Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/510

This page needs to be proofread.

one thing and an other, contend that it is no less improper, to say, "The city of London, the city of New Haven, the month of March, the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola, the towns of Exeter and Dover," than to say, "King of Solomon, Titus of the Roman Emperor, Paul of the apostle, or, Cicero of the orator."--See Barrett's Gram., p. 101; Emmons's, 16. I cannot but think there is some mistake in their mode of finding out what is proper or improper in grammar. Emmons scarcely achieved two pages more, before he forgot his criticism, and adopted the phrase, "in the city of New Haven."--Gram., p. 19.

OBS. 17.--When an object acquires a new name or character from the action of a verb, the new appellation is put in apposition with the object of the active verb, and in the nominative after the passive: as, "They named the child John;"--"The child was named John."--"They elected him president;"--"He was elected president." After the active verb, the acquired name must be parsed by Rule 3d; after the passive, by Rule 6th. In the following example, the pronominal adjective some, or the noun men understood after it, is the direct object of the verb gave, and the nouns expressed are in apposition with it: "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers"--Ephesians, iv, 11. That is, "He bestowed some [men] as apostles; and some as prophets; and some as evangelists; and some as pastors and teachers." The common reader might easily mistake the meaning and construction of this text in two different ways; for he might take some to be either a dative case, meaning to some persons, or an adjective to the nouns which are here expressed. The punctuation, however, is calculated to show that the nouns are in apposition with some, or some men, in what the Latins call the accusative, case. But the version ought to be amended by the insertion of as, which would here be an express sign of the apposition intended.

OBS. 18.--Some authors teach that words in apposition must agree in person, number, and gender, as well as in case; but such agreement the following examples show not to be always necessary: "The Franks, a people of Germany."--W. Allen's Gram. "The Kenite tribe, the descendants of Hobab."--Milman's Hist. of the Jews. "But how can you a soul, still either hunger or thirst?"--Lucian's Dialogues, p. 14. "Who seized the wife of me his host, and fled."--Ib., p. 16.

  "Thy gloomy grandeurs (Nature's most august.
   Inspiring aspect!) claim a grateful verse."--Young, N. ix, l. 566.


IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE III.

ERRORS OF WORDS IN APPOSITION.

"Now, therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou."--Gen., xxxi, 44.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronouns I and thou, of the nominative case, are here put in apposition with the preceding pronoun us, which is objective. But, according to Rule 3d, "A noun or a personal pronoun, used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case." Therefore, I and thou should be thee and me; (the first person, in our idiom, being usually put last;) thus, "Now, therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant, thee and me."]

"Now, therefore, come thou, we will make a covenant, thee and me."--Variation of Gen. "The word came not to Esau, the hunter, that stayed not at home; but to Jacob, the plain man, he that dwelt in tents."--Wm. Penn. "Not to every man, but to the man of God, (i. e.) he that is led by the spirit of God."--Barclays Works, i, 266. "For, admitting God to be a creditor, or he to whom the debt should be paid, and Christ he that satisfies or pays it on behalf of man the debtor, this question will arise, whether he paid that debt as God, or man, or both?"--Wm. Penn. "This Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Man, the Emmanuel, God with us, we own and believe in: he whom the high priests raged against," &c.--George Fox. "Christ, and Him crucified, was the Alpha and Omega of all his addresses, the fountain and foundation of his hope and trust."--Experience of Paul, p. 399. "'Christ and Him crucified' is the head, and only head, of the church."--Denison's Sermon. "But if 'Christ and Him crucified' are the burden of the ministry, such disastrous results are all avoided."--Ib. "He never let fall the least intimation, that himself, or any other person, whomsoever, was the object of worship."--Hannah Adams's View, p. 250. "Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine."--1 Tim., v, 17. "Our Shepherd, him who is styled King of saints, will assuredly give his saints the victory."--Sermon. "It may seem odd to talk of we subscribers"--Fowlers True Eng. Gram., p. 20. "And they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness upon them."--Jeremiah, xiv, 16. "Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants."--Philippians, ii, 25.

  "Amidst the tumult of the routed train,
   The sons of false Antimachus were slain;
   He, who for bribes his faithless counsels sold,
   And voted Helen's stay for Paris' gold."
       --Pope, Iliad, B. xi. l. 161.
   "See the vile King his iron sceptre bear--
   His only praise attends the pious Heir;
   He, in whose soul the virtues all conspire,
   The best good son, from the worst wicked sire."
       --DR. LOWTH: Union Poems, p. 19.