Chapter 147

SYNTAX OF THE PERSONS OF VERBS.

§ 488. _The concord of persons._--A difficulty that occurs frequently in the Latin language is rare in English. In expressions like _ego et ille_ followed by a verb, there arises a question as to the person in which that verb should be used. Is it to be in the first person in order to agree with _ego_, or in the _third_ in order to agree with _ille_? For the sake of laying down a rule upon these and similar points, the classical grammarians arrange the persons (as they do the genders) according to their _dignity_, making the verb (or adjective if it be a question of gender) agree with the most _worthy_. In respect to persons, the first is more worthy than the second, and the second more worthy than the third. Hence, the Latins said--

_Ego_ et _Balbus_ _sustulimus_ manus. _Tu_ et _Balbus_ _sustulistis_ manus.

Now, in English, the plural form is the same for all three persons. Hence we say _I and you are friends_, _you and I are friends_, _I and he are friends_, &c., so that for the practice of language, the question as to the relative dignity of the three persons is a matter of indifference.

Nevertheless, it _may_ occur even in English. Whenever two or more pronouns of different persons, and of the _singular_ number, follow each other _disjunctively_, the question of concord arises. _I or you_,--_you or he_,--_he or I_. I believe that, in these cases, the rule is as follows:--

1. Whenever the words _either_ or _neither_ precede the pronouns, the verb is in the third person. _Either you or I is in the wrong_; _neither you nor I is in the wrong_.

2. Whenever the disjunctive is simple (i.e. unaccompanied with the word _either_ or _neither_) the verb agrees with the _first_ of the two pronouns.

_I_ (or _he_) _am_ in the wrong. _He_ (or _I_) _is_ in the wrong. _Thou_ (or _he_) _art_ in the wrong. _He_ (or _thou_) _is_ in the wrong.

Now, provided that they are correct, it is clear that the English language knows nothing about the relative degrees of dignity between these three pronouns; since its habit is to make the verb agree with the one which is placed first--whatever may be the person. I am strongly inclined to believe that the same is the case in Latin; in which case (in the sentence _ego et Balbus sustulimus manus_) _sustulimus_ agrees, in person, with _ego_, not because the first person is the worthiest, but because it comes first in the proposition,

§ 489. In the Chapter on the Impersonal Verbs, it is stated that the construction of _me-thinks_ is peculiar.

This is because in Anglo-Saxon the word _þincan_ = _seem_. Hence _me-thinks_ is [Greek: phainetai moi], or _mihi videtur_, and _me_ is a _dative_ case, not an _accusative_.

The _þencan_ = _think_, was, in Anglo-Saxon, a different word.

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