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النشر الإلكتروني

PART III.

SUPPLEMENTARY SYNTAX.

CHAP. I.

THE VERB AND ITS SUBJECT.

1. THE nominatives considered to pertain properly to the imperative mode are thou, ye, and you; as, "Go ye," "Depart thou." But since these forms are abbreviates for " I wish that ye should go". "I allow that ye may go" " I

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desire that thou shouldst depart," and since the extended forms admit of being varied by pronouns of the 1st and 3rd persons, as, for example, "I wish that we should go,”. we might expect to find, occasionally, the imperative style of abbreviation referring to other nominatives besides pronouns of the 2nd person; and such is the case. Thus: "Go we to the king;" "Be I myself your leader;" "Be that as it may;" Long live the Queen;"" Far from me be such frigid philosophy;" "Thy kingdom come."

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In parsing the italicised words of the last four examples, it might readily be supposed that the words that, queen, philosophy, and kingdom, are objectives governed by the verb let understood; but they are certainly nominatives; for the verb let is never so understood, otherwise we should be permitted to say, "Long live us "Far from me be them," which are manifestly inadmissible. Either, therefore, let us call go, be, live, &c., imperative modes of the verb, (optative modes might sometimes be a better name), or let us, in parsing, extend the abbreviated forms, by supplying

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the assertive verbs allow, wish, desire, &c., as exemplified above.

The auxiliary verb may is often retained in such abbreviations; as, 66 May it be so," instead of "Be it so," or "I be so.' ""*

desire that it

may

2. The imperative verb let, governing an objective of the 1st or 3rd person, and an infinitive of another verb, forms a kind of compound imperative mode for the 1st or 3rd person; as, "Let me be your leader;" that is,

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"Let ye me,"

This imperative verb is often used without reference to any definite nominative addressed; as, "Let the line AC be bisected;""Let me die the death of the righteous;" "Let come what will." In parsing, however, supply ye as an indefinite nominative.

3. The nominative may follow its verb, when some expression, which would naturally come after the verb, is for distinction or emphasis put before, or when the verb itself or the general tone of a sentence is to be rendered emphatic; as, "Much sorrow have I experienced;" "Thus spake the seraph;" "The cause, said I, is obvious;" "Vanish the woods;" "Red gleamed the cross, and waned the crescent pale."

The expletive adverb there, and the conjunctions neither, nor, often introduce a verb before its nominative; as, "There arose a discussion;" "I have not spoken to him, nor have I seen him."

Sometimes the suppression of certain conjunctions, as whether, if, though, in subjunctive clauses, is indicated by making the verb precede its nominative; as, "Be he rich

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*The verbs may and would are optative verbs in such instances as May thy lot in life be happy" "Would that my lord were with the

prophet."

† The imperatives Except, Save, Suppose, are often similarly indefinite.

or poor," that is, whether he be; "Wert thou my own son," that is, if or though thou wert; "Had my father known it,” that is, if my father had.

4. A verb infinitive, a clause, or any mode of expression, may be so employed as to form the subject of a verb; as, "To pretend is easy;" "To realise one's pretensions is often difficult;"" Whether I should go is doubtful;” “I shall not go' were not my words;" "Perfect is a word of Latin origin;""Carrying parcels was my first employment."

The last of these examples contains an instance of what is called the gerund, or gerundial participle; the imperfect participle being so named, when it is used, not in the common way of a descriptive adjective, but as a noun denoting an act, habit, or state, and yet retaining the syntactical power of a verb. Thus, the participle carrying signifies the habit or occupation of carrying, and is therefore a noun; but it also performs the office of a transitive verb in governing the noun parcels; it is therefore called the gerund, from its supposed resemblance to a part of the Latin verb so named. The imperfect participle intransitive, when denoting an act or state, may generally be parsed simply as

a noun.

5. A collective noun, though singular in form, requires a plural verb; and whenever there is any uncertainty whether a subject is a collective noun, the prevailing tendency of modern discourse is to sanction the plural verb; as, "The company were informed;" "Our party is the most numerous ;' "Our party are not agreed upon that point."

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6. When a personal verb has relation to more nominatives than one, it should be singular or plural, according as unity or plurality is contemplated. Thus; "The honour and prosperity of my country are (or is) concerned;" "John and James are of one age;" "The son and successor of Mr. Smith was here ;"" John or Richard has my pencil;" "No trouble, no expense, has (or have) been spared."

The conjunction or between two singular nouns does not always prevent these nouns from being referred to by a plural verb; thus, "Man is not such a machine as a clock or a watch, which move merely as they are moved;" that is, things which move."

It is improper, however, to make the conjunctive expression as well as join two singular nominatives to a verb plural; thus, it would be wrong to say, "Cæsar, as well as Cicero, were eloquent." When combination rather than comparison is intended, the expression as well as should not be employed; thus, instead of "Pompey as well as Cæsar were great men," we should say, Pompey and Cæsar were both great men."

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It is also improper to make the preposition with relate two singular nouns as a plural subject; thus, it would be wrong to say, "The side a, with the sides b and c, compose the triangle." But, in this instance, while grammar demands the singular verb composes, logic demands a verb plural; therefore, grammar must yield; that is, the sentence must be recast, that the sense may be expressed grammatically; and we can say, "The sides a, b, and c, compose the triangle." This is the proper method of resolving such difficulties.*

7. It is commonly asserted by grammarians, that when a distinguishing conjunction brings together a singular and a plural subject, the verb should be plural, and that if the sense and harmony of the sentence permit, the plural subject should be nearest the verb; as, "He or they are in the wrong." But, generally, such confusion of syntax ought to be avoided, unless the form of the verb will suit either subject; the example just given might be improved by

* A plural noun, however, is found related, by a kind of apposition, to two singular pronouns, the one of which is governed by with, in the following allowable expression — « Wilt thou be friends with me?" Priestley conceives that the noun friends is here used for the adjective friendly. Notes and Observ. § 3.

saying, "He or they must be in the wrong," or " He is in the wrong, or they are ;" and in the former of these substitutes the verb must can be parsed as the 3rd per. sing. agreeing with he, or plur. agreeing with they.

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8. The pronouns it, that, and this, may perform the office of apposition nominatives, representing a clause or circumstance; as, "To bow and sue for grace · that were an ignominy and shame;' "It is no easy matter to combat his arguments." In the latter example, the pronoun it represents the complex sentiment to combat his arguments; this is called the inceptive use of the pronoun it, serving to introduce the verb before a complex nominative, and thus forming an apposition nominative with the complex one. A many-worded subject would often sound very awkwardly before the verb; and the inceptive pronoun is, therefore, a very useful substitute.

9. The pronoun it is sometimes used abstractly, as a grammatical subject, when no definite logical subject can be apprehended; as in the expressions "It rains," "It freezes," "How far is it to York ?" "Is it come to this?" The pronoun in such instances seems to refer to the state of things described by the verb, as if occasioned by that state itself, or self-originated. A verb used in this manner is generally, though not very justly, termed impersonal.

10. Thinks and thought, in the expressions methinks, methought, and seems and listeth, in the expressions meseems, me listeth, are, according to Latham, the only verbs, in our language having any claim to be regarded as impersonal, because no pronoun accompanies them. But even these are not strictly impersonal, as the clause following constitutes the subject of the verb. Thus, in Latham's example, "Methought I saw my late espoused wife, &c." the construction is" (That circumstance), I saw my late espoused wife, methought, or seemed to me.'

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* Meseems and me listeth are now obsolete; methinks and methought are

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