Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/1007

This page needs to be proofread.

his hearers most, when to please them is not his sole or his chief aim."--Id. "At length, the consuls return to the camp, and inform the soldiers, that they could obtain for them no other terms than those of surrendering their arms and passing under the yoke."--Id. "Nor are mankind so much to blame, in their choice thus determining them."--Swift cor. "These forms are what are called the Numbers." Or: "These forms are called Numbers."--Fosdick cor. "In those languages which admit but two genders, all nouns are either masculine or feminine, even though they designate beings that are neither male nor female."--Id. "It is called Verb or Word by way of eminence, because it is the most essential word in a sentence, and one without which the other parts of speech cannot form any complete sense."--Gould cor. "The sentence will consist of two members, and these will commonly be separated from each other by a comma."--Jamieson cor. "Loud and soft in speaking are like the fortè and piano in music; they only refer to the different degrees of force used in the same key: whereas high and low imply a change of key."--Sheridan cor. "They are chiefly three: the acquisition of knowledge; the assisting of the memory to treasure up this knowledge; and the communicating of it to others."--Id.

    "This kind of knaves I know, who in this plainness
     Harbour more craft, and hide corrupter ends,
     Than twenty silly ducking observants."--Shak. cor.

LESSON XVII.--MANY ERRORS.

"A man will be forgiven, even for great errors, committed in a foreign language; but, in the use he makes of his own, even the least slips are justly pointed out and ridiculed."--Amer. Chesterfield cor. "LET expresses not only permission, but entreaty, exhortation, and command."--Lowth cor.; also Murray, et al. "That death which is our leaving of this world, is nothing else than the putting-off of these bodies."--Sherlock cor. "They differ from the saints recorded in either the Old or the New Testament."--Newton cor. "The nature of relation, therefore, consists in the referring or comparing of two things to each other; from which comparison, one or both come to be denominated."--Locke cor. "It is not credible, that there is any one who will say, that through the whole course of his life he has kept himself entirely undefiled, without the least spot or stain of sin."--Witsius cor. "If to act conformably to the will of our Creator,--if to promote the welfare of mankind around us,--if to secure our own happiness, is an object of the highest moment; then are we loudly called upon to cultivate and extend the great interests of religion and virtue." Or: "If, to act conformably to the will of our Creator, to promote the welfare of mankind around us, and to secure our own happiness, are objects of the highest moment; then," &c.--Murray et al. cor. "The verb being in the plural number, it is supposed, that the officer and his guard are joint agents. But this is not the case: the only nominative to the verb is 'officer.' In the expression, 'with his guard,' the noun 'guard' is in the objective case, being governed by the preposition with; and consequently it cannot form the nominative, or any part of it. The prominent subject for the agreement, the true nominative to the verb, or the term to which the verb peculiarly refers, is the word 'officer.'"--L. Murray cor. "This is an other use, that, in my opinion, contributes to make a man learned rather than wise; and is incapable of pleasing either the understanding or the imagination."--Addison cor. "The work is a dull performance; and is incapable of pleasing either the understanding or the imagination."--L. Murray cor. "I would recommend the 'Elements of English Grammar,' by Mr. Frost. The plan of this little work is similar to that of Mr. L. Murray's smallest Grammar; but, in order to meet the understanding of children, its definitions and language are simplified, so far as the nature of the subject will admit. It also embraces more examples for Parsing, than are usual in elementary treatises."--S. R. Hall cor. "More rain falls in the first two summer months, than in the first two months of winter; but what falls, makes a much greater show upon the earth, in winter than in summer, because there is a much slower evaporation."--L. Murray cor. "They often contribute also to render some persons prosperous, though wicked; and, what is still worse, to reward some actions, though vicious; and punish other actions, though virtuous."--Bp. Butler cor. "Hence, to such a man, arise naturally a secret satisfaction, a sense of security, and an implicit hope of somewhat further."--Id. "So much for the third and last cause of illusion, that was noticed above; which arises from the abuse of very general and abstract terms; and which is the principal source of the abundant nonsense that has been vented by metaphysicians, mystagogues, and theologians."--Campbell cor. "As to those animals which are less common, or which, on account of the places they inhabit, fall less under our observation, as fishes and birds, or which their diminutive size removes still further from our observation, we generally, in English, employ a single noun to designate both genders, the masculine and the feminine."--Fosdick cor. "Adjectives may always be distinguished by their relation to other words: they express the quality, condition, or number, of whatever things are mentioned."--Emmons cor. "An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner."--Brown's Inst., p. 29. "The joining-together of two objects, so grand, and the representing of them both, as subject at one moment to the command of God, produce a noble effect."--Dr. Blair cor. "Twisted columns, for instance, are undoubtedly ornamental; but, as they have an appearance of weakness, they displease the eye, whenever they are used to support any massy part of a building, or what seems to require a more substantial prop."--Id. "In a vast number of inscriptions, some upon rocks, some upon stones of a defined shape, is found an Alphabet different from the Greeks', the Latins', and the Hebrews', and also unlike that of any modern nation."--W. C. Fowler cor.