A short introduction to English grammar
Date: 2023-12-30T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: English language -- Grammar -- Early works to 1800

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Title: A short introduction to English grammar
with critical notes

Author: Robert Lowth

Release date: December 30, 2023 [eBook #72554]

Language: English

Original publication: London: J. Hughs, 1762

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72554

Credits: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR ***

A SHORT
INTRODUCTION
TO
ENGLISH GRAMMAR:
WITH CRITICAL NOTES.

Nam ipsum Latine loqui est illud quidem in magna laude ponendum: sed non tam sua sponte, quam quod est a plerisque neglectum. Non enim tam præclarum est scire Latine, quam turpe nescire; neque tam id mihi oratoris boni, quam civis Romani proprium videtur.

Cicero.

LONDON: Printed by J. Hughs;
For A. Millar in the Strand;
And R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-mall. 1762.

PREFACE.

The English Language hath been much cultivated during the last two hundred years. It hath been considerably polished and refined; it hath been greatly enlarged in extent and compass; its force and energy, its variety, richness, and elegance, have been tried with good success, in verse and in prose, upon all subjects, and in every kind of stile: but whatever other improvements it may have received, it hath made no advances in Grammatical accuracy.

It is now about fifty years since Doctor Swift made a public remonstrance, addressed to the Earl of Oxford, then Lord Treasurer, of the imperfect State of our Language; alledging in particular, “that in many instances it offended against every part of Grammar.” Swift must be allowed to have been a good judge of this matter. He was himself very attentive to this part, both in his own writings, and in his remarks upon those of his friends: he is one of our most correct, and perhaps our very best prose writer. Indeed the justness of this complaint, as far as I can find, hath never been questioned; and yet no effectual method hath hitherto been taken to redress the grievance of which he complains.

But let us consider, how, and in what extent, we are to understand this charge brought against the English Language. Does it mean, that the English Language as it is spoken by the politest part of the nation, and as it stands in the writings of our most approved authors, oftentimes offends against every part of Grammar? Thus far, I am afraid, the charge is true. Or does it further imply, that our Language is in its nature irregular and capricious; not subject, or not easily reduceable, to a System of rules? In this respect, I am persuaded, the charge is wholly without foundation.

The English Language is perhaps of all the present European Languages by much the most simple in its form and construction. Of all the ancient Languages extant that is the most simple, which is undoubtedly the most ancient: but even that Language itself does not equal the English in simplicity.

The Words of the English Language are subject to fewer variations from their original Form, than those perhaps of any other Language whatsoever. Its Substantives have but one variation of Case: nor have they any beside the natural distinction of Gender. Its Adjectives admit of no change at all, except that which expresses the degrees of Comparison. All the possible variations of the original form of the Verb are not above six or seven; whereas in many Languages they amount to one or two hundred: and almost the whole business of Modes, Times, and Voices is managed with great ease by the assistance of eight or nine commodious little Verbs; called from their use Auxiliaries. The Construction of this Language is so easy and obvious, that our Grammarians have thought it hardly worth while to give us any thing like a regular and systematical Syntax. The last English Grammar that hath been presented to the public, and by the Person best qualified to have given us a perfect one, comprises the whole Syntax in ten lines. The reason, which he assigns for being so very concise in this part, is, “because our Language has so little inflection, that its Construction neither requires nor admits many rules.” In truth, the easier any subject is in its own nature, the harder is it to make it more easy by explanation; and nothing is commonly more unnecessary, and at the same time more difficult, than to give a Demonstration in form of a proposition almost self-evident.

It is not owing then to any peculiar irregularity or difficulty of our Language, that the general practice both of speaking and writing it is chargeable with inaccuracy. It is not the Language, but the practice, that is in fault. The truth is, Grammar is very much neglected among us: and it is not the difficulty of the Language, but on the contrary the simplicity and facility of it, that occasions this neglect. Were the Language less easy and simple, we should find ourselves under a necessity of studying it with more care and attention. But as it is, we take it for granted, that we have a competent knowledge and skill, and are able to acquit ourselves properly, in our own native tongue: a faculty solely acquired by use, conducted by habit, and tried by the ear, carries us on without reflection; we meet with no rubs or difficulties in our way, or we do not perceive them; we find ourselves able to go on without rules, and we do not so much as suspect that we stand in need of them.

A Grammatical Study of our own Language makes no part of the ordinary method of instruction which we pass thro’ in our childhood; and it is very seldom that we apply ourselves to it afterward. And yet the want of it will not be effectually supplied by any other advantages whatsoever. Much practice in the polite world, and a general acquaintance with the best authors, are good helps, but alone will hardly be sufficient: we have writers, who have enjoyed these advantages in their full extent, and yet cannot be recommended as models of an accurate style. Much less then will what is commonly called Learning serve the purpose; that is, a critical knowledge of ancient languages, and much reading of ancient authors: the greatest Critic and most able Grammarian of the last age, when he came to apply his Learning and his Criticism to an English Author, was frequently at a loss in matters of ordinary use and common construction in his own Vernacular Idiom.

But perhaps the Notes subjoined to the following pages will furnish a more convincing argument, than any thing that can be said here, both of the truth of the charge of inaccuracy brought against our Language as it subsists in practice, and of the necessity of investigating the Principles of it, and studying it Grammatically, if we would attain to a due degree of skill in it. It is with reason expected of every person of a liberal education, and much more is it indispensably required of every one who undertakes to inform or entertain the public, that he should be able to express himself with propriety and accuracy. It will evidently appear from these Notes, that our best Authors for want of some rudiments of this kind have sometimes fallen into mistakes, and been guilty of palpable errors in point of Grammar. The examples there given are such as occurred in reading, without any very curious or methodical examination: and they might easily have been much increased in number by any one, who had leisure or phlegm enough to have gone through a regular course of reading with this particular view. However, I believe, they may be sufficient to answer the purpose intended; to evince the necessity of the Study of Grammar in our own Language, and to admonish those, who set up for Authors among us, that they would do well to consider this part of Learning as an object not altogether beneath their regard.

The principal design of a Grammar of any Language is to teach us to express ourselves with propriety in that Language, and to be able to judge of every phrase and form of construction, whether it be right or not. The plain way of doing this, is to lay down rules, and to illustrate them by examples. But besides shewing what is right, the matter may be further explained by pointing out what is wrong. I will not take upon me to say, whether we have any Grammar that sufficiently performs the first part: but the latter method here called in, as subservient to the former, may perhaps be found in this case to be of the two the more useful and effectual manner of instruction.

Besides this principal design of Grammar in our own Language, there is a secondary use to which it may be applied, and which, I think, is not attended to as it deserves. A good foundation in the General Principles of Grammar is in the first place necessary for all those who are initiated in a learned education; and for all others likewise, who shall have occasion to furnish themselves with the knowledge of modern, languages. Universal Grammar cannot be taught abstractedly: it must be done with reference to some language already known, in which the terms are to be explained, and the rules exemplified. The learner is supposed to be unacquainted with all but his own native tongue; and in what other, consistently with reason and common sense, would you go about to explain it to him? When he has a competent knowledge of the main principles, the common terms, the general rules, the whole subject and business of Grammar, exemplified in his own Language; he then will apply himself with great advantage to any foreign language, whether ancient or modern. To enter at once upon the Science of Grammar, and the Study of a foreign Language, is to encounter two difficulties together, each of which would be much lessened by being taken separately and in its proper order. For these plain reasons a competent Grammatical knowledge of our own Language is the true foundation upon which all Literature, properly so called, ought to be raised. If this method were adopted in our Schools; if children were first taught the common principles of Grammar by some short and clear System of English Grammar, which happily by its simplicity and facility is perhaps of all others the fittest for such a purpose, they would have some notion of what they were going about, when they should enter into the Latin Grammar; and would hardly be engaged so many years, as they now are, in that most irksome and difficult part of literature, with so much labour of the memory, and with so little assistance of the understanding.

A design somewhat of this kind gave occasion to the following little System, intended merely for a private and domestic use. The chief end of it was to explain the general principles of Grammar as clearly and intelligibly as possible. In the Definitions therefore easiness and perspicuity have been sometimes prefered to logical exactness. The common Divisions have been complied with, as far as truth and reason would permit. The known and received Terms have been retained, except in one or two instances, where others offered themselves, which seemed much more significant. All disquisitions, which appeared to have more of subtilty than of usefulness in them, have been avoided. In a word, it was calculated for the use of the Learner even of the lowest class. Those, who would enter more deeply into this Subject, will find it fully and accurately handled, with the greatest acuteness of investigation, perspicuity of explication, and elegance of method, in a Treatise intitled Hermes, by James Harris Esq; the most beautiful and perfect example of Analysis that has been exhibited since the days of Aristotle.

The following short System is proposed only as an Essay, upon a Subject, tho’ of little esteem, yet of no small importance; and in which the want of something better adapted to real use and practice, than what we have at present, seems to be generally acknowledged. If those, who are qualified to judge of such matters, and do not look upon them as beneath their notice, shall so far approve of it, as to think it worth a revisal, and capable of being improved into something really useful; their remarks and assistance, communicated through the hands of the Bookseller, shall be received with all proper deference and acknowledgement.

A SHORT
INTRODUCTION
TO
ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

GRAMMAR.

Grammar is the Art of rightly expressing our thoughts by Words.

Grammar in general, or Universal Grammar, explains the Principles which are common to all languages.

The Grammar of any particular Language, as the English Grammar, applies those common principles to that particular language, according to the established usage and custom of it.

Grammar treats of Sentences, and the several parts of which they are compounded.

Sentences consist of Words; Words, of one or more Syllables; Syllables, of one or more Letters.

So that Letters, Syllables, Words, and Sentences, make up the whole subject of Grammar.

LETTERS.

A Letter is the first Principle, or least part of a Word.

An Articulate Sound is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech.

A Vowel is a simple articulate sound, formed by the impulse of the voice, and by the opening only of the mouth in a particular manner.

A Consonant cannot be perfectly sounded by itself; but joined with a vowel forms a compound articulate sound, by a particular motion or contact of the parts of the mouth.

A Diphthong, or Double Vowel, is the union of two or more vowels pronounced by a single impulse of the voice.

In English there are twenty-six Letters:

A, a; B, b; C, c; D, d; E, e; F, f; G, g; H, h; I, i; J, j; K, k; L, l; M, m; N, n; O, o; P, p; Q, q; R, r; S, s; T, t; U, u; V, v; W, w; X, x; Y, y; Z, z.

J j, and V v, are consonants; the former having the sound of the soft g, and the latter that of a coarser f: they are therefore intirely different from the vowels i and u, and distinct letters of themselves; they ought also to be distinguished by a peculiar Name; the former may be called ja, and the latter vee.

Six of the letters are vowels, and may be sounded by themselves; a, e, i, o, u, y.

Y is in sound wholly the same with i; and is written instead of it at the end of words; or before another i, as flying, denying: it is retained likewise in some words derived from the Greek; and it is always a vowel.

W is either a vowel, or a diphthong: its proper sound is the same as the Italian u, the French ou, or the English oo: after o, it is sometimes not sounded at all, sometimes like a single u.

The rest of the letters are consonants; which cannot be sounded alone: some not at all, and these are called Mutes, b, c, d, g, k, p, q, t: others very imperfectly, making a kind of obscure sound, and these are called Semi-vowels, or Half-vowels, l, m, n, r, f, s; the first four of which are also distinguished by the name of Liquids.

The Mutes and the Semi-vowels are distinguished by their names in the Alphabet, those of the former all beginning with a consonant; bee, cee, &c; those of the latter all beginning with a vowel, ef, el, &c.

X is a double consonant, compounded of c, or k, and s.

Z seems not to be a double consonant in English, as it is commonly supposed: it has the same relation to s, as v has to f, being a thicker and coarser expression of it.

H is only an Aspiration, or Breathing: and sometimes at the beginning of a word is not sounded at all; as, an hour, an honest man.

C is pronounced like k, before a, o, u; and soft, like s, before e, i, y: in like manner g is pronounced always hard before a, o, u; sometimes hard and sometimes soft before i, and y; and for the most part soft before e.

The English Alphabet, like most others, is both deficient and redundant; in some cases, the same letters expressing different sounds, and different letters expressing the same sounds.

SYLLABLES.

A Syllable is a sound either simple or compounded, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word, or part of a word.

Spelling is the art of reading by naming the letters singly, and rightly dividing words into their syllables. Or, in writing, it is the expressing of a word by its proper letters.

In Spelling, a syllable in the beginning or middle of a word ends in a vowel, unless the consonant x follow it, or two consonants, whereof the former is a liquid, or the same as the latter.

But the best and only sure rule for dividing the syllables in spelling, is to divide them as they are naturally divided in a right pronunciation.

WORDS.

Words are articulate sounds, used by common consent as signs of ideas, or notions.

There are in English nine Sorts of Words, or, as they are commonly called, Parts of Speech.

1. The Article, prefixed to substantives, when they are common names of things, to point them out, and to shew how far their signification extends.

2. The Substantive, or Noun, being the name of any thing conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion.

3. The Pronoun, standing instead of the noun.

4. The Adjective, added to the noun to express the quality of it.

5. The Verb, or Word by way of eminence, signifying to be, to do, or to suffer.

6. The Adverb, added to verbs, and also to adjectives and other adverbs, to express some circumstance belonging to them.

7. The Preposition, put before nouns and pronouns chiefly, to connect them with other words, and to shew their relation to them.

8. The Conjunction, connecting sentences together.

9. The Interjection, thrown in to express the affection of the speaker, though unnecessary with respect to the construction of the sentence.

EXAMPLE.

1. 1

2. The

1. 2

2. power

1. 7

2. of

1. 2

2. speech

1. 5

2. is

1. 1

2. a

1. 2

2. faculty

1. 4

2. peculiar

1. 7

2. to

1. 2

2. man,

1. 8

2. and

1. 5

2. was

1. 5

2. bestowed

1. 7

2. on

1. 3

2. him

1. 7

2. by

1. 3

2. his

1. 4

2. beneficent

1. 2

2. Creator

1. 7

2. for

1. 1

2. the

1. 4

2. greatest

1. 8

2. and

1. 6

2. most

1. 4

2. excellent

1. 2

2. uses;

1. 8

2. but

1. 9

2. alas!

1. 6

2. how

1. 6

2. often

1. 5

2. do

1. 3

2. we

1. 5

2. pervert

1. 3

2. it

1. 7

2. to

1. 1

2. the

1. 4

2. worst

1. 7

2. of

1. 2

2. purposes?

In the foregoing sentence the Words the, a, are Articles; power, speech, faculty, man, creator, uses, purposes, are Substantives; him, his, we, it, are Pronouns; peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are Adjectives; is, was, bestowed, do, pervert, are Verbs; most, how, often, are Adverbs; of, to, on, by, for, are Prepositions; and, but, are Conjunctions; and alas is an Interjection.

The Substantives power, speech, faculty, and the rest, are General, or Common, Names of things; whereof there are many sorts belonging to the same kind, or many individuals belonging to the same sort: as there are many sorts of power, many sorts of speech, many sorts of faculty, many individuals of that sort of animal called man; and so on. These general or common names are here applied in a more or less extensive signification, according as they are used without either, or with the one, or with the other, of the two Articles a and the. The words speech, man, being accompanied with no article, are taken in their largest extent, and signify all of the kind or sort, all sorts of speech, and all men. The word faculty, with the article a before it, is used in a more confined signification, for some one out of many of that kind; for it is here implied, that there are other faculties peculiar to man beside speech. The words power, creator, uses, purposes, with the article the before them, (for his Creator is the same as the Creator of him) are used in the most confined signification for the things here mentioned and ascertained: the power is not any one indeterminate power out of many sorts, but that particular sort of power here specified, namely, the power of speech; the creator is the One great Creator of man and of all things; the uses, and the purposes, are particular uses and purposes; the former are explained to be those in particular, that are the greatest and most excellent; such for instance, as the glory of God, and the common benefit of mankind; the latter, to be the worst, as lying, slandering, blaspheming, and the like.

The Pronouns him, his, we, it, stand instead of some of the nouns, or substantives, going before them; as him supplies the place of man; his of man’s; we of men (implied in the general name man, including all men, of which number is the speaker;) it of the power, before mentioned. If instead of these pronouns the nouns for which they stand had been used, the sense would have been the same, but the frequent repetition of the same words would have been disagreeable and tedious: as, The power of speech peculiar to man, bestowed on man, by man’s Creator, &c.

The Adjectives peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are added to their several substantives to denote the character and quality of each.

The Verbs is, was bestowed, do pervert, signify severally, being, suffering, and doing. By the first it is implied, that there is such a thing as the power of speech, and it is affirmed to be of such a kind; namely, a faculty peculiar to man: by the second it is said to have been acted upon, or to have suffered, or to have had something done to it; namely, to have been bestowed on man: by the last, we are said to act upon it, or to do something to it; namely, to pervert it.

The Adverbs most, often, are added to the adjective excellent, and to the verb pervert, to shew the circumstance belonging to them; namely, that of the highest degree to the former, and that of frequency to the latter: concerning the degree of which frequency also a question is made by the adverb how, added to the adverb often.

The Prepositions of, to, on, by, for, placed before the substantives and pronouns speech, man, him, &c. connect them with other words, substantives, adjectives, and verbs, as power, peculiar, bestowed, &c. and shew the relation which they have to those words; as the relation of subject, object, agent, end; for denoting the end, by the agent, on, the object; to and of denote possession, or the belonging of one thing to another.

The Conjunctions and, and but, connect the three parts of the sentence together; the first more closely both with regard to the sentence and the sense; the second connecting the parts of the sentence, tho’ less strictly, and at the same time expressing an opposition in the sense.

The Interjection alas! expresses the concern and regret of the speaker; and though thrown in with propriety, yet might have been omitted without injuring the construction of the sentence, or destroying the sense.

ARTICLE.

The Article is a word prefixed to substantives, to point them out, and to shew how far their signification extends.

In English there are but two articles, a, and the: a becomes an before a vowel or a silent h.

A is used in a vague sense to point out one single thing of the kind, in other respects indeterminate: the determines what particular thing is meant.

A substantive without any article to limit it is taken in its widest sense: thus man means all mankind; as,

“The proper study of mankind is man:”

Pope.

where mankind and man may change places without making any alteration in the sense. A man means some one or other of that kind, indefinitely; the man means, definitely, that particular man, who is spoken of: the former therefore is called the Indefinite, the latter the Definite, Article[1].

Example: “Man was made for society, and ought to extend his good-will to all men: but a man will naturally entertain a more particular kindness for the men with whom he has the most frequent intercourse; and enter into a still closer union with the man, whose temper and disposition suit best with his own.”

It is of the nature of both the Articles to determine or limit the thing spoken of: a determines it to be one single thing of the kind, leaving it still uncertain which; the determines which it is, or of many which they are. The first therefore can only be joined to Substantives in the singular number[2]; the last may also be joined to plurals.

There is a remarkable exception to this rule in the use of the Adjectives few and many, (the latter chiefly with the word great before it) which, though joined with plural Substantives, yet admit of the singular Article a: as, a few men, a great many men;

“Told of a many thousand warlike French:”—

“The care-craz’d mother of a many children.”

Shakespear.

The reason of it is manifest from the effect which the Article has in these phrases: it means a small or great number collectively taken, and therefore gives the idea of a Whole, that is, of Unity. Thus likewise a hundred, a thousand, is one whole number, an aggregate of many collectively taken; and therefore still retains the Article a, tho’ joined as an Adjective to a plural Substantive: as, a hundred years;[3]

“For harbour at a thousand doors they knock’d;

Not one of all the thousand, but was lock’d.”

Dryden.

The Definite Article the is sometimes applied to Adverbs in the comparative degree, and its effect is to mark the degree the more strongly, and to define it the more precisely: as, “The more I examine it, the better I like it. I like this the least of any.”

SUBSTANTIVE.

A Substantive, or Noun, is the Name of a thing; of whatever we conceive in any way to subsist, or of which we have any notion.

Substantives are of two sorts; Proper, and Common, Names. Proper Names are the names appropriated to individuals; as the names of persons and places: such are George, London. Common Names stand for kinds, containing many sorts; or sorts, containing many individuals under them; as, Animal, Man.

Proper Names being the names of individuals, and therefore of things already as determinate as they can be made, admit not of Articles, or of Plurality of Number; unless by a Figure, or by Accident: as when great Conquerors are called Alexanders; and some great Conqueror An Alexander, or The Alexander of his age; when a Common Name is understood, as The Thames, that is, the River Thames; The George, that is, the Sign of St. George: or when it happens that there are many persons of the same name; as, The two Scipios.

Whatever is spoken of is represented as one, or more, in Number: these two manners of representation in respect of number are called the Singular, and the Plural, Number.

In English, the Substantive Singular is made Plural, for the most part, by adding to it s; or es, where it is necessary for the pronunciation: as, king, kings; fox, foxes; leaf, leaves; in which last, and many others, f is also changed into v, for the sake of an easier pronunciation, and more agreeable sound. Some few Plurals end in en: as, oxen, chicken, children, brethren; and men, women, by changing the a of the Singular into e[4]. This form we have retained from the Teutonic; as likewise the introduction of the e in the former syllable of two of the last instances; weomen, (for so we pronounce it) brethren, from woman, brother[5]: something like which may be noted in some other forms of Plurals; as, mouse, mice; louse, lice; tooth, teeth; foot, feet; goose, geese[6].

The English Language, to express different connexions and relations of one thing to another, uses, for the most part, Prepositions. The Greek and Latin among the antient, and some too among the modern languages, as the German, vary the termination or ending of the Substantive to answer the same purpose. These different endings are in those languages called Cases. And the English being derived from the same origin as the German, that is, from the Teutonic[7], is not wholly without them. For instance, the relation of Possession, or Belonging, is often expressed by a Case, or a different ending of the Substantive. This Case answers to the Genitive Case in Latin, and may still be so called; tho’ perhaps more properly the Possessive Case. Thus, “God’s grace:” which may also be expressed by the Preposition; as, “the grace of God.” It was formerly written Godis grace; we now very improperly always shorten it with an Apostrophe, even tho’ we are obliged to pronounce it fully; as, “Thomas’s book:” that is, “Thomasis book;” not “Thomas his book,” as it is commonly supposed[8].

When the thing, to which another is said to belong, is expressed by a circumlocution, or by many terms, the sign of the Possessive Case is added to the last term: as, “The King of Great Britain’s Soldiers.” When it is a Noun ending with s, or in the Plural Number in s, the sign of the Possessive Case is not added: as, “for righteousness sake; on eagles wings.” Both the Sign and the Preposition seem sometimes to be used: as, “a soldier of the king’s:” but here are really two Possessives; for it means, “one of the soldiers of the king.”

The English in its Substantives has but two different terminations for Cases; that of the Nominative, which simply expresses the Name of the thing, and that of the Possessive Case.

Things are frequently considered with relation to the distinction of Sex or Gender; as being Male, or Female, or Neither the one, nor the other. Hence Substantives are of the Masculine, or Feminine, or Neuter, that is, Neither, Gender: which latter is only the exclusion of all consideration of Gender.

The English Language, with singular propriety, following nature alone, applies the distinction of Masculine and Feminine only to the names of Animals; all the rest are Neuter: except when by a Poetical or Rhetorical fiction things inanimate and Qualities are exhibited as Persons, and consequently become either Male or Female. And this gives the English an advantage above most other languages in the Poetical and Rhetorical Style: for when Nouns naturally Neuter are converted into Masculine and Feminine[9], the Personification is more distinctly and forcibly marked.

Some few Substantives are distinguished as to their Gender by their termination: as, prince, princess; actor, actress; lion, lioness; hero, heroine; &c.

The chief use of Gender in English is in the Pronoun of the Third Person, which must agree in that respect with the Noun for which it stands.

PRONOUN.

A Pronoun is a word standing instead of a Noun, as its Substitute or Representative.

In the Pronoun are to be considered the Person, Number, Gender and Case.

There are Three Persons which may be the Subject of any discourse: first, the Person who speaks may speak of himself; secondly, he may speak of the Person to whom he addresses himself; thirdly, he may speak of some other Person.

These are called, respectively, the First, Second, and Third, Persons: and are expressed by the Pronouns I, Thou, He.

As the Speakers, the Persons spoken to, and the Persons spoken of, may be many, so each of these Persons hath the Plural Number; We, Ye, They.

The Persons speaking and spoken to are supposed to be present, from which and other circumstances their Sex is commonly known, and needs not to be marked by a distinction of Gender in their Pronouns: but the Person spoken of being absent and in many respects unknown, it is necessary that it should be marked by a distinction of Gender; at least when some particular Person is spoken of, who ought to be more distinctly marked: accordingly the Pronoun Singular of the Third Person hath the Three Genders, He, She, It.

Pronouns have Three Cases; the Nominative; the Genitive, or Possessive; like Nouns; and moreover a Case, which follows the Verb Active, or the Preposition, expressing the Object of an Action, or of a Relation. It answers to the Oblique Cases in Latin; and may be properly enough called the Objective Case.

PRONOUNS;
according to their Persons, Numbers, Cases, and Genders.

PERSONS.

1. | 2. | 3. | 1. | 2. | 3.
Singular. | Plural.
I, | Thou, | He; | We, | Ye or You, | They.

CASES.

| Nom. | Poss. | Obj. | | Nom. | Poss. | Obj.
First Person.
| I, | Mine, | Me; | | We, | Ours, | Us.
Second Person.
| Thou, | Thine, | Thee; | | Ye or You, | Yours, | You[10].
Third Person.
Masc. | He, | His, | Him; | } | They, | Theirs, | Them.
Fem. | She, | Hers, | Her; | }
Neut. | It, | Its[11], | It; | }

The Personal Pronouns have the nature of Substantives, and as such stand by themselves: the rest have the nature of Adjectives, and as such are joined to Substantives; and may be called Pronominal Adjectives.

Thy, My, Her, Our, Your, Their, are Pronominal Adjectives: but His, (that is, Hee’s) Her’s, Our’s, Your’s, Their’s, have evidently the Form of the Possessive Case: and by Analogy, Mine, Thine[12], may be esteemed of the same rank. All these are used, when the Noun they belong to is understood: the two latter sometimes also instead of my, thy, when the Noun following them begins with a vowel.

Beside the foregoing there are several other Pronominal Adjectives; which tho’ they may sometimes seem to stand by themselves, yet have always some Substantive belonging to them, either referred to, or understood: as, This, that, other, any, some, one, none; these are called Definitive, because they define and limit the extent of the thing, to which they either refer, or are joined. The three first of these are varied to express Number; as, These, those, others; the last of which admits of the Plural form only when its Substantive is not joined to it, but referred to, or understood: none of them are varied to express the Gender or Case. One is sometimes used in an Indefinite sense (answering to the French on) as in the following phrases; “one is apt to think;” “one sees;” “one supposes.” Who, which, that, are called Relatives, because they more directly refer to some Substantive going before; which therefore is called the Antecedent. They also connect the following part of the Sentence with the foregoing. These belong to all the three Persons; whereas the rest belong only to the Third. One of them only is varied to express the three Cases; Who, whose[13], (that is, who’s[14]) whom: none of them have different endings for the Numbers. Who, which, what, are called Interrogatives, when they are used in asking questions. The two latter of them have no variation of Number or Case.

Own, and self, in the Plural selves, are joined to the Possessives my, our, thy, your, his, her, their; as, my own hand; myself, yourselves; both of them expressing emphasis, or opposition; as, “I did it my own self,” that is, and no one else: the latter also forming the Reciprocal Pronoun; as, “he hurt himself.” Himself, themselves, seem to be used in the Nominative Case by corruption instead of his self, their selves: as, “he came himself;” “they did it themselves;” where himself, themselves, cannot be in the Objective Case. If this be so, self must be in these instances, not a Pronoun, but a Noun. Thus Dryden uses it:

“What I show,

Thy self may freely on thy self bestow.”

Ourself, the Plural Pronominal Adjective with the Singular Substantive, is peculiar to the Regal Style.

Own is an Adjective; or perhaps the Participle (owen) of the obsolete verb owe; to possess; to be the right owner of a thing.

All Nouns whatever in Grammatical Construction are of the Third Person: except when an address is made to a Person; then the Noun, answering to the Vocative Case in Latin, is of the Second Person.

ADJECTIVE.

An Adjective is a word joined to a Substantive to express its Quality[15].

In English the Adjective is not varied on account of Gender, Number, or Case. The only variation it admits of is that of the Degrees of Comparison.

Qualities admit of more and less, or of different degrees: and the words that express Qualities have accordingly proper forms to express different degrees. When a Quality is simply expressed, without any relation to the same in a different degree, it is called the Positive; as, wise, great. When it is expressed with augmentation, or with reference to a less degree of the same, it is called the Comparative; as, wiser, greater. When it is expressed as being in the highest degree of all, it is called the Superlative; as, wisest, greatest.

So that the simple word, or Positive, becomes Comparative by adding r or er; and Superlative by adding st, or est, to the end of it. And the Adverbs more and most placed before the Adjective have the same effect; as, wise, more wise, most wise[16].

Monosyllables, for the most part, are compared by er and est; and Dissyllables by more and most: as, mild, milder, mildest; frugal, more frugal, most frugal. Dissyllables ending in y easily admit of er and est; as happy, lovely. Words of more than two syllables hardly ever admit of er and est.

In some few words the Superlative is formed by adding the Adverb most to the end of them: as, nethermost, uttermost, or utmost, undermost, uppermost, foremost.

In English, as in most languages, there are some words of very common use that are irregular in this respect: as, good, better, best; bad, worse, worst; little, less[17], least; much, or many, more, most; and a few others.

VERB.

A Verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer.

There are three kinds of Verbs; Active, Passive, and Neuter Verbs.

A Verb Active expresses an Action, and necessarily implies an agent, and an object acted upon: as, to love; “I love Thomas.”

A Verb Passive expresses a Passion, or a Suffering, or the receiving of an Action; and necessarily implies an Object acted upon, and an Agent by which it is acted upon: as, to be loved; “Thomas is loved by me.”

So when the Agent takes the lead in the Sentence, the Verb is Active, and the Object follows: when the Object takes the lead, the Verb is Passive, and the Agent follows.

A Verb Neuter expresses Being, or a state or condition of being; when the Agent and the Object acted upon coincide, and the event is properly neither Action nor Passion, but rather something between both: as, I am; I walk; I sleep.

The Verb Active is called also Transitive, because the Action passeth over to the Object, or hath an effect upon some other thing: and the Verb Neuter is called Intransitive, because the effect is confined within the Agent, and doth not pass over to any object.

In English many Verbs are used both in an Active and a Neuter signification, the construction only determining of which kind they are.

In a Verb are to be considered the Person, the Number, the Time, and the Mode.

The Verb varies its endings to express, or agree with, the different Persons: as, “I love, Thou lovest, He loveth, or loves.”

So also to express the different Numbers of the same Person: as, “Thou lovest, ye love; He loveth, they love[18].”

So likewise to express different Times: as, “I love, I loved; I bear, I bore, I have born.”

The Mode is the Manner of representing the Action or Passion. When it is simply declared, or a question is asked concerning it, it is called the Indicative Mode; when it is bidden, it is called the Imperative; when it is subjoined as the end or design, or mentioned under a condition, a supposition, or the like, for the most part depending on some other Verb, and having a Conjunction before it, it is called the Subjunctive; when it is barely expressed without any limitation of person or number, it is called the Infinitive; and when it is expressed in a form in which it may be joined to a Noun as its quality or accident, partaking thereby of the nature of an Adjective, it is called the Participle.

But to express the Time of the Verb the English uses also the assistance of other Verbs, called therefore Auxiliaries, or Helpers; do, be, have, shall, will: as, “I do love, I did love; I am loved, I was loved; I have loved, I have been loved; I shall, or will, love, or be loved.”

The two principal auxiliaries, to have, and to be, are thus varied according to Person, Number, Time, and Mode.

Time is Present, Past, or Future.

To HAVE.

Indicative Mode.

Present Time.

Person. | Sing. | Plur.
1. | I have, | | | We | } | have.
2. | Thou hast[19], | | | Ye | }
3. | He hath, or has; | | | They | }

Past Time.

1. | I had, | | | We | } | had.
2. | Thou hadst, | | | Ye | }
3. | He had; | | | They | }

Future Time.

1. | I shall, or will, | } | have; | We | } | shall, or will, have.
2. | Thou shalt, or wilt, | } | Ye | }
3. | He shall, or will, | } | They | }

Imperative Mode.

1. | | Let us have,

2.

Have thou, or,
Do thou have,

Have ye, or,
Do ye have,

3. | Let him have; | Let them have.

Subjunctive Mode.

Present Time.

1. | I | } | have; | We | } | have.
2. | Thou | } | Ye | }
3. | He | } | They | }

Infinitive Mode.

Present, To have: Past, To have had.

Participle.

Present, Having: Perfect[20], Had: Past, Having had.

To BE.

Indicative Mode.

Present Time.

1. | I am, | | | We | } | are.
2. | Thou art, | | | Ye | }
3. | He is; | | | They | }

Or,

1. | I be, | | | We | } | be.
2. | Thou beest, | | | Ye | }
3. | He is; | | | They | }

Past Time.

1. | I was, | | | We | } | were.
2. | Thou wast, | | | Ye | }
3. | He was; | | | They | }

Future Time.

1. | I shall, or will, | } | be; | We | } | shall, or will, be.
2. | Thou shalt, or wilt, | } | Ye | }
3. | He shall, or will, | } | They | }

Imperative Mode.

1. | | Let us be,

2.

Be thou, or,
Do thou be,

Be ye, or,
Do ye be,

3. | Let him be; | Let them be.

Subjunctive Mode.

Present Time.

1. | I | } | be; | We | } | be.
2. | Thou | } | Ye | }
3. | He | } | They | }

Past Time.

1. | I | were, | | We | } | were.
2. | Thou | wert[21], | | Ye | }
3. | He | were; | | They | }

Infinitive Mode.

Present, To be: Past, To have been.

Participle.

Present, Being: Perfect, Been: Past, Having been.

The Verb Active is thus varied according to Person, Number, Time and Mode.

Indicative Mode.

Present Time.

Person. | Sing. | Plur.
1. | I love, | | | We | } | love.
2. | Thou lovest, | | | Ye | }
3. | He loveth, or loves; | | | They | }

Past Time.

1. | I loved, | | | We | } | loved.
2. | Thou lovedst, | | | Ye | }
3. | He loved; | | | They | }

Future Time.

1. | I shall, or will, | } | love; | We | } | shall, or will, love.
2. | Thou shalt, or wilt, | } | Ye | }
3. | He shall, or will, | } | They | }

Imperative Mode.

1. | | Let us love,

2.

Love thou, or,
Do thou love,

Love ye, or,
Do ye love,

3. | Let him love; | Let them love.

Subjunctive Mode.

Present Time.

1. | I | } | love; | We | } | love.
2. | Thou | } | Ye | }
3. | He | } | They | }

And,

1.

I may

}

love;

We

}

may love; and
have loved[22].

2. | Thou mayst | } | Ye | }
3. | He may | } | They | }

Past Time.

1.

I might

}

love;

We

}

might love; and
have loved[22].

2. | Thou mightest | } | Ye | }
3. | He might | } | They | }

And,

I could, should, would; Thou couldst, &c. love; and have loved.

Infinitive Mode.

Present, To love: Past, To have loved.

Participle.

Present, Loving: Perfect, Loved: Past, Having loved.

But in discourse we have often occasion to speak of Time not only as Present, Past, and Future, at large and indeterminately, but also as such with some particular distinction and limitation; that is, as passing, or finished; as imperfect, or perfect. This will best be seen in an example of a Verb laid out and distributed according to these distinctions of Time.

Indefinite, or Undetermined, Time:

Present, | Past, | Future,
I love; | I loved; | I shall love.

Definite, or Determined, Time:

Present Imperfect: | I am (now) loving.
Present Perfect: | I have (now) loved.
Past Imperfect: | I was (then) loving.
Past Perfect: | I had (then) loved.
Future Imperf. | I shall (then) be loving.
Future Perf. | I shall (then) have loved.

To express the Present and Past Imperfect of the Active and Neuter Verb the Auxiliary do is sometimes used: I do (now) love; I did (then) love.

Thus with very little variation of the Principal Verb the several circumstances of Mode and Time are clearly expressed by the help of the Auxiliaries, be, have, do, let, may, can, shall, will.

The peculiar force of the several Auxiliaries is to be observed. Do and did mark the Action itself, or the Time of it[23], with greater force and distinction. They are also of frequent and almost necessary use in Interrogative and Negative Sentences. Let does not only express permission; but praying, exhorting, commanding. May and might express the possibility or liberty of doing a thing; can and could, the power. Must is sometimes called in for a helper, and denotes necessity. Would expresses the intention of the doer; should simply the event. Will in the first Person singular and plural promises or threatens; in the second and third Persons only foretells: shall on the contrary, in the first Person simply foretells; in the second and third Persons commands or threatens[24].

Do and have make the Present Time; did, had, the Past; shall, will, the Future: let the Imperative Mode; may, might, could, would, should, the Subjunctive. The Preposition to placed before the Verb makes the Infinitive Mode. Have, through its several Modes and Times, is placed only before the Perfect Participle; and be, in like manner, before the Present and Passive Participles: the rest only before the Verb itself in its Primary Form[25].

The Passive Verb is only the Participle Passive, (which for the most part is the same with the Indefinite Past Time Active, and always the same with the Perfect Participle) joined to the Auxiliary Verb to be through all its Variations: as, I am loved; I was loved; I have been loved; I shall be loved: and so on through all the Persons, Numbers, Times, and Modes.

The Neuter Verb is varied like the Active; but, having somewhat of the Nature of the Passive, admits in many instances of the Passive form, retaining still the Neuter signification; chiefly in such Verbs as signify some sort of motion, or change of place or condition: as, I am come; I was gone; I am grown; I was fallen[26]. The Verb am in this case precisely defines the Time of the action or event, but does not change the nature of it; the Passive form still expressing, not properly a Passion, but only a state or condition of Being.

IRREGULAR VERBS.

In English both the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect, or Passive, are formed by adding to the Verb ed; or d only when the Verb ends in e: as, turn, turned; love, loved. The Verbs that vary from this rule, in either or in both cases, are esteemed Irregular.

The nature of our language, the Accent and Pronunciation of it, inclines us to contract even all our Regular Verbs: thus loved, turned, are commonly pronounced in one syllable, lov’d, turn’d; and the second Person which was originally in three syllables, lovedest, turnedest, is become a dissyllable, lovedst, turnedst: for as we generally throw the accent as far back as possible towards the first part of the word, (in some even to the fourth syllable from the end,) the stress being laid on the first syllables, the rest are pronounced in a lower tone, more rapidly and indistinctly; and so are often either wholly dropt, or blended into one another.

It sometimes happens also, that the word which arises from a regular change does not sound easily or agreeably; sometimes by the rapidity of our pronunciation the vowels are shortened or lost; and the consonants which are thrown together do not easily coalesce with one another, and are therefore changed into others of the same organ, or of a kindred species: this occasions a further deviation from the regular form: thus, loveth, turneth, are contracted into lov’th, turn’th, and these for easier pronunciation immediately become loves, turns.

Verbs ending in ch, ck, p, x, ll, ss, in the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect or Passive admit the change of ed into t; as, snatcht, checkt, snapt, mixt, dropping also one of the double letters, dwelt, past; for snatched, checked, snapped, mixed, dwelled, passed: those that end in l, m, n, p, after a diphthong, moreover shorten the diphthong, or change it into a single short vowel; as, dealt, dreamt, meant, felt, slept, &c: all for the same reason; from the quickness of the pronunciation, and because the d after a short vowel will not easily coalesce with the preceding consonant. Those that end in ve change also v into f; as, bereave, bereft; leave, left; because likewise v after a short vowel will not easily coalesce with t.

All these, of which we have hitherto given examples, are considered not as Irregular, but as Contracted only; and in all of them the Intire as well as the Contracted form is used.

The formation of Verbs in English, both Regular and Irregular, is derived from the Saxon.

The Irregular Verbs in English are all Monosyllables, unless Compounded; and they are for the most part the same words which are Irregular Verbs in the Saxon.

As all our Regular Verbs are subject to some kind of Contraction, so the first Class of Irregulars is of those that become so from the same cause.

I.
Irregulars by Contraction.

Some Verbs ending in d or t have the Present, the Past Time, and the Participle Perfect and Passive, all alike, without any variation: as, Beat, burst[27], cast, cost, cut, hit, hurt, knit, let, lift[28], put, read[29], rent, rid, set, shed, shred, shut, slit, spread, thrust, wet[28].

These are Contractions from beated, bursted, casted, &c; because of the disagreeable sound of the syllable ed after d or t[30].

Others in the Past Time, and Participle Perfect and Passive, vary a little from the Present by shortening the diphthong, or changing the d into t: as, Lead, led; sweat, swet; meet, met; bleed, bled; breed, bred; feed, fed; speed, sped; bend, bent[28]; lend, lent; rend, rent; send, sent; spend, spent; build, built[28]; geld, gelt[28]; gild, gilt[28]; gird, girt[28].

Others not ending in d or t are formed by Contraction; have, had, for haved; make, made, for maked; flee, fled, for flee-ed.

The following beside the Contraction change also the Vowel; Sell, sold; tell, told; clothe, clad[28].

Stand, stood; and dare, durst, (which in the Participle hath regularly dared;) are directly from the Saxon, standan, stod; dyrran, dorste.

II.
Irregulars in ght.

The Irregulars of the Second Class end in ght, both in the Past Time and Participle; and change the vowel or diphthong into au or ou: they are taken from the Saxon, in which the termination is hte.

| Saxon.
Bring, | brought: | Bringan, | brohte.
Buy, | bought: | Bycgean, | bohte.
Catch, | caught: | |
Fight, | fought: | Feotan, | fuht.
Teach, | taught: | Tæchan, | tæhte.
Think, | thought: | Thencan, | thohte.
Seek, | sought: | Secan, | sohte.
Work, | wrought: | Weorcan, | worhte.

Fraught seems rather to be an Adjective than the Participle of the Verb to freight, which has regularly freighted. Raught from reach is obsolete.

III.
Irregulars in en.

The Irregulars of the Third Class form the Past Time by changing the vowel or diphthong of the Present; and the Participle Perfect and Passive by adding the termination en, beside, for the most part, the change of the vowel or diphthong. These also derive their formation in both parts from the Saxon.

Present. | Past. | Participle.
a changed into e.
Fall, | fell, | fallen.
a into o.
Awake, | awoke, | [awaked.]
a into oo.
Forsake, | forsook, | forsaken.
Shake, | shook, | shaken.
Take, | took, | taken.
aw into ew.
Draw, | drew, | drawn[31].
ay into ew.
Slay, | slew, | slayn[31].
e into a or o, o.
Get, | gat, or got, | gotten.
Help, | [helped,] | holpen.
Melt, | [melted,] | molten[28].
Swell, | [swelled,] | swollen[28].
ea into a or o.
Eat, | ate, | eaten.
Bear, | bare, or bore, | born.
Break, | brake, or broke, | broken.
Cleave, | clave, or clove[28], | cloven[28].
Speak, | spake, or spoke, | spoken.
Swear, | sware, or swore, | sworn.
Tear, | tare, or tore, | torn.
Wear, | ware, or wore, | worn.
Heave, | hove[28], | hoven.
Shear, | shore, | shorn.
Steal, | stole, | stolen, or stoln.
Tread, | trode, | trodden.
Weave, | wove, | woven.
ee into o, o.
Creep, | crope, | [creeped, or crept.]
Freeze, | froze, | frozen.
Seethe, | sod, | sodden.
ee into aw.
See, | saw, | seen.
i long into i short, i short.
Bite, | bit, | bitten.
Chide, | chid, | chidden.
Hide, | hid, | hidden.
Slide, | slid, | slidden.
i long into o, i short.
Abide, | abode. |
Drive, | drove, | driven.
Ride, | rode, | ridden.
Rise, | rose, | risen.
Shine, | shone, | [shined.]
Shrive, | shrove, | shriven.
Smite, | smote, | smitten.
Stride, | strode, | stridden.
Strive, | strove[28], | striven[28].
Thrive, | throve, | thriven.
Write[32], | wrote, | written.
i long into u, i short.
Strike, | struck, | stricken, or strucken.
i short into a.
Bid, | bade, | bidden.
Give, | gave, | given.
Sit[33], | sat, | sitten.
Spit, | spat, | spitten.
i short into u.
Dig, | dug[28], | [digged.]
ie into ay.
Lie[34], | lay, | lien, or lain.
o into e.
Hold, | held, | holden.
o into i.
Do, | did, | done, i. e. doen.
oo into o, o.
Choose, | chose, | chosen[35].
ow into ew.
Blow, | blew, | blown.
Crow, | crew, | [crowed.]
Grow, | grew, | grown.
Know, | knew, | known.
Throw, | threw, | thrown.
y into ew, ow.
Fly[36], | flew, | flown.

The following are Irregular only in the Participle; and that without changing the vowel.

Bake, | [baked,] | baken[28].
Grave, | [graved,] | graven[28].
Hew, | [hewed,] | hewen, or hewn[28].
Lade, | [laded,] | laden.
Load, | [loaded,] | loaden[28].
Mow, | [mowed,] | mown[28].
Rive, | [rived,] | riven.
Saw, | [sawed,] | sawn[28].
Shave, | [shaved,] | shaven[28].
Shew, | [shewed,] | shewn[28].
Sow, | [sowed,] | sown[28].
Straw, -ew, or -ow, [strawed, &c.] | strown[28]. |
Wax, | [waxed,] | waxen[28].

Some Verbs which change i short into a or u, and i long into ou, have dropt the termination en in the Participle.

i short into a or u, u.
Begin, | began, | begun.
Cling, | clang, or clung, | clung.
Drink, | drank, | drunk, or drunken.
Fling, | flung, | flung.
Ring, | rang, or rung, | rung.
Shrink, | shrank, or shrunk, | shrunk.
Sing, | sang, or sung, | sung.
Sink, | sank, or sunk, | sunk.
Sling, | slang, or slung, | slung.
Slink, | slunk, | slunk.
Spin, | span, or spun, | spun.
Spring, | sprang, or sprung, | sprung.
Sting, | stung, | stung.
Stink, | stank, or stunk, | stunk.
String, | strung, | strung.
Swim, | swam, or swum, | swum.
Swing, | swung, | swung.
Wring, | wrung, | wrung.

In many of the foregoing the original and analogical form of the Past Time in a, which distinguished it from the Participle, is grown quite obsolete.

i long into ou, ou.
Bind, | bound, | bound, or bounden.
Find, | found, | found.
Grind, | ground, | ground.
Wind, | wound, | wound.

That all these had originally the termination en in the Participle, is plain from the following considerations. Drink and bind still retain it; drunken, bounden; from the Saxon, druncen, bunden: and the rest are manifestly of the same analogy with these. Begonnen, sonken, and founden, are used by Chaucer; and some others of them appear in their proper shape in the Saxon; scruncen, spunnen, sprungen, stungen, wunden. As likewise in the German, which is only another off-spring of the Saxon: begunnen, geklungen, getruncken, gesungen, gesuncken, gespunnen, gesprungen, gestuncken, geschwummen, geschwungen.

The following seem to have lost the en of the Participle in the same manner:

Hang, | hung, | hung.
Shoot, | shot, | shot.
Stick, | stuck, | stuck.
Come, | came, | come.
Run, | ran, | run.
Win, | won, | won.

Hangen, and scoten, are the Saxon originals of the two first Participles; the latter of which is likewise still in use in its first form in one phrase; a shotten herring. Stuck seems to be a contraction from stucken, as struck now in use for strucken. Chaucer hath comen and wonnen: becommen is even used by Lord Bacon[37]. And most of them still subsist intire in the German; gehangen, kommen, gerunnen, gewonnen.

To this third Class belong the Defective Verbs, Be, been; and Go, gone; i. e. goen.

From this Distribution and account of the Irregular Verbs, if it be just, it appears, that originally there was no exception whatever from the Rule, That the Participle Præterit, or Passive, in English ends in d, t, or n. The first form included all the Regular Verbs, and those which are become Irregular by Contraction ending in t. To the second properly belonged only those which end in ght, from the Saxon Irregulars in hte. To the third, those from the Saxon Irregulars in en, which have still, or had originally, the same termination.

The same Rule affords a proper foundation for a division of the English Verbs into Three Conjugations, of which the three different Terminations of the Participle might respectively be the Characteristics. The Contracted Verbs, whose Participles now end in t, might perhaps be best reduced to the first Conjugation, to which they naturally and originally belonged; and they seem to be of a very different analogy from those in ght. But as the Verbs of the first Conjugation would so greatly exceed in number those of both the others, which together make but about 110[38]; and as those of the third Conjugation are so various in their form, and so incapable of being reduced to one plain Rule; it seems better in practice to consider the first in ed as the only Regular form, and the others as deviations from it; after the example of the Saxon and German Grammarians.

To the Irregular Verbs are to be added the Defective; which are not only for the most part Irregular, but are also wanting in some of their parts. They are in general words of most frequent and vulgar use; in which Custom is apt to get the better of Analogy. Such are the Auxiliary Verbs, most of which are of this number. They are in use only in some of their Times, and Modes; and some of them are a Composition of Times of several Defective Verbs having the same signification.

Present. | Past. | Participle.
Am, or Be, | was, | been.
Can, | could. |
Go, | went, | gone.
May, | might. |
Must. | |
Ought, | ought. |
Quoth, | quoth. |
Shall, | should. |
Weet, wit, or wot; | wot. |
Will, | would. |
Wist, | wist. |

There are not in English so many as a Hundred Verbs, (being only the chief part, but not all, of the Irregulars of the Third Class,) which have a distinct and different form for the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect or Passive. The General bent and turn of the language is towards the other form, which makes the Past Time and the Participle the same. This general inclination and tendency of the language, seems to have given occasion to the introducing of a very great Corruption; by which the Form of the Past Time is confounded with that of the Participle in these Verbs, few in proportion, which have them quite different from one another. This confusion prevails greatly in common discourse, and is too much authorised by the example of some of our best Writers[39]. Thus it is said, He begun, for he began; he run, for he ran; he drunk, for he drank: the Participle being used instead of the Past Time. And much more frequently the Past Time instead of the Participle: as, I had wrote, it was wrote, for I had written, it was written; I have drank, for I have drunk; bore, for born; chose, for chosen; bid, for bidden; got, for gotten; &c. This abuse has been long growing upon us, and is continually making further incroachments: as it may be observed in the example of those Irregular Verbs of the Third Class, which change i short into a and u; as, Cling, clang, clung; in which the original and analogical form of the Past Time in a is almost grown obsolete; and, the u prevailing instead of it, the Past Time is now in most of them confounded with the Participle. The Vulgar Translation of the Bible, which is the best standard of our language, is free from this corruption, except in a few instances; as, hid is used for hidden; held, for holden, frequently: bid, for bidden; begot, for begotten, once or twice: in which, and a few other like words, it may perhaps be allowed as a Contraction. And in some of these Custom has established it beyond recovery. In the rest it seems wholly inexcusable. The absurdity of it will be plainly perceived in the example of some of these Verbs, which Custom has not yet so perverted. We should be immediately shocked at I have knew, I have saw, I have gave, &c: but our ears are grown familiar with I have wrote, I have drank, I have bore, &c. which are altogether as barbarous.

ADVERB.

Adverbs are added to Verbs and Adjectives to denote some modification or circumstance of an action or quality: as, the manner, order, time, place, distance, motion, relation, quantity, quality, comparison, doubt, affirmation, negation, demonstration, interrogation.

In English they admit of no Variation; except some few of them, which have the degrees of Comparison: as,[40] “often, oftener, oftenest;” “soon, sooner, soonest.”

An Adverb is sometimes joined to another Adverb to modify or qualify its meaning; as, “very much; much too little; not very prudently.”

PREPOSITION.

Prepositions, so called because they are commonly put before the words to which they are applied, serve to connect words with one another, and to shew the relation between them.

One great use of Prepositions in English, is to express those relations which in some languages are chiefly marked by Cases, or the different endings of the Noun.

Most Prepositions originally denote the relation of Place, and have been thence transferred to denote by similitude other relations. Thus, out, in, through, under, by, to, from, of, &c. Of is much the same with from; “ask of me,” that is, from me: “made of wood;” “Son of Philip;” that is, sprung from him. For, in its primary sense, is pro, loco alterius, in the stead, or place, of another. The notion of Place is very obvious in all the rest.

CONJUNCTION.

The Conjunction connects or joins together Sentences; so as out of two to make one Sentence.

Thus, “You, and I, and Peter, rode to London,” is one Sentence made up of these three by the Conjunction and twice employed; “You rode to London; I rode to London; Peter rode to London.” Again, “You and I rode to London, but Peter staid at home,” is one Sentence made up of three by the Conjunctions and and but: both of which equally connect the Sentences, but the latter expresses an Opposition in the Sense. The first is therefore called a Conjunction Copulative; the other a Conjunction Disjunctive.

The use of Copulative Conjunctions is to connect, or to continue, the Sentence, by expressing an addition, and; a supposition, or condition, if, as; a cause, because[41], then; a motive, that; an inference, therefore; &c.

The use of Disjunctives is to connect and to continue the Sentence; but to express Opposition of meaning in different degrees: as, or, but, than, altho’, unless, &c.

INTERJECTION.

Interjections, so called because they are thrown in between the parts of a sentence without making any other alteration in it, are a kind of Natural Sounds to express the affection of the Speaker.

The different Passions have for the most part different Interjections to express them.

The Interjection O placed before a Substantive expresses more strongly an address made to that person or thing; as it marks in Latin what is called the Vocative Case.

SENTENCES.

A Sentence is an assemblage of words, expressed in proper form, and ranged in proper order, and concurring to make a complete sense.

Concord, or agreement of words, is when one word is required to be in like case, number, gender, or person, with another.

Regimen, or government, is when a word causeth a following word to be in some case, or mode.

Sentences are Simple, or Compounded.

A Simple Sentence hath in it but one Subject, and one Finite Verb; that is, a Verb in the Indicative, Imperative, or Subjunctive Mode.

A Phrase is two or more words rightly put together in order to make a part of a Sentence; and sometimes making a whole Sentence.

The most common Phrases used in simple Sentences are as follows:

1st Phrase: The Substantive before a Verb Active, Passive, or Neuter; when it is said what thing is, does, or is done: as, “I am;” “Thou writest;” “Thomas is loved:” where I, Thou, Thomas, are the Nominative[42] Cases; and answer to the question who, or what? as, “Who is loved? Thomas.” And the Verb agrees with the Nominative Case in number and person[43]; as, Thou being the Second Person Singular, the Verb writest is so too.

2d Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Neuter or Passive; when it is said, that such a thing is, or is made, or thought, or called, such another thing; or, when the Substantive after the Verb is spoken of the same thing or person with the Substantive before the Verb: as, “a calf becomes an ox;” “Plautus is accounted a Poet;” “I am He.” Here the latter Substantive is in the Nominative Case as well as the former; and the Verb is said to govern the Nominative Case: or, the latter Substantive may be said to agree in Case with the former.

3d Phrase: The Adjective after a Verb Neuter or Passive, in like manner: as, “Life is short, and Art is long.” “Exercise is esteemed wholesome.”

4th Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Active, or Transitive: as when one thing is said to act upon, or do something to another: as, “to open a door;” “to build a house;” “Alexander conquered the Persians.” Here the thing acted upon is in the Objective[44] Case; as it appears plainly when it is expressed by the Pronoun, which has a proper termination for that Case; “Alexander conquered them;” and the Verb is said to govern the Objective Case.

5th Phrase: A Verb following another Verb; as, “boys love to play:” where the latter Verb is in the Infinitive Mode.

6th Phrase: When one thing is said to belong to another; as, “Milton’s poems:” where the thing to which the other belongs is placed first, and is in the Possessive Case; or else last with the Preposition of before it; as, “the poems of Milton.”

7th Phrase: When another Substantive is added to express and explain the former more fully; as, “Paul the Apostle;” “King George:” where they are both in the same case; and the latter is said to be put in Apposition to the former.

8th Phrase: When the quality of the Substantive is expressed by adding an Adjective to it: as, “a wise man;” “a black horse.” Participles have the nature of Adjectives; as, “a learned man;” “a loving father.”

9th Phrase: An Adjective with a Verb in the Infinitive Mode following it: as, “worthy to die;” “fit to be trusted.”

10th Phrase: When a circumstance is added to a Verb, or to an Adjective, by an Adverb: as, “you read well;” “he is very prudent.”

11th Phrase: When a circumstance is added to a Verb or an Adjective by a Substantive with a Preposition before it: as, “I write for you;” “he reads with care;” “studious of praise;” “ready for mischief.”

12th Phrase: When the same Quality in different Subjects is compared; the Adjective in the Positive having after it the Conjunction as, in the Comparative the Conjunction than, and in the Superlative the Preposition of: as, “white as snow;” “wiser than I;” “greatest of all.”

The Principal parts of a Simple Sentence are the Agent, the Attribute, and the Object. The Agent is the thing chiefly spoken of; the Attribute is the thing or action affirmed or denied of it; and the Object is the thing affected by such action.

In English the Nominative Case denoting the Agent, usually goes before the Verb, or Attribution, and the Objective Case, denoting the Object, follows the Verb; and it is the order that determines the cases in Nouns: as, “Alexander conquered the Persians.” But the Pronoun, having a proper form for each of those cases, sometimes when it is in the Objective Case is placed before the Verb, and when it is in the Nominative Case follows the Object and Verb: as, “Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” And the Nominative Case is sometimes placed after a Verb Neuter: as, “Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen:” “On a sudden appeared the King.” And frequently with the Adverbs there and then: as, “There was a man:” “Then came unto him the Pharisees.” The reason of it is plain: the Neuter Verb not admitting of an Objective Case after it, no ambiguity of case can arise from such a position of the Noun.

Who, which, what, and the Relative that, though in the Objective Case, are always placed before the Verb; as are also their Compounds, whoever, whosoever, &c: as, “He whom you seek.” “This is what, or the thing which, or that, you want.” “Whomsoever you please to appoint.”

When the Verb is a Passive, the Agent and Object change places in the Sentence; and the thing acted upon is in the Nominative Case, and the Agent is accompanied with a Preposition: as, “The Persians were conquered by Alexander.”

A Noun of Multitude[45], or signifying many; and two Nouns in the Singular Number, joined together by a Conjunction Copulative; have Verbs, Nouns, and Pronouns, agreeing with them in the Plural Number: as, “When the King’s trump, the mob are for the King.” Dryden. “Socrates and Plato were wise; they were the most eminent Philosophers of Greece.”

If the Singulars so joined together are of several Persons, in making the Plural Pronoun agree with them in Person, the second Person takes place of the third, and the first of both: “He and You and I won it at the hazard of our lives: You and He shared it between you.”

The Verb to Be has always a Nominative Case after it; as, “it was I, and not He, that did it:” unless it be in the Infinitive Mode; “though you took it to be Him[46].”

The Adverbs when, while, after, &c. being left out, the Phrase is formed with the Participle independently of the rest of the Sentence: as, “The doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst.” This is called the Case Absolute. And the Case is in English always the Nominative: as,

“God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top

Shall tremble, He descending[47], will himself,

In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpet’s sound,

Ordain them laws.”

Milton, P. L. xii. 227.

To before a Verb is the sign of the Infinitive Mode: but there are some few Verbs, which have other Verbs following them in the Infinitive Mode without the sign to: as, bid, dare, need, make, see, hear; and, let, have, not used as Auxiliaries: as, “I bade him do it; you dare not do it; I saw him[48] do it; I heard him say it.”

The Infinitive Mode has much of the nature of a Substantive, expressing the Action itself which the Verb signifies; as the Participle has the nature of an Adjective. Thus the Infinitive Mode does the office of a Substantive in different cases; in the Nominative; as, “to play is pleasant:” in the Objective; as, “boys love to play.” In Greek it admits of the Article through all its cases, with the Preposition in the Oblique cases: in English the Article is not wanted, but the Preposition may be used: “For to will is present with me; but to perform that which is good I find not[49].” “All their works they do for to be seen of men[50].”

“For not to have been dip’d in Lethe’s lake

Could save the Son of Thetis from to die.”

Spenser.

Perhaps therefore the Infinitive and the Participle might be more properly called the Substantive Mode and the Adjective Mode[51].

The Participle with a Preposition before it, and still retaining its Government, answers to what is called in Latin the Gerund: as, “Happiness is to be attained, by avoiding evil, and by doing good; by seeking peace, and by pursuing it.”

The Participle, with an Article before it, and the Preposition of after it, becomes a Substantive, expressing the action itself which the Verb signifies[52]: as, “These are the Rules of Grammar, by the observing of which you may avoid mistakes.” Or it may be expressed by the Participle, or Gerund; “by observing which:” not, “by observing of which;” nor, “by the observing which:” for either of those two Phrases would be a confounding of two distinct forms.

I will add another example, and that of the best authority: “The middle station of life seems to be the most advantageously situated for the gaining of wisdom. Poverty turns our thoughts too much upon the supplying of our wants, and riches upon enjoying our superfluities.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 464.

The Participle frequently becomes altogether an Adjective; when it is joined to a Substantive merely to denote its quality; without any respect to time; expressing, not an Action, but a Habit; and as such it admits of the degrees of Comparison: as, “a learned, a more learned, a most learned, man; a loving, more loving, most loving, father.”

Simple Sentences are 1. Explicative, or explaining: 2. Interrogative, or asking: 3. Imperative, or commanding[53].

1. An Explicative Sentence is when a thing is said to be, or not to be; to do, or not to do; to suffer, or not to suffer; in a direct manner; as in the foregoing examples. If the Sentence be Negative, the Adverb not is placed after the Auxiliary, or after the Verb itself when it has no Auxiliary: as, “it did not touch him;” or, “it touched him not[54].”

2. In an Interrogative Sentence, or when a Question is asked, the Nominative Case follows the Principal Verb, or the Auxiliary: as, “was it he?” “did Alexander conquer the Persians?” So that the Question depends intirely on the order of the words[55].

3. In an Imperative Sentence, when a thing is commanded to be, to do, to suffer, or not, the Nominative Case follows the Verb or the Auxiliary: as, “Go, thou traytor;” or, “do thou go:” or the Auxiliary let with the Objective[56] Case after it is used: as, “Let us be gone[57].”

The Adjective in English, having no variation of Gender or Number, cannot but agree with the Substantive in those respects; some of the Pronominal Adjectives only excepted, which have the Plural Number: as, these, those, and they; which must agree in Number[58] with their Substantives.

The Adjective generally goes before the Noun: as, “a wise man; a good horse;” unless something depend on the Adjective; as, “food convenient for me:” or the Adjective be emphatical; as, “Alexander the great.” And the Article goes before the Adjective: except the Adjectives such and many, and others subjoined to the Adverbs so, as, and how: as, “such a man;” “many a man;” “so good a man;” “as good a man as ever lived;” “how beautiful a prospect is here!” And sometimes when there are two or more Adjectives joined to the Noun: as, “a man learned and religious.”

Every Verb, except in the Infinitive or the Participle, hath its Nominative Case, either expressed or implied[59]; as,

“Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n:”

that is, “Awake ye, &c.”

Every Nominative Case, except the Case Absolute, and when an address is made to a Person, belongs to some Verb, either expressed or implied[60]: as in the answer to a Question; “Who wrote this book; Cicero:” that is, “Cicero wrote it.” Or when the Verb is understood; as, “To whom thus Adam:” that is, spake.

Every Possessive Case supposes some Noun to which it belongs: as when we say, “St. Paul’s, or St. James’s,” we mean St. Paul’s Church, or St. James’s Palace.

Every Adjective has relation to some Substantive, either expressed or implied: as, “The Twelve,” that is, Apostles; “the wife, the elect,” that is, persons.

In some instances the Adjective becomes a Substantive, and has an Adjective joined to it: as, “the chief Good;” “Evil, be Thou my Good!”[61]

Adverbs have no Government.[62]

Prepositions have a Government of Cases; and in English they always require the Objective Case after them: as, “with him; from her; to me.”[63]

The Preposition is often separated from the Relative which it governs, and joined to the Verb at the end of the Sentence, or of some member of it: as, “Horace is an author, whom I am much delighted with.” “The[64] world is too well bred to shock authors with a truth, which generally their booksellers are the first that inform them of.” This is an Idiom which our language is strongly inclined to; it prevails in common conversation, and suits very well with the familiar style in writing; but the placing of the Preposition before the Relative is more graceful, as well as more perspicuous; and agrees much better with the solemn and elevated Style.

Verbs are often compounded of a Verb and a Preposition; as, to uphold, to outweigh, to overlook: and this composition sometimes gives a new sense to the Verb; as, to understand, to withdraw, to forgive[65]. But in English the Preposition is more frequently placed after the Verb, and separate from it, like an Adverb; in which situation it is no less apt to affect the sense of it, and to give it a new meaning; and may still be considered as belonging to the Verb, and a part of it. As, to cast is to throw; but to cast up, or to compute, an account, is quite a different thing: thus, to fall on, to bear out, to give over; &c. So that the meaning of the Verb, and the propriety of the phrase, depend on the Preposition subjoined[66].

As the Preposition subjoined to the Verb hath the construction and nature of an Adverb, so the Adverbs here, there, where, with a Preposition subjoined, as hereof, therewith, whereupon[67], have the construction and nature of Pronouns.

The Prepositions to and for are often understood; as, “give me the book; get me some paper;” that is, to me, for me[68].

Two or more Simple Sentences, joined together by one or more Connective Words, become a Compounded Sentence.

There are two sorts of words which connect Sentences: 1. Relatives; 2. Conjunctions.

Examples: 1. “Blessed is the man, who feareth the Lord.” 2. “Life is short, and art is long.” 1. and 2. “Blessed is the Man, who feareth the Lord, and keepeth his commandments.”

The Relatives who, which, that, having no variation of gender or number, cannot but agree with their Antecedents. Who is appropriated to persons; and so may be accounted Masculine and Feminine only: which is used of things only; and so may be accounted Neuter. But formerly they were both indifferently used of persons: “Our Father, which art in heaven.” That is used indifferently both of persons and things: but perhaps would be more properly confined to the latter. What includes both the Antecedent and the Relative: as, “This was what he wanted;” that is, “the thing which he wanted[69].”

The Relative is the Nominative Case to the Verb, when no other Nominative comes between it and the Verb: but when another Nominative comes between it and the Verb, the Relative is governed by some word in its own member of the Sentence: as, “The God who preserveth me; whose I am, and whom I serve[70].”

Every Relative must have an Antecedent to which it refers, either expressed, or understood: as, “Who steals my purse, steals trash:” that is, the man, who ⸺.

The Relative is of the same person with the Antecedent; and the Verb agrees with it accordingly: as, “Who is this, that cometh from Edom; this that is glorious in his apparel?⸺I that speak in righteousness.” Isaiah lxiii. 1. “O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims.” Ps. lxxx. 1.[71]

The Relative is often understood, or omitted: as, “The man I love;” that is, “whom I love[72].”

The accuracy and clearness of the Sentence depend very much upon the proper and determinate use of the Relative, so that it may readily present its Antecedent to the mind of the hearer or reader without any obscurity or ambiguity. The same may be observed of the Pronoun and the Noun, which by some are called also the Relative and the Antecedent[73].

Conjunctions have sometimes a Government of Modes. Some Conjunctions require the Indicative, some the Subjunctive Mode after them: others have no influence at all on the Mode.

Hypothetical, Conditional, Concessive, and Exceptive Conjunctions seem to require properly the Subjunctive Mode after them: as, if, tho’, unless, except, whether—or, &c. but by use they often admit of the Indicative. Examples: “If thou be the Son of God.” Matt. iv. 3. “Tho’ he slay me, yet will I put my trust in him.” Job xiii. 15. “Unless he wash his flesh.” Lev. xxii. 6. “No power, except it were given from above.” John xix. 11. “Whether it were I or they, so we preach.” 1 Cor. xv. 11. The Subjunctive in these instances implies something contingent or doubtful; the Indicative would express a more absolute and determinate sense.

That expressing the motive or end has the Subjunctive Mode, with may, might, should, after it.

Lest; and that with a Negative following it; and if with but following it; necessarily require the Subjunctive Mode: Examples; “Let him that standeth, take heed, lest he fall.” 1 Cor. x. 12. “Take heed, that thou speak not to Jacob.” Gen. xxxi. 24. “If he do but touch the hills, they shall smoke.” Ps. civ. 32.[74]

Other Conjunctions, expressing a Continuation, an Addition, an Inference, &c. being of a positive and absolute nature, require the Indicative Mode; or rather leave the Mode to be determined by the other circumstances and conditions of the Sentence.

When the Qualities of different things are compared, the latter Noun is governed, not by the Conjunction than, or as, (for a Conjunction has no Government of Cases,) but by the Verb or the Preposition, expressed, or understood. As, “Thou art wiser than I [am.]” “You are not so tall as I [am.]” “You think him handsomer than [you think] me; and you love him more than [you love] me.” In all other instances, if you complete the Sentence in like manner, by supplying the part which is understood, the Case of the latter Noun will be determined. Thus, “Plato observes, that God geometrizes; and the same thing was observed before by a wiser man than he:” that is, than he was. “It was well expressed by Plato; but more elegantly by Solomon than him:” that is, than by him[75].

The Conjunction that is often omitted and understood: as, “I beg you would come to me:” “See, thou do it not:” that is, “that you would;” “that thou do[76].”

The Nominative Case following the Auxiliary, or the Verb itself, sometimes supplies the place of the Conjunctions if and tho’: as, “Had he done this, he had escaped:” “Charm he never so[77] wisely:” that is, “if he had done this;” “tho’ he charm.”

Some Conjunctions have their Correspondent Conjunctions belonging to them; so that in the subsequent Member of the Sentence the latter answers to the former: as, although ⸺, yet, or nevertheless; whether ⸺, or; either ⸺, or; neither ⸺, nor; as ⸺, as; expressing a Comparison of equality; “as white as snow:” as ⸺, so; expressing a Comparison sometimes of equality; “as the stars, so shall thy seed be;” that is, equal in number: but most commonly a Comparison in respect of quality; “and it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master:” “as is the good, so is the sinner; as the one dieth, so dieth the other:” that is, in like manner: so ⸺, as; with a Verb expressing a Comparison of quality; “To see thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary:” but with a Negative and an Adjective, a Comparison in respect of quantity; as, “Pompey had eminent abilities: but he was not either so eloquent and politic a statesman, or so brave and skilful a general; nor was he upon the whole so great a man, as Cæsar:” so ⸺, that; expressing a Consequence: &c.[78]

Interjections in English have no Government.

Though they are usually attended with Nouns in the Nominative Case[79], and Verbs in the Indicative Mode, yet the Case and Mode is not influenced by them, but determined by the nature of the sentence.

PUNCTUATION.

Punctuation is the art of marking in writing the several pauses, or rests, between sentences, and the parts of sentences, according to their proper quantity or proportion, as they are expressed in a just and accurate pronunciation.

As the several articulate sounds, the syllables and words, of which sentences consist, are marked by Letters; so the rests and pauses between sentences and their parts are marked by Points.

But, tho’ the several articulate sounds are pretty fully and exactly marked by Letters of known and determinate power; yet the several pauses, which are used in a just pronunciation of discourse, are very imperfectly expressed by Points.

For the different degrees of connexion between the several parts of sentences, and the different pauses in a just pronunciation, which express those degrees of connexion according to their proper value, admit of great variety; but the whole number of Points, which we have to express this variety, amounts only to Four.

Hence it is, that we are under a necessity of expressing pauses of the same quantity, on different occasions, by different points; and more frequently of expressing pauses of different quantity by the same points.

So that the doctrine of Punctuation must needs be very imperfect: few precise rules can be given, which will hold without exception in all cases; but much must be left to the judgement and taste of the writer.

On the other hand, if a greater number of marks were invented to express all the possible different pauses of pronunciation; the doctrine of them would be very perplexed and difficult, and the use of them would rather embarass than assist the reader.

It remains therefore, that we be content with the Rules of Punctuation, laid down with as much exactness as the nature of the subject will admit; such as may serve for a general direction, to be accommodated to different occasions, and to be supplied where deficient by the writers judgement.

The several degrees of Connexion between Sentences, and between their principal constructive parts, Rhetoricians have considered under the following distinctions, as the most obvious and remarkable: the Period, Colon, Semicolon, and Comma.

The Period is the whole Sentence, compleat in itself, wanting nothing to make a full and perfect sense, and not connected in construction with a subsequent Sentence.

The Colon, or Member, is a chief constructive part, or greater division, of a Sentence.

The Semicolon, or Half-member, is a less constructive part, or subdivision of a Sentence or Member.

A Sentence or Member is again subdivided into Commas, or Segments; which are the least constructive parts of a Sentence, or Member, in this way of considering it; for the next subdivision would be the resolution of it into Phrases and Words.

The Grammarians have followed this division of the Rhetoricians, and have appropriated to each of these distinctions its mark, or Point; which takes its name from the part of the Sentence which it is employed to distinguish; as follows:

The Period | } | is thus marked | { | .
The Colon | } | { | :
The Semicolon | } | { | ;
The Comma | } | { | ,

The proportional quantity or time of the Points with respect to one another is determined by the following general rule: The Period is a pause in quantity or duration double of the Colon; the Colon is double of the Semicolon; and the Semicolon is double of the Comma. So that they are in the same proportion to one another as the Semibrief, the Minim, the Crotchet, and the Quaver, in Music. The precise quantity or duration of each Pause or Note cannot be defined; for that varies with the Time; and both in Discourse and Music the same Composition may be rehearsed in a quicker or a slower Time: but in Music the proportion between the Notes remains ever the same; and in Discourse, if the Doctrine of Punctuation were exact, the proportion between the Pauses would be ever invariable.

The Points then being designed to express the Pauses, which depend on the different degrees of connexion between Sentences, and between their principal constructive parts; to understand the meaning of the Points, and to know how to apply them properly, we must consider the nature of a Sentence, as divided into its principal constructive parts; and the degrees of connexion between those parts, upon which such division of it depends.

To begin with the least of these principal constructive parts, the Comma. In order the more clearly to determine the proper application of the Point which marks it, we must distinguish between an Imperfect Phrase, a Simple Sentence, and a Compounded Sentence.

An Imperfect Phrase contains no assertion, or does not amount to a Proposition or Sentence.

A Simple Sentence has but one Subject and one finite Verb.

A Compounded Sentence has more than one Subject or one finite Verb, either expressed or understood; or it consists of two or more simple Sentences connected together.

In a Sentence, the Subject and the Verb may be each of them accompanied with several Adjuncts; as the Object, the End, the Circumstances of Time, Place, Manner, and the like; and this either immediately, or mediately, that is, by being connected with some thing, which is connected with some other; and so on.

If the several Adjuncts affect the Subject or the Verb in a different manner, they are only so many Imperfect Phrases, and the Sentence is Simple.

A Simple Sentence admits of no Point, by which it may be divided, or distinguished into parts.

If the several Adjuncts affect the Subject or the Verb in the same manner, they may be resolved into so many Simple Sentences: the Sentence then becomes Compounded, and it must be divided into its parts by Points.

For if there are several Subjects belonging in the same manner to one Verb, or several Verbs belonging in the same manner to one Subject, the Subjects and Verbs are still to be accounted equal in number: for every Verb must have its Subject, and every Subject its Verb; and every one of the Subjects, or Verbs, should or may have its point of distinction.

EXAMPLES.

“The passion for praise produces excellent effects in women of sense.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 73. In this Sentence passion is the Subject, and produces the Verb; each of which is accompanied and connected with its adjuncts. The Subject is not passion in general, but a particular passion determined by its Adjunct of Specification, as we may call it, the passion for praise. So likewise the Verb is immediately connected with its object, excellent effects; and mediately, that is, by the intervention of the word effects, with women, the Subject in which these effects are produced; which again is connected with its Adjunct of Specification; for it is not meant of women in general, but of women of sense only. Lastly it is to be observed, that these several Adjuncts are connected with the Verb each in a different manner; namely, with effects, as the object; with women, as the subject of them; with sense, as the quality or characteristic of those women. The Adjuncts therefore are only so many imperfect Phrases; the Sentence is a Simple Sentence, and admits of no Point, by which it may be distinguished into parts.

“The Passion for praise, which is so very vehement in the fair sex, produces excellent effects in women of sense.” Here a new Verb is introduced, accompanied with Adjuncts of its own; and the Subject is repeated by the Relative Pronoun which. It now becomes a Compounded Sentence, made up of two Simple Sentences, one of which is inserted in the middle of the other; it must therefore be distinguished into its component parts by a Point placed on each side of the additional Sentence.

“How many instances have we [in the fair sex] of chastity, fidelity, devotion? How many Ladies distinguish themselves by the education of their children, care of their families, and love of their husbands; which are the great qualities and achievements of woman-kind: as the making of war, the carrying on of traffic, the administration of justice, are those by which men grow famous, and get themselves a name?” Ibid.

In the first of these two Sentences the Adjuncts chastity, fidelity, devotion, are connected with the Verb by the word instances in the same manner, and in effect make so many distinct Sentences: “how many instances have we of chastity? how many instances have we of fidelity? how many instances have we of devotion?” They must therefore be separated from one another by a Point. The same may be said of the Adjuncts “education of their children, &c” in the former part of the next Sentence: as likewise of the several Subjects, “the making of war, &c” in the latter part; which have in effect each their Verb; for each of these “is an atchievement by which men grow famous.”

As Sentences themselves are divided into Simple and Compounded, so the members of sentences may be divided likewise into Simple and Compounded members: for whole Sentences, whether Simple or Compounded, may become members of other Sentences by means of some additional connexion.

Simple members of Sentences closely connected together in one Compound member or sentence, are distinguished or separated by a Comma: as in the foregoing examples.

So likewise the Case Absolute; Nouns in Apposition, when consisting of many terms; the Participle with something depending on it; are to be distinguished by the Comma: for they may be resolved into Simple members.

When an address is made to a person, the Noun, answering to the Vocative Case in Latin, is distinguished by a Comma.

EXAMPLES.

“This said, He form’d thee, Adam; thee, O man,

Dust of the ground.”

“Now Morn, her rosy steps in th’ eastern clime

Advancing, sow’d the earth with orient pearl.”

Milton.

Two Nouns, or two Adjectives, connected by a single Copulative or Disjunctive, are not separated by a Point: but when there are more than two, or where the Conjunction is understood, they must be distinguished by a Comma.

Simple members connected by Relatives and Comparatives are for the most part distinguished by a Comma: but when the members are short in Comparative Sentences; and when two members are closely connected by a Relative, restraining the general notion of the Antecedent to a particular sense; the pause becomes almost insensible, and the Comma is better omitted.

EXAMPLES.

“Raptures, transports, and extasies are the rewards which they confer: sighs and tears, prayers and broken hearts, are the offerings which are paid to them.” Addison, Ibid.

“Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust;

Whose attributes were rage, revenge, or lust.”

Pope.

“What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?”

A member of a Sentence, whether Simple or Compounded, that requires a greater pause than a Comma, yet does not of itself make a compleat Sentence, but is followed by something closely depending on it, may be distinguished by a Semicolon.

EXAMPLE.

“But as this passion for admiration, when it works according to reason, improves the beautiful part of our species in every thing that is laudable; so nothing is more destructive to them, when it is governed by vanity and folly.” Addison, ibid.

Here the whole Sentence is divided into two parts by the Semicolon; each of which parts are Compounded Members, divided into their Simple Members by Commas.

A member of a Sentence, whether Simple or Compounded, which of itself would make a compleat Sentence, and so requires a greater pause than a Semicolon, yet is followed by an additional part making a more full and perfect Sense, may be distinguished by a Colon.

EXAMPLE.

“Were all books reduced to their quintessence, many a bulky author would make his appearance in a penny paper: there would be scarce any such thing in nature as a folio: the works of an age would be contained on a few shelves: not to mention millions of volumes, that would be utterly annihilated.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 124.

Here the whole Sentence is divided into four parts by Colons: the first and last of which are Compounded Members, each divided by a Comma; the second and third are Simple Members.

When a Semicolon has preceded, and a greater pause is still necessary; a Colon may be employed, tho’ the Sentence be incompleat.

The Colon is also commonly used, when an Example, or a Speech is introduced.

When a Sentence is so far perfectly finished, as not to be connected in construction with the following Sentence, it is marked with a Period.

In all cases the proportion of the several Points in respect to one another is rather to be regarded, than their supposed precise quantity, or proper office, when taken separately.

Beside the Points which mark the pauses in discourse, there are others which denote a different modulation of the voice in correspondence with the sense. These are

The Interrogation Point | } | thus marked | { | ?
The Exclamation Point | } | { | !
The Parenthesis | } | { | ()

The Interrogation and Exclamation Points are sufficiently explained by their names: they are indeterminate as to their quantity or time, and may be equivalent in that respect to a Semicolon, a Colon, or a Period, as the sense requires. They mark an Elevation of the voice.

The Parenthesis incloses in the body of a Sentence a member inserted into it, which is neither necessary to the Sense, nor at all affects the Construction. It marks a moderate depression of the voice, with a pause greater than a Comma.

A PRAXIS,
or Example of Grammatical Resolution.

1. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate late being Governour of Judea, the word of God came unto John the Son of Zecharias in the wilderness.

2. And he came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

3. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

4. Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.

5. And as all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

6. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that, Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape upon him; and lo! a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

1. In is a Preposition; the the Definite Article; fifteenth, an Adjective; year, a Substantive, or Noun, in the Objective Case governed by the Preposition in; of, a Preposition; the reign, a Substantive, Objective Case, governed by the Preposition of; of Tiberius Cæsar, both Substantives, Proper Names, Government and Case, as before; Pontius Pilate, Proper Names; being, the Present Participle of the Verb Neuter to be; Governour, a Substantive; of Judea, a Proper Name, Government and Case as before: Pontius Pilate being governour, is the Case Absolute, that is, the Nominative Case with a Participle without a Verb following and agreeing with it; the meaning is the same as, when Pilate was governour: the word, a Substantive; of God, a Substantive; came, a Verb Neuter, Indicative Mode, Past Time, third Person Singular Number, agreeing with the Nominative Case word; unto, a Preposition; John, a Proper Name; the Son, a Substantive, put in Apposition to John; that is, in the same Case, governed by the same Preposition unto; of Zecharias, a Proper Name; in, a Preposition; the wilderness, a Substantive, Government and Case as before.

2. And, a Conjunction Copulative; he, a Pronoun, third Person Singular, Masculine Gender, Nominative Case, standing for John; came, as before; into, a Prep. all, an Adjective; the country, a Subst. about, a Prep. Jordan, a Proper Name; preaching, the Present Participle of the Verb Active to preach, joined like an Adjective to the Pronoun he; the baptism, a Substantive in the Objective Case following the Verb Active preaching, and governed by it; of repentance, a Subst. Government and Case as before; for, a Prep. the remission of sins, Substantives, the latter in the Plural Number, Government and Case as before.

3. And, (b. that is, as before) the same, an Adjective; John (b.) had, a Verb Active, Indicative Mode, Past Time, third Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case John; his, a Pronoun, third Person Sing. Possessive Case; raiment, a Subst. in the Objective Case, following the Verb Active had, and governed by it; of camel’s, a Substantive, Possessive Case; hair, Subst. Objective Case, governed by the Preposition of, the same as, of the hair of a camel; and, (b.) a, the Indefinite Article; leathern, an Adj. girdle, a Subst. about, (b.) his, (b.) loins, Subst. plural Number; and his, (b.) meat, Subst. was, Indicative Mode, Past Time, third Person Singular of the Verb Neuter to be; locusts, Subst. plural Number, Nominative Case after the Verb was; and, (b.) wild, Adj. honey, Subst.

4. Then, an Adverb; said, a Verb Active, Past Time, third Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case he (b.) to, a Prep. the multitude, Subst. Objective Case, governed by the Prep. to; that, a Relative Pronoun, its Antecedent is the multitude; came, (b.) forth, an Adverb; to, a Prep. and before a Verb the sign of the Infinitive Mode; be baptized, a Verb Passive, made of the Participle Passive of the Verb to baptize, and the Auxiliary Verb to be, in the Infinitive Mode; of him, Pronoun, third Person Sing. standing for John, in the Objective Case governed by the Prep. of; O, an Interjection; generation, Subst. Nominative Case; of vipers, Subst. plural Number; who, an Interrogative Pronoun; hath warned, a Verb Active, Present Perfect Time, made of the Perfect Participle warned and the Auxiliary Verb hath, third Person Singular agreeing with the Nominative Case who; you, Pronoun, second Person plural, Objective Case, following the Verb Active warned and governed by it; to flee, Verb Neuter, Infinitive Mode; from, a Prep.; the wrath, Subst. Objective Case, governed by the Prep. from; to come, Verb Neuter, Infinitive Mode; bring, Verb Active, Imperative Mode, second Person plural, agreeing with the Nominative Case ye understood, as if it were, bring ye; forth, an Adverb; therefore, a Conjunction; fruits, a Subst. plur. Objective Case, following the Verb Active bring, and governed by it; meet, an Adjective, joined to fruits, but placed after it, because it has something depending on it; for repentance, a Subst. governed by a Prep. as before.

5. And, (b.) as, an Adverb; all, (b.) men, Subst. plural Number; mused, a Verb Neuter, Past Time, third Person plural, agreeing with the Nominative Case men; in, (b.) their, a Pronominal Adjective, from the Pronoun they; hearts, Subst. plural Number, Objective Case governed by the Prep. in; of John, (b.) whether, a Conjunction; he, (b.) were, Subjunctive Mode, governed by the Conjunction whether, Past Time, third Person Sing. of the Verb to be, agreeing with the Nominative Case he; the Christ, Subst. Nominative Case after the Verb were; or, a Disjunctive Conjunction, corresponding to the preceding Conjunction whether; not, an Adverb; John, (b.) answered, a Verb Active, Indicative Mode, Past Time, third Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case John; saying, Present Participle of the Verb Active to say, joined to the Substantive John; unto, (b.) them, a Pronoun, third Person plural, Objective Case governed by the Prep. unto; all, (b.) I, Pronoun, first Person Singular; indeed, an Adverb; baptize, a Verb Active, Indicative Mode, Present Time, first Person Singular, agreeing with the Nominative Case I; you, Pronoun, second Person plural, Objective Case, following the Verb Active baptize, and governed by it; with, a Prep. water, Subst. but, a Disjunctive Conjunction; one, a Pronoun, standing for some Person not mentioned by name; mightier, an Adjective in the Comparative Degree, from the Positive mighty; than, a Conjunction, used after a Comparative word; I, (b.) the Verb am being understood, that is, than I am; cometh, a Verb Neuter, Indicative Mode, Present Time, third Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case one; the latchet, Subst. of, (b.) whose, Pronoun Relative, one being the Antecedent to it, in the Possessive Case; shoes, Subst. plural; I, (b.) am, Indicative Mode, Present Time, first Person Sing. of the Verb to be, agreeing with the Nominative Case I; not, (b.) worthy, an Adjective; to unloose, a Verb Active, in the Infinitive Mode, governing the Substantive latchet in the Objective Case; he, (b.) shall baptize, a Verb Active, Indicative Mode, Future Time, made by the Auxiliary shall, third Person Sing. agreeing with, the Nominative Case he; you, (b.) with the, (b.) Holy, an Adjective; Ghost, a Subst. and with, (b.) fire, a Subst. this and the former both in the Objective Case governed by the Prep. with.

6. Now, an Adverb; when, an Adverb; all, (b.) the people, a Subst. were baptized, a Verb Passive, made of the Auxiliary Verb to be joined with the Participle Passive of the Verb to baptize, Indicative Mode, third Person plural, agreeing with the Nominative Case Sing. people, being a Noun of multitude; it, Pronoun, third Person Sing. Neuter Gender, Nominative Case; came, (b.) to pass, Verb Neuter, Infinitive Mode; that, a Conjunction; Jesus, a Proper Name; also, an Adverb; being, Present Participle of the Verb to be; baptized, Participle Passive of the Verb to baptize; and, (b.) praying, Present Participle of the Verb Neuter to pray; Jesus being baptized and praying is the Case Absolute, as before; the heaven, Subst. was opened, Verb Passive, Indicative Mode, Past Time, third Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case heaven, the Auxiliary Verb to be being joined to the Participle Passive, as before; and the Holy Ghost, (b.) descended, Verb Neuter, Indicative Mode, Past Time, third Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case Ghost; in a (b.) bodily, an Adjective; shape, a Subst. like, an Adjective; a dove, a Subst. Objective Case, the Prep. to being understood, that is, like to a dove; upon, Prep. him, Pronoun, third Person Sing. Objective Case governed by the Prep. upon; and, (b.) lo! an Interjection; a voice, a Subst. Nominative Case, there was being understood, that is, there was a voice; from, Prep. heaven, Subst. Objective Case, (b.) saying, (b.) this, a Pronominal Adjective, person being understood; is, Indicative Mode, Present Time, of the Verb to be, third Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case this; my, a Pronominal Adjective; beloved, an Adjective; Son, a Subst. Nominative Case after the Verb is; in, (b.) whom, Pronoun Relative, Objective Case governed by the Prep. in, the Substantive Son being its Antecedent; I am, (b.) well, an Adverb; pleased, the Passive Participle of the Verb to please, making with the Auxiliary Verb am a Passive Verb, in the Indicative Mode, Present Time, first Person Sing. agreeing with the Nominative Case I.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES

[1] “And I persecuted this way unto the death.” Acts xxii. 4. The Apostle does not mean any particular sort of death, but death in general: the Definite Article therefore is improperly used. It ought to be unto death, without any Article: agreeably to the Original, αχρι θανατου.

“When He the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all Truth.” John xvi. 13. That is, according to this Translation, into all Truth whatsoever, into Truth of all kinds: very different from the meaning of the Evangelist, and from the Original, εις πασαν την αληθειαν, into all the Truth; that is, into all Evangelical Truth.

“Truly this was the Son of God.” Matt. xxvii. 54. and Mark xv. 39. This Translation supposes, that the Roman Centurion had a proper and adequate notion of the character of Jesus, as the Son of God in a peculiar and incommunicable sense: whereas, it is probable, both from the circumstances of the History, and from the expression of the Original, (ὑιος Θεου, a Son of God, not ὁ υιος, the Son) that he only meant to acknowledge him to be an extraordinary person, and more than a mere man; according to his own notion of Sons of Gods in the Pagan Theology. This is also more agreeable to St. Luke’s account of the same confession of the Centurion: “Certainly this was δικαιος, a righteous man;” not ὁ Δικαιος, the Just One. The same may be observed of Nebuchadnezzar’s words, Dan. iii. 25.—“And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God:” it ought to be by the Indefinite Article, like a Son of God: ὁμοια ὑιῳ Θεου, as Theodotion very properly renders it: that is, like an Angel; according to Nebuchadnezzar’s own account of it in the 28th verse: “Blessed be God, who hath sent his Angel, and delivered his servants.” See also Luke xix. 9.

These Remarks may serve to shew the great importance of the proper use of the Article; the near affinity there is between the Greek Article, and the English Definite Article; and the excellence of the English Language in this respect, which by means of its two Articles does most precisely determine the extent of signification of Common Names: whereas the Greek has only one Article, and it has puzzled all the Grammarians to reduce the use of that to any clear and certain rules.

[2] “A good character should not be rested in as an end, but employed as a means of doing still farther good.” Atterbury’s Sermons. Ought it not to be a mean?

[3] “About an eight days:” that is, a space of eight days. Luke ix. 28. But the expression is obsolete, or at least vulgar; and we may add likewise improper: for the number eight has not been reduced by use and convenience into one collective and compact idea, like a hundred, and a thousand; each of which, like a dozen, or a score, we are accustomed equally to consider on certain occasions as a simple Unity.

[4] And antiently, eyen, shoen, housen, hosen; so likewise antiently sowen, cowen, now always pronounced and written swine, kine.

[5] In the German the vowels a, o, u, of monosyllable Nouns are generally in the Plural changed into diphthongs with an e: as der hand, the hand, die hände; der hut, the hat, die hüte; der knopff, the button, (or knop) die knöpffe; &c.

[6] These are directly from the Saxon: mus, mys; lus, lys; toth, teth; fot, fet; gos, ges.

[7] “Lingua Anglorum hodierna avitæ Saxonicæ formam in plerisque orationis partibus etiamnum retinet. Nam quoad particulas casuales, quorundam casuum terminationes, conjugationes verborum, verbum substantivum, formam passivæ vocis, pronomina, participia, conjunctiones, & præpositiones omnes; denique quoad idiomata, phrasiumque maximam partem, etiam nunc Saxonicus est Anglorum sermo.” Hickes. Thesaur. Lingg. Septent. Præf. p. vi. To which may be added the Degrees of comparison, the form of which is the very same in the English as in the Saxon.

[8] “Christ his sake,” in our Liturgy, is a mistake, either of the Printers, or of the Compilers.⸺“My paper is the Ulysses his bow, in which every man of wit or learning may try his strength.” Addison, Guardian Nᵒ 98. This is no slip of Mr. Addison’s pen: he gives us his opinion upon this point very explicitly in another place. “The same single letter [s] on many occasions does the office of a whole word, and represents the his and her of our forefathers.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 135. The latter instance might have shewn him, how groundless this notion is: for it is not easy to conceive, how the letter s added to a Feminine Noun should represent the word her; any more than it should the word their, added to a Plural Noun: as, “the children’s bread.” But the direct derivation of this Case from the Saxon Genitive Case is sufficient of itself to decide this matter.

[9]

“At his command th’ uprooted hills retir’d

Each to his place: they heard his voice and went

Obsequious: Heaven his wonted face renew’d,

And with fresh flowrets hill and valley smil’d.”

Milton, P. L. B. vi.

“Was I deceiv’d, or did a sable Cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the Night?”

Milton, Comus.

“Go to your Natural Religion: lay before her Mahomet and his disciples arrayed in armour and in blood:⸺shew her the cities which he set in flames; the countries which he ravaged:⸺when she has viewed him in this scene, carry her into his retirements; shew her the Prophet’s chamber, his concubines and his wives:⸺when she is tired with this prospect, then shew her the Blessed Jesus.—” See the whole passage in the conclusion of Bp Sherlock’s 9th Sermon, Vol. I.

In these beautiful passages, as in the English if you put it and its instead of his, she, her, you destroy the images, and reduce, what was before highly Poetical and Rhetorical, to mere prose and common discourse; so if you render them into another language, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, or German, in which Hill, Heaven, Cloud, Religion, are constantly Masculine, or Feminine, or Neuter, respectively, you make the images obscure and doubtful, and in proportion diminish their beauty.

This excellent remark is Mr. Harris’s, Hermes, p. 58.

[10] Some Writers have used Ye as the Objective Case Plural of the Pronoun of the Second Person; very improperly and ungrammatically.

“But Tyrants dread ye, lest your just decree

Transfer the pow’r, and set the people free.”

Prior.

“His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both.”

Milton, P. L. ii. 734.

Dr. Bently has corrected this mistake, which is probably an error of the Press, or of the Editor of whom he talks so much. But he has done it, without taking the least notice of the matter, or assuming any merit to himself from an emendation, which is one of the very few that are really such in his whole performance.

[11] The Neuter Pronoun of the Third Person had formerly no variation of Cases. Instead of the Possessive its they used his, which is now appropriated to the Masculine. “Learning hath his infancy, when it is but beginning, and almost childish; then his youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile; then his strength of years, when it is solid and reduced; and lastly his old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust.” Bacon, Essay 58. In this example his is evidently used as the Possessive Case of it: but what shall we say to the following, where her is applied in the same manner, and seems to make a strange confusion of Gender? “He that pricketh the heart maketh it to shew her knowledge.” Ecclus. xxii. 19.

“Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,

Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless,

Being all descended to the lab’ring heart,

Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,

Attracts the same for aidance ’gainst the enemy.”

Shakespear.

If the Poet had said he instead of it, he would have avoided a confusion of Genders, and happily compleated the spirited and elegant Prosopopœia, begun by the Personal Relative who. The Neuter Relative which would have made the sentence more strictly grammatical, but at the same time more prosaic.

[12] So the Saxon Ic hath the Possessive Case Min; Thu, Possessive Thin; He, Possessive His: from which our Possessive Cases of the same Pronouns are taken without alteration. To the Saxon Possessive Cases hire, ure, eower, hira, (that is, her’s, our’s, your’s, their’s) we have added the s, the Characteristic of the Possessive Case of Nouns. Or our’s, your’s, are directly from the Saxon ures, eoweres; the Possessive Case of the Pronominal Adjectives ure, eower; that is, our, your.

[13] Whose is by some authors made the Possessive Case of which, and applied to things as well as persons; I think, improperly.

“The question, whose solution I require,

Is, what the sex of women most desire.”

Dryden.

“Is there any other doctrine, whose followers are punished?” Addison.

[14] So the Saxon hwa hath the Possessive Case hwæs. Note, that the Saxons rightly placed the Aspirate before the w: as we now pronounce it. This will be evident to any one that shall consider in what manner he pronounces the words what, when; that is, hoo-àt, hoo-èn.

[15] Adjectives are very improperly called Nouns; for they are not the Names of things. The Adjectives good, white, are applied to the Nouns man, snow, to express the Qualities belonging to those Subjects; but the Names of those Qualities in the Abstract, (that is, considered in themselves, and without being attributed to any Subject) are goodness, whiteness; and these are Nouns, or Substantives.

[16] The Double Superlative most highest is a Phrase peculiar to the Old Vulgar Translation of the Psalms, where it acquires a singular propriety from the Subject to which it is applied, the Supreme Being, who is higher than the highest.

[17] “Lesser, says Mr. Johnson, is a barbarous corruption of Less, formed by the vulgar from the habit of terminating comparisons in er.”

“Attend to what a lesser Muse indites.”

Addis.

Worser sounds much more barbarous, only because it has not been so frequently used:

“A dreadful quiet felt, and worser far

Than arms, a sullen interval of war.”

Dryden.

[18] A greater variety of endings to distinguish the Persons in the Verb is not necessary; as the Verb is always attended with the Personal Pronoun, wherever an ambiguity would otherwise arise. For the same reason the Plural termination in en, they loven, they weren, which was formerly in use, hath been long obsolete.

[19] Thou, in the Polite, and even in the Familiar Style, is disused, and the Plural You is employed instead of it: we say You have, not Thou hast. Tho’ in this case we apply You to a single Person, yet the Verb too must agree with it in the Plural Number: it must necessarily be You have, not You hast. You was, the Second Person Plural of the Pronoun placed in agreement with the First or Third Person Singular of the Verb, is an enormous Solecism: and yet Authors of the first rank have inadvertently fallen into it. “Knowing that you was my old master’s good friend.” Addison, Spect. No 517. “Would to God you was within her reach.” Lord Bolingbroke to Swift, Letter 46. “If you was here.” Ditto, Letter 47. “I am just now as well, as when you was here.” Pope to Swift, P. S. to Letter 56. On the contrary the Solemn Style admits not of You for a Single Person. This hath led Mr. Pope into a great impropriety in the beginning of his Messiah:

“O Thou my voice inspire

Who touch’d Isaiah’s hallow’d lips with fire!”

The Solemnity of the Style would not admit of You for Thou in the Pronoun; nor the measure of the Verse touchedst, or didst touch, in the Verb; as it indispensably ought to be, in the one, or the other of these two forms: You who touched; or Thou who touchedst, or didst touch. Again:

“Just of thy word, in every thought sincere,

Who knew no wish but what the world might hear.”

Pope, Epitaph.

It ought to be your in the first line, or knewest in the second.

[20] This Participle represents the action as complete and finished; and, being subjoined to the Auxiliary to have, constitutes the Perfect Time: I call it therefore the Perfect Participle. The same subjoined to the Auxiliary to be, constitutes the Passive Verb; and in that state, or when used without the Auxiliary in a passive sense, is called the Passive Participle.

[21]

“Before the sun,

Before the heav’ns thou wert.”

Milton.

“Remember what thou wert.”

Dryden.

“I knew thou wert not slow to hear.”

Addison.

“Thou who of old wert sent to Israel’s court.”

Prior.

“All this thou wert.”⸺

Pope.

Shall we in deference to these great authorities allow wert to be the same with wast, and common to the Indicative and Subjunctive Mode? or rather abide by the practice of our best antient writers; the propriety of the language, which requires, as far as may be, distinct forms for different Modes; and the analogy of formation in each Mode; I was, Thou wast; I were, Thou wert? all which conspire to make wert peculiar to the Subjunctive Mode.

[22] Note, that the Imperfect and Perfect Times are here put together. And it is to be observed, that in the Subjunctive Mode, the event being spoken of under a condition, or supposition, or in the form of a wish, and therefore as doubtful and contingent, the Verb itself in the Present, and the Auxiliary both of the Present and Past Imperfect Times, often carry with them somewhat of a Future sense: as, “If he come to-morrow, I may speak to him:” ⸺ “If he should, or would, come to-morrow, I might, would, could, or should, speak to him.” Observe also, that the Auxiliary should in the Imperfect Times is used to express the Present, as well as the Past; as, “It is my desire, that he should [now] come;” as well as, “It was my desire that he should [then] come.” So that in this Mode the precise Time of the Verb is very much determined by the nature and drift of the Sentence.

[23]

⸺“Perdition catch my soul

But I do love thee!—”

⸺“This to me

In dreadful secrecy impart they did.”

Shakespear.

“Die he certainly did.”

Sherlock, Vol. 1. Disc. 7.

“Yes, I did love her:” that is, at that time, or once; intimating a negation, or doubt, of present love.

“The Lord called Samuel: and he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou calledst me.⸺And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me.” 1 Sam. iii. 4-6.

[24] This distinction was not observed formerly as to the word shall, which was used in the Second and Third Persons to express simply the Event. So likewise should was used, where we now make use of would. See the Vulgar Translation of the Bible.

[25] Bishop Wilkins gives the following elegant investigation of the Modes in his Real Character, Part iii. Chap. 5.

“To shew in what manner the Subject is to be joined with his Predicate, the Copula between them is affected with a Particle, which from the use of it is called Modus, the manner or Mode.

Now the Subject and Predicate may be joined together either Simply, or with some kind of Limitation; and accordingly these Modes are Primary or Secondary.

The Primary Modes are called by Grammarians Indicative and Imperative.

When the matter is declared to be so, or at least when it seems in the Speaker’s power to have it be so, as the bare union of Subject and Predicate would import, then the Copula is nakedly expressed without any variation: and this manner of expressing it is called the Indicative Mode.

When it is neither declared to be so, nor seems immediately in the Speaker’s power to have it so; then he can do no more in words but make out the expression of his will to him that hath the thing in his power; namely to

his | { | Superior | } | by | { | Petition, | }
{ | Equal | } | { | Persuasion, | }
{ | Inferior | } | { | Command. | }

And the manner of these affecting the Copula, (Be it so, or, let it be so,) is called the Imperative Mode; of which there are these three varieties very fit to be distinctly provided for. As for that other use of the Imperative Mode, when it signifies Permission; this may be sufficiently expressed by the Secondary Mode of Liberty; You may do it.

The Secondary Modes are such, as, when the Copula is affected with any of them, make the Sentence to be (as the Logicians call it) a Modal Proposition.

This happens, when the matter in discourse, namely, the being, or doing, or suffering of a thing, is considered, not simply by itself, but gradually in its causes, from which it proceeds contingently, or necessarily.

Then a thing seems to be left Contingent, when the Speaker expresses only the Possibility of it, or his own Liberty to it.

1. The Possibility of a thing depends upon the power of its cause; and may be expressed

when | { | Absolute | } | by the Particle | { | Can,
{ | Conditional | } | { | Could.

2. The Liberty of a thing depends upon a freedom from all obstacles either within or without, and is usually expressed in our language

when | { | Absolute | } | by the Particle | { | May,
{ | Conditional | } | { | Might.

Then a thing seems to be of Necessity, when the Speaker expresseth the resolution of his own will, or some other obligation upon him from without.

3. The Inclination of the Will is expressed,

if | { | Absolute | } | by the Particle | { | Will,
{ | Conditional | } | { | Would.

4. The Necessity of a thing from some external Obligation, whether Natural, or Moral, which we call Duty, is expressed,

if | { | Absolute | } | by the Particle | { | Must, ought, shall;
{ | Conditional | } | { | Must, ought, should.”

See also Hermes, Book I. Chap. viii.

[26] I doubt much of the propriety of the following examples: “The rules of our holy Religion, from which we are infinitely swerved.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 27. “The whole obligation of that law and covenant, which God made with the Jews, was also ceased.” Ib. Vol. II. Serm. 52. “Whose number was now amounted to three hundred.” Swift, Contests and Dissensions, Chap. 3. Neuter Verbs are sometimes employed very improperly as Actives: “I think, it by no means a fit and decent thing to vie Charities, and to erect the reputation of one upon the ruins of another.” Atterbury, Vol. I. Serm. 2.

[27] These two have also beaten and bursten in the Participle; and in that form they belong to the Third Class of Irregulars.

[28] The Verbs marked thus throughout the three Classes of Irregulars, have the Regular as well as the Irregular form in use.

[29] This Verb in the Past Time and Participle is pronounced short; read, red, red; like lead, led, led; and perhaps ought to be written in this manner: our antient writers spelt it redde.

[30] They follow the Saxon rule: “Verbs which in the Infinitive end in dan and tan,” (that is, in English, d and t; for an is only the Characteristic termination of the Saxon Infinitive;) “in the Preterit and Participle Preterit commonly for the sake of better sound throw away the final ed; as beot, afed, (both in the Preterit and Participle Preterit) for beoted, afeded; from beotan, afedan.” Hickes, Grammat. Saxon, cap. 9. So the same Verbs in English, beat, fed, instead of beated, feeded.

[31] When en follows a Vowel or Liquid the e is dropt: so drawn, slayn, (or slain,) are instead of drawen, slayen; so likewise known, born, are for knowen, boren, in the Saxon cnawen, boren: and so of the rest.

[32] This Verb is also formed like those of i long into i short; Write, writ, written; and by Contraction writ in the Participle, but, I think, improperly.

[33] Frequent mistakes are made in the formation of the Participle of this Verb. The analogy plainly requires sitten; which was formerly in use: “The army having sitten there so long:”⸺“Which was enough to make him stir, that would not have sitten still, though Hanibal had been quiet.” Raleigh. “That no Parliament should be dissolved, till it had sitten five months.” Hobbes, Hist. of Civil Wars, p. 257. But it is now almost wholly disused, the form of the Past Time sat, having taken its place. Dr. Middleton hath with great propriety restored the true Participle:⸺“To have sitten on the heads of the Apostles:”⸺“to have sitten upon each of them.” Works, Vol. II. p. 30. “Blessed is the man,⸺that hath not sat in the seat of the scornful.” Ps. i. 1. The old Editions have sit; which may be perhaps allowed as a Contraction of sitten. “And when he was set, his disciples came unto him:” καθισαντος αυτου. Matt. v. 1.⸺“who is set on the right hand;”⸺“and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God:” in both places εκαθισεν. Heb. viii. 1. & xii. 2. Set can be no part of the Verb to sit. If it belongs to the Verb to set, the Translation in these passages is wrong: for to set signifies to place, but without any designation of the posture of the person placed; which is a circumstance of importance expressed by the original.

[34] This Neuter Verb is frequently confounded with the Verb Active to lay, [that is, to put, or place;] which is Regular, and has in the Past Time and Participle layed, or laid.

[35] “Thus having chosed each other.⸺” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. III. p. 797. 8ᵛᵒ. Improperly.

[36] That is, as a bird, volare; whereas to flee signifies fugere, as from an enemy. This seems to be the proper distinction between to fly, and to flee; which in the Present Time are very often confounded. Our Translation of the Bible is not quite free from this mistake. It hath flee for volare in perhaps seven or eight places out of a great number; but never fly for fugere.

[37] Essay xxix.

[38] The whole number of Verbs in the English language, Regular and Irregular, Simple and Compounded, taken together, is about 4300. See Dr. Ward’s Essays on the English Language; the Catalogue of English Verbs.

[39]

⸺“He would have spoke.”

Milton, P. L. x. 517.

“Words interwove with sighs found out their way.”

P. L. i. 621.

“And to his faithful servant hath in place

Bore witness gloriously.”—Samson Ag. ℣. 1752.

“And envious darkness, ere they could return,

Had stole them from me.”—Comus, ℣. 195.

Here it is observable, that the Author’s MS. and the First Edition have it stolne.

⸺“And in triumph had rode.”

P. R. iii. 36.

⸺“I have chose

This perfect man.”⸺

P. R. i. 165.

⸺“The fragrant brier was wove between.”

Dryden, Fables.

“Then finish what you have began,

But scribble faster, if you can.”

Dryden, Poems, Vol. 2. p. 172.

“Have sprang.”

Atterbury, Vol. 1. Serm. 4.

“Had spake”⸺“had began.”⸺Clarendon, Contin. Hist. p. 40, & 120. “The men begun to embellish themselves.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 434.

“Rapt into future times the bard begun.”

Pope, Messiah.

And without the necessity of rhyme:

“A second deluge learning thus o’er-run,

And the Monks finish’d what the Goths begun.”

Essay on Criticism.

“Repeats you verses wrote on glasses.”

Prior.

“Mr. Misson has wrote.”—Addison, Preface to his Travels. “He could only command his voice, broke with sighs and sobbings, so far as to bid her proceed.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 164.

“No civil broils have since his death arose.”

Dryden, on O. Cromwell.

“Illustrious virtues, who by turns have rose.”

Prior.

⸺“Had not arose.” Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sect. x. and Battle of Books: and Bolingbroke, Letter to Wyndham, p. 233.⸺“This nimble operator will have stole it.” Tale of a Tub, Sect. x. “Some philosophers have mistook.” Ibid. Sect. ix.

⸺“Silence

Was took ere she was ware.”

Milton, Comus.

“Into these common places look,

Which from great authors I have took.”

Prior, Alma.

“A free Constitution, when it has been shook by the iniquity of former administrations.” Lord Bolingbroke, Patriot King, p. 111.⸺“Too strong to be shook by his enemies.” Atterbury. “But there was now an accident fell out.”⸺Clarendon, Contin. p. 292.

⸺“Ev’n there he should have fell.”

Prior, Solomon.

“Sure some disaster has befell:

Speak, Nurse; I hope the Boy is well.”

Gay, Fables.

[40] “Was the easilier persuaded.”—Raleigh. “The things highliest important to the growing age.” Lord Shaftesbury, Letter to Lord Molesworth. Improperly, for more easily, most highly.

[41] The Conjunction because used to express the motive or end, is either improper or obsolete: as, “The multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace.” Matt. xx. 31. “It is the case of some, to contrive false periods of business, because they may seem men of dispatch.” Bacon, Essay xxv. We should now make use of that.

[42] “He caused all persons, whom he knew had, or he thought might have, spoken to him, to be apprehended.” Clarendon, Vol. III. p. 618. 8ᵛᵒ. It ought to be who, the Nominative Case to had; not whom, as if it were the Objective Case governed by knew.

“Scotland and Thee did each in other live.”

Dryden, Poems, Vol. II. p. 220.

It ought to be Thou.

[43]

“But Thou false Arcite never shall obtain

Thy bad pretence.”⸺

Dryden, Fables.

“That Thou might fortune to thy side engage.”

Prior.

It ought to be shalt, mightest. The mistake seems to be owing to the confounding of Thou and You as equivalent in every respect; whereas one is Singular, the other Plural. See above, p. 48. “Great pains has [have] been taken.” Pope, P. S. to the Odyssey. “I have considered, what have [hath] been said on both sides in this controversy.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 27.

[44]

“Tell who loves who; what favours some partake,

And who is jilted for another’s sake.”

Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. vi.

“Those, who he thought true to his party.” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. I. p. 667. 8ᵛᵒ. “Who should I meet the other night, but my old friend?” Spect. Nᵒ 32. “Who should I see in the lid of it, but the Doctor?” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 57. “He knows, who it is proper to expose foremost.” Swift, Tale of a Tub, Conclusion. It ought in all these places to be whom.

[45] “And restores to his Island that tranquillity and repose, to which they had been strangers during his absence.” Pope, Dissertation prefixed to the Odyssey. Island is not a Noun of Multitude: it ought to be, his people; or, it had been a stranger. “What reason have the Church of Rome to talk of modesty in this case?” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 49. “All the virtues of mankind are to be counted upon a few fingers, but his follies and vices are innumerable.” Swift, Preface to Tale of a Tub. Is not mankind in this place a Noun of Multitude, and such as requires the Pronoun refering to it to be in the Plural Number, their?

[46] “Whom do men say, that I am?⸺But whom say ye, that I am?” Matt. xvi. 13, 15. So likewise Mark viii. 27, 29. Luke ix. 18, 20. “Whom think ye, that I am?” Acts xiii. 25. It ought in all these places to be who; which is not governed by the Verb say or think, but by the Verb am: or agrees in Case with the Pronoun I. If the Verb were in the Infinitive Mode, it would require the Objective Case of the Relative, agreeing with the Pronoun me: “Whom think ye, or do ye think, me to be?”

⸺“To that, which once was thee.”

Prior.

It ought to be, which was thou; or, which thou wast.

[47] On which place says Dr. Bentley, “The Context demands that it be,⸺Him descending, Illo descendente.” But him is not the Ablative Case, for the English knows no such Case; nor does him without a Preposition on any occasion answer to the Latin Ablative illo. I might with better reason contend, that it ought to be “his descending,” because it is in Greek αυτου καταβαινοντος in the Genitive; and it would be as good Grammar, and as proper English. This comes of forcing the English under the rules of a foreign Language, with which it has little concern: and this ugly and deformed fault, to use his own expression, Bentley has endeavoured to impose upon Milton in several places: see P. L. vii. 15. ix. 829, 883, 1147. x. 267, 1001. On the other hand, where Milton has been really guilty of this fault, he, very inconsistently with himself, corrects him, and sets him right. His Latin Grammar Rules were happily out of his head, and by a kind of vernacular instinct (so, I imagine, he would call it) he perceived that his Author was wrong.

“For only in destroying I find ease

To my relentless thoughts; and, him destroy’d,

Or won to what may work his utter loss,

For whom all this was made, all this will soon

Follow, as to him link’d in weal or woe.”

P. L. ix. 129.

It ought to be, “he destroy’d,” that is, “he being destroy’d.” Bentley corrects it, “and man destroy’d.”

Archbishop Tillotson has fallen into the same mistake: “Solomon was of this mind; and I make no doubt, but he made as wise and true Proverbs as any body has done since: Him only excepted, who was a much greater and wiser man than Solomon.” Vol. I. Ser. 53.

[48] “To see so many to make so little conscience of so great a sin.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 22. “It cannot but be a delightful spectacle to God and Angels to see a young person, besieged by powerful temptations on either side, to acquit himself gloriously, and resolutely to hold out against the most violent assaults: to behold one in the prime and flower of his age, that is courted by pleasures and honours, by the devil and all the bewitching vanities of the world, to reject all these, and to cleave stedfastly unto God.” Ib. Serm. 54. The impropriety of the Phrases distinguished by Italic Characters is evident.

[49] Το γαρ θελειν παρακειται μοι, το δε κατεργαζεσθαι το καλον ουχ ευρισχω. Rom. vii. 18.

[50] Προς το θεαθηναι τοις ανθρωποις. Matt. xxiii. 5. The following sentences seem defective either in the construction, or the order of the words: “Why do ye that, which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?⸺The shew bread, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests alone.” Luke vi. 2, 4. The Construction may be rectified by supplying it; “which it is not lawful to do; which it is not lawful to eat:” or the order of the words in this manner; “to do which, to eat which, is not lawful:” where the Infinitive to do, to eat, does the office of the Nominative Case, and the Relative which is in the Objective Case.

[51] “I am not like other men, to envy the talents I cannot reach.” Tale of a Tub, Preface. An improper use of the Infinitive.

[52] This Rule arises from the nature and idiom of our Language, and from as plain a principle as any on which it is founded: namely, that a word which has the Article before it, and a Noun, with the Possessive Preposition of, after it, must be a Noun; and if a Noun, it ought to follow the Construction of a Noun, and not have the Regimen of a Verb. It is the Participial Termination of this sort of words that is apt to deceive us, and make us treat them as if they were of an amphibious species, partly Nouns, and partly Verbs. I believe there are hardly any of our Writers, who have not fallen into this inaccuracy. That it is such, will perhaps more clearly appear, if we examine and resolve one or two examples in this kind.

“God, who didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit:⸺” Collect, Whitsunday. Sending is in this place a Noun; for it is accompanied with the Article: nevertheless it is also a Transitive Verb, for it governs the Noun light in the Objective Case: but this is inconsistent; let it be either the one or the other, and abide by its proper Construction. That these Participial Words are sometimes real Nouns is undeniable; for they have a Plural Number as such: as, “the outgoings of the morning.” The Sending is the same with the Mission; which necessarily requires the Preposition of after it, to mark the relation between it and the light; the mission of the light; and so, the sending of the light. The Phrase would be proper either way, by keeping to the Construction of the Noun, by the sending of the light; or of the Participle, or Gerund, by sending the light.

Again:⸺“Sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour, by preaching of Repentance:⸺” Collect, St. John Baptist. Here the Participle, or Gerund, hath as improperly the Preposition of after it; and so is deprived of its Verbal Regimen, by which as a Transitive it would govern the Noun Repentance in the Objective Case. Besides, the Phrase is rendered obscure and ambiguous: for the obvious meaning of it in its present form is, “by preaching concerning or on the Subject of Repentance;” whereas the sense intended is, “by publishing the Covenant of Repentance, and declaring Repentance to be a condition of acceptance with God.” The Phrase would have been perfectly right and determinate to this sense either way; by the Noun, by the preaching of repentance; or by the Participle, by preaching repentance.

[53] These are the three Primary Modes, or manners of expressing our thoughts concerning the being, doing, or suffering of a thing. If it comes within our knowledge, we explain it, or make a declaration of it; if we are ignorant or doubtful of it, we make an inquiry about it; if it is not immediately in our power, we express our desire or will concerning it. In Theory therefore the Interrogative form seems to have as good a Title to a Mode of its own, as either of the other two; but Practice has determined it otherwise; and has in all the Languages, with which we are most acquainted, supplied the place of an Interrogative Mode, either by Particles of Interrogation, or by a peculiar order of the words in the sentence. If it be true, as I have somewhere read, that the Modes of the Verbs are more numerous in the Lapland Tongue than in any other, possibly the Laplanders may be provided with an Interrogative Mode.

[54]

“The burning lever not deludes his pains.”

Dryden, Ovid. Metam. B. xii.

“I hope, my Lord, said he, I not offend.”

Dryden, Fables.

These examples make the impropriety of placing the Adverb not before the Verb very evident.

[55] “Did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil, which he had pronounced against them?” Jer. xxvi. 19. Here the Interrogative and Explicative forms are confounded. It ought to be, “Did he not fear the Lord, and beseech the Lord? and did not the Lord repent him of the evil,⸺?” See likewise Matt. xviii. 12.

[56]

“For ever in this humble cell

Let Thee and I, my fair one, dwell.”

Prior.

It ought to be Me.

[57] It is not easy to give particular rules for the management of the Modes and Times of Verbs with respect to one another, so that they may be proper and consistent: nor would it be of much use; for the best rule that can be given is this very general one, To observe what the sense necessarily requires. But it may be of use to consider one or two examples, that seem faulty in these respects, and to examine where the fault lies.

“Some who the depths of eloquence have found,

In that unnavigable Stream were drown’d.”

Dryden, Juv. Sat. x.

The event mentioned in the first line is plainly prior in time to that mentioned in the second; this is subsequent to that, and a consequence of it. The first event is mentioned in the Present Perfect Time; it is present and compleated; “they have [now] found the depths of eloquence.” The second event is expressed in the Past Indefinite Time; it is past and gone, but, when it happened, uncertain: “they were drown’d.” We observed, that the last mentioned event is subsequent to the first: but how can the Past Time be subsequent to the Present? It therefore ought to be in the second line are drown’d, in the Present Perfect, which is consistent with the same Time in the first line: or in the first line had found in the Past Perfect, which would be consistent with the Past Indefinite in the second line.⸺There seems to be a fault of the like nature in the following passage:

“But oh! ’twas little that her life

O’er earth and waters bears thy fame:”⸺

Prior.

It ought to be bore in the second line.

Again;

“Him portion’d maids, apprentic’d orphans blest,

The young who labour, and the old who rest.”

Pope, Moral Ep. iii. 267.

The Verb in the first line ought to be in the same Time with those in the last.

“Had their records been delivered down in the vulgar tongue,⸺they could not now be understood, unless by Antiquaries, who made it their study to expound them.” Swift, Letter, on the English Tongue. Here the latter part of the sentence depends intirely on the Supposition expressed in the former, “of their records being delivered down in the vulgar tongue:” therefore made in the Indicative Mode, which implies no supposition, and in the Past Indefinite Time, is improper: it would be much better in the Past Definite, had made; but indeed ought to be in the Subjunctive Mode, Present or Past Time, should make, or should have made.

[58] “By this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river.” Ezra, iv. 16. “It renders us careless of approving ourselves to God by religious duties, and by that means securing the continuance of his goodness.” Atterbury, Sermons. Ought it not to be, by these means, by those means? or by this mean, by that mean, in the singular number? as it is used by Hooker, Sidney, Shakespear, &c. “I have not wept this forty years.” Dryden. “I am not recommending these kind of sufferings to your liking.” Bishop Sherlock, Disc. Vol. II. p. 267. So the Pronoun must agree with its Noun: in which respect let the following example be considered. “It is an unanswerable argument of a very refined age, the wonderful Civilities that have passed between the nation of authors and those of readers.” Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sect. x. As to these wonderful Civilities, one might say, that “they are an unanswerable argument, &c.” but as the Sentence stands at present it is not easy to reconcile it to any grammatical propriety. “A person whom all the world allows to be so much your betters.” Swift, Battle of Books. And the Phrase which occurs in the following examples, tho’ pretty common and authorised by Custom, yet seems to be somewhat defective in the same way:

“’Tis these that early taint the female soul.”

Pope.

“’Tis they that give the great Atrides’ spoils;

’Tis they that still renew Ulysses’ toils.”

Prior.

[59] “Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his goodness to give you safe deliverance, and hath preserved you in the great danger of Childbirth:”⸺Liturgy. The Verb hath preserved hath here no Nominative Case; for it cannot be properly supplied by the preceding word God, which is in the Objective Case. It ought to be, “and He hath preserved you;” or rather, “and to preserve you.” Some of our best Writers have frequently fallen into this, which I take to be no small inaccuracy: I shall therefore add some more examples of it, by way of admonition; inferring in each within Crotchets, the Nominative Case that is deficient, and that must necessarily be supplied to support the proper Construction of the Sentence. “If the calm, in which he was born, and [which] lasted so long, had continued.” Clarendon, Life, p. 43. “The Remonstrance he had lately received from the House of Commons, and [which] was dispersed throughout the Kingdom.” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. I. p. 366. 8ᵛᵒ. “These we have extracted from an Historian of undoubted credit, a reverend bishop, the learned Paulus Jovius; and [they] are the same that were practised under the pontificate of Leo X.” Pope, Works, Vol. VI. p. 301. “A cloud gathering in the North; which we have helped to raise, and [which] may quickly break in a storm upon our heads.” Swift, Conduct of the Allies. “A man, whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and [who] had great abilities to manage and multiply and defend his corruptions.” Gulliver, Part I. Chap. vi. “My Master likewise mentioned another quality, which his servants had discovered in many Yahoos, and [which] to him was wholly unaccountable.” Gulliver, Part IV. Chap. vii. “This I filled with the feathers of several birds I had taken with springes made of Yahoos hairs, and [which] were excellent food.” Ibid. Chap. x. “Osyris, whom the Grecians call Dionysius, and [who] is the same with Bacchus.” Swift, Mechan. Oper. of the Spirit, Sect. ii.

[60] “Which rule, if it had been observed, a neighbouring Prince would have wanted a great deal of that incense, which hath been offered up to him by his adorers.” Atterbury, Vol. I. Serm. 1. The Pronoun it is here the Nominative Case to the Verb observed; and which rule is left by itself, a Nominative Case without any Verb following it. This manner of expression, however improper, is very common. It ought to be, “If this rule had been observed, &c.”

[61] Adjectives are sometimes employed as Adverbs; improperly, and not agreeably to the Genius of the English Language. As, “extreme elaborate:” Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poet. “marvellous graceful:” Clarendon, Life, p. 18. “extreme unwilling;” “extreme subject:” Swift, Tale of a Tub, and Battle of Books. “I shall endeavour to live hereafter suitable to a man in my station.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 530. “Homer describes this river agreeable to the vulgar reading.” Pope, Note on Iliad, ii. v. 1032. So exceeding, for exceedingly, however improper, occurs frequently in the Vulgar Translation of the Bible, and has obtained in common discourse. “We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” Tit. ii. 12.

“O Liberty, Thou Goddess heavenly bright.”

Addison.

On the other hand an Adverb is improperly used as an Adjective in the following passage: “We may cast in such seeds and principles, as we judge most likely to take soonest and deepest root.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 52.

[62] “How much soever the Reformation of this corrupt and degenerate Age is almost utterly to be despaired of, we may yet have a more comfortable prospect of future times.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Pref. to Serm. 49. The first part of this Sentence abounds with Adverbs, and those such as are hardly consistent with one another.

[63] “We are still much at a loss, who civil power belongs to.” Locke. It ought to be whom.

[64] Pope, Preface to his Poems.

[65] With in composition retains the signification, which it hath among others in the Saxon, of from and against: as to withhold, to withstand. So also for has a negative signification from the Saxon: as, to forbid, forbeodan; to forget, forgitan.

[66] Examples of impropriety in the use of the Preposition in Phrases of this kind: “Your character, which I, or any other writer, may now value ourselves by [upon] drawing.” Swift, Letter on the English Tongue. “You have bestowed your favours to [upon] the most deserving persons.” Ibid. “Upon such occasions as fell into [under] their cognisance,” Swift, Contests and Dissensions &c. Chap. 3. “That variety of factions into [in] which we are still engaged.” Ibid. Chap. 5. “The utmost extent of power pretended [to] by the Commons.” Ibid. Chap. 3.⸺“Accused the ministers for [of] betraying the Dutch.” Swift, Four last years of the Queen, Book ii. “Ovid, whom you accuse for [of] luxuriancy of verse.” Dryden, on Dram. Poesy. “Neither the one nor the other shall make me swerve out of [from] the path, which I have traced to myself.” Bolingbroke, Letter to Wyndham, p. 252. “They are now reconciled by a zeal for their cause to what they could not be prompted [to] by a concern for their beauty.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 81. “If policy can prevail upon [over] force.” Addison, Travels, p. 62. “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” Matt. xxiii. 24. διυλιζοντες, “which strain out, or take a gnat out of the liquor by straining it:” the impropriety of the Preposition has wholly destroyed the meaning of the Phrase. Observe also, that the Noun generally requires after it the same Preposition as the Verb from which it is formed: “It was perfectly in compliance to [with] some persons, for whose opinion I have great deference.” Swift, Pref. to Temple’s Memoirs. “Not from any personal hatred to them, but in justification to [of] the best of Queens.” Swift, Examiner, Nᵒ 23. In the last example, the Verb being Transitive and requiring the Objective Case, the Noun formed from it seems to require the Possessive Case, or its Preposition, after it. Or perhaps he meant to say, “in justice to the best of Queens.” “No discouragement for the authors to proceed.” Tale of a Tub, Preface. “A strict observance after times and fashions.” Ibid. Sect. ii. So the Noun Aversion, (that is, a turning away,) requires the Preposition from after it; and does not properly admit of to, for, or towards, which are often used with it.

[67] These are much disused in common discourse, and are retained only in the Solemn, or Formulary Style. “They [our Authors] have of late, ’tis true, reformed in some measure the gouty joints and darning-work of whereunto’s, whereby’s, thereof’s, therewith’s, and the rest of this kind; by which complicated periods are so curiously strung, or hook’d on, one to another, after the long-spun manner of the bar or pulpit.” Lord Shaftesbury, Miscel. V.

[68] Or in these and the like Phrases, may not me, thee, him, her, us, which in Saxon are the Dative Cases of their respective Pronouns, be considered as still continuing such in the English, and including in their very form the force of the Prepositions to and for? There are certainly some other Phrases, which are to be resolved in this manner: “Wo is me!” The Phrase is pure Saxon; “wa is me:” me is the Dative Case; in English, with the Preposition to me. So, “methinks;” Saxon, “me thincth,” εμοι δοκει. “O well is thee!” Psal. cxxviii. 2. “Wel is him that ther mai be.” Anglo-Saxon Poem in Hickes’s Thesaur. Vol. I. p. 231. “Well is him, that dwelleth with a wife of understanding.”⸺“Well is him, that hath found prudence.” Ecclus. xxv. 8, 9. The Translator thought to correct his phrase afterward, and so hath made it neither Saxon nor English: “Well is he, that is defended from it.” Ecclus. xxviii. 19. “Wo worth the day!” Ezek. xxx. 2. that is, Wo be to the day. The word worth is not the Adjective, but the Saxon Verb weorthan, or worthan, fieri, to be, to become; which is often used by Chaucer, and is still retained as an Auxiliary Verb in the German Language.

[69] That has been used in the same manner, as including the Relative which; but it is either improper, or obsolete: as, “To consider advisedly of that is moved.” Bacon, Essay xxii. “She appeared not to wish that without doubt she would have been very glad of.” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. II. p. 363. 8ᵛᵒ. “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.” John iii. 11.

[70] “Who, instead of going about doing good, they are perpetually intent upon doing mischief.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 18. The Nominative Case they in this sentence is superfluous; it was expressed before in the Relative who.

[71] “I am the Lord, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone:”⸺Isaiah xliv. 24. Thus far is right: the Lord in the third Person is the Antecedent, and the Verb agrees with the Relative in the third Person: “I am the Lord, which Lord, or He that, maketh all things.” It would have been equally right, if I had been made the Antecedent, and the Relative and the Verb had agreed with it in the First Person: “I am the Lord, that make all things.” But when it follows, “that spreadeth abroad the heavens by myself;” there arises a confusion of Persons, and a manifest Solecism.

“Thou great first Cause, least understood!

Who all my sense confin’d

To know but this, that Thou art good,

And that myself am blind:

Yet gave me in this dark estate,” &c.

Pope, Universal Prayer.

It ought to be confinedst, or didst confine; gavest, or didst give; &c. in the second Person. See above, p. 48. Note.

[72]

“Abuse on all he lov’d, or lov’d him, spread.”

Pope, Epist. to Arbuthnot.

That is, “all whom he lov’d, or who lov’d him:” or to make it more easy by supplying a Relative that has no variation of Cases, “all that he lov’d, or that lov’d him.” The Construction is hazardous, and hardly justifiable, even in Poetry. “In the temper of mind he was then.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 549. “In the posture I lay.” Swift, Gulliver, Part 1. Chap. 1. In these and the like Phrases, which are very common, there is an Ellipsis both of the Relative and the Preposition; which were much better supplied: “In the temper of mind in which he was then:” “In the posture in which I lay.” In general, the omission of the Relative seems to be too much indulged in the familiar style; it is ungraceful in the serious; and of whatever kind the style be, it is apt to be attended with obscurity and ambiguity.

[73] The Connective parts of Sentences are of all others the most important, and require the most care and attention: for it is by these chiefly that the train of thought, the course of reasoning, and the whole progress of the mind in continued discourse of all kinds, is laid open; and on the right use of these the perspicuity, that is, the first and greatest beauty, of style principally depends. Relatives and Conjunctions are the instruments of Connection in discourse: it may be of use to point out some of the most common inaccuracies, that writers are apt to fall into with respect to them; and a few examples of faults may perhaps be more instructive, than any rules of propriety that can be given. Here therefore shall be added some further examples of inaccuracies in the use of Relatives.

The Relative placed before the Antecedent: Example; “The bodies, which we daily handle, make us perceive, that whilst they remain between them, they do by an insurmountable force hinder the approach of our hands that press them.” Locke, Essay, B. 2. C. 4. §. 1. Here the sense is suspended, and the sentence is unintelligible, till you get to the end of it: there is no Antecedent, to which the Relative them can be referred, but bodies; but, “whilst the bodies remain between the bodies,” makes no sense at all. When you get to hands, the difficulty is cleared up, the sense helping out the Construction: yet there still remains an ambiguity in the Relatives they, them, which in number and gender are equally applicable to bodies or hands; this, tho’ it may not here be the occasion of much obscurity, which is commonly the effect of it, yet is always disagreeable and inelegant: as in the following examples.

“Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others; and think, that their reputation obscures them; and that their commendable qualities do stand in their light: and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over them, that the bright shining of their virtues may not obscure them.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 42.

“The Earl of Falmouth and Mr. Coventry were rivals who should have most influence with the Duke, who loved the Earl best, but thought the other the wiser man, who supported Pen, who disobliged all the Courtiers, even against the Earl, who contemned Pen as a fellow of no sense.” Clarendon, Cont. p. 264.

But the following Sentence cannot possibly be understood without a careful recollection of circumstances through some pages preceding.

“All which, with the King’s and Queen’s so ample promises to him [the Treasurer] so few hours before the conferring the place on another, and the Duke of York’s manner of receiving him [the Treasurer,] after he [the Chancellor] had been shut up with him [the Duke,] as he [the Treasurer] was informed, might very well excuse him [the Treasurer] for thinking he [the Chancellor] had some share in the affront he [the Treasurer] had undergone.” Clarendon, Cont. p. 296.

“Breaking a Constitution by the very same errors, that so many have been broke before.” Swift, Contests and Dissensions, &c. Chap. 5. Here the Relative is employed not only to represent the Antecedent Noun the errors, but likewise the Preposition by prefixed to it. It ought to be, “the same errors, by which so many have been broken before.”

Again: “⸺An Undertaking; which, although it has failed, (partly &c, and partly &c,) is no objection at all to an Enterprize so well concerted, and with such fair probability of success.” Swift, Conduct of the Allies. That is, “Which Undertaking is no objection to an Enterprize so well concerted;” that is, “to itself:” he means, “the failing of which is no objection at all to it.”

[74] In the following instances the Conjunction that seems to be improperly accompanied with the Subjunctive Mode: “I cannot but bewail, that no famous modern have ever yet attempted⸺.” Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sect. v.

“So much she fears for William’s life,

That Mary’s fate she dare not mourn.”

Prior.

[75] “You are a much greater loser than me by his death.” Swift to Pope, Letter 63.

“And tho’ by heav’n’s severe decree

She suffers hourly more than me.”

Swift to Stella.

“We contributed a third more than the Dutch, who were obliged to the same proportion more than us.” Swift, Conduct of the Allies.

“King Charles, and more than him, the Duke, and the Popish Faction, were at liberty to form new schemes.” Lord Bolingbroke, Diss. on Parties, Letter 3.

“A Poem, which is good in itself, cannot lose any thing of its real value, though it should appear not to be the work of so eminent an author, as him, to whom it was first imputed.” Congreve, Pref. to Homer’s Hymn to Venus.

“If the King give us leave, you or I may as lawfully preach, as them that do.” Hobbes, Hist. of Civil Wars, p. 62.

“The sun upon the calmest sea

Appears not half so bright as Thee.”

Prior.

“Then finish dear Chloe this Pastoral war,

And let us like Horace and Lydia agree:

For thou art a Girl as much brighter than her,

As he was a Poet sublimer than me.”

Prior.

In these passages it ought to be, I, We, He, They, Thou, She, reflectively. Perhaps the following example may admit of a doubt, whether it be properly expressed or not:

“The Lover got a woman of greater fortune than her he had miss’d.” Addison, Guardian Nᵒ 9. Let us try it by the Rule given above; and see, whether some correction will not be necessary, when the parts of the Sentence, which are understood, come to be supplied: “The lover got a woman of a greater fortune, than She [was, whom] he had miss’d.”

“Nor hope to be myself less miserable
By what I seek, but others to make such
As I.”

Milton, P. L. ix. 126.

“The Syntax, says Dr. Bentley, requires, make such as me.” On the contrary, the Syntax necessarily requires, “make such as I:” for it is not, “I hope to make others such, as to make me:” the Pronoun is not governed by the Verb make, but is the Nominative Case to the Verb am understood: “to make others such as I am.”

[76] “But it is reason, the memory of their virtues remaine to their posterity.” Bacon, Essay xiv. In this, and many the like Phrases, the Conjunction were much better inserted: “that the memory, &c.”

[77] Never so⸺This Phrase, says Mr. Johnson, is justly accused of Solecism. It should be, ever so wisely; that is, how wisely soever.

[78] I have been the more particular in noting the proper uses of these Conjunctions, because they occur very frequently, and, as it was observed before of Connective words in general, are of great importance with respect to the clearness and beauty of style. I may add too, because mistakes in the use of them are very common; as it will appear by the following Examples.

Neither is sometimes supposed to be included in its correspondent nor:

“Simois, nor Xanthus shall be wanting there.”

Dryden.

⸺ “That all the application he could make, nor the King’s own interposition, could prevail with Her Majesty.” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. III. p. 179. Sometimes to be supplied by a subsequent Negative: “His rule holdeth still, that nature, nor the engagement of words, are not so forcible as custom.” Bacon, Essay xxxix. “The King nor the Queen were not at all deceived.” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. II. p. 363. These forms of expression seem both of them equally improper.

So ⸺, as, was used by the Writers of the last Century, to express a Consequence, instead of So ⸺, that: Examples; “The relations are so uncertain, as [that] they require a great deal of examination.” Bacon, Nat. Hist. “So as [that] it is a hard calumny to affirm, ⸺.” Temple. “This computation being so easy and trivial, as [that] it is a shame to mention it.” Swift, Conduct of the Allies. “That the Spaniards were so violently affected to the House of Austria, as [that] the whole kingdom would revolt.” Ibid. Swift, I believe, is the last of our good Writers, who has frequently used this manner of expression: it seems improper, and is deservedly grown obsolete.

As instead of that, in another manner: “If a man have that penetration of judgement, as [that] he can discern what things are to be laid open.” Bacon, Essay vi. “It is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as [that] they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs.” Id. Essay xxiii. “They would have given him such satisfaction in other particulars, as [that] a full and happy peace must have ensued.” Clarendon, Vol. III. p. 214. “We should sufficiently weigh the objects of our hope; whether they be such, as [that] we may reasonably expect from them what they propose in their fruition; and whether they are such, as we are pretty sure of attaining.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 535. “France was then disposed to conclude a peace upon such conditions, as [that] it was not worth the life of a granadier to refuse them.” Swift, Four last years of the Queen, B. ii.

As instead of the Relative that, or which: “The Duke had not behaved with that loyalty, as [which] he ought to have done.” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. II. p. 460. “⸺ With those thoughts as [which] might contribute to their honour.” Ibid. p. 565. “In the order, as they lie in his Preface.” Middleton, Works Vol. III p. 8. It ought to be, either, “in order, as they lie;” or, “in the order, in which they lie.” “Securing to yourselves a succession of able and worthy men, as [which] may adorn this place.” Atterbury, Sermons, Vol. IV. 12.

The Relative that instead of as: “Such sharp replies, that [as] cost him his life in few months after.” Clarendon, Hist. Vol. III. p. 179.

The Relative who ⸺, instead of as: “There was no man so sanguine, who did not apprehend some ill consequence from the late change.” Swift, Examiner Nᵒ 24. It ought to be, either, “so sanguine, as not to apprehend, ⸺” or, “There was no man, how sanguine soever, who did not apprehend.”

As improperly omitted: “They are so bold [as] to pronounce ⸺.” Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sect. vii.

Too ⸺, that, improperly used as Correspondent Conjunctions: “Whose Characters are too profligate, that the managing of them should be of any consequence.” Swift, Examiner Nᵒ 24. And, too ⸺, than: “You that are a step higher than a Philosopher, a Divine; yet have too much grace and wit than to be a Bishop.” Pope to Swift, Letter 80. So ⸺, but: “If the appointing and apportioning of penalties to crimes be not so properly a consideration of justice, but rather [as] of prudence in the Lawgiver.” Tillotson, Vol. I. Serm. 35. And to conclude with an example, in which, whatever may be thought of the accuracy of the expression, the justness of the observation will be acknowledged; which may serve also as an apology for this and many of the preceding Notes: “No errors are so trivial, but they deserve to be mended.” Pope to Steele, Letter 6.

[79] “Ah me!” seems to be a phrase of the same nature with “Wo is me!”; for the resolution of which see above p. 132. Note.

ERRATA.

P. 59. l. 11. read: Have, through its several Modes and Times, is placed only before the Perfect Participle; and be, in like manner, before the Present and Passive Participles: the rest⸺

P. 88. l. 1. r. drank. l. 2. r. drunk.

Transcriber’s Note

The above errata have been corrected. The original text for the first erratum read “Have and be through their several Modes and Times are placed only before the Perfect and Passive Participles respectively; the rest⸺”, and for the second, the two words were transposed. In addition, the following changes were made to the text to correct apparent printing errors:

- Page 41, “is” changed to “it” (When it is expressed)

- Page 47, “it” changed to “is” (when it is expressed)

- Page 158, “Sembrief” changed to “Semibrief” (the Semibrief, the Minim, the Crotchet)

- Page 176, “Partiple” changed to “Participle” (the Present Participle of the Verb Active)

- Footnote 20, “Times” changed to “Time” (constitutes the Perfect Time)

Errors in punctuation have been corrected without note.

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Table of Contents

- A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

- GRAMMAR.

- LETTERS.

- SYLLABLES.

- WORDS.

- EXAMPLE.

- ARTICLE.

- SUBSTANTIVE.

- PRONOUN.

- PRONOUNS; according to their Persons, Numbers, Cases, and Genders.

- ADJECTIVE.

- VERB.

- To HAVE.

- To BE.

- The Verb Active is thus varied according to Person, Number, Time and Mode.

- Indefinite, or Undetermined, Time:

- Definite, or Determined, Time:

- IRREGULAR VERBS.

- ADVERB.

- PREPOSITION.

- CONJUNCTION.

- INTERJECTION.

- SENTENCES.

- PUNCTUATION.

- EXAMPLES.

- EXAMPLES.

- EXAMPLES.

- EXAMPLE.

- EXAMPLE.

- A PRAXIS, or Example of Grammatical Resolution.

- FOOTNOTES

- ERRATA.

- Transcriber’s Note

- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE