.e., future action); for example,--

He declares that he _shall_ win the purse from you.--BULWER.

She rejects his suit with scorn, but assures him that she _shall_ make great use of her power over him.--MACAULAY.

Fielding came up more and more bland and smiling, with the conviction that he _should_ win in the end.--A. LARNED.

Those who had too presumptuously concluded that they _should_ pass without combat were something disconcerted.--SCOTT.

(_c_) With _direct questions_ of the second person, when the answer expected would express simple futurity; thus,--

"_Should_ you like to go to school at Canterbury?"--DICKENS.

[Sidenote: _First, second and third persons._]

(3) With ALL THREE PERSONS,--

(_a_) _Should_ is used with the meaning of obligation, and is equivalent to _ought_.

I never was what I _should_ be.--H. JAMES, JR.

Milton! thou _should'st_ be living at this hour.--WORDSWORTH.

He _should_ not flatter himself with the delusion that he can make or unmake the reputation of other men.--WINTER.

(_b_) _Shall_ and _should_ are both used in _dependent clauses_ of condition, time, purpose, etc.; for example,--

When thy mind _Shall_ be a mansion for all stately forms.--WORDSWORTH.

Suppose this back-door gossip _should_ be utterly blundering and untrue, would any one wonder?--THACKERAY.

Jealous lest the sky _should_ have a listener.--BYRON.

If thou _should'st_ ever come by chance or choice to Modena.--ROGERS.

If I _should_ be where I no more can hear thy voice.--WORDSWORTH.

That accents and looks so winning _should_ disarm me of my resolution, was to be expected.--C.B. BROWN.

253. Will and would are used as follows:--

[Sidenote: _Authority as to future action--first person._]

(1) With the FIRST PERSON, _will_ and _would_ are used to express determination as to the future, or a promise; as, for example,--

I _will_ go myself now, and _will_ not return until all is finished.--CABLE.

And promised...that I _would_ do him justice, as the sole inventor.--SWIFT.

[Sidenote: _Disguising a command._]

(2) With the SECOND PERSON, _will_ is used to express command. This puts the order more mildly, as if it were merely expected action; as,--

Thou _wilt_ take the skiff, Roland, and two of my people,... and fetch off certain plate and belongings.--SCOTT.

You _will_ proceed to Manassas at as early a moment as practicable, and mark on the grounds the works, etc.--_War Records._

[Sidenote: _Mere futurity._]

(3) With both SECOND AND THIRD PERSONS, _will_ and _would_ are used to express simple futurity, action merely expected to occur; for example,--

All this _will_ sound wild and chimerical.--BURKE.

She _would_ tell you that punishment is the reward of the wicked.--LANDOR.

When I am in town, _you'll_ always have somebody to sit with you. To be sure, so you _will_.--DICKENS.

(4) With FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD PERSONS, _would_ is used to express a _wish_,--the original meaning of the word _will_; for example,--

[Sidenote: _Subject_ I _omitted: often so._]

_Would_ that a momentary emanation from thy glory would visit me!--C.B. BROWN.

Thine was a dangerous gift, when thou wast born, The gift of Beauty. _Would_ thou hadst it not.--ROGERS

It shall be gold if thou _wilt_, but thou shalt answer to me for the use of it.--SCOTT.

What _wouldst_ thou have a good great man obtain?--COLERIDGE.

(5) With the THIRD PERSON, _will_ and _would_ often denote an action as customary, without regard to future time; as,

They _will_ go to Sunday schools, through storms their brothers are afraid of.... They _will_ stand behind a table at a fair all day.--HOLMES

On a slight suspicion, they _would_ cut off the hands of numbers of the natives, for punishment or intimidation.--BANCROFT.

In this stately chair _would_ he sit, and this magnificent pipe _would_ he smoke, shaking his right knee with a constant motion.--IRVING.

Conjugation of _Shall_ and _Will_ as Auxiliaries (with _Choose_).

254. To express simply expected action:--

ACTIVE VOICE. PASSIVE VOICE.

_Singular_. _Singular_.

1. I shall choose. I shall be chosen. 2. You will choose. You will be chosen. 3. [He] will choose. [He] will be chosen.

_Plural_. _Plural_.

1. We shall choose. We shall be chosen. 2. You will choose. You will be chosen. 3. [They] will choose. [They] will be chosen.

To express determination, promise, etc.:--

ACTIVE VOICE. PASSIVE VOICE.

_Singular_. _Singular_.

1. I will choose. I will be chosen. 2. You shall choose. You shall be chosen. 3. [He] shall choose. [He] shall be chosen.

ACTIVE VOICE. PASSIVE VOICE.

_Plural_. _Plural_.

1. We will choose. 1. We will be chosen. 2. You shall choose. 2. You shall be chosen. 3. [They] shall choose. 3. [They] shall be chosen.

Exercises on _Shall_ and _Will_.

(_a_) From Secs. 252 and 253, write out a summary or outline of the various uses of _shall_ and _will_.

(_b_) Examine the following sentences, and justify the use of _shall_ and _will_, or correct them if wrongly used:--

1. Thou art what I would be, yet only seem.

2. We would be greatly mistaken if we thought so.

3. Thou shalt have a suit, and that of the newest cut; the wardrobe keeper shall have orders to supply you.

4. "I shall not run," answered Herbert stubbornly.

5. He informed us, that in the course of another day's march we would reach the prairies on the banks of the Grand Canadian.

6. What shall we do with him? This is the sphinx-like riddle which we must solve if we would not be eaten.

7. Will not our national character be greatly injured? Will we not be classed with the robbers and destroyers of mankind?

8. Lucy stood still, very anxious, and wondering whether she should see anything alive.

9. I would be overpowered by the feeling of my disgrace.

10. No, my son; whatever cash I send you is yours: you will spend it as you please, and I have nothing to say.

11. But I will doubtless find some English person of whom to make inquiries.

12. Without having attended to this, we will be at a loss to understand several passages in the classics.

13. "I am a wayfarer," the stranger said, "and would like permission to remain with you a little while."

14. The beast made a sluggish movement, then, as if he would have more of the enchantment, stirred her slightly with his muzzle.

WEAK VERBS.

255. Those weak verbs which add _-d_ or _-ed_ to form the past tense and past participle, and have no change of vowel, are so easily recognized as to need no special treatment. Some of them are already given as secondary forms of the strong verbs.

But the rest, which may be called irregular weak verbs, need some attention and explanation.

256. The irregular weak verbs are divided into two classes,--

[Sidenote: _The two classes of irregular weak verbs._]

(1) Those which retain the _-d_ or _-t_ in the past tense, with some change of form for the past tense and past participle.

(2) Those which end in _-d_ or _-t_, and have lost the ending which formerly was added to this.

The old ending to verbs of Class II. was _-de_ or _-te_; as,--

This worthi man ful wel his wit _bisette_ [used].--CHAUCER.

Of smale houndes _hadde_ she, that sche _fedde_ With rosted flessh, or mylk and wastel breed.--_Id._

This ending has now dropped off, leaving some weak verbs with the same form throughout: as set, set, set; put, put, put.

257. Irregular Weak Verbs.--Class I.

_Present Tense_. _Past Tense_. _Past Participle_.

bereave bereft, bereave bereft, bereaved beseech besought besought burn burned, burnt burnt buy bought bought catch caught caught creep crept crept deal dealt dealt dream dreamt, dreamed dreamt, dreamed dwell dwelt dwelt feel felt felt flee fled fled have had had (_once_ haved) hide hid hidden, hid keep kept kept kneel knelt knelt lay laid laid lean leaned, leant leaned, leant leap leaped, leapt leaped, leapt leave left left lose lost lost make made (_once_ maked) made mean meant meant pay paid paid pen [inclose] penned, pen penned, pent say said said seek sought sought sell sold sold shoe shod shod sleep slept slept spell spelled, spelt spelt spill spilt spilt stay staid, stayed staid, stayed sweep swept swept teach taught taught tell told told think thought thought weep wept wept work worked, wrought worked, wrought

258. Irregular Weak Verbs.--Class II.

_Present Tense_. _Past Tense_. _Past Participle_.

bend bent, bended bent, bended bleed bled bled breed bred bred build built built cast cast cast cost cost cost feed fed fed gild gilded, gilt gilded, gilt gird girt, girded girt, girded hit hit hit hurt hurt hurt knit knit, knitted knit, knitted lead led led let let let light lighted, lit lighted, lit meet met met put put put quit quit, quitted quit, quitted read read read rend rent rent rid rid rid send sent sent set set set shed shed shed shred shred shred shut shut shut slit slit slit speed sped sped spend spent spent spit spit [_obs._ spat] spit [_obs._ spat] split split split spread spread spread sweat sweat sweat thrust thrust thrust wed wed, wedded wed, wedded wet wet, wetted wet, wetted

[Sidenote: _Tendency to phonetic spelling._]

250. There seems to be in Modern English a growing tendency toward phonetic spelling in the past tense and past participle of weak verbs. For example, _-ed_, after the verb _bless_, has the sound of _t_: hence the word is often written _blest_. So with _dipt_, _whipt_, _dropt_, _tost_, _crost_, _drest_, _prest_, etc. This is often seen in poetry, and is increasing in prose.

Some Troublesome Verbs.

[Sidenote: Lie _and_ lay _in use and meaning._]

260. Some sets of verbs are often confused by young students, weak forms being substituted for correct, strong forms.

Lie and lay need close attention. These are the forms:--

_Present Tense._ _Past Tense._ _Pres. Participle._ _Past Participle._

1. Lie lay lying lain 2. Lay laid laying laid

The distinctions to be observed are as follows:--

(1) _Lie_, with its forms, is regularly _intransitive_ as to use. As to meaning, _lie_ means to rest, to recline, to place one's self in a recumbent position; as, "There _lies_ the ruin."

(2) _Lay_, with its forms, is always _transitive_ as to use. As to meaning, _lay_ means to put, to place a person or thing in position; as, "Slowly and sadly we _laid_ him down." Also _lay_ may be used without any object expressed, but there is still a transitive meaning; as in the expressions, "to _lay_ up for future use," "to _lay_ on with the rod," "to _lay_ about him lustily."

[Sidenote: Sit _and_ set.]

261. Sit and set have principal parts as follows:--

_Present Tense._ _Past Tense._ _Pres. Participle._ _Past Participle._

1. Sit sat sitting sat 2. Set set setting set

Notice these points of difference between the two verbs:--

(1) _Sit_, with its forms, is always _intransitive_ in use. In meaning, _sit_ signifies (_a_) to place one's self on a seat, to rest; (_b_) to be adjusted, to fit; (_c_) to cover and warm eggs for hatching, as, "The hen _sits_."

(2) _Set_, with its forms, is always _transitive_ in use when it has the following meanings: (_a_) to put or place a thing or person in position, as "He _set_ down the book;" (_b_) to fix or establish, as, "He _sets_ a good example."

_Set_ is _intransitive_ when it means (_a_) to go down, to decline, as, "The sun has _set_;" (_b_) to become fixed or rigid, as, "His eyes _set_ in his head because of the disease;" (_c_) in certain idiomatic expressions, as, for example, "to _set_ out," "to _set_ up in business," "to _set_ about a thing," "to _set_ to work," "to _set_ forward," "the tide _sets_ in," "a strong wind _set_ in," etc.

Exercise.

Examine the forms of _lie_, _lay_, _sit_ and _set_ in these sentences; give the meaning of each, and correct those used wrongly.

1. If the phenomena which lie before him will not suit his purpose, all history must be ransacked.

2. He sat with his eyes fixed partly on the ghost and partly on Hamlet, and with his mouth open.

3. The days when his favorite volume set him upon making wheelbarrows and chairs,... can never again be the realities they were.

4. To make the jacket sit yet more closely to the body, it was gathered at the middle by a broad leathern belt.

5. He had set up no unattainable standard of perfection.

6. For more than two hundred years his bones lay undistinguished.

7. The author laid the whole fault on the audience.

8. Dapple had to lay down on all fours before the lads could bestride him.

9. And send'st him...to his gods where happy lies His petty hope in some near port or bay, And dashest him again to earth:--there let him lay.

10. Achilles is the swift-footed when he is sitting still.

11. It may be laid down as a general rule, that history begins in novel, and ends in essay.

12. I never took off my clothes, but laid down in them.

VERBALS.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

262. Verbals are words that express action in a general way, without limiting the action to any time, or asserting it of any subject.

[Sidenote: _Kinds._]

Verbals may be participles, infinitives, or gerunds.

PARTICIPLES.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

263. Participles are _adjectival_ verbals; that is, they either belong to some substantive by expressing action in connection with it, or they express action, and directly modify a substantive, thus having a descriptive force. Notice these functions.

[Sidenote: _Pure participle in function._]

1. At length, _wearied_ by his cries and agitations, and not _knowing_ how to put an end to them, he addressed the animal as if he had been a rational being.--DWIGHT.

Here _wearied_ and _knowing_ belong to the subject _he_, and express action in connection with it, but do not describe.

[Sidenote: _Express action and also describe._]

2. Another name glided into her petition--it was that of the _wounded_ Christian, whom fate had placed in the hands of bloodthirsty men, his _avowed_ enemies.--SCOTT.

Here _wounded_ and _avowed_ are participles, but are used with the same adjectival force that _bloodthirsty_ is (see Sec. 143, 4).

Participial adjectives have been discussed in Sec. 143 (4), but we give further examples for the sake of comparison and distinction.

[Sidenote: _Fossil participles as adjectives._]

3. As _learned_ a man may live in a cottage or a college commmon-room.--THACKERAY

4. Not merely to the soldier are these campaigns _interesting_ --BAYNE.

5. How _charming_ is divine philosophy!--MILTON.

[Sidenote: _Forms of the participle._]

264. Participles, in expressing action, may be active or passive, incomplete (or imperfect), complete (perfect or past), and perfect definite.

They cannot be divided into tenses (present, past, etc.), because they have no tense of their own, but derive their tense from the verb on which they depend; for example,--

1. He walked conscientiously through the services of the day, _fulfilling_ every section the minutest, etc.--DE QUINCEY.

_Fulfilling_ has the form to denote continuance, but depends on the verb _walked_, which is past tense.

2. Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger, Comes _dancing_ from the East.--MILTON.

_Dancing_ here depends on a verb in the present tense.

265. PARTICIPLES OF THE VERB _CHOOSE_.

ACTIVE VOICE.

_Imperfect._ Choosing. _Perfect._ Having chosen. _Perfect definite._ Having been choosing.

PASSIVE VOICE.

_Imperfect._ None _Perfect._ Chosen, being chosen, having been chosen. _Perfect definite._ None.

Exercise.

Pick out the participles, and tell whether active or passive, imperfect, perfect, or perfect definite. If pure participles, tell to what word they belong; if adjectives, tell what words they modify.

1. The change is a large process, accomplished within a large and corresponding space, having, perhaps, some central or equatorial line, but lying, like that of our earth, between certain tropics, or limits widely separated.

2. I had fallen under medical advice the most misleading that it is possible to imagine.

3. These views, being adopted in a great measure from my mother, were naturally the same as my mother's.

4. Endowed with a great command over herself, she soon obtained an uncontrolled ascendency over her people.

5. No spectacle was more adapted to excite wonder.

6. Having fully supplied the demands of nature in this respect, I returned to reflection on my situation.

7. Three saplings, stripped of their branches and bound together at their ends, formed a kind of bedstead.

8. This all-pervading principle is at work in our system,--the creature warring against the creating power.

9. Perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.

10. Nothing of the kind having been done, and the principles of this unfortunate king having been distorted,... try clemency.

INFINITIVES.

266. Infinitives, like participles, have no tense. When active, they have an indefinite, an imperfect, a perfect, and a perfect definite form; and when passive, an indefinite and a perfect form, to express action unconnected with a subject.

267. INFINITIVES OF THE VERB _CHOOSE._

ACTIVE VOICE.

_Indefinite._ [To] choose. _Imperfect._ [To] be choosing. _Perfect._ [To] have chosen. _Perfect definite._ [To] have been choosing.

PASSIVE VOICE.

_Indefinite._ [To] be chosen. _Perfect._ [To] have been chosen.

[Sidenote: To _with the infinitive._]

268. In Sec. 267 the word _to_ is printed in brackets because it is not a necessary part of the infinitive.

It originally belonged only to an inflected form of the infinitive, expressing purpose; as in the Old English, "Ūt ēode se sǣdere his sæd tō sāwenne" (Out went the sower his seed _to sow_).

[Sidenote: _Cases when_ to _is omitted._]

But later, when inflections became fewer, _to_ was used before the infinitive generally, except in the following cases:--

(1) After the auxiliaries _shall_, _will_ (with _should_ and _would_).

(2) After the verbs _may (might), can (could), must_; also _let_, _make_, _do_ (as, "I _do go_" etc.), _see_, _bid_ (command), _feel_, _hear_, _watch_, _please_; sometimes _need_ (as, "He _need_ not _go_") and _dare_ (to venture).

(3) After _had_ in the idiomatic use; as, "You _had_ better _go_" "He _had_ rather _walk_ than _ride_."

(4) In exclamations; as in the following examples:--

"He _find_ pleasure in doing good!" cried Sir William.--GOLDSMITH.

I _urge_ an address to his kinswoman! I _approach_ her when in a base disguise! I _do_ this!--SCOTT.

"She _ask_ my pardon, poor woman!" cried Charles.--MACAULAY.

269. _Shall_ and _will_ are not to be taken as separate verbs, but with the infinitive as one tense of a verb; as, "He _will choose_," "I _shall have chosen_," etc.

Also _do_ may be considered an auxiliary in the interrogative, negative, and emphatic forms of the present and past, also in the imperative; as,--

What! _doth_ she, too, as the credulous imagine, _learn_ [_doth learn_ is one verb, present tense] the love of the great stars? --BULWER.

_Do_ not _entertain_ so weak an imagination--BURKE.

She _did_ not _weep_--she _did_ not _break forth_ into reproaches.--IRVING.

270. The infinitive is sometimes active in form while it is passive in meaning, as in the expression, "a house _to let_." Examples are,--

She was a kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than needed where there were no opera boxes _to rent_.--DE QUINCEY.

Tho' it seems my spurs are yet _to win_.--TENNYSON.

But there was nothing _to do_.--HOWELLS.

They shall have venison _to eat_, and corn _to hoe_.--COOPER.

Nolan himself saw that something was _to pay_.--E.E. HALE.

271. The various offices which the infinitive and the participle have in the sentence will be treated in Part II., under "Analysis," as we are now learning merely to recognize the forms.

GERUNDS.

272. The gerund is like the participle in form, and like a noun in use.

The participle has been called an adjectival verbal; the gerund may be called a _noun verbal_. While the gerund expresses action, it has several attributes of a noun,--it may be governed as a noun; it may be the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or a preposition; it is often preceded by the definite article; it is frequently modified by a possessive noun or pronoun.

[Sidenote: _Distinguished from participle and verbal noun._]

273. It differs from the participle in being always used as a noun: it never belongs to or limits a noun.

It differs from the verbal noun in having the property of governing a noun (which the verbal noun has not) and of expressing action (the verbal noun merely names an action, Sec. II).

The following are examples of the uses of the gerund:--

(1) _Subject_: "The _taking_ of means not to see another morning had all day absorbed every energy;" "Certainly _dueling_ is bad, and has been put down."

(2) _Object_: (_a_) "Our culture therefore must not omit the _arming_ of the man." (_b_) "Nobody cares for _planting_ the poor fungus;" "I announce the good of _being interpenetrated_ by the mind that made nature;" "The guilt of _having been cured_ of the palsy by a Jewish maiden."

(3) _Governing and Governed_: "We are far from _having exhausted_ the significance of the few symbols we use," also (2, _b_), above; "He could embellish the characters with new traits without _violating_ probability;" "He could not help _holding_ out his hand in return."

Exercise.--Find sentences containing five participles, five infinitives, and five gerunds.

SUMMARY OF WORDS IN _-ING_.

274. Words in -ing are of six kinds, according to use as well as meaning. They are as follows:--

(1) _Part of the verb_, making the definite tenses.

(2) _Pure participles_, which express action, but do not assert.

(3) _Participial adjectives_, which express action and also modify.

(4) _Pure adjectives_, which have lost all verbal force.

(5) _Gerunds_, which express action, may govern and be governed.

(6) _Verbal nouns,_ which name an action or state, but cannot govern.

Exercise.

Tell to which of the above six classes each _-ing_ word in the following sentences belongs:--

1. Here is need of apologies for shortcomings.

2. Then how pleasing is it, on your leaving the spot, to see the returning hope of the parents, when, after examining the nest, they find the nurslings untouched!

3. The crowning incident of my life was upon the bank of the Scioto Salt Creek, in which I had been unhorsed by the breaking of the saddle girths.

4. What a vast, brilliant, and wonderful store of learning!

5. He is one of the most charming masters of our language.

6. In explaining to a child the phenomena of nature, you must, by object lessons, give reality to your teaching.

7. I suppose I was dreaming about it. What is dreaming?

8. It is years since I heard the laughter ringing.

9. Intellect is not speaking and logicizing: it is seeing and ascertaining.

10. We now draw toward the end of that great martial drama which we have been briefly contemplating.

11. The second cause of failure was the burning of Moscow.

12. He spread his blessings all over the land.

13. The only means of ascending was by my hands.

14. A marble figure of Mary is stretched upon the tomb, round which is an iron railing, much corroded, bearing her national emblem.

15. The exertion left me in a state of languor and sinking.

16. Thackeray did not, like Sir Walter Scott, write twenty pages without stopping, but, dictating from his chair, he gave out sentence by sentence, slowly.

HOW TO PARSE VERBS AND VERBALS.

I. VERBS.

275. In parsing verbs, give the following points:--

(1) Class: (_a_) as to _form_,--strong or weak, giving principal parts; (_b_) as to _use_,--transitive or intransitive.

(2) Voice,--active or passive.

(3) Mood,--indicative, subjunctive, or imperative.

(4) Tense,--which of the tenses given in Sec. 234.

(5) Person and number, in determining which you must tell--

(6) What the subject is, for the form of the verb may not show the person and number.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

276. It has been intimated in Sec. 235, we must beware of the rule, "A verb agrees with its subject in person and number." Sometimes it does; usually it does not, if _agrees_ means that the verb changes its form for the different persons and numbers. The verb _be_ has more forms than other verbs, and may be said to _agree_ with its subject in several of its forms. But unless the verb is present, and ends in _-s_, or is an old or poetic form ending in _-st_ or _-eth_, it is best for the student not to state it as a general rule that "the verb agrees with its subject in person and number," but merely to _tell what the subject of the verb is_.

II. VERB PHRASES.

277. Verb phrases are made up of a principal verb followed by an infinitive, and should always be analyzed as phrases, and not taken as single verbs. Especially frequent are those made up of _should_, _would_, _may_, _might_, _can_, _could_, _must_, followed by a pure infinitive without _to_. Take these examples:--

1. Lee _should_ of himself _have replenished_ his stock.

2. The government _might have been_ strong and prosperous.

In such sentences as 1, call _should_ a weak verb, intransitive, therefore active; indicative, past tense; has for its subject _Lee_. _Have replenished_ is a perfect active infinitive.

In 2, call _might_ a weak verb, intransitive, active, indicative (as it means could), past tense; has the subject _government_. _Have been_ is a perfect active infinitive.

For fuller parsing of the infinitive, see Sec. 278(2).

III. VERBALS.

278. (1) Participle. Tell (_a_) from what verb it is derived; (_b_) whether active or passive, imperfect, perfect, etc.; (_c_) to what word it belongs. If a participial adjective, give points (_a_) and (_b_), then parse it as an adjective.

(2) Infinitive. Tell (_a_) from what verb it is derived; (_b_) whether indefinite, perfect, definite, etc.

(3) Gerund. (_a_) From what verb derived; (_b_) its use (Sec. 273).

Exercise.

Parse the verbs, verbals, and verb phrases in the following sentences:--

1. Byron builds a structure that repeats certain elements in nature or humanity.

2. The birds were singing as if there were no aching hearts, no sin nor sorrow, in the world.

3. Let it rise! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its summit.

4. You are gathered to your fathers, and live only to your country in her grateful remembrance.

5. Read this Declaration at the head of the army.

6. Right graciously he smiled on us, as rolled from wing to wing, Down all the line, a deafening shout, "God save our Lord the King!"

7. When he arose in the morning, he thought only of her, and wondered if she were yet awake.

8. He had lost the quiet of his thoughts, and his agitated soul reflected only broken and distorted images of things.

9. So, lest I be inclined To render ill for ill, Henceforth in me instill, O God, a sweet good will.

10. The sun appears to beat in vain at the casements.

11. Margaret had come into the workshop with her sewing, as usual.

12. Two things there are with memory will abide-- Whatever else befall--while life flows by.

13. To the child it was not permitted to look beyond into the hazy lines that bounded his oasis of flowers.

14. With them, morning is not a new issuing of light, a new bursting forth of the sun; a new waking up of all that has life, from a sort of temporary death.

15. Whatever ground you sow or plant, see that it is in good condition.

16. However that be, it is certain that he had grown to delight in nothing else than this conversation.

17. The soul having been often born, or, as the Hindoos say, "traveling the path of existence through thousands of births," there is nothing of which she has not gained knowledge.

18. The ancients called it ecstasy or absence,--a getting-out of their bodies to think.

19. Such a boy could not whistle or dance.

20. He had rather stand charged with the imbecility of skepticism than with untruth.

21. He can behold with serenity the yawning gulf between the ambition of man and his power of performance.

22. He passed across the room to the washstand, leaving me upon the bed, where I afterward found he had replaced me on being awakened by hearing me leap frantically up and down on the floor.

23. In going for water, he seemed to be traveling over a desert plain to some far-off spring.

24. Hasheesh always brings an awakening of perception which magnifies the smallest sensation.

25. I have always talked to him as I would to a friend.

26. Over them multitudes of rosy children came leaping to throw garlands on my victorious road.

27. Oh, had we some bright little isle of our own!

28. Better it were, thou sayest, to consent; Feast while we may, and live ere life be spent.

29. And now wend we to yonder fountain, for the hour of rest is at hand.

ADVERBS.

[Sidenote: _Adverbs modify._]

279. The word _adverb_ means _joined to a verb_. The adverb is the only word that can join to a verb to modify it.

[Sidenote: _A verb._]

When action is expressed, an adverb is usually added to define the action in some way,--time, place, or manner: as, "He began _already_ to be proud of being a Rugby boy [time];" "One of the young heroes scrambled up _behind_ [place];" "He was absolute, but _wisely_ and _bravely_ ruling [manner]."

[Sidenote: _An adjective or an adverb._]

But this does not mean that adverbs modify verbs _only_: many of them express degree, and limit adjectives or adverbs; as, "William's private life was _severely_ pure;" "Principles of English law are put down _a little_ confusedly."

[Sidenote: _Sometimes a noun or pronoun._]

Sometimes an adverb may modify a noun or pronoun; for example,--

The young man reveres men of genius, because, to speak truly, they are _more_ himself than he is.--EMERSON.

Is it _only_ poets, and men of leisure and cultivation, who live with nature?--_Id._

To the _almost_ terror of the persons present, Macaulay began with the senior wrangler of 1801-2-3-4, and so on.--THACKERAY.

Nor was it _altogether_ nothing.--CARLYLE.

Sounds overflow the listener's brain So sweet that joy is _almost_ pain.--SHELLEY.

The condition of Kate is _exactly_ that of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner."--DE QUINCEY.

He was _incidentally_ news dealer.--T.B. ALDRICH.

NOTE.--These last differ from the words in Sec. 169, being adverbs naturally and fitly, while those in Sec. 169 are felt to be elliptical, and rather forced into the service of adjectives.

Also these adverbs modifying nouns are to be distinguished from those standing _after_ a noun by ellipsis, but really modifying, not the noun, but some verb understood; thus,--

The gentle winds and waters [that are] near, Make music to the lonely ear.--BYRON.

With bowering leaves [that grow] _o'erhead_, to which the eye Looked up half sweetly, and half awfully.--LEIGH HUNT.

[Sidenote: _A phrase._]

An adverb may modify a phrase which is equivalent to an adjective or an adverb, as shown in the sentences,--

They had begun to make their effort much _at the same time_.--TROLLOPE.

I draw forth the fruit, all wet and glossy, maybe _nibbled by rabbits and hollowed out by crickets_, and perhaps _with a leaf or two cemented to it_, but still _with a rich bloom to it_.--THOREAU.

[Sidenote: _A clause or sentence._]

It may also modify a sentence, emphasizing or qualifying the statement expressed; as, for example,--

And _certainly_ no one ever entered upon office with so few resources of power in the past.--LOWELL.

_Surely_ happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven. --IRVING.

We are offered six months' credit; and that, _perhaps_, has induced some of us to attend it.--FRANKLIN.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

280. An adverb, then, is a modifying word, which may qualify an action word or a statement, and may add to the meaning of an adjective or adverb, or a word group used as such.

NOTE.--The expression _action word_ is put instead of _verb_, because _any_ verbal word may be limited by an adverb, not simply the forms used in predication.

281. Adverbs may be classified in two ways: (1) according to the meaning of the words; (2) according to their use in the sentence.

ADVERBS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO MEANING.

282. Thus considered, there are six classes:--

(1) Time; as _now_, _to-day_, _ever_, _lately_, _before_, _hitherto_, etc.

(2) Place. These may be adverbs either of

(_a_) PLACE WHERE; as _here_, _there_, _where_, _near_, _yonder_, _above_, etc.

(_b_) PLACE TO WHICH; as _hither_, _thither_, _whither_, _whithersoever_, etc.

(_c_) PLACE FROM WHICH; as _hence_, _thence_, _whence_, _whencesoever_, etc.

(3) Manner, telling _how_ anything is done; as _well_, _slowly_, _better_, _bravely_, _beautifully_. Action is conceived or performed in so many ways, that these adverbs form a very large class.

(4) Number, telling _how many times_: _once_, _twice_, _singly_, _two by two_, etc.

(5) Degree, telling _how much_; as _little_, _slightly_, _too_, _partly_, _enough_, _greatly_, _much_, _very_, _just_, etc. (see also Sec. 283).

(6) Assertion, telling the speaker's belief or disbelief in a statement, or how far he believes it to be true; as _perhaps_, _maybe_, _surely_, _possibly_, _probably_, _not_, etc.

[Sidenote: _Special remarks on adverbs of degree._]

283. The is an adverb of degree when it limits an adjective or an adverb, especially the comparative of these words; thus,--

But not _the_ less the blare of the tumultuous organ wrought its own separate creations.--DE QUINCEY.

_The_ more they multiply, _the_ more friends you will have; _the_ more evidently they love liberty, _the_ more perfect will be their obedience.--BURKE.

This and that are very common as adverbs in spoken English, and not infrequently are found in literary English; for example,--

The master...was for _this_ once of her opinion.--R. LOUIS STEVENSON.

Death! To die! I owe _that_ much To what, at least, I was.--BROWNING.

_This_ long's the text.--SHAKESPEARE.

[Sidenote _The status of such_.]

Such is frequently used as an equivalent of _so_: _such_ precedes an adjective with its noun, while _so_ precedes only the adjective usually.

Meekness,...which gained him _such_ universal popularity.--IRVING.

_Such_ a glittering appearance that no ordinary man would have been able to close his eyes there.--HAWTHORNE.

An eye of _such_ piercing brightness and _such_ commanding power that it gave an air of inspiration.--LECKY.

So also in Grote, Emerson, Thackeray, Motley, White, and others.

[Sidenote: _Pretty._]

Pretty has a wider adverbial use than it gets credit for.

I believe our astonishment is _pretty_ equal.--FIELDING.

Hard blows and hard money, the feel of both of which you know _pretty_ well by now.--KINGSLEY.

The first of these generals is _pretty_ generally recognized as the greatest military genius that ever lived.--BAYNE.

A _pretty_ large experience.--THACKERAY.

_Pretty_ is also used by Prescott, Franklin, De Quincey, Defoe, Dickens, Kingsley, Burke, Emerson, Aldrich, Holmes, and other writers.

[Sidenote: Mighty.]

The adverb mighty is very common in colloquial English; for example,--

"_Mighty_ well, Deacon Gookin!" replied the solemn tones of the minister.--HAWTHORNE.

"Maybe you're wanting to get over?--anybody sick? Ye seem _mighty_ anxious!"--H.B. STOWE.

It is only occasionally used in literary English; for example,--

You are _mighty_ courteous.--BULWER.

Beau Fielding, a _mighty_ fine gentleman.--THACKERAY.

"Peace, Neville," said the king, "thou think'st thyself _mighty_ wise, and art but a fool."--SCOTT.

I perceived his sisters _mighty_ busy.--GOLDSMITH.

[Sidenote: _Notice meanings._]

284. Again, the meaning of words must be noticed rather than their form; for many words given above may be moved from one class to another at will: as these examples,--"He walked too _far_ [place];" "That were _far_ better [degree];" "He spoke _positively_ [manner];" "That is _positively_ untrue [assertion];" "I have seen you _before_ [time];" "The house, and its lawn _before_ [place]."

ADVERBS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO USE.

[Sidenote: _Simple._]

285. All adverbs which have no function in the sentence except to modify are called simple adverbs. Such are most of those given already in Sec. 282.

[Sidenote: _Interrogative._]

286. Some adverbs, besides modifying, have the additional function of asking a question.

[Sidenote: _Direct questions._]

These may introduce direct questions of--

(1) Time.

_When_ did this humane custom begin?--H. CLAY.

(2) Place.

_Where_ will you have the scene?--LONGFELLOW

(3) Manner.

And _how_ looks it now?--HAWTHORNE.

(4) Degree.

"_How_ long have you had this whip?" asked he.--BULWER.

(5) Reason.

_Why_ that wild stare and wilder cry?--WHITTIER

Now _wherefore_ stopp'st thou me?--COLERIDGE

[Sidenote: _Indirect questions._]

Or they may introduce indirect questions of--

(1) Time.

I do not remember _when_ I was taught to read.--D. WEBSTER.

(2) Place.

I will not ask _where_ thou liest low.--BYRON

(3) Manner.

Who set you to cast about what you should say to the select souls, or _how_ to say anything to such?--EMERSON.

(4) Degree.

Being too full of sleep to understand _How_ far the unknown transcends the what we know. --LONGFELLOW

(5) Reason.

I hearkened, I know not _why_.--POE.

287. There is a class of words usually classed as conjunctive adverbs, as they are said to have the office of conjunctions in joining clauses, while having the office of adverbs in modifying; for example,--

_When_ last I saw thy young blue eyes, they smiled.--BYRON.

But in reality, _when_ does not express time and modify, but the whole clause, _when_..._eyes_; and _when_ has simply the use of a conjunction, not an adverb. For further discussion, see Sec. 299 under "Subordinate Conjunctions."

Exercise.--Bring up sentences containing twenty adverbs, representing four classes.

COMPARISON OF ADVERBS.

288. Many adverbs are compared, and, when compared, have the same inflection as adjectives.

The following, irregularly compared, are often used as adjectives:--

_Positive._ _Comparative._ _Superlative._

well better best ill or badly worse worst much more most little less least nigh or near nearer nearest or next far farther, further farthest, furthest late later latest, last (rathe, _obs._) rather

289. Most monosyllabic adverbs add _-er_ and _-est_ to form the comparative and superlative, just as adjectives do; as, _high_, _higher_, _highest_; _soon_, _sooner_, _soonest_.

Adverbs in _-ly_ usually have _more_ and _most_ instead of the inflected form, only occasionally having _-er_ and _-est_.

Its strings _boldlier_ swept.--COLERIDGE.

None can deem _harshlier_ of me than I deem.--BYRON.

Only that we may _wiselier_ see.--EMERSON.

Then must she keep it _safelier_.--TENNYSON.

I should _freelier_ rejoice in that absence.--SHAKESPEARE.

[Sidenote: _Form_ vs. _use._]

290. The fact that a word ends in _-ly_ does not make it an adverb. Many adjectives have the same ending, and must be distinguished by their use in the sentence.

Exercise.

Tell what each word in _ly_ modifies, then whether it is an adjective or an adverb.

1. It seems certain that the Normans were more cleanly in their habits, more courtly in their manners.

2. It is true he was rarely heard to speak.

3. He would inhale the smoke slowly and tranquilly.

4. The perfectly heavenly law might be made law on earth.

5. The king winced when he saw his homely little bride.

6. With his proud, quick-flashing eye, And his mien of kingly state.

7. And all about, a lovely sky of blue Clearly was felt, or down the leaves laughed through.

8. He is inexpressibly mean, curiously jolly, kindly and good-natured in secret.

291. Again, many words without _-ly_ have the same form, whether adverbs or adjectives.

The reason is, that in Old and Middle English, adverbs derived from adjectives had the ending _-e_ as a distinguishing mark; as,--

If men smoot it with a yerde _smerte_ [If men smote it with a rod smartly].--CHAUCER.

This _e_ dropping off left both words having the same form.

Weeds were sure to grow _quicker_ in his fields.--IRVING.

O _sweet_ and _far_ from cliff and scar The horns of Elfland faintly blowing.--TENNYSON.

But he must do his errand _right._--DRAKE

_Long_ she looked in his tiny face.--_Id._

Not _near_ so black as he was painted.--THACKERAY.

In some cases adverbs with _-ly_ are used side by side with those without _-ly_, but with a different meaning. Such are _most_, _mostly_; _near_, _nearly_; _even_, _evenly_; _hard_, _hardly_; etc.

[Sidenote: _Special use of_ there.]

292. Frequently the word there, instead of being used adverbially, merely introduces a sentence, and inverts the usual order of subject and predicate.

This is such a fixed idiom that the sentence, if it has the verb _be_, seems awkward or affected without this "_there_ introductory." Compare these:--

1. _There_ are eyes, to be sure, that give no more admission into the man than blueberries.--EMERSON.

2. Time was when field and watery cove With modulated echoes rang.--WORDSWORTH.

HOW TO PARSE ADVERBS.

293. In parsing adverbs, give--

(1) The class, according to meaning and also use.

(2) Degree of comparison, if the word is compared.

(3) What word or word group it modifies.

Exercise.

Parse all the adverbs in the following sentences:--

1. Now the earth is so full that a drop overfills it.

2. The higher we rise in the scale of being, the more certainly we quit the region of the brilliant eccentricities and dazzling contrasts which belong to a vulgar greatness.

3. We sit in the warm shade and feel right well How the sap creeps up and blossoms swell.

4. Meanwhile the Protestants believed somewhat doubtfully that he was theirs.

5. Whence else could arise the bruises which I had received, but from my fall?

6. We somehow greedily gobble down all stories in which the characters of our friends are chopped up.

7. How carefully that blessed day is marked in their little calendars!

8. But a few steps farther on, at the regular wine-shop, the Madonna is in great glory.

9. The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.

10. It is the Cross that is first seen, and always, burning in the center of the temple.

11. For the impracticable, however theoretically enticing, is always politically unwise.

12. Whence come you? and whither are you bound?

13. How comes it that the evil which men say spreads so widely and lasts so long, whilst our good kind words don't seem somehow to take root and blossom?

14. At these carousals Alexander drank deep.

15. Perhaps he has been getting up a little architecture on the road from Florence.

16. It is left you to find out why your ears are boxed.

17. Thither we went, and sate down on the steps of a house.

18. He could never fix which side of the garden walk would suit him best, but continually shifted.

19. But now the wind rose again, and the stern drifted in toward the bank.

20. He caught the scent of wild thyme in the air, and found room to wonder how it could have got there.

21. They were soon launched on the princely bosom of the Thames, upon which the sun now shone forth.

22. Why should we suppose that conscientious motives, feeble as they are constantly found to be in a good cause, should be omnipotent for evil?

24. It was pretty bad after that, and but for Polly's outdoor exercise, she would undoubtedly have succumbed.

CONJUNCTIONS.

294. Unlike adverbs, conjunctions do not modify: they are used solely for the purpose of connecting.

Examples of the use of conjunctions:--

[Sidenote: _They connect_ words.]

(1) _Connecting words_: "It is the very necessity _and_ condition of existence;" "What a simple _but_ exquisite illustration!"

[Sidenote: Word groups: _Phrases._]

[Sidenote: _Clauses._]

(2) _Connecting word groups_: "Hitherto the two systems have existed in different States, _but_ side by side within the American Union;" "This has happened _because_ the Union is a confederation of States."

[Sidenote: _Sentences._]

(3) _Connecting sentences_: "Unanimity in this case can mean only a very large majority. _But_ even unanimity itself is far from indicating the voice of God."

[Sidenote: _Paragraphs._]

(4) _Connecting sentence groups_: Paragraphs would be too long to quote here, but the student will readily find them, in which the writer connects the divisions of narration or argument by such words as _but_, _however_, _hence_, _nor_, _then_, _therefore_, etc.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

295. A conjunction is a linking word, connecting words, word groups, sentences, or sentence groups.

[Sidenote: _Classes of conjunctions._]

296. Conjunctions have two principal divisions:--

(1) Coördinate, joining words, word groups, etc., of the _same rank_.

(2) Subordinate, joining a subordinate or dependent clause to a principal or independent clause.

COÖRDINATE CONJUNCTIONS.

297. Coördinate conjunctions are of four kinds:

(1) COPULATIVE, coupling or uniting words and expressions in the same line of thought; as _and_, _also_, _as well as_, _moreover_, etc.

(2) ADVERSATIVE, connecting words and expressions that are opposite in thought; as _but_, _yet_, _still_, _however_, _while_, _only_, etc.

(3) CAUSAL, introducing a reason or cause. The chief ones are, _for_, _therefore_, _hence_, _then_.

(4) ALTERNATIVE, expressing a choice, usually between two things. They are _or_, _either_, _else_, _nor_, _neither_, _whether_.

[Sidenote: _Correlatives._]

298. Some of these go in pairs, answering to each other in the same sentence; as, _both_..._and_; _not only_..._but_ (or _but also_); _either_..._or_; _whether_..._or_; _neither_..._nor_; _whether_..._or whether_.

Some go in threes; as, _not only_..._but_... _and_; _either_..._or_..._or_; _neither_..._nor_... _nor_.

Further examples of the use of coördinate conjunctions:--

[Sidenote: _Copulative._]

Your letter, _likewise_, had its weight; the bread was spent, the butter _too_; the window being open, _as well as_ the room door.

[Sidenote: _Adversative._]

The assertion, _however_, serves but to show their ignorance. "Can this be so?" said Goodman Brown. "_Howbeit_, I have nothing to do with the governor and council."

_Nevertheless_, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks.

[Sidenote: _Alternative._]

While the earth bears a plant, _or_ the sea rolls its waves.

_Nor_ mark'd they less, where in the air A thousand streamers flaunted fair.

[Sidenote: _Causal._]

_Therefore_ the poet is not any permissive potentate, but is emperor in his own right. _For_ it is the rule of the universe that corn shall serve man, and not man corn.

Examples of the use of correlatives:--

He began to doubt whether _both_ he _and_ the world around him were not bewitched.--IRVING.

He is _not only_ bold and vociferous, _but_ possesses a considerable talent for mimicry, _and_ seems to enjoy great satisfaction in mocking and teasing other birds.--WILSON.

It is...the same _whether_ I move my hand along the surface of a body, _or whether_ such a body is moved along my hand.--BURKE.

_Neither_ the place in which he found himself, _nor_ the exclusive attention that he attracted, disturbed the self-possession of the young Mohican.--COOPER.

_Neither_ was there any phantom memorial of life, _nor_ wing of bird, _nor_ echo, _nor_ green leaf, _nor_ creeping thing, that moved or stirred upon the soundless waste.--DE QUINCEY.

SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS.

299. Subordinate conjunctions are of the following kinds:--

(1) PLACE: _where_, _wherever_, _whither_, _whereto_, _whithersoever_, _whence_, etc.

(2) TIME: _when_, _before_, _after_, _since_, _as_, _until_, _whenever_, _while_, _ere_, etc.

(3) MANNER: _how_, _as_, _however_, _howsoever_.

(4) CAUSE or REASON: _because_, _since_, _as_, _now_, _whereas_, _that_, _seeing_, etc.

(5) COMPARISON: _than_ and _as_.

(6) PURPOSE: _that_, _so_, _so that_, _in order that_, _lest_, _so_..._as_.

(7) RESULT: _that_, _so that_, especially _that_ after _so_.

(8) CONDITION or CONCESSION: _if_, _unless_, _so_, _except_, _though_, _although_; _even if_, _provided_, _provided that_, _in case_, _on condition that_, etc.

(9) SUBSTANTIVE: _that_, _whether_, sometimes _if_, are used frequently to introduce noun clauses used as _subject, object, in apposition_, etc.

Examples of the use of subordinate conjunctions:--

[Sidenote: _Place._]

Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also.--_Bible._

To lead from eighteen to twenty millions of men _whithersoever_ they will.--J. QUINCY.

An artist will delight in excellence _wherever_ he meets it. --ALLSTON.

[Sidenote: _Time._]

I promise to devote myself to your happiness _whenever_ you shall ask it of me.--PAULDING.

It is sixteen years _since_ I saw the Queen of France.--BURKE.

[Sidenote: _Manner._]

Let the world go _how_ it will.--CARLYLE

Events proceed, not _as_ they were expected or intended, but _as_ they are impelled by the irresistible laws.--AMES.

[Sidenote: _Cause, reason._]

I see no reason _why_ I should not have the same thought.--EMERSON.

Then Denmark blest our chief, _That_ he gave her wounds repose. --CAMPBELL.

_Now_ he is dead, his martyrdom will reap Late harvests of the palms he should have had in life. --H.H. JACKSON

Sparing neither whip nor spur, _seeing that_ he carried the vindication of his patron's fame in his saddlebags.--IRVING.

[Sidenote: _Comparison._]

As a soldier, he was more solicitous to avoid mistakes _than_ to perform exploits that are brilliant.--AMES.

All the subsequent experience of our race had gone over him with as little permanent effect _as_ [_as_ follows the semi-adverbs _as_ and _so_ in expressing comparison] the passing breeze.--HAWTHORNE.

[Sidenote: _Purpose._]

We wish for a thousand heads, a thousand bodies, _that_ we might celebrate its immense beauty.--EMERSON.

[Sidenote: _Result._]

So many thoughts moved to and fro, _That_ vain it were her eyes to close. --COLERIDGE.

I was again covered with water, but not so long _but_ I held it out.--DEFOE.

[Sidenote: _Condition._]

A ridicule which is of no import _unless_ the scholar heed it.--EMERSON.

There flowers or weeds at will may grow, _So_ I behold them not. --BYRON.

[Sidenote: _Concession_.]

What _though_ the radiance which was once so bright Be now forever taken from my sight.--WORDSWORTH.

[Sidenote: _Substantive._]

It seems a pity _that_ we can only spend it once.--EMERSON.

We do not believe _that_ he left any worthy man his foe who had ever been his friend.--AMES.

Let us see _whether_ the greatest, the wisest, the purest-hearted of all ages are agreed in any wise on this point.--RUSKIN.

Who can tell _if_ Washington be a great man or no?--EMERSON.

300. As will have been noticed, some words--for example, _since_, _while_, _as_, _that_, etc.--may belong to several classes of conjunctions, according to their meaning and connection in the sentence.

Exercises.

(_a_) Bring up sentences containing five examples of coördinate conjunctions.

(_b_) Bring up sentences containing three examples of correlatives.

(_c_) Bring up sentences containing ten subordinate conjunctions.

(_d_) Tell whether the italicized words in the following sentences are conjunctions or adverbs; classify them if conjunctions:--

1. _Yet_ these were often exhibited throughout our city.

2. No one had _yet_ caught his character.

3. _After_ he was gone, the lady called her servant.

4. And they lived happily forever _after_.

5. They, _however_, hold a subordinate rank.

6. _However_ ambitious a woman may be to command admiration abroad, her real merit is known at home.

7. _Whence_ else could arise the bruises which I had received?

8. He was brought up for the church, _whence_ he was occasionally called the Dominie.

9. And _then_ recovering, she faintly pressed her hand.

10. In what point of view, _then_, is war not to be regarded with horror?

11. The moth fly, _as_ he shot in air, Crept under the leaf, and hid her there.

12. Besides, _as_ the rulers of a nation are _as_ liable _as_ other people to be governed by passion and prejudice, there is little prospect of justice in permitting war.

13. _While_ a faction is a minority, it will remain harmless.

14. _While_ patriotism glowed in his heart, wisdom blended in his speech her authority with her charms.

15. _Hence_ it is highly important that the custom of war should be abolished.

16. The raft and the money had been thrown near her, none of the lashings having given way; _only_ what is the use of a guinea amongst tangle and sea gulls?

17. _Only_ let his thoughts be of equal scope, and the frame will suit the picture.

SPECIAL REMARKS.

[Sidenote: As if.]

301. _As if_ is often used as one conjunction of manner, but really there is an ellipsis between the two words; thus,--

But thy soft murmuring Sounds sweet _as if_ a sister's voice reproved. --BYRON.

If analyzed, the expression would be, "sounds sweet _as_ [the sound would be] _if_ a sister's voice reproved;" _as_, in this case, expressing degree if taken separately.

But the ellipsis seems to be lost sight of frequently in writing, as is shown by the use of _as though_.

[Sidenote: As though.]

302. In Emerson's sentence, "We meet, and part _as though_ we parted not," it cannot be said that there is an ellipsis: it cannot mean "we part _as_ [we should part] _though_" etc.

Consequently, _as if_ and _as though_ may be taken as double conjunctions expressing manner. _As though_ seems to be in as wide use as the conjunction _as if_; for example,--

Do you know a farmer who acts and lives _as though_ he believed one word of this?--H GREELEY.

His voice ... sounded _as though_ it came out of a barrel.--IRVING.

Blinded alike from sunshine and from rain, _As though_ a rose should shut, and be a bud again. --KEATS

Examples might be quoted from almost all authors.

[Sidenote: As _for_ as if.]

303. In poetry, _as_ is often equivalent to _as if_.

And their orbs grew strangely dreary, Clouded, even _as_ they would weep. --EMILY BRONTE.

So silently we seemed to speak, So slowly moved about, _As_ we had lent her half our powers To eke her living out. --HOOD.

HOW TO PARSE CONJUNCTIONS.

304. In parsing conjunctions, tell--

(1) To what class and subclass they belong.

(2) What words, word groups, etc., they connect.

[Sidenote: _Caution_.]

In classifying them, particular attention must be paid to the _meaning_ of the word. Some conjunctions, such as _nor, and, because, when_, etc., are regularly of one particular class; others belong to several classes. For example, compare the sentences,--

1. It continued raining, _so_ that I could not stir abroad.--DEFOE

2. There will be an agreement in whatever variety of actions, _so_ they be each honest and natural in their hour.--EMERSON

3. It was too dark to put an arrow into the creature's eye; _so_ they paddled on.--KINGSLEY

In sentence 1, _so that_ expresses result, and its clause depends on the other, hence it is a subordinate conjunction of result; in 2, _so_ means provided,--is subordinate of condition; in 3, _so_ means therefore, and its clause is independent, hence it is a coördinate conjunction of reason.

Exercise.

Parse all the conjunctions in these sentences:--

1. When the gods come among men, they are not known.

2. If he could solve the riddle, the Sphinx was slain.

3. A lady with whom I was riding in the forest said to me that the woods always seemed to wait, as if the genii who inhabit them suspended their deeds until the wayfarer had passed.

4. The mountain of granite blooms into an eternal flower, with the lightness and delicate finish as well as the aërial proportions and perspective of vegetable scenery.

5. At sea, or in the forest, or in the snow, he sleeps as warm, dines with as good an appetite, and associates as happily, as beside his own chimneys.

6. Our admiration of the antique is not admiration of the old, but of the natural.

7. "Doctor," said his wife to Martin Luther, "how is it that whilst subject to papacy we prayed so often and with such fervor, whilst now we pray with the utmost coldness, and very seldom?"

8. All the postulates of elfin annals,--that the fairies do not like to be named; that their gifts are capricious and not to be trusted; and the like,--I find them true in Concord, however they might be in Cornwall or Bretagne.

9. He is the compend of time; he is also the correlative of nature.

10. He dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his.

11. The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray.

12. It may be safely trusted, so it be faithfully imparted.

13. He knows how to speak to his contemporaries.

14. Goodness must have some edge to it,--else it is none.

15. I hope it is somewhat better than whim at last.

16. Now you have the whip in your hand, won't you lay on?

17. I scowl as I dip my pen into the inkstand.

18. I speak, therefore, of good novels only.

19. Let her loose in the library as you do a fawn in a field.

20. And whether consciously or not, you must be, in many a heart, enthroned.

21. It is clear, however, the whole conditions are changed.

22. I never rested until I had a copy of the book.

23. For, though there may be little resemblance otherwise, in this they agree, that both were wayward.

24. Still, she might have the family countenance; and Kate thought he looked with a suspicious scrutiny into her face as he inquired for the young don.

25. He follows his genius whithersoever it may lead him.

26. The manuscript indeed speaks of many more, whose names I omit, seeing that it behooves me to hasten.

27. God had marked this woman's sin with a scarlet letter, which had such efficacy that no human sympathy could reach her, save it were sinful like herself.

28. I rejoice to stand here no longer, to be looked at as though I had seven heads and ten horns.

29. He should neither praise nor blame nor defend his equals.

30. There was no iron to be seen, nor did they appear acquainted with its properties; for they unguardedly took a drawn sword by the edge, when it was presented to them.

PREPOSITIONS..

305. The word _preposition_ implies _place before_: hence it would seem that a preposition is always _before_ its object. It may be so in the majority of cases, but in a considerable proportion of instances the preposition is _after_ its object.

This occurs in such cases as the following:--

[Sidenote: Preposition not before its object.]

(1) _After a relative pronoun_, a very common occurrence; thus,--

The most dismal Christmas fun _which_ these eyes ever looked _on_.--THACKERAY.

An ancient nation _which_ they know nothing _of_.--EMERSON.

A foe, _whom_ a champion has fought _with_ to-day.--SCOTT.

Some little toys _that_ girls are fond _of_.--SWIFT.

"It's the man _that_ I spoke to you _about_" said Mr. Pickwick.--DICKENS.

(2) _After an interrogative adverb, adjective, or pronoun_, also frequently found:--

_What_ God doth the wizard pray _to_?--HAWTHORNE.

_What_ is the little one thinking about?--J.G. HOLLAND.

_Where_ the Devil did it come _from_, I wonder?--DICKENS.

(3) _With an infinitive_, in such expressions as these:--

A proper _quarrel_ for a Crusader to do battle _in_.--SCOTT.

"You know, General, it was _nothing_ to joke _about_."--CABLE

Had no harsh _treatment_ to reproach herself _with_.--BOYESEN

A _loss of vitality_ scarcely to be accounted _for_.--HOLMES.

Places for _horses_ to be hitched _to_.--_Id._

(4) _After a noun_,--the case in which the preposition is expected to be, and regularly is, before its object; as,--

And unseen mermaids' pearly song Comes bubbling up, the weeds _among_. --BEDDOES.

Forever panting and forever young, All breathing human passion far _above_. --KEATS.

306. Since the object of a preposition is most often a noun, the statement is made that the preposition usually precedes its object; as in the following sentence, "Roused _by_ the shock, he started _from_ his trance."

Here the words _by_ and _from_ are connectives; but they do more than connect. _By_ shows the relation in thought between _roused_ and _shock_, expressing means or agency; _from_ shows the relation in thought between _started_ and _trance_, and expresses separation. Both introduce phrases.

[Sidenote: _Definition_.]

307. A preposition is a word joined to a noun or its equivalent to make up a qualifying or an adverbial phrase, and to show the relation between its object and the word modified.

[Sidenote: _Objects, nouns and the following_.]

308. Besides nouns, prepositions may have as objects--

(1) _Pronouns_: "Upon _them_ with the lance;" "With _whom_ I traverse earth."

(2) _Adjectives_: "On _high_ the winds lift up their voices."

(3) _Adverbs_: "If I live wholly from _within_;" "Had it not been for the sea from _aft_."

(4) _Phrases_: "Everything came to her from _on high_;" "From _of old_ they had been zealous worshipers."

(5) _Infinitives_: "The queen now scarce spoke to him save _to convey_ some necessary command for her service."

(6) _Gerunds_: "They shrink from _inflicting_ what they threaten;" "He is not content with _shining_ on great occasions."

(7) _Clauses_:

"Each soldier eye shall brightly turn To _where thy sky-born glories burn_."

[Sidenote: _Object usually objective case, if noun or pronoun_.]

309. The object of a preposition, if a noun or pronoun, is usually in the objective case. In pronouns, this is shown by the form of the word, as in Sec. 308 (1).

[Sidenote: _Often possessive_.]

In the double-possessive idiom, however, the object is in the possessive case after _of_; for example,--

There was also a book _of Defoe's_,... and another _of_ _Mather's_.--FRANKLIN.

See also numerous examples in Secs. 68 and 87.

[Sidenote: _Sometimes nominative_.]

And the prepositions _but_ and _save_ are found with the nominative form of the pronoun following; as,--

Nobody knows _but_ my mate and _I_ Where our nest and our nestlings lie. --BRYANT.

USES OF PREPOSITIONS.

[Sidenote: _Inseparable._]

310. Prepositions are used in three ways:--

(1) _Compounded with verbs_, _adverbs_, or _conjunctions_; as, for example, with verbs, _with_draw, _under_stand, _over_look, _over_take, _over_flow, _under_go, _out_stay, _out_number, _over_run, _over_grow, etc.; with adverbs, there_at_, there_in_, there_from_, there_by_, there_with_, etc.; with conjunctions, where_at_, where_in_, where_on_, where_through_, where_upon_, etc.

[Sidenote: _Separable._]

(2) _Following a verb_, and being really a part of the verb. This use needs to be watched closely, to see whether the preposition belongs to the verb or has a separate prepositional function. For example, in the sentences, (_a_) "He broke a pane _from_ the window," (_b_) "He broke _into_ the bank," in (_a_), the verb _broke_ is a predicate, modified by the phrase introduced by _from_; in (_b_), the predicate is not _broke_, modified by _into the bank_, but _broke into_--the object, _bank_.

Study carefully the following prepositions with verbs:--

Considering the space they _took up_.--SWIFT.

I loved, _laughed at_, and pitied him.--GOLDSMITH.

The sun _breaks through_ the darkest clouds.--SHAKESPEARE.

They will _root up_ the whole ground.--SWIFT.

A friend _prevailed upon_ one of the interpreters.--ADDISON

My uncle _approved of_ it.--FRANKLIN.

The robber who _broke into_ them.--LANDOR.

This period is not obscurely _hinted at_.--LAMB.

The judge _winked at_ the iniquity of the decision.--_Id._

The pupils' voices, _conning over_ their lessons.--IRVING.

To _help out_ his maintenance.--_Id._

With such pomp is Merry Christmas _ushered in_.--LONGFELLOW.

[Sidenote: _Ordinary use as connective, relation words._]

(3) As _relation words_, introducing phrases,--the most common use, in which the words have their own proper function.

[Sidenote: _Usefulness of prepositions._]

311. Prepositions are the subtlest and most useful words in the language for compressing a clear meaning into few words. Each preposition has its proper and general meaning, which, by frequent and exacting use, has expanded and divided into a variety of meanings more or less close to the original one.

Take, for example, the word _over_. It expresses place, with motion, as, "The bird flew _over_ the house;" or rest, as, "Silence broods _over_ the earth." It may also convey the meaning of _about_, _concerning_; as, "They quarreled _over_ the booty." Or it may express time: "Stay _over_ night."

The language is made richer and more flexible by there being several meanings to each of many prepositions, as well as by some of them having the same meaning as others.

CLASSES OF PREPOSITIONS.

312. It would be useless to attempt to classify all the prepositions, since they are so various in meaning.

The largest groups are those of place, time, and exclusion.

PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE.

313. The following are the most common to indicate place:--

(1) PLACE WHERE: _abaft_, _about_, _above_, _across_, _amid_ (_amidst_), _among_ (_amongst_), _at_, _athwart_, _below_, _beneath_, _beside_, _between_ (_betwixt_), _beyond_, _in_, _on_, _over_, _under_ (_underneath_), _upon_, _round_ or _around_, _without_.

(2) PLACE WHITHER: _into_, _unto_, _up_, _through_, _throughout_, _to_, _towards_.

(3) PLACE WHENCE: _down_, _from_ (_away from_, _down from_, _from out_, etc.), _off_, _out of_.

Abaft is exclusively a sea term, meaning _back of_.

Among (or amongst) and between (or betwixt) have a difference in meaning, and usually a difference in use. _Among_ originally meant in the crowd (_on gemong_), referring to several objects; _between_ and _betwixt_ were originally made up of the preposition _be_ (meaning _by_) and _twēon_ or _twēonum_ (modern _twain_), _by two_, and _be_ with _twīh_ (or _twuh_), having the same meaning, _by two_ objects.

As to modern use, see "Syntax" (Sec. 459).

PREPOSITIONS OF TIME.

314. They are _after_, _during_, _pending_, _till_ or _until_; also many of the prepositions of place express time when put before words indicating time, such as _at_, _between_, _by_, _about_, _on_, _within_, etc.

These are all familiar, and need no special remark.

EXCLUSION OR SEPARATION.

315. The chief ones are _besides_, _but_, _except_, _save_, _without_. The participle _excepting_ is also used as a preposition.

MISCELLANEOUS PREPOSITIONS.

316. Against implies opposition, sometimes place where. In colloquial English it is sometimes used to express time, now and then also in literary English; for example,--

She contrived to fit up the baby's cradle for me _against_ night.--SWIFT

About, and the participial prepositions concerning, respecting, regarding, mean _with reference to_.

[Sidenote: _Phrase prepositions._]

317. Many phrases are used as single prepositions: _by means of_, _by virtue of_, _by help of_, _by dint of_, _by force of_; _out of_, _on account of_, _by way of_, _for the sake of_; _in consideration of_, _in spite of_, _in defiance of_, _instead of_, _in view of_, _in place of_; _with respect to_, _with regard to_, _according to_, _agreeably to_; and some others.

318. Besides all these, there are some prepositions that have so many meanings that they require separate and careful treatment: _on_ (_upon_), _at_, _by_, _for_, _from_, _of_, _to_, _with_.

No attempt will be made to give _all_ the meanings that each one in this list has: the purpose is to stimulate observation, and to show how useful prepositions really are.

At.

319. The general meaning of at is _near_, _close to_, after a verb or expression implying position; and _towards_ after a verb or expression indicating motion. It defines position approximately, while _in_ is exact, meaning _within_.

Its principal uses are as follows:--

(1) _Place where._

They who heard it listened with a curling horror _at_ the heart.--J.F. COOPER.

There had been a strike _at_ the neighboring manufacturing village, and there was to be a public meeting, _at_ which he was besought to be present.--T.W. HIGGINSON.

(2) _Time_, more exact, meaning the point of time at which.

He wished to attack _at_ daybreak.--PARKMAN.

They buried him darkly, _at_ dead of night.--WOLFE

(3) _Direction._

The mother stood looking wildly down _at_ the unseemly object.--COOPER.

You are next invited...to grasp _at_ the opportunity, and take for your subject, "Health."--HIGGINSON.

Here belong such expressions as _laugh at_, _look at_, _wink at_, _gaze at_, _stare at_, _peep at_, _scowl at_, _sneer at_, _frown at_, etc.

We _laugh at_ the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years.--JOHNSON.

"You never mean to say," pursued Dot, sitting on the floor and _shaking_ her head _at_ him.--DICKENS.

(4) _Source_ or _cause_, meaning _because of_, _by reason of_.

I felt my heart chill _at_ the dismal sound.--T.W. KNOX.

Delighted _at_ this outburst against the Spaniards.--PARKMAN.

(5) Then the idiomatic phrases _at last_, _at length_, _at any rate_, _at the best_, _at the worst_, _at least_, _at most_, _at first_, _at once_, _at all_, _at one_, _at naught_, _at random_, etc.; and phrases signifying state or condition of being, as, _at work_, _at play_, _at peace_, _at war_, _at rest_, etc.

Exercise.--Find sentences with three different uses of _at_.

By.

320. Like _at_, by means _near_ or _close to_, but has several other meanings more or less connected with this,--

(1) The general meaning of _place_.

Richard was standing _by_ the window.--ALDRICH.

Provided always the coach had not shed a wheel _by_ the roadside.--_Id._

(2) _Time._

But _by_ this time the bell of Old Alloway began tolling.--B. TAYLOR

The angel came _by_ night.--R.H. STODDARD.

(3) _Agency_ or _means_.

Menippus knew which were the kings _by_ their howling louder.--M.D. CONWAY.

At St. Helena, the first port made _by_ the ship, he stopped. --PARTON.

(4) _Measure of excess_, expressing the degree of difference.

At that time [the earth] was richer, _by_ many a million of acres.--DE QUINCEY.

He was taller _by_ almost the breadth of my nail.--SWIFT.

(5) It is also used in _oaths and adjurations_.

_By_ my faith, that is a very plump hand for a man of eighty-four!--PARTON.

They implore us _by_ the long trials of struggling humanity; _by_ the blessed memory of the departed; _by_ the wrecks of time; _by_ the ruins of nations.--EVERETT.

Exercise.--Find sentences with three different meanings of _by_.

For.

321. The chief meanings of for are as follows:--

(1) _Motion towards_ a place, or a tendency or action toward the attainment of any object.

Pioneers who were opening the way _for_ the march of the nation.--COOPER.

She saw the boat headed _for_ her.--WARNER.

(2) _In favor of_, _for the benefit of_, _in behalf of_, a person or thing.

He and they were _for_ immediate attack.--PARKMAN

The people were then against us; they are now _for_ us.--W.L. GARRISON.

(3) _Duration of time_, or _extent of space_.

_For_ a long time the disreputable element outshone the virtuous.--H.H. BANCROFT.

He could overlook all the country _for_ many a mile of rich woodland.--IRVING.

(4) _Substitution_ or _exchange_.

There are gains _for_ all our losses.--STODDARD.

Thus did the Spaniards make bloody atonement _for_ the butchery of Fort Caroline.--PARKMAN.

(5) _Reference_, meaning _with regard to_, _as to_, _respecting_, etc.

_For_ the rest, the Colonna motto would fit you best.--EMERSON.

_For_ him, poor fellow, he repented of his folly.--E.E. HALE

This is very common with _as_--_as for_ me, etc.

(6) Like _as_, meaning _in the character of_, _as being_, etc.

"Nay, if your worship can accomplish that," answered Master Brackett, "I shall own you _for_ a man of skill indeed!" --HAWTHORNE.

Wavering whether he should put his son to death _for_ an unnatural monster.--LAMB.

(7) _Concession_, meaning _although_, _considering that_ etc.

"_For_ a fool," said the Lady of Lochleven, "thou hast counseled wisely."--SCOTT

By my faith, that is a very plump hand _for_ a man of eighty-four!--PARTON.

(8) Meaning _notwithstanding_, or _in spite of_.

But the Colonel, _for_ all his title, had a forest of poor relations.--HOLMES.

Still, _for_ all slips of hers, One of Eve's family.--HOOD.

(9) _Motive, cause, reason, incitement to action._

The twilight being...hardly more wholesome _for_ its glittering mists of midge companies.--RUSKIN.

An Arab woman, but a few sunsets since, ate her child, _for_ famine.--_Id._

Here Satouriona forgot his dignity, and leaped _for_ joy.--PARKMAN.

(10) _For_ with its object preceding the infinitive, and having the same meaning as a noun clause, as shown by this sentence:--

It is by no means necessary _that he should devote his whole school existence to physical science_; nay, more, it is not necessary for _him to give up more than a moderate share of his time to such studies_.--HUXLEY.

Exercise.--Find sentences with five meanings of _for_.

From.

322. The general idea in from is separation or source. It may be with regard to--

(1) _Place._

Like boys escaped _from_ school.--H.H. BANCROFT

Thus they drifted _from_ snow-clad ranges to burning plain.--_Id._

(2) _Origin._

Coming _from_ a race of day-dreamers, Ayrault had inherited the faculty of dreaming also by night.--HIGGINSON.

_From_ harmony, _from_ heavenly harmony This universal frame began.--DRYDEN.

(3) _Time._

A distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become _from_ the night of that fearful dream--HAWTHORNE.

(4) _Motive_, _cause_, or _reason_.

It was _from_ no fault of Nolan's.--HALE.

The young cavaliers, _from_ a desire of seeming valiant, ceased to be merciful.--BANCROFT.

Exercise.--Find sentences with three meanings of _from_.

Of.

323. The original meaning of of was separation or source, like _from_. The various uses are shown in the following examples:--

I. The _From_ Relation.

(1) _Origin or source._

The king holds his authority _of_ the people.--MILTON.

Thomas à Becket was born _of_ reputable parents in the city of London.--HUME.

(2) _Separation_: (_a_) After certain verbs, such as _ease_, _demand_, _rob_, _divest_, _free_, _clear_, _purge_, _disarm_, _deprive_, _relieve_, _cure_, _rid_, _beg_, _ask_, etc.

Two old Indians cleared the spot _of_ brambles, weeds, and grass.--PARKMAN.

Asked no odds _of_, acquitted them _of,_ etc.--ALDRICH.

(_b_) After some adjectives,--_clear of_, _free of_, _wide of_, _bare of_, etc.; especially adjectives and adverbs of direction, as _north of_, _south of_, etc.

The hills were bare _of_ trees.--BAYARD TAYLOR.

Back _of_ that tree, he had raised a little Gothic chapel. --GAVARRE.

(_c_) After nouns expressing lack, deprivation, etc.

A singular want _of_ all human relation.--HIGGINSON.

_(d)_ With words expressing distance.

Until he had come within a staff's length _of_ the old dame. --HAWTHORNE

Within a few yards _of_ the young man's hiding place.--_Id._

(3) _With expressions of material_, especially _out of_.

White shirt with diamond studs, or breastpin _of_ native gold.--BANCROFT.

Sandals, bound with thongs _of_ boar's hide.--SCOTT

Who formed, _out of_ the most unpromising materials, the finest army that Europe had yet seen.--MACAULAY

(4) _Expressing cause, reason, motive._

The author died _of_ a fit of apoplexy.--BOSWELL.

More than one altar was richer _of_ his vows.--LEW WALLACE.

"Good for him!" cried Nolan. "I am glad _of_ that."--E.E. HALE.

(5) _Expressing agency._

You cannot make a boy know, _of_ his own knowledge, that Cromwell once ruled England.--HUXLEY.

He is away _of_ his own free will.--DICKENS

II. Other Relations expressed by _Of_.

(6) _Partitive_, expressing a part of a number or quantity.

_Of_ the Forty, there were only twenty-one members present. --PARTON.

He washed out some _of_ the dirt, separating thereby as much of the dust as a ten-cent piece would hold.--BANCROFT.

[Sidenote: _See also Sec. 309._]

(7) _Possessive_, standing, with its object, for the possessive, or being used with the possessive case to form the double possessive.

Not even woman's love, and the dignity _of_ a queen, could give shelter from his contumely.--W.E. CHANNING.

And the mighty secret _of_ the Sierra stood revealed.--BANCROFT.

(8) _Appositional_, which may be in the case of--

(_a_) Nouns.

Such a book as that _of_ Job.--FROUDE.

The fair city _of_ Mexico.--PRESCOTT.

The nation _of_ Lilliput.--SWIFT.

(_b_) Noun and gerund, being equivalent to an infinitive.

In the vain hope _of_ appeasing the savages.--COOPER.

Few people take the trouble _of_ finding out what democracy really is.--LOWELL.

(_c_) Two nouns, when the first is descriptive of the second.

This crampfish _of_ a Socrates has so bewitched him.--EMERSON

A sorry antediluvian makeshift _of_ a building you may think it.--LAMB.

An inexhaustible bottle _of_ a shop.--ALDRICH.

(9) _Of time._ Besides the phrases _of old_, _of late_, _of a sudden_, etc., _of_ is used in the sense of _during_.

I used often to linger _of_ a morning by the high gate.--ALDRICH

I delighted to loll over the quarter railing _of_ a calm day. --IRVING.

(10) _Of reference_, equal to _about_, _concerning_, _with regard to_.

The Turk lay dreaming _of_ the hour.--HALLECK.

Boasted _of_ his prowess as a scalp hunter and duelist.--BANCROFT.

Sank into reverie _of_ home and boyhood scenes.--_Id._

[Sidenote: _Idiomatic use with verbs._]

_Of_ is also used as an appendage of certain verbs, such as _admit_, _accept_, _allow_, _approve_, _disapprove_, _permit_, without adding to their meaning. It also accompanies the verbs _tire_, _complain_, _repent_, _consist_, _avail_ (one's self), and others.

Exercise.--Find sentences with six uses of _of_.

On, Upon.

324. The general meaning of on is position or direction. _On_ and _upon_ are interchangeable in almost all of their applications, as shown by the sentences below:--

(1) _Place_: (_a_) Where.

Cannon were heard close _on_ the left.--PARKMAN.

The Earl of Huntley ranged his host _Upon_ their native strand.--MRS. SIGOURNEY.

(_b_) With motion.

It was the battery at Samos firing _on_ the boats.--PARKMAN.

Thou didst look down _upon_ the naked earth.--BRYANT.

(2) _Time._

The demonstration of joy or sorrow _on_ reading their letters. --BANCROFT.

_On_ Monday evening he sent forward the Indians.--PARKMAN.

Upon is seldom used to express time.

(3) _Reference_, equal to _about_, _concerning_, etc.

I think that one abstains from writing _on_ the immortality of the soul.--EMERSON.

He pronounced a very flattering opinion _upon_ my brother's promise of excellence.--DE QUINCEY.

(4) _In adjurations._

_On_ my life, you are eighteen, and not a day more.--ALDRICH.

_Upon_ my reputation and credit.--SHAKESPEARE

(5) _Idiomatic phrases_: _on fire_, _on board_, _on high_, _on the wing_, _on the alert_, _on a sudden_, _on view_, _on trial_, etc.

Exercise.--Find sentences with three uses of _on_ or _upon_.

To.

325. Some uses of to are the following:--

(1) _Expressing motion_: (_a_) To a place.

Come _to_ the bridal chamber, Death!--HALLECK.

Rip had scrambled _to_ one of the highest peaks.--IRVING.

(_b_) Referring to time.

Full of schemes and speculations _to_ the last.--PARTON.

Revolutions, whose influence is felt _to_ this hour.--PARKMAN.

(2) _Expressing result._

He usually gave his draft to an aid...to be written over,--often _to_ the loss of vigor.--BENTON

_To_ our great delight, Ben Lomond was unshrouded.--B. TAYLOR

(3) _Expressing comparison._

But when, unmasked, gay Comedy appears, 'Tis ten _to_ one you find the girl in tears. --ALDRICH

They are arrant rogues: Cacus was nothing _to_ them.--BULWER.

Bolingbroke and the wicked Lord Littleton were saints _to_ him.--WEBSTER

(4) _Expressing concern, interest._

_To_ the few, it may be genuine poetry.--BRYANT.

His brother had died, had ceased to be, _to_ him.--HALE.

Little mattered _to_ them occasional privations--BANCROFT.

(5) _Equivalent to_ according to.

Nor, _to_ my taste, does the mere music...of your style fall far below the highest efforts of poetry.--LANG.

We cook the dish _to_ our own appetite.--GOLDSMITH.

(6) _With the infinitive_ (see Sec. 268).

Exercise.--Find sentences containing three uses of _to_.

With.

326. With expresses the idea of accompaniment, and hardly any of its applications vary from this general signification.

In Old English, _mid_ meant _in company with_, while _wið_ meant _against_: both meanings are included in the modern _with_.

The following meanings are expressed by _with_:--

(1) _Personal accompaniment._

The advance, _with_ Heyward at its head, had already reached the defile.--COOPER.

For many weeks I had walked _with_ this poor friendless girl.--DE QUINCEY.

(2) _Instrumentality._

_With_ my crossbow I shot the albatross.--COLERIDGE.

Either _with_ the swingle-bar, or _with_ the haunch of our near leader, we had struck the off-wheel of the little gig.--DE QUINCEY.

(3) _Cause, reason, motive._

He was wild _with_ delight about Texas.--HALE.

She seemed pleased _with_ the accident.--HOWELLS.

(4) _Estimation, opinion._

How can a writer's verses be numerous if _with_ him, as _with_ you, "poetry is not a pursuit, but a pleasure"?--LANG.

It seemed a supreme moment _with_ him.--HOWELLS.

(5) _Opposition_.

After battling _with_ terrific hurricanes and typhoons on every known sea.--ALDRICH.

The quarrel of the sentimentalists is not _with_ life, but _with_ you.--LANG.

(6) _The equivalent of_ notwithstanding, in spite of.

_With_ all his sensibility, he gave millions to the sword.--CHANNING.

Messala, _with_ all his boldness, felt it unsafe to trifle further.--WALLACE

(7) _Time._

He expired _with_ these words.--SCOTT.

_With_ each new mind a new secret of nature transpires.--EMERSON.

Exercise.--Find sentences with four uses of _with_.

HOW TO PARSE PREPOSITIONS.

327. Since a preposition introduces a phrase and shows the relation between two things, it is necessary, first of all, to find the object of the preposition, and then to find what word the prepositional phrase limits. Take this sentence:--

The rule adopted on board the ships on which I have met "the man without a country" was, I think, transmitted from the beginning.--E.E. HALE.

The phrases are (1) _on board the ships_, (2) _on which_, (3) _without a country_, (4) _from the beginning_. The object of _on board_ is _ships_; of _on_, _which_; of _without_, _country_; of _from_, _beginning_.

In (1), the phrase answers the question _where_, and has the office of an adverb in telling _where_ the rule is adopted; hence we say, _on board_ shows the relation between _ships_ and the participle _adopted_.

In (2), _on which_ modifies the verb _have met_ by telling where: hence _on_ shows the relation between _which_ (standing for _ships_) and the verb _have met_.

In (3), _without a country_ modifies _man_, telling what man, or the verb _was_ understood: hence _without_ shows the relation between _country_ and _man_, or _was_. And so on.

The parsing of prepositions means merely telling between what words or word groups they show relation.

Exercises.

(_a_) Parse the prepositions in these paragraphs:--

1. I remember, before the dwarf left the queen, he followed us one day into those gardens. I must needs show my wit by a silly illusion between him and the trees, which happens to hold in their language as it does in ours. Whereupon, the malicious rogue, watching his opportunity when I was walking under one of them, shook it directly over my head, by which a dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came tumbling about my ears; one of them hit me on the back as I chanced to stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face; but I received no other hurt, and the dwarf was pardoned at my desire, because I had given the provocation.--SWIFT

2. Be that as it will, I found myself suddenly awakened with a violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my box for the conveniency of carriage. I felt my box raised very high in the air, and then borne forward with prodigious speed. The first jolt had like to have shaken me out of my hammock. I called out several times, but all to no purpose. I looked towards my windows, and could see nothing but the clouds and the sky. I heard a noise just over my head, like the clapping of wings, and then began to perceive the woeful condition I was in; that some eagle had got the ring of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on a rock: for the sagacity and smell of this bird enabled him to discover his quarry at a great distance, though better concealed than I could be within a two-inch board.--_Id._

(_b_) Give the exact meaning of each italicized preposition in the following sentences:--

1. The guns were cleared _of_ their lumber.

2. They then left _for_ a cruise up the Indian Ocean.

3. I speak these things _from_ a love of justice.

4. _To_ our general surprise, we met the defaulter here.

5. There was no one except a little sunbeam _of_ a sister.

6. The great gathering in the main street was _on_ Sundays, when, after a restful morning, though unbroken _by_ the peal of church bells, the miners gathered _from_ hills and ravines _for_ miles around _for_ marketing.

7. The troops waited in their boats _by_ the edge of a strand.

8. His breeches were _of_ black silk, and his hat was garnished _with_ white and sable plumes.

9. A suppressed but still distinct murmur of approbation ran through the crowd _at_ this generous proposition.

10. They were shriveled and colorless _with_ the cold.

11. On every solemn occasion he was the striking figure, even _to_ the eclipsing of the involuntary object of the ceremony.

12. _On_ all subjects known to man, he favored the world with his opinions.

13. Our horses ran _on_ a sandy margin of the road.

14. The hero of the poem is _of_ a strange land and a strange parentage.

15. He locked his door _from_ mere force of habit.

16. The lady was remarkable _for_ energy and talent.

17. Roland was acknowledged _for_ the successor and heir.

18. _For_ my part, I like to see the passing, in town.

19. A half-dollar was the smallest coin that could be tendered _for_ any service.

20. The mother sank and fell, grasping _at_ the child.

21. The savage army was in war-paint, plumed _for_ battle.

22. He had lived in Paris _for_ the last fifty years.

23. The hill stretched _for_ an immeasurable distance.

24. The baron of Smaylho'me rose _with_ day, He spurred his courser on, Without stop or stay, down the rocky way That leads _to_ Brotherstone.

25. _With_ all his learning, Carteret was far from being a pedant.

26. An immense mountain covered with a shining green turf is nothing, in this respect, _to_ one dark and gloomy.

27. Wilt thou die _for_ very weakness?

28. The name of Free Joe strikes humorously _upon_ the ear of memory.

29. The shout I heard was _upon_ the arrival of this engine.

30. He will raise the price, not merely _by_ the amount of the tax.

WORDS THAT NEED WATCHING.

328. If the student has now learned fully that words must be studied in grammar according to their function or use, and not according to form, he will be able to handle some words that are used as several parts of speech. A few are discussed below,--a summary of their treatment in various places as studied heretofore.

THAT.

329. That may be used as follows:

(1) _As a demonstrative adjective._

_That_ night was a memorable one.--STOCKTON.

(2) _As an adjective pronoun._

_That_ was a dreadful mistake.--WEBSTER.

(3) _As a relative pronoun._

And now it is like an angel's song, _That_ makes the heavens be mute.--COLERIDGE.

(4) _As an adverb of degree._

_That_ far I hold that the Scriptures teach.--BEECHER.

(5) _As a conjunction_: (_a_) Of purpose.

Has bounteously lengthened out your lives, _that_ you might behold this joyous day.--WEBSTER.

(_b_) Of result.

Gates of iron so massy _that_ no man could without the help of engines open or shut them.--JOHNSON.

(_c_) Substantive conjunction.

We wish _that_ labor may look up here, and be proud in the midst of its toil.--WEBSTER.

WHAT.

330. (1) _Relative pronoun._

That is _what_ I understand by scientific education.--HUXLEY.

(_a_) Indefinite relative.

Those shadowy recollections, Which be they _what_ they may, Are yet the fountain light of all our day.--WORDSWORTH.

(2) _Interrogative pronoun_: (_a_) Direct question.

_What_ would be an English merchant's character after a few such transactions?--THACKERAY.

(_b_) Indirect question.

I have not allowed myself to look beyond the Union, to see _what_ might be hidden.--WEBSTER.

(3) _Indefinite pronoun:_ The saying, "I'll tell you _what_."

(4) _Relative adjective._

But woe to _what_ thing or person stood in the way.--EMERSON.

(_a_) Indefinite relative adjective.

To say _what_ good of fashion we can, it rests on reality.--_Id._

(5) _Interrogative adjective_: (_a_) Direct question.

_What_ right have you to infer that this condition was caused by the action of heat?--AGASSIZ.

(_b_) Indirect question.

At _what_ rate these materials would be distributed,...it is impossible to determine.--_Id._

(6) _Exclamatory adjective._

Saint Mary! _what_ a scene is here!--SCOTT.

(7) _Adverb of degree._

If he has [been in America], he knows _what_ good people are to be found there.--THACKERAY.

(8) _Conjunction_, nearly equivalent to _partly_... _partly_, or _not only...but_.

_What_ with the Maltese goats, who go tinkling by to their pasturage; _what_ with the vocal seller of bread in the early morning;...these sounds are only to be heard...in Pera.--S.S. Cox.

(9) _As an exclamation._

_What_, silent still, and silent all!--BYRON.

_What_, Adam Woodcock at court!--SCOTT.

BUT.

331. (1) _Coördinate conjunction_: (_a_) Adversative.

His very attack was never the inspiration of courage, _but_ the result of calculation.--EMERSON.

(_b_) Copulative, after _not only_.

Then arose not only tears, _but_ piercing cries, on all sides. --CARLYLE.

(2) _Subordinate conjunction_: (_a_) Result, equivalent to _that_ ... _not_.

Nor is Nature so hard _but_ she gives me this joy several times.--EMERSON.

(_b_) Substantive, meaning _otherwise_ ... _than_.

Who knows _but_, like the dog, it will at length be no longer traceable to its wild original--THOREAU.

(3) _Preposition_, meaning _except_.

Now there was nothing to be seen _but_ fires in every direction.--LAMB.

(4) _Relative pronoun_, after a negative, stands for _that_ ... _not_, or _who_ ... _not_.

There is not a man in them _but_ is impelled withal, at all moments, towards order.--CARLYLE.

(5) _Adverb_, meaning _only_.

The whole twenty years had been to him _but_ as one night.--IRVING.

To lead _but_ one measure.--SCOTT.

AS.

332. (1) _Subordinate conjunction_: (_a_) Of time.

Rip beheld a precise counterpart of himself _as_ he went up the mountain.--IRVING.

(_b_) Of manner.

_As_ orphans yearn on to their mothers, He yearned to our patriot bands.--MRS BROWNING.

(_c_) Of degree.

His wan eyes Gaze on the empty scene _as_ vacantly _As_ ocean's moon looks on the moon in heaven. --SHELLEY.

(_d_) Of reason.

I shall see but little of it, _as_ I could neither bear walking nor riding in a carriage.--FRANKLIN.

(_e_) Introducing an appositive word.

Reverenced _as_ one of the patriarchs of the village.--IRVING.

Doing duty _as_ a guard.--HAWTHORNE.

(2) _Relative pronoun_, after _such_, sometimes _same_.

And was there such a resemblance _as_ the crowd had testified?--HAWTHORNE.

LIKE.

[Sidenote: _Modifier of a noun or pronoun._]

333. (1) _An adjective._

The aforesaid general had been exceedingly _like_ the majestic image.--HAWTHORNE.

They look, indeed, _liker_ a lion's mane than a Christian man's locks.-SCOTT.

No Emperor, this, _like_ him awhile ago.--ALDRICH.

There is no statue _like_ this living man.--EMERSON.

That face, _like_ summer ocean's.--HALLECK.

In each case, _like_ clearly modifies a noun or pronoun, and is followed by a dative-objective.

[Sidenote: _Introduces a clause, but its verb is omitted._]

(2) _A subordinate conjunction_ of manner. This follows a verb or a verbal, but the verb of the clause introduced by _like_ is _regularly omitted_. Note the difference between these two uses. In Old English _gelic_ (like) was followed by the dative, and was clearly an adjective. In this second use, _like_ introduces a shortened clause modifying a verb or a verbal, as shown in the following sentences:--

Goodman Brown came into the street of Salem village, staring _like_ a bewildered man.--HAWTHORNE.

Give Ruskin space enough, and he grows frantic and beats the air _like_ Carlyle.--HIGGINSON.

They conducted themselves much _like_ the crew of a man-of-war. --PARKMAN.

[The sound] rang in his ears _like_ the iron hoofs of the steeds of Time.--LONGFELLOW.

Stirring it vigorously, _like_ a cook beating eggs.--ALDRICH.

If the verb is expressed, _like_ drops out, and _as_ or _as if_ takes its place.

The sturdy English moralist may talk of a Scotch supper _as_ he pleases.--CASS.

Mankind for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw, just _as_ they do in Abyssinia to this day.--LAMB.

I do with my friends _as_ I do with my books.--EMERSON.

NOTE.--Very rarely _like_ is found with a verb following, but this is not considered good usage: for example,--

A timid, nervous child, _like_ Martin _was_.--MAYHEW.

Through which they put their heads, _like_ the Gauchos _do_ through their cloaks.--DARWIN.

_Like_ an arrow shot From a well-experienced archer _hits_ the mark.--SHAKESPEARE.

INTERJECTIONS.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

334. Interjections are exclamations used to express emotion, and are not parts of speech in the same sense as the words we have discussed; that is, entering into the structure of a sentence.

Some of these are imitative sounds; as, tut! buzz! etc.

_Humph_! attempts to express a contemptuous nasal utterance that no letters of our language can really spell.

[Sidenote: _Not all exclamatory words are interjections._]

Other interjections are _oh_! _ah_! _alas_! _pshaw_! _hurrah_! etc. But it is to be remembered that almost any word may be used as an exclamation, but it still retains its identity as noun, pronoun, verb, etc.: for example, "Books! lighthouses built on the sea of time [noun];" "Halt! the dust-brown ranks stood fast [verb]," "Up! for shame! [adverb]," "Impossible! it cannot be [adjective]."