Chapter 16

But perhaps the advocates of what _they_ call a philosophical development of language, will say, that by their resolution of sentences, they merely supply an ellipsis. If, by an ellipsis, they mean such a one as is necessary, to the grammatical construction, I cannot accede to their assumption. In teaching grammar, as well as in other things, we ought to avoid extremes:--we ought neither to pass superficially over an ellipsis necessary to the sense of a phrase, nor to put modern English to the blush, by adopting a mode of resolving sentences that would entirely change the character of our language, and carry the learner back to the Vandalic age.

_But_ comes from the Saxon verb, _beon-utan_, to be-out. "All were well _but (be-out, leave-out)_ the stranger." "Man is _but_ a reed, floating on the current of time." Resolution: "Man is a reed, floating on the current of time; _but (be-out_ this fact) he is not a stable being."

_And--aned, an'd, and_, is the past part. of _ananad_, to add, join. _A, an, ane_, or _one_, from the same verb, points out whatever is _aned, oned_, or made _one. And_ also refers to the thing that is _joined_ to, _added_ to, or _made one_ with, some other person or thing mentioned. "Julius _and_ Harriet will make a happy pair." Resolution: "Julius, Harriet _joined, united_, or _aned_, will make a happy pair;" i.e. Harriet _made one_ with Julius; will make a happy pair.

_For_ means _cause_.

_Because_--_be-cause_, is a compound of the verb _be_, and the noun _cause_. It retains the meaning of both; as, "I believe the maxim, _for_ I know it to be true;"--"I believe the maxim, _be-cause_ I know it to be true;" i.e. the _cause_ of my belief, _be_, or _is_, I know it to be true.

_Nor_ is a contraction of _ne or. Ne_ is a contraction of _not_, and _or_, of _other. Nor_ is, _not other_-wise: _not_ in the _other_ way or manner.

_Else_ is the imperative of _alesan, unless_, of _onlesan_, and _lest_, the past part. of _lesan_, all signifying to dismiss, release, loosen, set free. "He will be punished, _unless_ he repent;"--"_Unless, release, give up_, (the fact) he repents he will be punished." _Though_ is the imperative of the Saxon verb _thafigan_, to allow, and _yet_ of _getan_, to get. _Yet_ is simply, _get_; ancient _g_ is the modern _y_. "_Though_ he slay me, _yet_ will I trust in him:--_Grant_ or _allow_ (the fact) he slay me, _get_, or _retain_ (the opposite fact) I will trust in him."

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QUESTIONS ON THE PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.

From what parts of speech are prepositions and conjunctions derived?--What is Horne Tooke's opinion of that?--From what is each of the following words derived, _that, if, but, and, because, nor, else, unless, lest, though_, and _yet?_

LECTURE X.

OF INTERJECTIONS.--CASES OF NOUNS.

INTERJECTIONS are words which express the sudden emotions of the speaker; as, "_Alas!_ I fear for life;" "_O_ death! where is thy sting?"

Interjections are not so much the signs of thought, as of feeling. Almost any word may be used as an interjection; but when so employed, it is not the representative of a _distinct_, idea. A word which denotes a distinct conception of the mind, must necessarily belong to some other part of speech. They who wish to speak often, or rather, to make _noises_, when they have no useful information to communicate, are apt to use words very freely in this way; such as the following expressions, _la, la me, my, O my, O dear, dear me, surprising, astonishing_, and the like.

Interjections not included in the following list, are generally known by their taking an exclamation point after them.

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL INTERJECTIONS.

1. Of _earnestness_ or _grief_; as, O! oh! ah! alas! 2. _Contempt;_ as, Pish! tush! 3. _Wonder;_ as, Heigh! really! strange! 4. _Calling;_ as, Hem! ho! halloo! 5. _Disgust_ or _aversion;_ as, Foh! fy! fudge! away! 6. _Attention_; as, Lo! behold! hark! 7. _Requesting silence_; as, Hush! hist! 8. _Salutation_; as, Welcome! hail! all hail!

NOTE. We frequently meet with what some call an _interjective phrase_; such as, Ungrateful wretch! impudence of hope! folly in the extreme! what ingratitude! away with him!

As the interjection is the least important part of speech in the English language, it will require but little attention. You may, however, make yourself well acquainted with what has been said respecting it, and then commit the

SYSTEMATIC ORDER OF PARSING.

_The order of parsing an_ INTERJECTION, is--an interjection, and why?

"O virtue! how amiable thou art!"

_O_ is an interjection, a word used to express some passion or emotion of the speaker.

The ten parts of speech have now been unfolded and elucidated, although some of them have not been fully explained. Before you proceed any farther, you will please to begin again at the first lecture, and read over, attentively, the whole, observing to parse every example in the exercises systematically. You will then be able to parse the following exercises, which contain all the parts of speech. If you study faithfully _six_ hours in a day, and pursue the directions given, you may become, if not a critical, at least, a good, practical grammarian, in _six weeks_; but if you study only _three_ hours in a day, it will take you nearly _three months_ to acquire the same knowledge.

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

True cheerfulness makes a man happy in himself, and promotes the happiness of all around him.

Modesty always appears graceful in youth: it doubles the lustre of every virtue which it seems to hide.

He who, every morning, plans the transactions of the day, and follows out that plan, carries on a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.

The king gave me a generous reward for committing that barbarous act; but, alas! I fear the consequence.

E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend, I set me down a pensive hour to spend; And, placed on high, above the storm's career, Look downward where a hundred realms appear:-- Alas! the joys that fortune brings, Are trifling, and decay; And those who mind the paltry things, More trifling still than they.

NOTE. In the second sentence of the foregoing exercises, _which_ is governed by the verb _to hide_, according to RULE 16. _He_ is nom. to _carries; who_ is nom. to _plans. Follows_ agrees with _who_ understood, and is connected to _plans_ by _and_; RULE 34. What did the king give? A _reward to_ me. Then _reward_ is in the _obj_. case, gov. by _gave_; RULE 20. _Me_ is gov. by _to_ understood; NOTE 1, RULE 32. The phrase, _committing that barbarous act_, is gov. by _for_; NOTE 2, under RULE 28. _Hour_ is in the _obj_. case, gov. by _to spend_; RULE 20. _Look_ is connected to _set_ by _and_; RULE 34. _Joys_ is nom. to _are. That_ is gov. by _brings_; RULE 16. _Those_ is nom. to _are_ understood. _They_ is nom. to _are_ understood; RULE 35.

CASES OF NOUNS.

In a former lecture, I promised to give you a more extensive explanation of the cases of nouns; and, as they are, in many situations, a little difficult to be ascertained, I will now offer some remarks on this subject. But before you proceed, I wish you to parse all the examples in the exercises just presented, observing to pay particular attention to the remarks in the subjoined NOTE. Those remarks will assist you much in analyzing.

A noun is sometimes nominative to a verb placed many lines after the noun. You must exercise your judgment in this matter. Look at the sentence in the preceding exercises beginning with, "He who, every morning," &c. and see if you can find the verb to which _he_ is nominative. What does _he_ do? He carries on a thread, &c. _He_, then, is nominative to the verb _carries_. What does _who_ do? Who _plans_, and who _follows_, &c. Then _who_ is nom. to _plans_, and _who_ understood, is nominative to _follows_.

"A soul without reflection, like a pile Without inhabitant, to ruin runs."

In order to find the verb to which the noun _soul_, in this sentence, is the nominative, put the question; What does a _soul_ without reflection do? Such, a soul _runs_ to ruin, like a pile without inhabitant. Thus you discover, that _soul_ is nominative to _runs_.

When the words of a sentence are arranged according to their natural order, the nominative case, you recollect, is placed before the verb, and the objective, after it; but when the words of a sentence are transposed; that is, not arranged according to their natural order, it frequently happens, that the nominative comes _after_, and the objective, _before_ the verb; especially in poetry, or when a question is asked: as, "Whence _arises_ the _misery_ of the present world?" "What good _thing shall_ I _do_ to inherit eternal life?" Put these expressions in the declarative form, and the nominative will _precede_, and the objective _follow_ its verb: thus, "The _misery_ of the present world _arises_ whence; I _shall do_ what good _thing_ to inherit eternal life."

"Now came still _evening_ on, and twilight gray Had, in her sober livery, all _things_ clad."

"Stern rugged nurse, thy rigid _lore_ With patience many a _year_ she bore."

What did the _evening_ do? The evening _came on_. Gray _twilight_ had clad what? Twilight had clad all _things_ in her sober livery. _Evening_, then, is nom. to _came_, and the noun _things_ is in the objective case, and gov. by _had clad_: RULE 20. What did _she_ bear? She bore thy rigid _lore_ with patience, _for_, or _during_, many a year. Hence you find, that _lore_ is in the objective case, and governed by _bore_, according to RULE 20. _Year_ is gov. by _during_ understood: RULE 32.

A noun is frequently nominative to a verb understood, or in the objective, and governed by a verb understood; as, "Lo, [_there is_] the poor _Indian!_ whose untutored mind." "O, the _pain_ [_there is!_] the _bliss_ [_there is_] in dying!" "All were sunk, but the wakeful _nightingale_ [_was not sunk_."] "He thought as a _sage_ [_thinks_,] though he felt as a _man_ [_feels_."] "His hopes, immortal, blow them by, as _dust_ [_is blown by_."] Rule 35 applies to these last three examples.

In the next place I will explain several cases of nouns and pronouns which have not yet come under our notice. Sometimes a noun or pronoun may be in the nominative case when it has no verb to agree with it.

OF THE NOMINATIVE CASE INDEPENDENT.

Whenever a direct address is made, the person or thing spoken to, is in the _nominative case independent_; as, "_James_, I desire you to study."

You notice that, in this expression, I address myself to _James_ that is, I speak to him; and you observe, too, that there is no verb, either expressed or implied, to which James can be the nominative; therefore you know that _James_ is in the nom. case independent, according to Rule 5. Recollect, that _whenever a noun is of the second person_, it is in the nom. case independent; that is, independent of any verb; as, _Selma_, thy halls are silent; Love and meekness, my _lord_, become a churchman, better than ambition; O _Jerusalem, Jerusalem_, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!--For a farther illustration of this case, see Note 2, under the 5th Rule of Syntax.

NOTE. When a pronoun of the _second_ person is in apposition with a noun independent, it is in the same case; as, "_Thou traitor_, I detest thee."

OF THE NOMINATIVE CASE ABSOLUTE.

A noun or pronoun placed before a participle, without any verb to agree with it, is in the nominative case _absolute_; as, "The _sun being risen_, we pursued our journey."

_Sun_ is here placed before the participle "being risen," and has no verb to agree with it; therefore it is in the nominative case absolute, according to RULE 6.

NOTE 1. A noun or pronoun in the nominative case independent, is always of the _second_ person; but, in the case absolute, it is generally of the _third_ person.

2. The case absolute is always nominative; the following sentence is therefore incorrect; "Whose top shall tremble, _him_ descending," &c.; it should be, _he_ descending.

OF NOUNS IN APPOSITION.

Two or more nouns or pronouns signifying the same person or thing, are put, by _apposition_, in the same case; as, "_Cicero_, the great _orator, philosopher_, and _statesman_ of Rome, was murdered by Antony."

_Apposition_, in a grammatical sense, means something added, or names added, in order more fully to define or illustrate the sense of the first name mentioned.

You perceive that _Cicero_, in the preceding example, is merely the proper name of a man; but when I give him the three additional appellations, and call him a great _orator, philosopher_, and _statesman_, you understand what kind of a man he was; that is, by giving him these three additional names, his character and abilities as a man are more fully made known. And, surely, you cannot be at a loss to know that these four nouns must be in the same case, for they are all names given to the same person; therefore, if _Cicero_ was murdered, the _orator_ was murdered, and the _philosopher_ was murdered, and the _statesman_ was murdered, because they all mean one and the same person.

Nouns and pronouns in the objective case, are frequently in _apposition_; as, He struck _Charles_ the _student_. Now it is obvious, that, when he struck _Charles_, he struck the _student_, because Charles was the _student_, and the _student_ was _Charles_; therefore the noun _student_ is in the objective case, governed by "struck," and put by apposition with Charles, according to RULE 7.

Please to examine this lecture very attentively. You will then be prepared to parse the following examples correctly and systematically.

PARSING.

"Weep on the rocks of roaring winds, O _maid_ of Inistore."

_Maid_ is a noun, the name of a person--- com. the name of a sort--fem. gender, it denotes a female--second pers. spoken to--sing. num. it implies but one--and in the nominative case independent, because it is addressed, and has no verb to agree with it, according to

RULE 5. _When an address is made, the noun or pronoun addressed, is put in the nominative case independent_.

"The _general_ being ransomed, the barbarians permitted him to depart."

_General_ is a noun, the name, &c. (parse it in full:)--and in the nominative case absolute, because it is placed before the participle "being ransomed," and it has no verb to agree with it, agreeably to

RULE 6. _A noun or pronoun placed before a participle, and being independent of the rest of the sentence, is in the nominative case absolute_.

_"Thou man_ of God, flee to the land of Judah."

_Thou_ is a pronoun, a word used instead of a noun--personal, it personates "man"--second pers. spoken to--mas. gender, sing. num. because the noun "man" is for which it stands; RULE 13 (Repeat the Rule.)--_Thou_ is in the nominative case independent and put by _apposition_ with _man_, because it signifies the same thing, according to

RULE 7. _Two or more nouns, or nouns and pronouns, signifying the same thing, are put, by apposition, in the same case_.

_Man_ is in the nominative case independent, according to Rule 5. _Flee_ agrees with _thou_ understood.

"Lo! _Newton, priest_ of Nature, shines afar, Scans the wide world, and numbers every star."

_Newton_ is a noun, (parse it in full,) and in the nominative case to "shines." RULE 3.

_Priest_ is a noun, (parse it in full,) and in the nom. case, it is the actor and subject of the verb "shines," and put by apposition with "Newton," because it signifies the same thing, agreeably to Rule 7. (Repeat the Rule.)

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

_Turn_ from your evil ways, O house of Israel! Ye fields of light, celestial plains, ye scenes divinely fair! proclaim your Maker's wondrous power. O king! _live_ for ever. The murmur of thy streams, O Lora, brings back the memory of the past. The sound of thy woods, Garmallar, is lovely in my ear. Dost thou not behold, Malvina, a rock with its head of heath? Three aged pines bend from its face; green is the plain at its feet; there the flower of the mountain grows, and shades its white head in the breeze.

The General being slain, the army was routed. Commerce having thus got into the legislative body, privilege must be done away. Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. I being in great haste, he consented. The rain having ceased, the dark clouds rolled away. The Son of God, while clothed in flesh, was subject to all the frailties and inconveniences of human nature, sin excepted; (that is, sin being excepted.)

In the days of Joram, king of Israel, flourished the prophet Elisha. Paul the apostle suffered martyrdom. _Come_, peace of mind, delightful guest! and _dwell_ with me. Friends, Romans, countrymen, _lend_ me your ears.

Soul of the just, companion of the dead! Where is thy home, and whither art thou fled? Till Hymen brought his love-delighted hour, There dwelt no joy in Eden's rosy bower:-- The world was sad, the garden was a wild, And man the hermit sighed, till woman smiled.

NOTE. Those verbs in _italics_, in the preceding examples, are all in the imperative mood, and _second_ person, agreeing with _thou, ye_, or _you_, understood. _House of Israel_ is a noun of multitude. _Was routed_ and _must be done_ are passive verbs. _Art fled_ is a neuter verb in a passive form. _Clothed_ is a perfect participle. _Till_ is an adverbial conjunction.

When you shall have analyzed, systematically, every word in the foregoing exercises, you may answer the following

QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED IN PARSING.

Repeat the list of interjections.--Repeat some interjective phrases.--Repeat the order of parsing an interjection.--In order to find the verb to which a noun is nom. what question do you put?--Give examples.--Is the nominative case ever placed after the verb?--When?--Give examples.--Does the objective case ever come before the verb?--Give examples.--Is a noun ever nom. to a verb understood?--Give examples.--When is a noun or pronoun in the nom. case independent?--Give examples.--Are nouns of the _second_ person always in the nom. case independent?--When a pronoun is put by apposition with a noun independent, in what case is it?--When is a noun or pronoun in the nom. case absolute?--Give examples.--When are nouns or nouns and pronouns put, by apposition, in the same case?--Give examples.--In parsing a noun or pronoun in the nom. case independent, what Rule should be applied?--In parsing the nom. case absolute, what Rule?--What Rule in parsing nouns or pronouns in apposition?--Do real interjections belong to written language?--(_Phil. Notes_.)--From what are the following words derived, _pish, fy, lo, halt, farewell, welcome, adieu!_

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PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.

The term INTERJECTION is applied to those _inarticulate_ sounds employed both by men and brutes, not to express distinct ideas, but emotions, passions, or feelings. The sounds employed by human beings in groaning, sighing, crying, screaming, shrieking, and laughing, by the dog in barking, growling, and whining, by the horse in snorting and neighing, by the sheep in bleating, by the cat in mewing, by the dove in cooing, by the duck in quacking, and by the goose in hissing, we sometimes attempt to represent by words; but, as _written_ words are the ocular representatives of _articulate_ sounds, they cannot be made clearly to denote _inarticulate_ or _indistinct noises_. Such indistinct utterances belong to natural language; but they fall below the bounds of regulated speech. Hence, _real_ interjections are not a part of written language.

The meaning of those words commonly called interjections, is easily shown by tracing them to their roots.

_Pish_ and _pshaw_ are the Anglo-Saxon _paec, paeca_; and are equivalent to _trumpery_! i.e. _tromperie_, from _tromper_.

_Fy_ or _fie_ is the imperative, _foe_, the past tense, and _foh_ or _faugh_, the past part. of the Saxon verb _fian_, to hate. _Lo_ is the imperative of _look. Halt_ is the imperative of _healden_, to hold. _Farewell--fare-well_, is a compound of _faran_, to go, and the adverb _well_. It means, to _go well. Welcome--well-come_, signifies, it is _well_ that you are _come. Adieu_ comes from the French _a Dieu_, to God; meaning, I commend you _to God_.

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LECTURE XI.

OF THE MOODS AND TENSES OF VERBS.

You have now acquired a general, and, I may say, an extensive, knowledge of nine parts of speech; but you know but little, as yet, respecting the most important one of all; I mean the VERB. I will, therefore, commence this lecture by giving you an explanation of the Moods and Tenses of verbs. Have the goodness, however, first to turn back and read over Lecture II., and reflect well upon what is there said respecting the verb; after which I will conduct you so smoothly through the moods and tenses, and the conjugation of verbs, that, instead of finding yourself involved in obscurities and deep intricacies, you will scarcely find an obstruction to impede your progress.

I. OF THE MOODS.

The MOOD or MODE of a verb means the _manner_ in which its action, passion, or being, is represented.

When I wish to assert a thing, positively, I use the _declarative_ or _indicative_ mode; as, The man _walks_; but sometimes the action or occurrence of which I wish to speak, is doubtful, and then I must not declare it positively, but I must adopt another _mode_ of expression; thus, _If_ the man _walk_, he will refresh himself with the bland breezes. This second mode or manner of representing the action, is called the _subjunctive_ or _conditional_ mode.

Again, we sometimes employ a verb when we do not wish to _declare_ a thing, nor to represent the action in a _doubtful_ or _conditional_ manner; but we wish to _command_ some one to act. We then use the _imperative_ or _commanding_ mode, and say, _Walk_, sir. And when we do not wish to command a man to act, we sometimes allude to his _power_ or _ability_ to act. This fourth mode of representing action, is called the _potential_ mode; as, He _can walk_; He _could walk_. The fifth and last mode, called the _infinitive_ or _unlimited_ mode, we employ in expressing action in an unlimited manner; that is, without confining it, in respect to number and person, to any particular agent; as, _To walk, to ride_. Thus you perceive, that the mood, mode, or manner of representing the action, passion, or being of a verb, must vary according to the different intentions of the mind.

Were we to assign a particular name to _every_ change in the mode or manner of representing action or being, the number of moods in our language would amount to many hundreds. But this principle of division and arrangement, if followed out in detail, would lead to great perplexity, without producing any beneficial result. The division of Mr. Harris, in his Hermes, is much more curious than instructive. He has fourteen moods; his _interrogative, optative, hortative, promissive, precautive, requisitive, enunciative_, &c. But as far as philosophical accuracy and the convenience and advantage of the learner are concerned, it is believed that no arrangement is preferable to the following. I am not unaware that plausible objections may be raised against it; but what arrangement cannot be objected to?

There are five moods of verbs, the Indicative, the Subjunctive, the Imperative, the Potential, and the Infinitive.