CHAPTER II.

SYNTAX OF SUBSTANTIVES.

s. 489. The phenomena of convertibility have been already explained.

The remaining points connected with the syntax of substantives, are chiefly points of either ellipsis, or apposition.

_Ellipsis of substantives._--The historical view of phrases, like _Rundell and Bridge's_, _St. Pauls'_, &c., shows that this ellipsis is common to the English and the other Gothic languages. Furthermore, it shows that it is met with in languages not of the Gothic stock; and, finally, that the class of words to which it applies, is, there or thereabouts, the same generally.

A. 1. The words most commonly understood, are _house_ and _family_, or words reducible to them. In Latin, _Dianae_=_aedem Dianae_.--Deutsche Grammatik, iv. 262.

2. _Country, retinue._--Deutsche Grammatik, iv. 262.

3. _Son_, _daughter_, _wife_, _widow_.--Deutsche Grammatik, iv. 262.--[Greek: Neleus Kodrou], Greek.

B. The following phrases are referable to a different class of relations--

1. _Right and left_--supply _hand_. This is, probably, a real ellipsis. The words _right_ and _left_, have not yet become true substantives; inasmuch as they have no plural forms. In this respect, they stand in contrast with _bitter_ and _sweet_; inasmuch as we can say _he has tasted both the bitters and sweets of life_. Nevertheless, the expression can be refined on.

2. _All fours._--_To go on all fours._ No ellipsis. The word _fours_, is a true substantive, as proved by its existence as a plural.

From expressions like [Greek: poterion psuchrou] (Matt. xiv. 51), {403} from the Greek, and _perfundit gelido_ (understand _latice_), from the Latin, we find that the present ellipsis was used with greater latitude in the classical languages than our own.

s. 490. _Proper names can only be used in the singular number._--This is a rule of logic, rather than of grammar. When we say _the four Georges_, _the Pitts and Camdens_, &c., the words that thus take a plural form, have ceased to be proper names. They either mean--

1. The persons called _George_, &c.

2. Or, persons so like _George_, that they may be considered as identical.

s. 491. _Collocation._--In the present English, the genitive case always precedes the noun by which it is governed--_the man's hat_=_hominis pileus_; never _the hat man's_=_pileus hominis_.

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