Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Young.

noun I to be understood, as ego is in the bulletin referred to, "Veni, vidi, vici." For, as a short sen-
tance is sometimes made the subject of a verb, so is it sometimes made the object of a preposition; as,
"Earth's highest station ends in, 'here he lies;'
And dust to dust,' concludes her noblest song."
Here the adverb, though an indeclinablo
OBS. 5.-In some instances, prepositions precede adverbs; as, at once, at unawares, from thence,
from above, till now, till very lately, for once, for ever.
word, appears to be made the object of the preposition. It is in fact used substantively, and gov-
erned by the preposition. The term forever is often written as one word, and, as such, is obviously
an adverb. The rest are what some writers would call adverbial phrases; a term not very con-
sistent with itself, or with the true idea of parsing. If different parts of speech are to be taken
together as having the nature of an adverb, they ought rather to coalesce and be united; for the
verb to parse, being derived from the Latin pars, a part, implies in general a distinct recognition
of the elements or words of every phrase or sentence.

The country
OBS. 6.-Nouns of time, measure, distance, or value, have often so direct a relation to verbs or
"The
adjectives, that the prepositions which are supposed to govern them, are usually suppressed; as,
That is," through sixty miles on that day."
That is, "richer by a farthing.'
"We rode sixty miles that day."
is not a farthing richer."- Webster's Essays, p. 122.
error has been copied times without number."-Ib., p. 281. That is,-"on or at times innumer-
All such
able."
"A row of columns ten feet high, and a row twice that height, require different proportions."
That is," high to ten feet," and, "a row of twice that height."
Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 344.
"Altus sex pedes, High on or at six feet."-Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang., ii, 150.
nouns are in the objective case, and, in parsing them, the learner may supply the ellipsis; or,
perhaps it might be as well, to say, as do B. H. Smart and some others, that the noun is an ob-
-"A boy of twelve years old,"
jective of time, measure, or value, taken adverbially, and relating directly to the verb or adjective
qualified by it. Such expressions as, "A board of six feet long,"
are wrong. Either strike out the of, or say, "A board of six feet in length,"—" A boy of twelve
years of age;" because this preposition is not suited to the adjective, nor is the adjective fit to
qualify the time or measure.

"Near "How like the former."-Dryden. OBS. 7.-After the adjectives like, near, and nigh, the proposition to or unto is often underAs similarity and proximity are relastood; as, "It is like [to or unto] silver."-Allen. yonder copse."-Goulsmith. "Nigh this recess."— Garth. Dr. Johnson seems to be inconsistent in calling near tions, and not qualities, it might seem proper to call like, near, and nigh, prepositions; and some grammarians have so classed the last two. a preposition, in the phrase," So near thy heart," and an adjective, in the phrase, "Being near I have not placed them with the prepositions, for the foltheir master." lowing four reasons: (1.) Because they are sometimes compared; (2.) Because they sometimes have adverbs evidently relating to them; (3.) Because the preposition to or unto is sometimes expressed after them; and (4.) Because the words which usually stand for them in the learned languages, are clearly adjectives. But like, when it expresses similarity of manner, and near and nigh, when they express proximity of degree, are adverbs.

See his Quarto Dict.

[ocr errors]

This is the case inWells says, * Grammarians differ much as to the proper mode of parsing such nouns. dependent by ellipsis."-School Gram., p. 123. But the idea of such a case is a flat absurdity. Ellipsis occurs only where something, not uttered, is implied; and where a preposition is thus wanting, the noun is, of course, its object; and therefore not independent. Webster, with too much contempt for the opinion of "Lowth, followed by the whole tribe of writers on this subject," declares it "a palpable error," to suppose "prepositions to be understood before these expressions;" and, by two new rules, his 22d and 28th, teaches, that, "Names of But this is no account at all of the measure or dimension, followed by an adjective," and "Names of certain portions of time and space, and especially words denoting continuance of time or progression, are used without a governing word."-Philos. Gram., pp. 165 and 172; Imp. Gram., 116 and 122; Rudiments, 65 and 67. construction, or of the case of the noun. As the nominative, or the case which we may use independently, is never a subject of government, the phrase, without a governing word," implies that the case is objective; and "Nouns which denote time, quantity, measure, how can this case be known, except by the discovery of some governing word," of which it is the object? We ."-Weld's Gram., p. 153; find, however, many such rules as the following: "Nouns of time, distance, and degree, are put in the objective case without a preposition."-Nutting's Gram., p. 100. Bullions, too, has a similar rule. To cstidistance, value, or direction are often put in the objective case without a preposition.""Names signifying duration, extension, quantity, quality, and valuation, are in the ob"Abridged Ed.," 118. jective case without a governing word."-Frazee's Gram., p. 151. mate these rules aright, one should observe how often the nouns in question are found with a governing word, Weld, of late, contradicts himself by admitting the ellipsis; and then, inconsistently with his admission, most absurdly denies the frequent use of the preposition with nouns of time, quantity, &c. "Before words of this description, the ellipsis of a preposition is obvious. But it is seldom proper to use the preposition before such words."-Weld's "Abridged Edition," p. 118. "Nigh, near, next, like, when followed by the objective case, may be + Professor Fowler absurdly says, regarded either as Prepositions or as Adjectives, to being understood."-Fowler's E. Gram., 8vo, 1850, § 458, Note 7. Now, "to being understood," it is plain that no one of these words can be accounted a preposition, but by supposing the preposition to be complex, and to be partly suppressed. This can be nothing better than an idle whim; and, since the classification of words as parts of speech, is always positive and exclusive, to refer any particular word indecisively to "either" of two classes, is certainly no better teaching, than to say, "I do not know of which sort it is; call it what you please!" With decision prompt enough, but with too little regard to analogy or consistency, Latham and Child say, "The adjective like governs a case, and it is the only adjective that does so."-Elementary Gram., p. 155. In teaching thus, they seem to ignore these facts: that near, nigh, or opposite, might just as well be said to be an adjective governing a case; and that the use of to or unto after like has been common enough to prove the ellipsis. The Bible has many examples; as, "Who is like to thee in "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first."-Exodus, xxxiv, 1; and Israel?"-1 Samuel, xxvi, 15. Deut., x, 1. But their great inconsistency here is, that they call the case after like "a dative”—a case unknown to their etymology! See Gram. of E. Gram., p. 259. In grammar, a solitary exception or instance can scarcely be a true one.

The following examples may illustrate these points: "These verbs, and all others like to them, were like

T

OBS. 8.-The word worth is often followed by an objective, or a participle, which it appears to govern; as, "If your arguments produce no conviction, they are worth nothing to me."-Beattie. "To reign is worth ambition."-Milton. "This is life indeed, life worth preserving."-Addison. It is not easy to determine to what part of speech worth here belongs. Dr. Johnson calls it an adjective, but says nothing of the object after it, which some suppose to be governed by of understood. In this supposition, it is gratuitously assumed, that worth is equivalent to worthy, after which of should be expressed; as, "Whatsoever is worthy of their love, is worth their anger."— Denham. But as worth appears to have no certain characteristic of an adjective, some call it a noun, and suppose a double ellipsis; as, "My knife is worth a shilling;' i. e. My knife is of the worth of a shilling.'"-Kirkham's Gram., p. 163. "The book is worth that sum; that is, 'The book is (the) worth (of) that sum;' It is worth while;' that is, 'It is (the) worth (of the) while.'" -Nixon's Parser, p. 54. This is still less satisfactory;* and as the whole appears to be mere guess-work, I see no good reason why worth is not a preposition, governing the noun or participle. If an adverb precede worth, it may as well be referred to the foregoing verb, as when it occurs before any other preposition: as, "It is richly worth the money."-"It lies directly before your door." Or if we admit that an adverb sometimes relates to this word, the same thing may be as true of other prepositions; as, And this is a lesson which, to the greatest part of mankind, is, I think, very well worth learning."-Blair's Rhet., p. 303. "He sees let down from the ceiling, exactly over his head, a glittering sword, hung by a single hair."-Murray's E. Reader, p. 33. See Exception 3d to Rule 21st.

OBS. 9.-Both Dr. Johnson and IIorno Tooke, (who never agreed if they could help it,) unite in saying that worth, in the phrases, "Wo worth the man,"-" Wo worth the day," and the like, is from the imperative of the Saxon verb wyrthan or weorthan, to be; i. e., "Wo be [to] the man,' or, "Wo betide the man," &c. And the latter affirms, that, as the preposition by is from the imperative of beon, to be, so with, (though admitted to be sometimes from withan, to join,) is often no other than this same imperative verb wyrth or worth: if so, the three words, by, with, and worth, were originally synonymous, and should now be referred at least to one and the same class. The dative case, or oblique object, which they governed as Saxon verbs, becomes their proper object, when taken as English prepositions; and in this also they appear to be alike. Worth, then, when it signifies value, is a common noun; but when it signifies equal in value to, it governs an objective, and has the usual characteristics of a preposition. Instances may perhaps be found in which worth is an adjective, meaning valuable or useful, as in the following lines:

"They glow'd, and grew more intimate with God,

More worth to men, more joyous to themselves."-Young, N. ix, 1. 988.

In one instance, the poet Campbell appears to have used the word worthless as a preposition : "Eyes a mutual soul confessing,

Soon you'll make them grow

Dim, and worthless your possessing,
Not with age, but woe!"

OBS. 10.-After verbs of giving, paying, procuring, and some others, there is usually an ellipsis of to or for before the objective of the person; as, "Give [to] him water to drink."-"Buy [for] me a knife."—" Pay [to] them their wages." So in the exclamation, "Wo is me!" meaning, "Wo is to me!" This ellipsis occurs chiefly before the personal pronouns, and before such nouns as come between the verb and its direct object; as, "Whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth [to] God service."―John, xvi, 2. "Who brought [to] her masters much gain by soothsaying."-Acts, xvi, 16. "Because he gave not [to] God the glory."-Ib., xii, 23. "Give [to] me leave to allow [to] myself no respite from labour "-Spect., No. 454. "And the sons of Joseph, which were born [to] him in Egypt, were two souls."-Gen., xlvi, 27. This elliptical construction TIMAO."-Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang., Vol. ii, p. 128. "The old German, and even the modern German, are much liker to the Visigothic than they are to the dialect of the Edda."—Ib., i, 330. "Proximus finem, nighest the end."-Ib., ii, 150. "Let us now come nearer to our own language."-Dr. Blair's Rhet., p. 85. "This looks very like a paradox."—BEATTIE: Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 113. "He was near [to] falling.". Ib., p. 116. Murray, who puts near into his list of prepositions, gives this example to show how "prepositions become adverbs !" "There was none ever before like unto it."-Stone, on Masonry, p. 5.

"And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice."—Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 45.

"My cane

* Wright's notion of this construction is positively absurd and self-contradictory. In the sentence, is worth a shilling," he takes the word worth to be a noun "in apposition to the word shilling." And to prove it so, he puts the sentence successively into these four forms: My cane is worth or value for a shilling: "The worth or value of my cane is a shilling"--" My cane is a shilling's worth;"—"My cane is the worth of a shilling."-Philosophical Gram., p. 150. In all these transmutations, worth is unquestionably a noun; but, in none of them, is it in apposition with the word shilling; and he is quite mistaken in supposing that they "indispensably prove the word in question to be a noun." There are other authors, who, with equal confidence, and equal absurdity, call worth a verb. For example: "A noun, which signifies the price, is put in the objective case, without a preposition; as, my book is worth twenty shillings.' Is worth is a neuter verb, and answers to the latin verb valet."—Barrett's Gram., p. 138. I do not deny that the phrase "is worth" is a just version of the verb valet; but this equivalence in import, is no proof at all that worth is a verb. Prodest is a Latin verb, which signifies "is profitable to;" but who will thence infer, that profitable to is a verb?

In J. R. Chandler's English Grammar, as published in 1821, the word worth appears in the list of prepositions: but the revised list, in his edition of 1847, does not contain it. In both books, however, it is expressly parsed as a preposition; and, in expounding the sentence, "The book is worth a dollar," the author makes this remark: "Worth has been called an adjective by some, and a noun by others: worth, however, in this sentence expresses a relation by value, and is so far a preposition; and no ellipsis, which may be formed, would change the nature of the word, without giving the sentence a different meaning."-Chandler's Gram., Old Ed., p. 155; New Ed., p. 181.

of a few objectives, is what remains to us of the ancient Saxon dative case. If the order of the words be changed, the preposition must be inserted; as, "Pray do my service to his majesty.”— Shak. The doctrine inculcated by several of our grammarians, that, "Verbs of asking, giving, teaching, and some others, are often employed to govern two objectives," (Wells, § 215,) I have, under a preceding rule, discountenanced; preferring the supposition, which appears to have greater weight of authority, as well as stronger support from reason, that, in the instances cited in proof of such government, a preposition is, in fact, understood. Upon this question of ellipsis, depends, in all such instances, our manner of parsing one of the objective words.

OBS. 11.-In dates, as they are usually written, there is much abbreviation; and several nouns of place and time are set down in the objective case, without the prepositions which govern them: as, "New York, Wednesday, 20th October, 1830."-Journal of Literary Convention. That is, "At New York, on Wednesday, the 20th day of October, in the year 1830."

NOTE TO RULE VII.

An objective noun of time or measure, if it qualifies a subsequent adjective, must not also be made an adjunct to a preceding noun; as, "To an infant of only two or three years old."-Dr. Wayland. Expunge of, or for old write of age. The following is right: "The vast army of the Canaanites, nine hundred chariots strong, covered the level plain of Esdraclon."-Milman's Jews, Vol. i, p. 159. See Obs.

6th above.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VII.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.-OF THE OBJECTIVE IN FORM.

"But I do not remember who they were for."-Abbott's Teacher, p. 265.

[FORMULE.-Not proper, because the pronoun who is in the nominative case, and is made the object of the preposition for. But, according to Rule 7th, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case.' Therefore, who should be whom; thus, "But I do not remember whom they were for."]

"

[ocr errors]

66

"But if you can't help it, who do you complain of?"— Collier's Antoninus, p. 137. "Who was it from? and what was it about?"-Edgeworth's Frank, p. 72. "I have plenty of victuals, and, between you and I, something in a corner."-Day's Sandford and Merton. "The upper one, who I am now about to speak of."-Hunt's Byron, p. 311. "And to poor we, thine enmity's most capital."-Beauties of Shakspeare, p. 201. Which thou dost confess, were fit for thee to use, as they to claim.”—Īb., p. 196. "To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour, than thou of them."-Ib., p. 197. "There are still a few who, like thou and I, drink nothing but water.”— Gil Blas, Vol. i, p. 104. "Thus, I shall fall; Thou shalt love thy neighbour; He shall be rewarded, express no resolution on the part of I, thou, he.”—Lennie's E. Gram., p. 22; Bullions's, 32. "So saucy with the hand of she here-What's her name?"-Shak., Ant. and Cleop., Act iii, Sc. 11. "All debts are cleared between you and I."-Id., Merchant of Venice, Act iii, Sc. 2. "Her price is paid, and she is sold like thou."-Milman's Fall of Jerusalem. "Search through all the most flourishing era's of Greece."-Brown's Estimate, ii, 16. The family of the Rudolph's had been long distinguished."-The Friend, Vol. v, p. 54. "It will do well enough for you and I."-Castle Rackrent, p. 120. "The public will soon discriminate between him who is the sycophant, and he who is the teacher."-Chazotte's Essay, p. 10. "We are still much at a loss who civil power belongs to."-Locke. "What do you call it? and who does it belong to?-Collier's Cebes. "He had received no lessons from the Socrates's, the Plato's, and the Confucius's of the age."-Haller's Letters. "I cannot tell who to compare them to."-Bunyan's P. P., p. 128. see there was some resemblance betwixt this good man and I."-Pilgrim's Progress, p. 298. "They by that means have brought themselves into the hands and house of I do not know who." -Ib., p. 196. "But at length she said there was a great deal of difference between Mr. Cotton and we."-Hutchinson's Mass., ii, 430. "So you must ride on horseback after we."*-MRS. GILPIN: Cowper, i, 275. "A separation must soon take place between our minister and I."-Werter, p. 109. When she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and I.”—Shakspeare. "To who? to thee? What art thou?"-Id. "That they should always bear the certain marks who they came from.' -Butler's Analogy, p. 221.

[ocr errors]

"This life has joys for you and I,

And joys that riches ne'er could buy."-Burns.

"I

UNDER THE NOTE.--OF TIME OR MEASURE.

"Such as almost every child of ten years old knows."-Town's Analysis, p. 4. "One winter's school of four months, will carry any industrious scholar, of ten or twelve years old, completely through this book."-1b., p. 12. "A boy of six years old may be taught to speak as correctly, as

Cowper here purposely makes Mrs. Gilpin use bad English; but this is no reason why a school-boy may not be taught to correct it. Dr. Priestley supposed that the word we, in the example, "To poor we, thine enmity," &c., was also used by Shakspeare, "in a droll humorous way."-Gram., p. 103. He surely did not know the connexion of the text. It is in "Volumnia's pathetic speech" to her victorious son. See Coriolanus, Act V, Sc. 3.

[ocr errors]

Cicero did before the Roman Senate."-Webster's Essays, p. 27. "A lad of about twelve years old, who was taken captive by the Indians.”—Ib., p. 235. Of nothing else but that individual white figure of five inches long which is before him."-Campbell's Rhet., p. 288. "Where lies the fault, that boys of eight or ten years old, are with great difficulty made to understand any of its principles."-Guy's Gram., p.v. "Where language of three centuries old is employed."-Booth's Introd. to Dict., p. 21. "Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high."-Esther, v, 14. "I say to this child of nine years old bring me that hat, he hastens and brings it me."-Osborn's Key, p. 3. "He laid a floor twelve feet long, and nine feet wide; that is, over the extent of twelve feet long, and of nine feet wide."-Merchant's School Gram., p. 95. "The Goulah people are a tribe of about fifty thousand strong."-Examiner, No. 71.

RULE VIII.-NOM. ABSOLUTE.

A Noun or a Pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word: as, "He failing, who shall meet success ?" "Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever ?"-Zech., i, 5. "Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?"-1 Cor., ix, 6. "Nay but, Oman, who art thou that repliest against God ?"-Rom., ix, 20. "O rare we!"-Cowper. "Miscrable they!"-Thomson.

"The hour conceal'd, and so remote the fear,

Death still draws nearer, never seeming near."-Pope.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VIII.

OBS. 1.-Many grammarians make an idle distinction between the nominative absolute and the nominative independent, as if these epithets were not synonymous; and, at the same time, they are miserably deficient in directions for disposing of the words so employed. Their two rules do not embrace more than one half of those frequent examples in which the case of the noun or pronoun depends on no other word. Of course, the remaining half cannot be parsed by any of the rules which they give. The lack of a comprehensive rule, like the one above, is a great and glaring defect in all the English grammars that the author has seen, except his own, and such as are indebted to him for such a rule. It is proper, however, that the different forms of expression which are embraced in this general rule, should be discriminated, one from an other, by the scholar: let him therefore, in parsing any nominative absolute, tell how it is put so; whether with a parti ciple, by direct address, by pleonasm, or by exclamation. For, in discourse, a noun or a pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, after four modes, or under the following four circumstances: (of which Murray's "case absolute," or "nominative absolute," contains only the first :)

I. When, with a participle, it is used to express a cause, or a concomitant fact; as, "I say, this being so, the law being broken, justice takes place."-Law and Grace, p. 27. "Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea," &c.-Luke, iii, 1. I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren."Gen., xxiv, 27.

[ocr errors]

"While shame, thou looking on,

Shame to be overcome or overreach'd,

Would utmost vigor raise."-Milton, P. L., B. ix, 1. 312.

II. When, by direct address, it is put in the second person, and set off from the verb, by a comma or an exclamation point; as, "At length, Seged, reflect and be wise."-Dr. Johnson. "It may be, drunkard, swearer, liar, thief, thou dost not think of this."-Law and Grace, p. 27. "This said, he form'd thee, Adam! thee, O man!

Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd
The breath of life."-Milton's Paradise Lost, B. vii, 1. 524.

III. When, by pleonasm, it is introduced abruptly for the sake of emphasis, and is not made the subject or the object of any verb; as, "He that hath, to him shall be given."—Mark, iv, 25. “He that is holy, let him be holy still."-Rev., xxii, 11. "Gad, a troop shall overcome him."—Gen., xlix, 19. "The north and the south, thou hast created them."-Psalms, lxxxix, 12. "And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them."-1 Tim., vi, 2. "And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare."-Levit., xiii, 45. They who serve me with adoration,I am in them, and they [are] in me."-R. W. EMERSON: Liberator, No. 996. "What may this mean,

That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel,
Revisitst thus the glimpses of the moon,

Making night hideous; and, we fools of nature,*

So horribly to shake our disposition

[ocr errors]

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls ?"-Shak. Hamlet.

Dr. Enfield misunderstood this passage; and, in copying it into his Speaker, (a very popular school-book,) he has perverted the text, by changing we to us: as if the meaning were," Making us fools of nature."

But

IV. When, by mere exclamation, it is used without address, and without other words expressed or implied to give it construction; as, "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." Exodus, xxxiv, 6. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"Rom., xi, 33. "I should not like to see her limping back, Poor beast!"--Southey.

"Oh! deep enchanting prelude to repose,

The dawn of bliss, the twilight of our woes !"--Campbell.

OBS. 2.-The nominative put absolute with a participle, is often equivalent to a dependent clause commencing with when, while, if, since, or because. Thus, "I being a child," may be equal to, "When I was a child," or, "Because I was a child." Here, in lieu of the nominative, the Greeks used the genitive case, and the Latins, the ablative. Thus, the phrase, “Keì vorɛpńcavτos olvov,” "And the wine failing," is rendered by Montanus, "Et deficiente vino;" but by Beza, “Et cum defecisset vinum ;" and in our Bible, “And when they wanted wine.”—John, ii, 3. After a noun or a pronoun thus put absolute, the participle being is frequently understood, especially if an adjective or a like case come after the participle; as,

"They left their bones beneath unfriendly skies,

His worthless absolution [being] all the prize."-Cowper, Vol. i, p. 84. "Alike in ignorance, his reason [—] such,

Whether he thinks too little or too much."-Pope, on Man.

OBS. 3.-The case which is put absolute in addresses or invocations, is what in the Latin and Greek grammars is called the Vocative. Richard Johnson says, "The only use of the Vocative Case, is, to call upon a Person, or a thing put Personally, which we speak to, to give notice to what we direct our Speech; and this is therefore, properly speaking, the only Case absolute or independent which we may make use of without respect to any other Word."—Gram. Commentaries, p. 131. This remark, however, applies not justly to our language; for, with us, the vocative case, is unknown, or not distinguished from the nominative. In English, all nouns of the second person are either put absolute in the nominative, according to Rule 8th, or in apposition with their own pronouns placed before them, according to Rule 3d: as, "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders."—Acts, iv, 11. "How much rather ought you receivers to be considered as abandoned and execrable!"-Clarkson's Essay, p. 114.

"Peace! minion, peace! it boots not me to hear

The selfish counsel of you hangers-on.”—Brown's Inst., p. 189.

"Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear;

Fays, Faries, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons, hear!"-Pope, R. L., ii, 74.

[ocr errors]

OBS. 4.-The case of nouns used in exclamations, or in mottoes and abbreviated sayings, often depends, or may be conceived to depend, on something understood; and, when their construction can be satisfactorily explained on the principle of ellipsis, they are not put absolute, unless the ellipsis be that of the participle. The following examples may perhaps be resolved in this manner, though the expressions will lose much of their vivacity: A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse -Shak. "And he said unto his father, My head! my head!”—2 Kings, iv, 19. · And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass, have I slain a thousand men."-Judges, xv, 16. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."-Matt., v, 38. "Peace, be still.”—Mark, iv, 39. "One God, world without end. Amen."-Com. Prayer.

"My fan, let others say, who laugh at toil;

Fan! hood! glove! scarf! is her laconic style."-Young.

OBS. 5.-"Such Expressions as, Hand to Hand, Face to Face, Foot to Foot, are of the nature of Adverbs, and are of elliptical Construction: For the Meaning is, Hand OPPOSED to Hand, &c.”— W. Ward's Gram., p. 100. This learned and ingenious author seems to suppose the former noun to be here put absolute with a participle understood; and this is probably the best way of explaining the construction both of that word and of the preposition that follows it. So Samson's phrase, “heaps upon heaps," may mean, "heaps being piled upon heaps;" and Scott's, man to man, and steel to steel," may be interpreted, "man being opposed to man, and steel being opposed to steel:"

"Now, man to man, and steel to steel,

A chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel."-Lady of the Lake.

OBS. 6.-Cobbett, after his own hasty and dogmatical manner, rejects the whole theory of nominatives absolute, and teaches his "soldiers, sailors, apprentices, and ploughboys,' that, "The supposition, that there can be a noun, or pronoun, which has reference to no verb, and no preposition, is certainly a mistake."-Cobbett's E. Gram., 201. To sustain his position, he lays violent hands upon the plain truth, and even trips himself up in the act. Thus: "For want of a little thought, as to the matter immediately before us, some grammarians have found out an absolute case,' as they call it; and Mr. Lindley Murray gives an instance of it in these words: 'Shame being lost, all virtue is lost.' The full meaning of this sentence is this: It being, or the state of things being such, that shame is lost, all virtue is lost.'"-Cobbett's E. Gram., ¶ 191. it is plain, that all "fools of nature" must be fools of nature's own making, and not persons temporarily frighted out of their wits by a ghost; nor does the meaning of the last two lines comport with any objective construction of this pronoun. See Enfield's Speaker, p. 364.

« AnteriorContinuar »