388. Syntax is from a Greek word meaning order or arrangement.
Syntax deals with the relation of words to each other as component parts of a sentence, and with their proper arrangement to express clearly the intended meaning.
Ground covered by syntax.
380. Following the Latin method, writers on English grammar usually divide syntax into the two general heads,—agreement and government.
Agreement is concerned with the following relations of words: words in apposition, verb and subject, pronoun and antecedent, adjective and noun.
Government has to do with verbs and prepositions, both of which are said to govern words by having them in the objective case.
390. Considering the scarcity of inflections in English, it is clear that if we merely follow the Latin treatment, the department of syntax will be a small affair. But there is a good deal else to watch in addition to the few forms; for there is an important and marked difference between Latin and English syntax. It is this:—
Latin syntax depends upon fixed rules governing the use of inflected forms: hence the position of words in a sentence is of little grammatical importance.
Essential point in English syntax.
English syntax follows the Latin to a limited extent; but its leading characteristic is, that English syntax is founded upon the meaning and the logical connection of words rather than upon their form: consequently it is quite as necessary to place words properly, and to think clearly of the meaning of words, as to study inflected forms.
For example, the sentence, "The savage here the settler slew," is ambiguous. Savage may be the subject, following the regular order of subject; or settler may be the subject, the order being inverted. In Latin, distinct forms would be used, and it would not matter which one stood first.
Why study syntax?
391. There is, then, a double reason for not omitting syntax as a department of grammar,—
First, To study the rules regarding the use of inflected forms, some of which conform to classical grammar, while some are idiomatic (peculiar to our own language).
Second, To find out the logical methods which control us in the arrangement of words; and particularly when the grammatical and the logical conception of a sentence do not agree, or when they exist side by side in good usage.
As an illustration of the last remark, take the sentence, "Besides these famous books of Scott's and Johnson's, there is a copious 'Life' by Sheridan." In this there is a possessive form, and added to it the preposition of, also expressing a possessive relation. This is not logical; it is not consistent with the general rules of grammar: but none the less it is good English.
Also in the sentence, "None remained but he," grammatical rules would require him instead of he after the preposition; yet the expression is sustained by good authority.
Some rules not rigid.
392. In some cases, authorities—that is, standard writers—differ as to which of two constructions should be used, or the same writer will use both indifferently. Instances will be found in treating of the pronoun or noun with a gerund, pronoun and antecedent, sometimes verb and subject, etc.
When usage varies as to a given construction, both forms will be given in the following pages.
The basis of syntax.
393. Our treatment of syntax will be an endeavor to record the best usage of the present time on important points; and nothing but important points will be considered, for it is easy to confuse a student with too many obtrusive don'ts.
The constructions presented as general will be justified by quotations from modern writers of English who are regarded as "standard;" that is, writers whose style is generally acknowledged as superior, and whose judgment, therefore, will be accepted by those in quest of authoritative opinion.
Reference will also be made to spoken English when its constructions differ from those of the literary language, and to vulgar English when it preserves forms which were once, but are not now, good English.
It may be suggested to the student that the only way to acquire correctness is to watch good usage everywhere, and imitate it.
NOUNS.
394. Nouns have no distinct forms for the nominative and objective cases: hence no mistake can be made in using them. But some remarks are required concerning the use of the possessive case.
Use of the possessive. Joint possession.
395. When two or more possessives modify the same noun, or indicate joint ownership or possession, the possessive sign is added to the last noun only; for example,—
Live your king and country's best support.—Rowe.
Woman, sense and nature's easy fool.—Byron.
Oliver and Boyd's printing office.—Mcculloch.
Adam and Eve's morning hymn.—Milton.
In Beaumont and Fletcher's "Sea Voyage," Juletta tells, etc.—Emerson.
Separate possession.
396. When two or more possessives stand before the same noun, but imply separate possession or ownership, the possessive sign is used with each noun; as,—
He lands us on a grassy stage, Safe from the storm's and prelate's rage.—Marvell
Where were the sons of Peers and Members of Parliament in Anne's and George's time?—Thackeray.
Levi's station in life was the receipt of custom; and Peter's, the shore of Galilee; and Paul's, the antechamber of the High Priest.—Ruskin.
Swift did not keep Stella's letters. He kept Bolingbroke's, and Pope's, and Harley's, and Peterborough's.—Thackeray.
An actor in one of Morton's or Kotzebue's plays.—Macaulay.
Putting Mr. Mill's and Mr. Bentham's principles together. —Id.
397. The possessive preceding the gerund will be considered under the possessive of pronouns (Sec. 408).
PRONOUNS.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
I. NOMINATIVE AND OBJECTIVE FORMS.
398. Since most of the personal pronouns, together with the relative who, have separate forms for nominative and objective use, there are two general rules that require attention.
General rules.
(1) The nominative use is usually marked by the nominative form of the pronoun.
(2) The objective use is usually marked by the objective form of the pronoun.
These simple rules are sometimes violated in spoken and in literary English. Some of the violations are universally condemned; others are generally, if not universally, sanctioned.
Objective for the nominative.
399. The objective is sometimes found instead of the nominative in the following instances:—
(1) By a common vulgarism of ignorance or carelessness, no notice is taken of the proper form to be used as subject; as,—
He and me once went in the dead of winter in a one-hoss shay out to Boonville.—Whitcher, Bedott Papers.
It seems strange to me that them that preach up the doctrine don't admire one who carrys it out.—Josiah Allens Wife.
(2) By faulty analysis of the sentence, the true relation of the words is misunderstood; for example, "Whom think ye that I am?" (In this, whom is the complement after the verb am, and should be the nominative form, who.) "The young Harper, whom they agree was rather nice-looking" (whom is the subject of the verb was).
Especially is this fault to be noticed after an ellipsis with than or as, the real thought being forgotten; thus,—
But the consolation coming from devotion did not go far with such a one as her.—Trollope.
This should be "as she," because the full expression would be "such a one as she is."
400. Still, the last expression has the support of many good writers, as shown in the following examples:—
She was neither better bred nor wiser than you or me.—Thackeray.
No mightier than thyself or me.—Shakespeare.
Lin'd with Giants deadlier than 'em all.—Pope.
But he must be a stronger than thee.—Southey.
Not to render up my soul to such as thee.—Byron.
I shall not learn my duty from such as thee.—Fielding.
A safe rule.
It will be safer for the student to follow the general rule, as illustrated in the following sentences:—
If so, they are yet holier than we.—Ruskin.
Who would suppose it is the game of such as he?—Dickens.
Do we see
The robber and the murd'rer weak as we?
—Milton.
I have no other saint than thou to pray to.—Longfellow.
"Than whom."
401. One exception is to be noted. The expression than whom seems to be used universally instead of "than who." There is no special reason for this, but such is the fact; for example,—
One I remember especially,—one than whom I never met a bandit more gallant.—Thackeray.
The camp of Richard of England, than whom none knows better how to do honor to a noble foe.—Scott.
She had a companion who had been ever agreeable, and her estate a steward than whom no one living was supposed to be more competent.—Parton.
"It was he" or "It was him"?
402. And there is one question about which grammarians are not agreed, namely, whether the nominative or the objective form should be used in the predicate after was, is, are, and the other forms of the verb be.
It may be stated with assurance that the literary language prefers the nominative in this instance, as,—
For there was little doubt that it was he.—Kingsley.
But still it is not she.—Macaulay.
And it was he
That made the ship to go.
—Coleridge.
In spoken English, on the other hand, both in England and America, the objective form is regularly found, unless a special, careful effort is made to adopt the standard usage. The following are examples of spoken English from conversations:—
"Rose Satterne, the mayor's daughter?"—"That's her."—Kingsley.
"Who's there?"—"Me, Patrick the Porter."—Winthrop.
"If there is any one embarrassed, it will not be me."—Wm. Black.
The usage is too common to need further examples.
Exercise.
Correct the italicized pronouns in the following sentences, giving reasons from the analysis of the sentence:—
1. Whom they were I really cannot specify.
2. Truth is mightier than us all.
3. If there ever was a rogue in the world, it is me.
4. They were the very two individuals whom we thought were far away.
5. "Seems to me as if them as writes must hev a kinder gift fur it, now."
6. The sign of the Good Samaritan is written on the face of whomsoever opens to the stranger.
7. It is not me you are in love with.
8. You know whom it is that you thus charge.
9. The same affinity will exert its influence on whomsoever is as noble as these men and women.
10. It was him that Horace Walpole called a man who never made a bad figure but as an author.
11. We shall soon see which is the fittest object of scorn, you or me.
Me in exclamations.
403. It is to be remembered that the objective form is used in exclamations which turn the attention upon a person; as,—
Unhappy me! That I cannot risk my own worthless life.—Kingsley
Alas! miserable me! Alas! unhappy Señors!—Id.
Ay me! I fondly dream—had ye been there.—Milton.
Nominative for the objective.
404. The rule for the objective form is wrongly departed from—
(1) When the object is far removed from the verb, verbal, or preposition which governs it; as, "He that can doubt whether he be anything or no, I speak not to" (he should be him, the object of to); "I saw men very like him at each of the places mentioned, but not he" (he should be him, object of saw).
(2) In the case of certain pairs of pronouns, used after verbs, verbals, and prepositions, as this from Shakespeare, "All debts are cleared between you and I" (for you and me); or this, "Let thou and I the battle try" (for thee and me, or us).
(3) By forgetting the construction, in the case of words used in apposition with the object; as, "Ask the murderer, he who has steeped his hands in the blood of another" (instead of "him who," the word being in apposition with murderer).
Exception 1, who interrogative.
405. The interrogative pronoun who may be said to have no objective form in spoken English. We regularly say, "Who did you see?" or, "Who were they talking to?" etc. The more formal "To whom were they talking?" sounds stilted in conversation, and is usually avoided.
In literary English the objective form whom is preferred for objective use; as,—
Knows he now to whom he lies under obligation?—Scott.
What doth she look on? Whom doth she behold?—Wordsworth.
Yet the nominative form is found quite frequently to divide the work of the objective use; for example,—
My son is going to be married to I don't know who.—Goldsmith.
Who have we here?—Id.
Who should I meet the other day but my old friend.—Steele.
He hath given away half his fortune to the Lord knows who.—Kingsley.
Who have we got here?—Smollett.
Who should we find there but Eustache?—Marrvat.
Who the devil is he talking to?—Sheridan.
Exception 2, but he, etc.
406. It is a well-established usage to put the nominative form, as well as the objective, after the preposition but (sometimes save); as,—
All were knocked down but us two.—Kingsley.
Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee.—Byron.
Rich are the sea gods:—who gives gifts but they?—Emerson.
The Chieftains then
Returned rejoicing, all but he.
—Southey
No man strikes him but I.—Kingsley.
None, save thou and thine, I've sworn,
Shall be left upon the morn.
—Byron.
Exercise.
Correct the italicized pronouns in the following, giving reasons from the analysis of the quotation:—
1. Thou, Nature, partial Nature, I arraign.
2. Let you and I look at these, for they say there are none such in the world.
3. "Nonsense!" said Amyas, "we could kill every soul of them in half an hour, and they know that as well as me."
4. Markland, who, with Jortin and Thirlby, Johnson calls three contemporaries of great eminence.
5. They are coming for a visit to she and I.
6.
They crowned him long ago;
But who they got to put it on
Nobody seems to know.
7. I experienced little difficulty in distinguishing among the pedestrians they who had business with St. Bartholomew.
8. The great difference lies between the laborer who moves to Yorkshire and he who moves to Canada.
9. Besides my father and Uncle Haddock—he of the silver plates.
10.
Ye against whose familiar names not yet
The fatal asterisk of death is set,
Ye I salute.
11. It can't be worth much to they that hasn't larning.
12. To send me away for a whole year—I who had never crept from under the parental wing—was a startling idea.
II. POSSESSIVE FORMS.
As antecedent of a relative.
407. The possessive forms of personal pronouns and also of nouns are sometimes found as antecedents of relatives. This usage is not frequent. The antecedent is usually nominative or objective, as the use of the possessive is less likely to be clear.
We should augur ill of any gentleman's property to whom this happened every other day in his drawing room.—Ruskin.
For their sakes whose distance disabled them from knowing me.—C. B. Brown.
Now by His name that I most reverence in Heaven, and by hers whom I most worship on earth.—Scott.
He saw her smile and slip money into the man's hand who was ordered to ride behind the coach.—Thackeray.
He doubted whether his signature whose expectations were so much more bounded would avail.—De Quincey.
For boys with hearts as bold
As his who kept the bridge so well.
—Macaulay.
Preceding a gerund,—possessive, or objective?
408. Another point on which there is some variance in usage is such a construction as this: "We heard of Brown studying law," or "We heard of Brown's studying law."
That is, should the possessive case of a noun or pronoun always be used with the gerund to indicate the active agent? Closely scrutinizing these two sentences quoted, we might find a difference between them: saying that in the first one studying is a participle, and the meaning is, We heard of Brown, [who was] studying law; and that in the second, studying is a gerund, object of heard of, and modified by the possessive case as any other substantive would be.
Why both are found.
But in common use there is no such distinction. Both types of sentences are found; both are gerunds; sometimes the gerund has the possessive form before it, sometimes it has the objective. The use of the objective is older, and in keeping with the old way of regarding the person as the chief object before the mind: the possessive use is more modern, in keeping with the disposition to proceed from the material thing to the abstract idea, and to make the action substantive the chief idea before the mind.
In the examples quoted, it will be noticed that the possessive of the pronoun is more common than that of the noun.
Objective.
The last incident which I recollect, was my learned and worthy patron falling from a chair.—Scott.
He spoke of some one coming to drink tea with him, and asked why it was not made.—Thackeray.
The old sexton even expressed a doubt as to Shakespeare having been born in her house.—Irving.
The fact of the Romans not burying their dead within the city walls proper is a strong reason, etc.—Brewer.
I remember Wordsworth once laughingly reporting to me a little personal anecdote.—De Quincey.
Here I state them only in brief, to prevent the reader casting about in alarm for my ultimate meaning.—Ruskin.
We think with far less pleasure of Cato tearing out his entrails than of Russell saying, as he turned away from his wife, that the bitterness of death was past.—Macaulay.
There is actually a kind of sacredness in the fact of such a man being sent into this earth.—Carlyle.
Possessive.
There is no use for any man's taking up his abode in a house built of glass.—Carlyle.
As to his having good grounds on which to rest an action for life.—Dickens.
The case was made known to me by a man's holding out the little creature dead.—De Quincey.
There may be reason for a savage's preferring many kinds of food which the civilized man rejects.—Thoreau.
It informs me of the previous circumstances of my laying aside my clothes.—C. Brockden Brown.
The two strangers gave me an account of their once having been themselves in a somewhat similar condition.—Audubon.
There was a chance of their being sent to a new school, where there were examinations.—Ruskin
This can only be by his preferring truth to his past apprehension of truth.—Emerson
III. PERSONAL PRONOUNS AND THEIR ANTECEDENTS.
409. The pronouns of the third person usually refer back to some preceding noun or pronoun, and ought to agree with them in person, number, and gender.
Watch for the real antecedent.
There are two constructions in which the student will need to watch the pronoun,—when the antecedent, in one person, is followed by a phrase containing a pronoun of a different person; and when the antecedent is of such a form that the pronoun following cannot indicate exactly the gender. Examples of these constructions are,—
Those of us who can only maintain themselves by continuing in some business or salaried office.—Ruskin.
Suppose the life and fortune of every one of us would depend on his winning or losing a game of chess.—Huxley.
If any one did not know it, it was his own fault.—Cable.
Everybody had his own life to think of.—Defoe.
410. In such a case as the last three sentences,—when the antecedent includes both masculine and feminine, or is a distributive word, taking in each of many persons,—the preferred method is to put the pronoun following in the masculine singular; if the antecedent is neuter, preceded by a distributive, the pronoun will be neuter singular.
The following are additional examples:—
The next correspondent wants you to mark out a whole course of life for him.—Holmes.
Every city threw open its gates.—De Quincey.
Every person who turns this page has his own little diary.—Thackeray.
The pale realms of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death.
—Bryant.
Avoided: By using both pronouns.
Sometimes this is avoided by using both the masculine and the feminine pronoun; for example,—
Not the feeblest grandame, not a mowing idiot, but uses what spark of perception and faculty is left, to chuckle and triumph in his or her opinion.—Emerson.
It is a game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us being one of the two players in a game of his or her own.—Huxley.
By using the plural pronoun.
411. Another way of referring to an antecedent which is a distributive pronoun or a noun modified by a distributive adjective, is to use the plural of the pronoun following. This is not considered the best usage, the logical analysis requiring the singular pronoun in each case; but the construction is frequently found when the antecedent includes or implies both genders. The masculine does not really represent a feminine antecedent, and the expression his or her is avoided as being cumbrous.
Notice the following examples of the plural:—
Neither of the sisters were very much deceived.—Thackeray.
Every one must judge of their own feelings.—Byron.
Had the doctor been contented to take my dining tables, as anybody in their senses would have done.—Austen.
If the part deserve any comment, every considering Christian will make it themselves as they go.—Defoe.
Every person's happiness depends in part upon the respect they meet in the world.—Paley.
Every nation have their refinements—Sterne.
Neither gave vent to their feelings in words.—Scott.
Each of the nations acted according to their national custom.—Palgrave.
The sun, which pleases everybody with it and with themselves.—Ruskin.
Urging every one within reach of your influence to be neat, and giving them means of being so.—Id.
Everybody will become of use in their own fittest way.—Id.
Everybody said they thought it was the newest thing there.—Wendell Phillips.
Struggling for life, each almost bursting their sinews to force the other off.—Paulding.
Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off.—Bible.
Nobody knows what it is to lose a friend, till they have lost him.—Fielding.
Where she was gone, or what was become of her, no one could take upon them to say.—Sheridan.
I do not mean that I think any one to blame for taking due care of their health.—Addison.
Exercise.—In the above sentences, unless both genders are implied, change the pronoun to agree with its antecedent.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
I. RESTRICTIVE AND UNRESTRICTIVE RELATIVES.
What these terms mean.
412. As to their conjunctive use, the definite relatives who, which, and that may be coördinating or restrictive.
A relative, when coördinating, or unrestrictive, is equivalent to a conjunction (and, but, because, etc.) and a personal pronoun. It adds a new statement to what precedes, that being considered already clear; as, "I gave it to the beggar, who went away." This means, "I gave it to the beggar [we know which one], and he went away."
A relative, when restrictive, introduces a clause to limit and make clear some preceding word. The clause is restricted to the antecedent, and does not add a new statement; it merely couples a thought necessary to define the antecedent: as, "I gave it to a beggar who stood at the gate." It defines beggar.
413. It is sometimes contended that who and which should always be coördinating, and that always restrictive; but, according to the practice of every modern writer, the usage must be stated as follows:—
A loose rule the only one to be formulated.
Who and which are either coördinating or restrictive, the taste of the writer and regard for euphony being the guide.
That is in most cases restrictive, the coördinating use not being often found among careful writers.
Exercise.
In the following examples, tell whether who, which, and that are restrictive or not, in each instance:—
Who.
1. "Here he is now!" cried those who stood near Ernest.—Hawthorne.
2. He could overhear the remarks of various individuals, who were comparing the features with the face on the mountain side.—Id.
3. The particular recording angel who heard it pretended not to understand, or it might have gone hard with the tutor.—Holmes.
4. Yet how many are there who up, down, and over England are saying, etc.—H. W. Beecher
5. A grizzly-looking man appeared, whom we took to be sixty or seventy years old.—Thoreau.
Which.
6. The volume which I am just about terminating is almost as much English history as Dutch.—Motley.
7. On hearing their plan, which was to go over the Cordilleras, she agreed to join the party.—De Quincey.
8. Even the wild story of the incident which had immediately occasioned the explosion of this madness fell in with the universal prostration of mind.—Id.
9. Their colloquies are all gone to the fire except this first, which Mr. Hare has printed.—Carlyle.
10. There is a particular science which takes these matters in hand, and it is called logic.—Newman.
That.
11. So different from the wild, hard-mouthed horses at Westport, that were often vicious.—De Quincey.
12. He was often tempted to pluck the flowers that rose everywhere about him in the greatest variety.—Addison.
13. He felt a gale of perfumes breathing upon him, that grew stronger and sweeter in proportion as he advanced.—Id.
14. With narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves.—Irving.
II. RELATIVE AND ANTECEDENT.
The rule.
414. The general rule is, that the relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person and number.
In what sense true.
This cannot be true as to the form of the pronoun, as that does not vary for person or number. We say I, you, he, they, etc., who; these or that which, etc. However, the relative carries over the agreement from the antecedent before to the verb following, so far as the verb has forms to show its agreement with a substantive. For example, in the sentence, "He that writes to himself writes to an eternal public," that is invariable as to person and number, but, because of its antecedent, it makes the verb third person singular.
Notice the agreement in the following sentences:—
There is not one of the company, but myself, who rarely speak at all, but speaks of him as that sort, etc.—Addison.
O Time! who know'st a lenient hand to lay Softest on sorrow's wound.—Bowles.
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.—Lowell.
A disputed point.
415. This prepares the way for the consideration of one of the vexed questions,—whether we should say, "one of the finest books that has been published," or, "one of the finest books that have been published."
One of ... [plural] that who, or which ... [singular or plural.]
Both constructions are frequently found, the reason being a difference of opinion as to the antecedent. Some consider it to be one [book] of the finest books, with one as the principal word, the true antecedent; others regard books as the antecedent, and write the verb in the plural. The latter is rather more frequent, but the former has good authority.
The following quotations show both sides:—
Plural.
He was one of the very few commanders who appear to have shown equal skill in directing a campaign, in winning a battle, and in improving a victory.—Lecky.
He was one of the most distinguished scientists who have ever lived.—J. T. Morse, Jr., Franklin.
It is one of those periods which shine with an unnatural and delusive splendor.—Macaulay.
A very little encouragement brought back one of those overflows which make one more ashamed, etc.—Holmes.
I am one of those who believe that the real will never find an irremovable basis till it rests on the ideal.—Lowell.
French literature of the eighteenth century, one of the most powerful agencies that have ever existed.—M. Arnold.
What man's life is not overtaken by one or more of those tornadoes that send us out of our course?—Thackeray.
He is one of those that deserve very well.—Addison.
Singular.
The fiery youth ... struck down one of those who was pressing hardest.—Scott.
He appeared to me one of the noblest creatures that ever was, when he derided the shams of society.—Howells.
A rare Roundabout performance,—one of the very best that has ever appeared in this series.—Thackeray.
Valancourt was the hero of one of the most famous romances which ever was published in this country.—Id.
It is one of the errors which has been diligently propagated by designing writers.—Irving.
"I am going to breakfast with one of these fellows who is at the Piazza Hotel."—Dickens.
The "Economy of the Animal Kingdom" is one of those books which is an honor to the human race.—Emerson.
Tom Puzzle is one of the most eminent immethodical disputants of any that has fallen under my observation.—Addison.
The richly canopied monument of one of the most earnest souls that ever gave itself to the arts.—Ruskin.
III. OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE.
416. Although the omission of the relative is common when it would be the object of the verb or preposition expressed, there is an omission which is not frequently found in careful writers; that is, when the relative word is a pronoun, object of a preposition understood, or is equivalent to the conjunction when, where, whence, and such like: as, "He returned by the same route [by which] he came;" "India is the place [in which, or where] he died." Notice these sentences:—
In the posture I lay, I could see nothing except the sky.—Swift.
This is he that should marshal us the way we were going.—Emerson.
But I by backward steps would move;
And, when this dust falls to the urn,
In that same state I came, return.
—Vaughan.
Welcome the hour my aged limbs
Are laid with thee to rest.
—Burns.
The night was concluded in the manner we began the morning.—Goldsmith.
The same day I went aboard we set sail.—Defoe.
The vulgar historian of a Cromwell fancies that he had determined on being Protector of England, at the time he was plowing the marsh lands of Cambridgeshire.—Carlyle.
To pass under the canvas in the manner he had entered required time and attention.—Scott.
Exercise.—In the above sentences, insert the omitted conjunction or phrase, and see if the sentence is made clearer.
IV. THE RELATIVE AS AFTER SAME.
417. It is very rarely that we find such sentences as,—
He considered...me as his apprentice, and accordingly expected the same service from me as he would from another.—Franklin.
This has the same effect in natural faults as maiming and mutilation produce from accidents.—Burke.
The regular construction.
Caution.
The usual way is to use the relative as after same if no verb follows as; but, if same is followed by a complete clause, as is not used, but we find the relative who, which, or that. Remember this applies only to as when used as a relative.
Examples of the use of as in a contracted clause:—
Looking to the same end as Turner, and working in the same spirit, he, with Turner, was a discoverer, etc.—R. W. Church.
They believe the same of all the works of art, as of knives, boats, looking-glasses.—Addison.
Examples of relatives following same in full clauses:—
Who.
This is the very same rogue who sold us the spectacles. —Goldsmith.
The same person who had clapped his thrilling hands at the first representation of the Tempest.—Macaulay.
That.
I rubbed on some of the same ointment that was given me at my first arrival.—Swift.
Which.
For the same sound is in my ears
Which in those days I heard.
—Wordsworth.
With the same minuteness which her predecessor had exhibited, she passed the lamp over her face and person.—Scott.
V. MISUSE OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
Anacoluthic use of which.
418. There is now and then found in the pages of literature a construction which imitates the Latin, but which is usually carefully avoided. It is a use of the relative which so as to make an anacoluthon, or lack of proper connection between the clauses; for example,—
Which, if I had resolved to go on with, I might as well have staid at home.—Defoe
Which if he attempted to do, Mr. Billings vowed that he would follow him to Jerusalem.—Thackeray.
We know not the incantation of the heart that would wake them;—which if they once heard, they would start up to meet us in the power of long ago.—Ruskin.
He delivered the letter, which when Mr. Thornhill had read, he said that all submission was now too late.—Goldsmith.
But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,
She'd come again.
—Shakespeare.
As the sentences stand, which really has no office in the sentence: it should be changed to a demonstrative or a personal pronoun, and this be placed in the proper clause.
Exercise.—Rewrite the above five sentences so as to make the proper grammatical connection in each.
And who, and which, etc.
419. There is another kind of expression which slips into the lines of even standard authors, but which is always regarded as an oversight and a blemish.
The following sentence affords an example: "The rich are now engaged in distributing what remains among the poorer sort, and who are now thrown upon their compassion." The trouble is that such conjunctions as and, but, or, etc., should connect expressions of the same kind: and who makes us look for a preceding who, but none is expressed. There are three ways to remedy the sentence quoted: thus, (1) "Among those who are poor, and who are now," etc.; (2) "Among the poorer sort, who are now thrown," etc.; (3) "Among the poorer sort, now thrown upon their," etc. That is,—
Direction for rewriting.
Express both relatives, or omit the conjunction, or leave out both connective and relative.
Exercise.
Rewrite the following examples according to the direction just given:—
And who.
1. Hester bestowed all her means on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them.—Hawthorne.
2. With an albatross perched on his shoulder, and who might be introduced to the congregation as the immediate organ of his conversion.—De Quincey.
3. After this came Elizabeth herself, then in the full glow of what in a sovereign was called beauty, and who would in the lowest walk of life have been truly judged to possess a noble figure.—Scott.
4. This was a gentleman, once a great favorite of M. le Conte, and in whom I myself was not a little interested.—Thackeray.
But who.
5. Yonder woman was the wife of a certain learned man, English by name, but who had long dwelt in Amsterdam.—Hawthorne.
6. Dr. Ferguson considered him as a man of a powerful capacity, but whose mind was thrown off its just bias.—Scott.
Or who.
7. "What knight so craven, then," exclaims the chivalrous Venetian, "that he would not have been more than a match for the stoutest adversary; or who would not have lost his life a thousand times sooner than return dishonored by the lady of his love?"—Prescott.
And which.
8. There are peculiar quavers still to be heard in that church, and which may even be heard a mile off.—Irving.
9. The old British tongue was replaced by a debased Latin, like that spoken in the towns, and in which inscriptions are found in the western counties.—Pearson.
10. I shall have complete copies, one of signal interest, and which has never been described.—Motley.
But which.
11. "A mockery, indeed, but in which the soul trifled with itself!"—Hawthorne.
12. I saw upon the left a scene far different, but which yet the power of dreams had reconciled into harmony.—De Quincey.
Or which.
13. He accounted the fair-spoken courtesy, which the Scotch had learned, either from imitation of their frequent allies, the French, or which might have arisen from their own proud and reserved character, as a false and astucious mark, etc.—Scott.
That ... and which, etc.
420. Akin to the above is another fault, which is likewise a variation from the best usage. Two different relatives are sometimes found referring back to the same antecedent in one sentence; whereas the better practice is to choose one relative, and repeat this for any further reference.
Exercise.
Rewrite the following quotations by repeating one relative instead of using two for the same antecedent:—
That ... who.
1. Still in the confidence of children that tread without fear every chamber in their father's house, and to whom no door is closed.—De Quincey.
2. Those renowned men that were our ancestors as much as yours, and whose examples and principles we inherit.—Beecher.
3. The Tree Igdrasil, that has its roots down in the kingdoms of Hela and Death, and whose boughs overspread the highest heaven!—Carlyle.
That ... which.
4. Christianity is a religion that reveals men as the object of God's infinite love, and which commends him to the unbounded love of his brethren.—W. E. Channing.
5. He flung into literature, in his Mephistopheles, the first organic figure that has been added for some ages, and which will remain as long as the Prometheus.—Emerson.
6. Gutenburg might also have struck out an idea that surely did not require any extraordinary ingenuity, and which left the most important difficulties to be surmounted.—Hallam.
7. Do me the justice to tell me what I have a title to be acquainted with, and which I am certain to know more truly from you than from others.—Scott.
8. He will do this amiable little service out of what one may say old civilization has established in place of goodness of heart, but which is perhaps not so different from it.—Howells.
9. In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, was a bustling wharf,—but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses.—Hawthorne.
10. His recollection of what he considered as extreme presumption in the Knight of the Leopard, even when he stood high in the roles of chivalry, but which, in his present condition, appeared an insult sufficient to drive the fiery monarch into a frenzy of passion.—Scott
That which ... what.
11. He, now without any effort but that which he derived from the sill, and what little his feet could secure the irregular crevices, was hung in air.—W. G. Simms.
Such as ... which.
12. It rose into a thrilling passion, such as my heart had always dimly craved and hungered after, but which now first interpreted itself to my ear.—De Quincey.
13. I recommend some honest manual calling, such as they have very probably been bred to, and which will at least give them a chance of becoming President.—Holmes.
Such as ... whom.
14. I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me, and to whom I do not belong.—Emerson.
Which ... that ... that.
15. That evil influence which carried me first away from my father's house, that hurried me into the wild and undigested notion of making my fortune, and that impressed these conceits so forcibly upon me.—Defoe.
ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.
Each other, one another.
421. The student is sometimes troubled whether to use each other or one another in expressing reciprocal relation or action. Whether either one refers to a certain number of persons or objects, whether or not the two are equivalent, may be gathered from a study of the following sentences:—
They [Ernest and the poet] led one another, as it were, into the high pavilion of their thoughts.—Hawthorne.
Men take each other's measure when they meet for the first time.—Emerson.
You ruffian! do you fancy I forget that we were fond of each other?—Thackeray.
England was then divided between kings and Druids, always at war with one another, carrying off each other's cattle and wives.—Brewer
The topics follow each other in the happiest order.—Macaulay.
The Peers at a conference begin to pommel each other.—Id.
We call ourselves a rich nation, and we are filthy and foolish enough to thumb each other's books out of circulating libraries.—Ruskin.
The real hardships of life are now coming fast upon us; let us not increase them by dissension among each other.—Goldsmith.
In a moment we were all shaking hands with one another.—Dickens.
The unjust purchaser forces the two to bid against each other.—Ruskin.
Distributives either and neither.
422. By their original meaning, either and neither refer to only two persons or objects; as, for example,—
Some one must be poor, and in want of his gold—or his corn. Assume that no one is in want of either.—Ruskin
Their [Ernest's and the poet's] minds accorded into one strain, and made delightful music which neither could have claimed as all his own.—Hawthorne.
Use of any.
Sometimes these are made to refer to several objects, in which case any should be used instead; as,—
Was it the winter's storm? was it hard labor and spare meals? was it disease? was it the tomahawk? Is it possible that neither of these causes, that not all combined, were able to blast this bud of hope?—Everett.
Once I took such delight in Montaigne ...; before that, in Shakespeare; then in Plutarch; then in Plotinus; at one time in Bacon; afterwards in Goethe; even in Bettine; but now I turn the pages of either of them languidly, whilst I still cherish their genius.—Emerson.
Any usually plural.
423. The adjective pronoun any is nearly always regarded as plural, as shown in the following sentences:—
If any of you have been accustomed to look upon these hours as mere visionary hours, I beseech you, etc.—Beecher
Whenever, during his stay at Yuste, any of his friends had died, he had been punctual in doing honor to their memory.—Stirling.
But I enjoy the company and conversation of its inhabitants, when any of them are so good as to visit me.—Franklin.
Do you think, when I spoke anon of the ghosts of Pryor's children, I mean that any of them are dead?—Thackeray.
In earlier Modern English, any was often singular; as,—
If any, speak; for him have I offended.—Shakespeare.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.—Bible.
Very rarely the singular is met with in later times; as,—
Here is a poet doubtless as much affected by his own descriptions as any that reads them can be.—Burke.
Caution.
The above instances are to be distinguished from the adjective any, which is plural as often as singular.
None usually plural.
424. The adjective pronoun none is, in the prose of the present day, usually plural, although it is historically a contraction of ne ān (not one). Examples of its use are,—
In earnest, if ever man was; as none of the French philosophers were.—Carlyle.
None of Nature's powers do better service.—Prof. Dana
One man answers some question which none of his contemporaries put, and is isolated.—Emerson.
None obey the command of duty so well as those who are free from the observance of slavish bondage.—Scott.
Do you think, when I spoke anon of the ghosts of Pryor's children, I mean that any of them are dead? None are, that I know of.—Thackeray.
Early apples begin to be ripe about the first of August; but I think none of them are so good to eat as some to smell.—Thoreau.
The singular use of none is often found in the Bible; as,—
None of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.—Luke iv 27
Also the singular is sometimes found in present-day English in prose, and less rarely in poetry; for example,—
Perhaps none of our Presidents since Washington has stood so firm in the confidence of the people.—Lowell
In signal none his steed should spare.—Scott
Like the use of any, the pronoun none should be distinguished from the adjective none, which is used absolutely, and hence is more likely to confuse the student.
Compare with the above the following sentences having the adjective none:—
Reflecting a summer evening sky in its bosom, though none [no sky] was visible overhead.—Thoreau
The holy fires were suffered to go out in the temples, and none [no fires] were lighted in their own dwellings.—Prescott
All singular and plural.
425. The pronoun all has the singular construction when it means everything; the plural, when it means all persons: for example,—
Singular.
The light troops thought ... that all was lost.—Palgrave
All was won on the one side, and all was lost on the other.—Bayne
Having done all that was just toward others.—Napier
Plural.
But the King's treatment of the great lords will be judged leniently by all who remember, etc.—Pearson.
When all were gone, fixing his eyes on the mace, etc.—Lingard
All who did not understand French were compelled, etc.—Mcmaster.
Somebody's else, or somebody else's?
426. The compounds somebody else, any one else, nobody else, etc., are treated as units, and the apostrophe is regularly added to the final word else instead of the first. Thackeray has the expression somebody's else, and Ford has nobody's else, but the regular usage is shown in the following selections:—
A boy who is fond of somebody else's pencil case.—G. Eliot.
A suit of clothes like somebody else's.—Thackeray.
Drawing off his gloves and warming his hands before the fire as benevolently as if they were somebody else's.—Dickens.
Certainly not! nor any one else's ropes.—Ruskin.
Again, my pronunciation—like everyone else's—is in some cases more archaic.—Sweet.
Then everybody wanted some of somebody else's.—Ruskin.
His hair...curled once all over it in long tendrils, unlike anybody else's in the world.—N. P. Willis.
"Ye see, there ain't nothin' wakes folks up like somebody else's wantin' what you've got."—Mrs. Stowe.
ADJECTIVES.
AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES WITH NOUNS.
These sort, all manner of, etc.
427. The statement that adjectives agree with their nouns in number is restricted to the words this and that (with these and those), as these are the only adjectives that have separate forms for singular and plural; and it is only in one set of expressions that the concord seems to be violated,—in such as "these sort of books," "those kind of trees," "all manner of men;" the nouns being singular, the adjectives plural. These expressions are all but universal in spoken English, and may be found not infrequently in literary English; for example,—
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness
Harbor more craft, etc.
—Shakespeare
All these sort of things.—Sheridan.
I hoped we had done with those sort of things.—Muloch.
You have been so used to those sort of impertinences.Sydney Smith.
Whitefield or Wesley, or some other such great man as a bishop, or those sort of people.—Fielding.
I always delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes.—Austen.
There are women as well as men who can thoroughly enjoy those sort of romantic spots.—Saturday Review, London.
The library was open, with all manner of amusing books.—Ruskin.
According to the approved usage of Modern English, each one of the above adjectives would have to be changed to the singular, or the nouns to the plural.
History of this construction.
The reason for the prevalence of these expressions must be sought in the history of the language: it cannot be found in the statement that the adjective is made plural by the attraction of a noun following.
At the source.
In Old and Middle English, in keeping with the custom of looking at things concretely rather than in the abstract, they said, not "all kinds of wild animals," but "alles cunnes wilde deor" (wild animals of-every-kind). This the modern expression reverses.
Later form.
But in early Middle English the modern way of regarding such expressions also appeared, gradually displacing the old.
The result.
Consequently we have a confused expression. We keep the form of logical agreement in standard English, such as, "This sort of trees should be planted;" but at the same time the noun following kind of is felt to be the real subject, and the adjective is, in spoken English, made to agree with it, which accounts for the construction, "These kind of trees are best."
A question.
The inconvenience of the logical construction is seen when we wish to use a predicate with number forms. Should we say, "This kind of rules are the best," or "This kind of rules is the best?" Kind or sort may be treated as a collective noun, and in this way may take a plural verb; for example, Burke's sentence, "A sort of uncertain sounds are, when the necessary dispositions concur, more alarming than a total silence."
COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS.
Use of the comparative degree.
428. The comparative degree of the adjective (or adverb) is used when we wish to compare two objects or sets of objects, or one object with a class of objects, to express a higher degree of quality; as,—
Which is the better able to defend himself,—a strong man with nothing but his fists, or a paralytic cripple encumbered with a sword which he cannot lift?—Macaulay.
Of two such lessons, why forget
The nobler and the manlier one?
—Byron.
We may well doubt which has the stronger claim to civilization, the victor or the vanquished.—Prescott.
A braver ne'er to battle rode.—Scott.
He is taller, by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court.—Swift.
Other after the comparative form.
429. When an object is compared with the class to which it belongs, it is regularly excluded from that class by the word other; if not, the object would really be compared with itself: thus,—
The character of Lady Castlewood has required more delicacy in its manipulation than perhaps any other which Thackeray has drawn.—Trollope.
I used to watch this patriarchal personage with livelier curiosity than any other form of humanity.—Hawthorne.
Exercise.
See if the word other should be inserted in the following sentences:—
1. There was no man who could make a more graceful bow than Mr. Henry.—Wirt.
2. I am concerned to see that Mr. Gary, to whom Dante owes more than ever poet owed to translator, has sanctioned, etc.—Macaulay.
3. There is no country in which wealth is so sensible of its obligations as our own.—Lowell.
4. This is more sincerely done in the Scandinavian than in any mythology I know.—Carlyle.
5. In "Thaddeus of Warsaw" there is more crying than in any novel I remember to have read.—Thackeray.
6. The heroes of another writer [Cooper] are quite the equals of Scott's men; perhaps Leather-stocking is better than any one in "Scott's lot."—Id.
Use of the superlative degree.
430. The superlative degree of the adjective (or adverb) is used regularly in comparing more than two things, but is also frequently used in comparing only two things.
Examples of superlative with several objects:—
It is a case of which the simplest statement is the strongest.—Macaulay.
Even Dodd himself, who was one of the greatest humbugs who ever lived, would not have had the face.—Thackeray.
To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid.—Huxley.
Superlative with two objects.
Compare the first three sentences in Sec. 428 with the following:—
Which do you love best to behold, the lamb or the lion? —Thackeray.
Which of these methods has the best effect? Both of them are the same to the sense, and differ only in form.—Dr Blair.
Rip was one of those ... who eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got easiest.—Irving.
It is hard to say whether the man of wisdom or the man of folly contributed most to the amusement of the party.—Scott.
There was an interval of three years between Mary and Anne. The eldest, Mary, was like the Stuarts—the younger was a fair English child.—Mrs. Oliphant.
Of the two great parties which at this hour almost share the nation between them, I should say that one has the best cause, and the other contains the best men.—Emerson.
In all disputes between States, though the strongest is nearly always mainly in the wrong, the weaker is often so in a minor degree.—Ruskin.
She thought him and Olivia extremely of a size, and would bid both to stand up to see which was the tallest.—Goldsmith.
These two properties seem essential to wit, more particularly the last of them.—Addison.
"Ha, ha, ha!" roared Goodman Brown when the wind laughed at him. "Let us see which will laugh loudest."—Hawthorne.
Double comparative and superlative.
431. In Shakespeare's time it was quite common to use a double comparative and superlative by using more or most before the word already having -er or -est. Examples from Shakespeare are,—
How much more elder art thou than thy looks!—Merchant of Venice.
Nor that I am more better than Prospero.—Tempest.
Come you more nearer.—Hamlet.
With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.—J. Cæsar.
Also from the same period,—
Imitating the manner of the most ancientest and finest Grecians.—Ben Jonson.
After the most straitest sect of our religion.—Bible, 1611.
Such expressions are now heard only in vulgar English. The following examples are used purposely, to represent the characters as ignorant persons:—
The artful saddler persuaded the young traveler to look at "the most convenientest and handsomest saddle that ever was seen."—Bulwer.
"There's nothing comes out but the most lowest stuff in nature; not a bit of high life among them."—Goldsmith.
THREE FIRST OR FIRST THREE?
432. As to these two expressions, over which a little war has so long been buzzing, we think it not necessary to say more than that both are in good use; not only so in popular speech, but in literary English. Instances of both are given below.
The meaning intended is the same, and the reader gets the same idea from both: hence there is properly a perfect liberty in the use of either or both.
First three, etc.
For Carlyle, and Secretary Walsingham also, have been helping them heart and soul for the last two years.—Kingsley.
The delay in the first three lines, and conceit in the last, jar upon us constantly.—Ruskin.
The last dozen miles before you reach the suburbs.—De Quincey.
Mankind for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw.—Lamb.
The first twenty numbers were expressed by a corresponding number of dots. The first five had specific names.—Prescott.
Three first, etc.
These are the three first needs of civilized life.—Ruskin.
He has already finished the three first sticks of it.—Addison.
In my two last you had so much of Lismahago that I suppose you are glad he is gone.—Smollett.
I have not numbered the lines except of the four first books. —Cowper.
The seven first centuries were filled with a succession of triumphs.—Gibbon.
ARTICLES.
Definite article.
433. The definite article is repeated before each of two modifiers of the same noun, when the purpose is to call attention to the noun expressed and the one understood. In such a case two or more separate objects are usually indicated by the separation of the modifiers. Examples of this construction are,—
With a singular noun.
The merit of the Barb, the Spanish, and the English breed is derived from a mixture of Arabian blood.—Gibbon.
The righteous man is distinguished from the unrighteous by his desire and hope of justice.—Ruskin.
He seemed deficient in sympathy for concrete human things either on the sunny or the stormy side.—Carlyle.
It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than that between the first and the second part of the volume.—The Nation, No. 1508.
With a plural noun.
There was also a fundamental difference of opinion as to whether the earliest cleavage was between the Northern and the Southern languages.—Taylor, Origin of the Aryans.
434. The same repetition of the article is sometimes found before nouns alone, to distinguish clearly, or to emphasize the meaning; as,—
In every line of the Philip and the Saul, the greatest poems, I think, of the eighteenth century.—Macaulay.
He is master of the two-fold Logos, the thought and the word, distinct, but inseparable from each other.—Newman.
The flowers, and the presents, and the trunks and bonnet boxes ... having been arranged, the hour of parting came.—Thackeray.
The not repeated. One object and several modifiers, with a singular noun.
435. Frequently, however, the article is not repeated before each of two or more adjectives, as in Sec. 433, but is used with one only; as,—
Or fanciest thou the red and yellow Clothes-screen yonder is but of To-day, without a Yesterday or a To-morrow?—Carlyle.
The lofty, melodious, and flexible language.—Scott.
The fairest and most loving wife in Greece.—Tennyson.
Meaning same as in Sec. 433, with a plural noun.
Neither can there be a much greater resemblance between the ancient and modern general views of the town.—Halliwell-phillipps.
At Talavera the English and French troops for a moment suspended their conflict.—Macaulay.
The Crusades brought to the rising commonwealths of the Adriatic and Tyrrhene seas a large increase of wealth.—Id.
Here the youth of both sexes, of the higher and middling orders, were placed at a very tender age.—Prescott.
Indefinite article.
436. The indefinite article is used, like the definite article, to limit two or more modified nouns, only one of which is expressed. The article is repeated for the purpose of separating or emphasizing the modified nouns. Examples of this use are,—
We shall live a better and a higher and a nobler life.—Beecher.
The difference between the products of a well-disciplined and those of an uncultivated understanding is often and admirably exhibited by our great dramatist.—S. T. Coleridge.
Let us suppose that the pillars succeed each other, a round and a square one alternately.—Burke.
As if the difference between an accurate and an inaccurate statement was not worth the trouble of looking into the most common book of reference.—Macaulay.
To every room there was an open and a secret passage.—Johnson.
Notice that in the above sentences (except the first) the noun expressed is in contrast with the modified noun omitted.
One article with several adjectives.
437. Usually the article is not repeated when the several adjectives unite in describing one and the same noun. In the sentences of Secs. 433 and 436, one noun is expressed; yet the same word understood with the other adjectives has a different meaning (except in the first sentence of Sec. 436). But in the following sentences, as in the first three of Sec. 435, the adjectives assist each other in describing the same noun. It is easy to see the difference between the expressions "a red-and-white geranium," and "a red and a white geranium."
Examples of several adjectives describing the same object:—
To inspire us with a free and quiet mind.—B. Jonson.
Here and there a desolate and uninhabited house.—Dickens.
James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy.—Macaulay.
So wert thou born into a tuneful strain,
An early, rich, and inexhausted vein.
—Dryden.
For rhetorical effect.
438. The indefinite article (compare Sec. 434) is used to lend special emphasis, interest, or clearness to each of several nouns; as,—
James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy, a tyrant, a murderer, and a usurper.—Macaulay.
Thou hast spoken as a patriot and a Christian.—Bulwer.
He saw him in his mind's eye, a collegian, a parliament man—a Baronet perhaps.—Thackeray.
VERBS.
CONCORD OF VERB AND SUBJECT IN NUMBER.
A broad and loose rule.
439. In English, the number of the verb follows the meaning rather than the form of its subject.
It will not do to state as a general rule that the verb agrees with its subject in person and number. This was spoken of in Part I., Sec. 276, and the following illustrations prove it.
The statements and illustrations of course refer to such verbs as have separate forms for singular and plural number.
Singular verb.
440. The singular form of the verb is used—
Subject of singular form.
(1) When the subject has a singular form and a singular meaning.
Such, then, was the earliest American land.—Agassiz.
He was certainly a happy fellow at this time.—G. Eliot.
He sees that it is better to live in peace.—Cooper.
Collective noun of singular meaning.
(2) When the subject is a collective noun which represents a number of persons or things taken as one unit; as,—
The larger breed [of camels] is capable of transporting a weight of a thousand pounds.—Gibbon.
Another school professes entirely opposite principles.—The Nation.
In this work there was grouped around him a score of men.—W. Phillips
A number of jeweled paternosters was attached to her girdle.—Froude.
Something like a horse load of books has been written to prove that it was the beauty who blew up the booby.—Carlyle
This usage, like some others in this series, depends mostly on the writer's own judgment. Another writer might, for example, prefer a plural verb after number in Froude's sentence above.
Singulars connected by or or nor.
(3) When the subject consists of two or more singular nouns connected by or or nor; as,—
It is by no means sure that either our literature, or the great intellectual life of our nation, has got already, without academies, all that academies can give.—M. Arnold.
Jesus is not dead, nor John, nor Paul, nor Mahomet. —Emerson.
Plural form and singular meaning.
(4) When the subject is plural in form, but represents a number of things to be taken together as forming one unit; for example,—
Thirty-four years affects one's remembrance of some circumstances.—De Quincey.
Between ourselves, three pounds five shillings and two pence is no bad day's work.—Goldsmith.
Every twenty paces gives you the prospect of some villa; and every four hours, that of a large town.—Montague
Two thirds of this is mine by right.—Sheridan
The singular form is also used with book titles, other names, and other singulars of plural form; as,—
Politics is the only field now open for me.—Whittier.
"Sesame and Lilies" is Ruskin's creed for young girls.—Critic, No. 674
The Three Pigeons expects me down every moment.—Goldsmith.
Several singular subjects to one singular verb.
(5) With several singular subjects not disjoined by or or nor, in the following cases:—
(a) Joined by and, but considered as meaning about the same thing, or as making up one general idea; as,—
In a word, all his conversation and knowledge has been in the female world—Addison.
The strength and glare of each [color] is considerably abated.—Burke
To imagine that debating and logic is the triumph.—Carlyle
In a world where even to fold and seal a letter adroitly is not the least of accomplishments.—De Quincey
The genius and merit of a rising poet was celebrated.—Gibbon.
When the cause of ages and the fate of nations hangs upon the thread of a debate.—J. Q. Adams.
(b) Not joined by a conjunction, but each one emphatic, or considered as appositional; for example,—
The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone.—Burke.
A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid loss.—Emerson
The author, the wit, the partisan, the fine gentleman, does not take the place of the man.—Id.
To receive presents or a bribe, to be guilty of collusion in any way with a suitor, was punished, in a judge, with death.—Prescott.
Subjects after the verb.
This use of several subjects with a singular verb is especially frequent when the subjects are after the verb; as,—
There is a right and a wrong in them.—M Arnold.
There is a moving tone of voice, an impassioned countenance, an agitated gesture.—Burke
There was a steel headpiece, a cuirass, a gorget, and greaves, with a pair of gauntlets and a sword hanging beneath.—Hawthorne.
Then comes the "Why, sir!" and the "What then, sir?" and the "No, sir!"—Macaulay.
For wide is heard the thundering fray,
The rout, the ruin, the dismay.
—SCOTT.
(c) Joined by as well as (in this case the verb agrees with the first of the two, no matter if the second is plural); thus,—
Asia, as well as Europe, was dazzled.—Macaulay.
The oldest, as well as the newest, wine
Begins to stir itself.
—LONGFELLOW.
Her back, as well as sides, was like to crack.—Butler.
The Epic, as well as the Drama, is divided into tragedy and Comedy.—Fielding
(d) When each of two or more singular subjects is preceded by every, each, no, many a, and such like adjectives.
Every fop, every boor, every valet, is a man of wit.—Macaulay.
Every sound, every echo, was listened to for five hours.—De Quincey
Every dome and hollow has the figure of Christ.—Ruskin.
Each particular hue and tint stands by itself.—Newman.
Every law and usage was a man's expedient.—Emerson.
Here is no ruin, no discontinuity, no spent ball.—Id.
Every week, nay, almost every day, was set down in their calendar for some appropriate celebration.—Prescott.
Plural verb.
441. The plural form of the verb is used—
(1) When the subject is plural in form and in meaning; as,—
These bits of wood were covered on every square.—Swift.
Far, far away thy children leave the land.—Goldsmith.
The Arabian poets were the historians and moralists.—Gibbon.
(2) When the subject is a collective noun in which the individuals of the collection are thought of; as,—
A multitude go mad about it.—Emerson.
A great number of people were collected at a vendue.—Franklin.
All our household are at rest.—Coleridge.
A party of workmen were removing the horses.—Lew Wallace
The fraternity were inclined to claim for him the honors of canonization.—Scott.
The travelers, of whom there were a number.—B. Taylor.
(3) When the subject consists of several singulars connected by and, making up a plural subject, for example,—
Only Vice and Misery are abroad.—Carlyle
But its authorship, its date, and its history are alike a mystery to us.—Froude.
His clothes, shirt, and skin were all of the same color—Swift.
Aristotle and Longinus are better understood by him than Littleton or Coke.—Addison.
Conjunction omitted.
The conjunction may be omitted, as in Sec. 440 (5, b), but the verb is plural, as with a subject of plural form.
A shady grove, a green pasture, a stream of fresh water, are sufficient to attract a colony.—Gibbon.
The Dauphin, the Duke of Berri, Philip of Anjou, were men of insignificant characters.—Macaulay
(4) When a singular is joined with a plural by a disjunctive word, the verb agrees with the one nearest it; as,—
One or two of these perhaps survive.—Thoreau.
One or two persons in the crowd were insolent.—Froude.
One or two of the ladies were going to leave.—Addison
One or two of these old Cromwellian soldiers were still alive in the village.—Thackeray
One or two of whom were more entertaining.—De Quincey.
But notice the construction of this,—
A ray or two wanders into the darkness.—Ruskin.
AGREEMENT OF VERB AND SUBJECT IN PERSON.
General usage.
442. If there is only one person in the subject, the ending of the verb indicates the person of its subject; that is, in those few cases where there are forms for different persons: as,—
Never once didst thou revel in the vision.—De Quincey.
Romanism wisely provides for the childish in men.—Lowell.
It hath been said my Lord would never take the oath.—Thackeray.
Second or third and first person in the subject.
443. If the subject is made up of the first person joined with the second or third by and, the verb takes the construction of the first person, the subject being really equivalent to we; as,—
I flatter myself you and I shall meet again.—Smollett.
You and I are farmers; we never talk politics.—D. Webster.
Ah, brother! only I and thou
Are left of all that circle now.
—Whittier.
You and I are tolerably modest people.—Thackeray.
Cocke and I have felt it in our bones—Gammer Gurton's Needle
With adversative or disjunctive connectives.
444. When the subjects, of different persons, are connected by adversative or disjunctive conjunctions, the verb usually agrees with the pronoun nearest to it; for example,—
Neither you nor I should be a bit the better or wiser.—Ruskin.
If she or you are resolved to be miserable.—Goldsmith.
Nothing which Mr. Pattison or I have said.—M. Arnold.
Not Altamont, but thou, hadst been my lord.—Rowe.
Not I, but thou, his blood dost shed.—Byron.
This construction is at the best a little awkward. It is avoided either by using a verb which has no forms for person (as, "He or I can go," "She or you may be sure," etc.), or by rearranging the sentence so as to throw each subject before its proper person form (as, "You would not be wiser, nor should I;" or, "I have never said so, nor has she").
Exceptional examples.
445. The following illustrate exceptional usage, which it is proper to mention; but the student is cautioned to follow the regular usage rather than the unusual and irregular.
Exercise.
Change each of the following sentences to accord with standard usage, as illustrated above (Secs. 440-444):—
1.
And sharp Adversity will teach at last
Man,—and, as we would hope,—perhaps the devil,
That neither of their intellects are vast.
—Byron.
2. Neither of them, in my opinion, give so accurate an idea of the man as a statuette in bronze.—Trollope.
3. How each of these professions are crowded.—Addison.
4. Neither of their counselors were to be present.—Id.
5. Either of them are equally good to the person to whom they are significant.—Emerson.
6. Neither the red nor the white are strong and glaring.—Burke.
7. A lampoon or a satire do not carry in them robbery or murder.—Addison.
8. Neither of the sisters were very much deceived.—Thackeray.
9.
Nor wood, nor tree, nor bush are there,
Her course to intercept.
—Scott.
10. Both death and I am found eternal.—Milton.
11. In ascending the Mississippi the party was often obliged to wade through morasses; at last they came upon the district of Little Prairie.—G. Bancroft.
12. In a word, the whole nation seems to be running out of their wits.—Smollett.
SEQUENCE OF TENSES (VERBS AND VERBALS).
Lack of logical sequence in verbs.
446. If one or more verbs depend on some leading verb, each should be in the tense that will convey the meaning intended by the writer.
In this sentence from Defoe, "I expected every wave would have swallowed us up," the verb expected looks forward to something in the future, while would have swallowed represents something completed in past time: hence the meaning intended was, "I expected every wave would swallow" etc.
Also in verbals.
In the following sentence, the infinitive also fails to express the exact thought:—
I had hoped never to have seen the statues again.—Macaulay.
The trouble is the same as in the previous sentence; to have seen should be changed to to see, for exact connection. Of course, if the purpose were to represent a prior fact or completed action, the perfect infinitive would be the very thing.
It should be remarked, however, that such sentences as those just quoted are in keeping with the older idea of the unity of the sentence. The present rule is recent.
Exercise.
Explain whether the verbs and infinitives in the following sentences convey the right meaning; if not, change them to a better form:—
1. I gave one quarter to Ann, meaning, on my return, to have divided with her whatever might remain.—De Quincey
2. I can't sketch "The Five Drapers," ... but can look and be thankful to have seen such a masterpiece.—Thackeray.
3. He would have done more wisely to have left them to find their own apology than to have given reasons which seemed paradoxes.—R. W. Church.
4. The propositions of William are stated to have contained a proposition for a compromise.—Palgrave
5. But I found I wanted a stock of words, which I thought I should have acquired before that time.—Franklin
6. I could even have suffered them to have broken Everet Ducking's head.—Irving.
INDIRECT DISCOURSE.
Definitions.
447. Direct discourse—that is, a direct quotation or a direct question—means the identical words the writer or speaker used; as,—
"I hope you have not killed him?" said Amyas.—Kingsley.
Indirect discourse means reported speech,—the thoughts of a writer or speaker put in the words of the one reporting them.
Two samples of indirect discourse.
448. Indirect discourse may be of two kinds:—
(1) Following the thoughts and also the exact words as far as consistent with the rules of logical sequence of verbs.
(2) Merely a concise representation of the original words, not attempting to follow the entire quotation.
The following examples of both are from De Quincey:—
Indirect.
1. Reyes remarked that it was not in his power to oblige the clerk as to that, but that he could oblige him by cutting his throat.
Direct.
His exact words were, "I cannot oblige you ..., but I can oblige you by cutting your throat."
Indirect.
Her prudence whispered eternally, that safety there was none for her until she had laid the Atlantic between herself and St. Sebastian's.
Direct.
She thought to herself, "Safety there is none for me until I have laid," etc.
Summary of the expressions.
2. Then he laid bare the unparalleled ingratitude of such a step. Oh, the unseen treasure that had been spent upon that girl! Oh, the untold sums of money that he had sunk in that unhappy speculation!
Direct synopsis.
The substance of his lamentation was, "Oh, unseen treasure has been spent upon that girl! Untold sums of money have I sunk," etc.
449. From these illustrations will be readily seen the grammatical changes made in transferring from direct to indirect discourse. Remember the following facts:—
(1) Usually the main, introductory verb is in the past tense.
(2) The indirect quotation is usually introduced by that, and the indirect question by whether or if, or regular interrogatives.
(3) Verbs in the present-tense form are changed to the past-tense form. This includes the auxiliaries be, have, will, etc. The past tense is sometimes changed to the past perfect.
(4) The pronouns of the first and second persons are all changed to the third person. Sometimes it is clearer to introduce the antecedent of the pronoun instead.
Other examples of indirect discourse have been given in Part I., under interrogative pronouns, interrogative adverbs, and the subjunctive mood of verbs.
Exercise.
Rewrite the following extract from Irving's "Sketch Book," and change it to a direct quotation:—
He assured the company that it was a fact, handed down from his ancestor the historian, that the Catskill Mountains had always been haunted by strange beings; that it was affirmed that the great Hendrick Hudson, the first discoverer of the river and country, kept a kind of vigil there every twenty years, with his crew of the Half-moon, being permitted in this way to revisit the scenes of his enterprise, and keep a guardian eye upon the river and the great city called by his name; that his father had once seen them in their old Dutch dresses playing at ninepins in a hollow of the mountain; and that he himself had heard, one summer afternoon, the sound of their balls, like distant peals of thunder.
VERBALS.
PARTICIPLES.
Careless use of the participial phrase.
450. The following sentences illustrate a misuse of the participial phrase:—
Pleased with the "Pilgrim's Progress," my first collection was of John Bunyan's works.—B. Franklin.
My farm consisted of about twenty acres of excellent land, having given a hundred pounds for my predecessor's goodwill.—Goldsmith.
Upon asking how he had been taught the art of a cognoscente so suddenly, he assured me that nothing was more easy.—Id.
Having thus run through the causes of the sublime, my first observation will be found nearly true.—Burke
He therefore remained silent till he had repeated a paternoster, being the course which his confessor had enjoined.—Scott
Compare with these the following:—
A correct example.
Going yesterday to dine with an old acquaintance, I had the misfortune to find his whole family very much dejected.—Addison.
Notice this.
The trouble is, in the sentences first quoted, that the main subject of the sentence is not the same word that would be the subject of the participle, if this were expanded into a verb.
Correction.
Consequently one of two courses must be taken,—either change the participle to a verb with its appropriate subject, leaving the principal statement as it is; or change the principal proposition so it shall make logical connection with the participial phrase.
For example, the first sentence would be, either "As I was pleased, ... my first collection was," etc., or "Pleased with the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' I made my first collection John Bunyan's works."
Exercise.—Rewrite the other four sentences so as to correct the careless use of the participial phrase.
INFINITIVES.
Adverb between to and the infinitive.
451. There is a construction which is becoming more and more common among good writers,—the placing an adverb between to of the infinitive and the infinitive itself. The practice is condemned by many grammarians, while defended or excused by others. Standard writers often use it, and often, purposely or not, avoid it.
The following two examples show the adverb before the infinitive:—
The more common usage.
He handled it with such nicety of address as sufficiently to show that he fully understood the business.—Scott.
It is a solemn, universal assertion, deeply to be kept in mind by all sects.—Ruskin.
This is the more common arrangement; yet frequently the desire seems to be to get the adverb snugly against the infinitive, to modify it as closely and clearly as possible.
Exercise.
In the following citations, see if the adverbs can be placed before or after the infinitive and still modify it as clearly as they now do:—
1. There are, then, many things to be carefully considered, if a strike is to succeed.—Laughlin.
2. That the mind may not have to go backwards and forwards in order to rightly connect them.—Herbert Spencer.
3. It may be easier to bear along all the qualifications of an idea ... than to first imperfectly conceive such idea.—Id.
4. In works of art, this kind of grandeur, which consists in multitude, is to be very cautiously admitted.—Burke.
5. That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarcely worth the sentinel.—Goldsmith.
6. Burke said that such "little arts and devices" were not to be wholly condemned.—The Nation, No. 1533.
7. I wish the reader to clearly understand.—Ruskin.
8. Transactions which seem to be most widely separated from one another.—Dr. Blair.
9. Would earnestly advise them for their good to order this paper to be punctually served up.—Addison.
10. A little sketch of his, in which a cannon ball is supposed to have just carried off the head of an aide-de-camp.—Trollope.
11. The ladies seem to have been expressly created to form helps meet for such gentlemen.—Macaulay.
12. Sufficient to disgust a people whose manners were beginning to be strongly tinctured with austerity.—Id.
13. The spirits, therefore, of those opposed to them seemed to be considerably damped by their continued success.—Scott.
ADVERBS.
Position of only, even, etc.
452.A very careful writer will so place the modifiers of a verb that the reader will not mistake the meaning.
The rigid rule in such a case would be, to put the modifier in such a position that the reader not only can understand the meaning intended, but cannot misunderstand the thought. Now, when such adverbs as only, even, etc., are used, they are usually placed in a strictly correct position, if they modify single words; but they are often removed from the exact position, if they modify phrases or clauses: for example, from Irving, "The site is only to be traced by fragments of bricks, china, and earthenware." Here only modifies the phrase by fragments of bricks, etc., but it is placed before the infinitive. This misplacement of the adverb can be detected only by analysis of the sentence.
Exercise.
Tell what the adverb modifies in each quotation, and see if it is placed in the proper position:—
1. Only the name of one obscure epigrammatist has been embalmed for us in the verses of his rival.—Palgrave.
2. Do you remember pea shooters? I think we only had them on going home for holidays.—Thackeray.
3. Irving could only live very modestly. He could only afford to keep one old horse.—Id.
4. The arrangement of this machinery could only be accounted for by supposing the motive power to have been steam.—Wendell Phillips.
5. Such disputes can only be settled by arms.—Id.
6. I have only noted one or two topics which I thought most likely to interest an American reader.—N. P. Willis.
7. The silence of the first night at the farmhouse,—stillness broken only by two whippoorwills.—Higginson.
8. My master, to avoid a crowd, would suffer only thirty people at a time to see me.—Swift.
9. In relating these and the following laws, I would only be understood to mean the original institutions.—Id.
10. The perfect loveliness of a woman's countenance can only consist in that majestic peace which is founded in the memory of happy and useful years.—Ruskin.
11. In one of those celestial days it seems a poverty that we can only spend it once.—Emerson.
12. My lord was only anxious as long as his wife's anxious face or behavior seemed to upbraid him.—Thackeray.
13. He shouted in those clear, piercing tones that could be even heard among the roaring of the cannon.—Cooper.
14. His suspicions were not even excited by the ominous face of Gérard.—Motley.
15. During the whole course of his administration, he scarcely befriended a single man of genius.—Macaulay.
16. I never remember to have felt an event more deeply than his death.—Sydney Smith.
17. His last journey to Cannes, whence he was never destined to return.—Mrs. Grote.
USE OF DOUBLE NEGATIVES.
The old usage.
453. In Old and Middle English, two negatives strengthened a negative idea; for example,—
He nevere yet no vileineye ne sayde,
In al his lyf unto no maner wight.
—Chaucer.
No sonne, were he never so old of yeares, might not marry. —Ascham.
The first of these is equivalent to "He didn't never say no villainy in all his life to no manner of man,"—four negatives.
This idiom was common in the older stages of the language, and is still kept in vulgar English; as,—
I tell you she ain' been nowhar ef she don' know we all. —Page, in Ole Virginia.
There weren't no pies to equal hers.—Mrs. Stowe.
Exceptional use.
There are sometimes found two negatives in modern English with a negative effect, when one of the negatives is a connective. This, however, is not common.
I never did see him again, nor never shall.—De Quincey.
However, I did not act so hastily, neither.—Defoe.
The prosperity of no empire, nor the grandeur of no king, can so agreeably affect, etc.—Burke.
Regular law of negative in modern English.
But, under the influence of Latin syntax, the usual way of regarding the question now is, that two negatives are equivalent to an affirmative, denying each other.
Therefore, if two negatives are found together, it is a sign of ignorance or carelessness, or else a purpose to make an affirmative effect. In the latter case, one of the negatives is often a prefix; as infrequent, uncommon.
Exercise.
Tell whether the two or more negatives are properly used in each of the following sentences, and why:—
1. The red men were not so infrequent visitors of the English settlements.—Hawthorne.
2. "Huldy was so up to everything about the house, that the doctor didn't miss nothin' in a temporal way."—Mrs. Stowe.
3. Her younger sister was a wide-awake girl, who hadn't been to school for nothing.—Holmes.
4. You will find no battle which does not exhibit the most cautious circumspection.—Bayne.
5. Not only could man not acquire such information, but ought not to labor after it.—Grote.
6. There is no thoughtful man in America who would not consider a war with England the greatest of calamities.—Lowell.
7. In the execution of this task, there is no man who would not find it an arduous effort.—Hamilton.
8. "A weapon," said the King, "well worthy to confer honor, nor has it been laid on an undeserving shoulder."—Scott.
CONJUNCTIONS.
And who, and which.
454. The sentences given in Secs. 419 and 420 on the connecting of pronouns with different expressions may again be referred to here, as the use of the conjunction, as well as of the pronoun, should be scrutinized.
Choice and proper position of correlatives.
455. The most frequent mistakes in using conjunctions are in handling correlatives, especially both ... and, neither ... nor, either ... or, not only ... but, not merely ... but (also).
The following examples illustrate the correct use of correlatives as to both choice of words and position:—
Whether at war or at peace, there we were, a standing menace to all earthly paradises of that kind.—Lowell.
These idols of wood can neither hear nor feel.—Prescott.
Both the common soldiery and their leaders and commanders lowered on each other as if their union had not been more essential than ever, not only to the success of their common cause, but to their own safety.—Scott.
Things to be watched.
In these examples it will be noticed that nor, not or is the proper correlative of neither; and that all correlatives in a sentence ought to have corresponding positions: that is, if the last precedes a verb, the first ought to be placed before a verb; if the second precedes a phrase, the first should also. This is necessary to make the sentence clear and symmetrical.
Correction.
In the sentence, "I am neither in spirits to enjoy it, or to reply to it," both of the above requirements are violated. The word neither in such a case had better be changed to not ... either,—"I am not in spirits either to enjoy it, or to reply to it."
Besides neither ... or, even neither ... nor is often changed to not—either ... or with advantage, as the negation is sometimes too far from the verb to which it belongs.
A noun may be preceded by one of the correlatives, and an equivalent pronoun by the other. The sentence, "This loose and inaccurate manner of speaking has misled us both in the theory of taste and of morals," may be changed to "This loose ... misled us both in the theory of taste and in that of morals."
Exercise.
Correct the following sentences:—
1. An ordinary man would neither have incurred the danger of succoring Essex, nor the disgrace of assailing him.—Macaulay.
2. Those ogres will stab about and kill not only strangers, but they will outrage, murder, and chop up their own kin.—Thackeray.
3. In the course of his reading (which was neither pursued with that seriousness or that devout mind which such a study requires) the youth found himself, etc.—Id.
4. I could neither bear walking nor riding in a carriage over its pebbled streets.—Franklin.
5. Some exceptions, that can neither be dissembled nor eluded, render this mode of reasoning as indiscreet as it is superfluous.—Gibbon.
6. They will, too, not merely interest children, but grown-up persons.—Westminster Review.
7. I had even the satisfaction to see her lavish some kind looks upon my unfortunate son, which the other could neither extort by his fortune nor assiduity.—Goldsmith.
8. This was done probably to show that he was neither ashamed of his name or family.—Addison.
Try and for try to.
456. Occasionally there is found the expression try and instead of the better authorized try to; as,—
We will try and avoid personalities altogether.—Thackeray.
Did any of you ever try and read "Blackmore's Poems"?—Id.
Try and avoid the pronoun.—Bain.
We will try and get a clearer notion of them.—Ruskin.
But what.
457. Instead of the subordinate conjunction that, but, or but that, or the negative relative but, we sometimes find the bulky and needless but what. Now, it is possible to use but what when what is a relative pronoun, as, "He never had any money but what he absolutely needed;" but in the following sentences what usurps the place of a conjunction.
Exercise.
In the following sentences, substitute that, but, or but that for the words but what:—
1. The doctor used to say 'twas her young heart, and I don't know but what he was right.—S. O. Jewett.
2. At the first stroke of the pickax it is ten to one but what you are taken up for a trespass.—Bulwer.
3. There are few persons of distinction but what can hold conversation in both languages.—Swift.
4. Who knows but what there might be English among those sun-browned half-naked masses of panting wretches?—Kingsley.
5. No little wound of the kind ever came to him but what he disclosed it at once.—Trollope.
6. They are not so distant from the camp of Saladin but what they might be in a moment surprised.—Scott.
PREPOSITIONS.
458. As to the placing of a preposition after its object in certain cases, see Sec. 305.
Between and among.
459. In the primary meaning of between and among there is a sharp distinction, as already seen in Sec. 313; but in Modern English the difference is not so marked.
Between is used most often with two things only, but still it is frequently used in speaking of several objects, some relation or connection between two at a time being implied.
Among is used in the same way as amid (though not with exactly the same meaning), several objects being spoken of in the aggregate, no separation or division by twos being implied.
Examples of the distinctive use of the two words:—
Two things.
The contentions that arise between the parson and the squire.—Addison.
We reckoned the improvements of the art of war among the triumphs of science.—Emerson.
Examples of the looser use of between:—
A number of things.
Natural objects affect us by the laws of that connection which Providence has established between certain motions of bodies.—Burke.
Hence the differences between men in natural endowment are insignificant in comparison with their common wealth.—Emerson.
They maintain a good correspondence between those wealthy societies of men that are divided from one another by seas and oceans.—Addison.
Looking up at its deep-pointed porches and the dark places between their pillars where there were statues once.—Ruskin
What have I, a soldier of the Cross, to do with recollections of war betwixt Christian nations?—Scott.
Two groups or one and a group.
Also between may express relation or connection in speaking of two groups of objects, or one object and a group; as,—
A council of war is going on beside the watch fire, between the three adventurers and the faithful Yeo.—Kingsley.
The great distinction between teachers sacred or literary,—between poets like Herbert and poets like Pope,—between philosophers like Spinoza, Kant, and Coleridge, and philosophers like Locke, Paley, Mackintosh, and Stewart, etc. —Emerson.
460. Certain words are followed by particular prepositions.
Some of these words show by their composition what preposition should follow. Such are absolve, involve, different.
Some of them have, by custom, come to take prepositions not in keeping with the original meaning of the words. Such are derogatory, averse.
Many words take one preposition to express one meaning, and another to convey a different meaning; as, correspond, confer.
And yet others may take several prepositions indifferently to express the same meaning.
List I.: Words with particular prepositions.
461.
LIST I.
* Absolve from.
* Abhorrent to.
* Accord with.
* Acquit of.
* Affinity between.
* Averse to.
* Bestow on (upon).
* Conform to.
* Comply with.
* Conversant with.
* Dependent on (upon).
* Different from.
* Dissent from.
* Derogatory to.
* Deprive of.
* Independent of.
* Involve in.
"Different to" is frequently heard in spoken English in England, and sometimes creeps into standard books, but it is not good usage.
List II.: Words taking different prepositions for different meanings.
462.
LIST II.
* Agree with (a person).
* Agree to (a proposal).
* Change for (a thing).
* Change with (a person).
* Change to (become).
* Confer with (talk with).
* Confer on (upon) (give to).
* Confide in (trust in).
* Confide to (intrust to).
* Correspond with (write to).
* Correspond to (a thing).
* Differ from (note below).
* Differ with (note below).
* Disappointed in (a thing obtained).
* Disappointed of (a thing not obtained).
* Reconcile to (note below).
* Reconcile with (note below).
* A taste of (food).
* A taste for (art, etc.).
"Correspond with" is sometimes used of things, as meaning to be in keeping with.
"Differ from" is used in speaking of unlikeness between things or persons; "differ from" and "differ with" are both used in speaking of persons disagreeing as to opinions.
"Reconcile to" is used with the meaning of resigned to, as, "The exile became reconciled to his fate;" also of persons, in the sense of making friends with, as, "The king is reconciled to his minister." "Reconcile with" is used with the meaning of make to agree with, as, "The statement must be reconciled with his previous conduct."
List III.: Words taking anyone of several prepositions for the same meaning.
463.
LIST III.
* Die by, die for, die from, die of, die with.
* Expect of, expect from.
* Part from, part with.
Illustrations of "die of," "die from," etc.:—
"Die of."
The author died of a fit of apoplexy.—Boswell.
People do not die of trifling little colds.—Austen
Fifteen officers died of fever in a day.—Macaulay.
It would take me long to die of hunger.—G. Eliot.
She died of hard work, privation, and ill treatment.—Burnett.
"Die from."
She saw her husband at last literally die from hunger.—Bulwer.
He died at last without disease, simply from old age. —Athenæum.
No one died from want at Longfeld.—Chambers' Journal.
"Die with."
She would have been ready to die with shame.—G. Eliot.
I am positively dying with hunger.—Scott.
I thought the two Miss Flamboroughs would have died with laughing.—Goldsmith.
I wish that the happiest here may not die with envy.—Pope.
"Die for." (in behalf of).
Take thought and die for Cæsar.—Shakespeare.
One of them said he would die for her.—Goldsmith.
It is a man of quality who dies for her.—Addison.
"Die for." (because of).
Who, as Cervantes informs us, died for love of the fair Marcella.—Fielding.
Some officers had died for want of a morsel of bread.—Macaulay.
"Die by." (material cause, instrument).
If I meet with any of 'em, they shall die by this hand. —Thackeray.
He must purge himself to the satisfaction of a vigilant tribunal or die by fire.—Macaulay.
He died by suicide before he completed his eighteenth year.—Shaw.
464. Illustrations of "expect of," "expect from:"—
"Expect of."
What do I expect of Dublin?—Punch.
That is more than I expected of you.—Scott.
Of Doctor P. nothing better was to be expected.—Poe.
Not knowing what might be expected of men in general.—G. ELIOT.
"Expect from."
She will expect more attention from you, as my friend.—Walpole.
There was a certain grace and decorum hardly to be expected from a man.—Macaulay.
I have long expected something remarkable from you.—G. Eliot.
465. "Part with" is used with both persons and things, but "part from" is less often found in speaking of things.
Illustrations of "part with," "part from:"—
"Part with."
He was fond of everybody that he was used to, and hated to part with them.—Austen.
Cleveland was sorry to part with him.—Bulwer.
I can part with my children for their good.—Dickens.
I part with all that grew so near my heart.—Waller.
"Part from."
To part from you would be misery.—Marryat.
I have just seen her, just parted from her.—Bulwer.
Burke parted from him with deep emotion.—Macaulay.
His precious bag, which he would by no means part from.—G. ELIOT.
Kind in you, kind of you.
466. With words implying behavior or disposition, either of or in is used indifferently, as shown in the following quotations:—
Of.
It was a little bad of you.—Trollope.
How cruel of me!—Collins.
He did not think it handsome of you.—Bulwer.
But this is idle of you.—Tennyson.
In.
Very natural in Mr. Hampden.—Carlyle.
It will be anything but shrewd in you.—Dickens.
That is very unreasonable in a person so young.—Beaconsfield.
I am wasting your whole morning—too bad in me.—Bulwer.
Miscellaneous Examples for Correction.
1. Can you imagine Indians or a semi-civilized people engaged on a work like the canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas?
2. In the friction between an employer and workman, it is commonly said that his profits are high.
3. None of them are in any wise willing to give his life for the life of his chief.
4. That which can be done with perfect convenience and without loss, is not always the thing that most needs to be done, or which we are most imperatively required to do.
5. Art is neither to be achieved by effort of thinking, nor explained by accuracy of speaking.
6. To such as thee the fathers owe their fame.
7. We tread upon the ancient granite that first divided the waters into a northern and southern ocean.
8. Thou tread'st, with seraphims, the vast abyss.
9. Eustace had slipped off his long cloak, thrown it over Amyas's head, and ran up the alley.
10. This narrative, tedious perhaps, but which the story renders necessary, may serve to explain the state of intelligence betwixt the lovers.
11. To the shame and eternal infamy of whomsoever shall turn back from the plow on which he hath laid his hand!
12. The noise of vast cataracts, raging storms, thunder, or artillery, awake a great and awful sensation in the mind.
13. The materials and ornaments ought neither to be white, nor green, nor yellow, nor blue, nor of a pale red.
14. This does not prove that an idea of use and beauty are the same thing, or that they are any way dependent on each other.
15.
And were I anything but what I am,
I would wish me only he.
16. But every man may know, and most of us do know, what is a just and unjust act.
17. You have seen Cassio and she together.
18. We shall shortly see which is the fittest object of scorn, you or me.
19. Richard glared round him with an eye that seemed to seek an enemy, and from which the angry nobles shrunk appalled.
20. It comes to whomsoever will put off what is foreign and proud.
21. The difference between the just and unjust procedure does not lie in the number of men hired, but in the price paid to them.
22. The effect of proportion and fitness, so far at least as they proceed from a mere consideration of the work itself, produce approbation, the acquiescence of the understanding.
23. When the glass or liquor are transparent, the light is sometimes softened in the passage.
24. For there nor yew nor cypress spread their gloom.
25. Every one of these letters are in my name.
26. Neither of them are remarkable for precision.
27. Squares, triangles, and other angular figures, are neither beautiful to the sight nor feeling.
28. There is not one in a thousand of these human souls that cares to think where this estate is, or how beautiful it is, or what kind of life they are to lead in it.
29. Dryden and Rowe's manner are quite out of fashion.
30. We were only permitted to stop for refreshment once.
31. The sight of the manner in which the meals were served were enough to turn our stomach.
32. The moody and savage state of mind of the sullen and ambitious man are admirably drawn.
33. Surely none of our readers are so unfortunate as not to know some man or woman who carry this atmosphere of peace and good-will about with them. (Sec. 411.)
34. Friday, whom he thinks would be better than a dog, and almost as good as a pony.
35. That night every man of the boat's crew, save Amyas, were down with raging fever.
36. These kind of books fill up the long tapestry of history with little bits of detail which give human interest to it.
37. I never remember the heather so rich and abundant.
38. These are scattered along the coast for several hundred miles, in conditions of life that seem forbidding enough, but which are accepted without complaint by the inhabitants themselves.
39. Between each was an interval where lay a musket.
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