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To produce the agreement and right disposition of words in a sentence, many rules are necessary. The following, with the annexed observations, comprise the chief of them.

RULE I

A verb must agree with its nominative case, in number and person: as, "I learn;""Thou art improved," "The birds sing."

The following are a few examples of the violation of this rule. "What signifies good opinions, when our practice is bad?" "what signify." "The Normans, under which general term is comprehended the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, were accustomed to slaughter. and rapine;"" are comprehended." If thou would be easy and happy in thy family, be careful to observe discipline :" "if thou wouldst." "Gold, whence came thou? whither goes thou? when will thou come again?" "camest, goest, wilt:" "But thou, false promiser, never shall obtain thy purpose it ought to be "shalt." "And wheresoe'erthou turns thy view;" "turnest." "There's two or three of us have seen the work :" "there are." "Great pains has been taken;"" have been." "I have considered what have been said on both sides in this controversy;"`" what has been said." "One would think there was more sophists than one;"" there were more." "The number of the names together were about one hundred and twenty;' was about.".

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*1. The infinitive mood, or part of a sentence, is sometimes put as the nominative case to the verb: as, "To see the sun is pleasant;" "To be good is to be happy ;"" A desire to excel others in learning and virtue is commendable;"That warm climates should accelerate the growth of the human body, and shorten its duration, is very rea

The chief practical notes under each Rule, are regularly numbered, in order to make them correspond to the examples in the volume of Exercises.

sonable to believe;" "To be temperate in eating and drinking, to use exercise in the open air, and to preserve the mind free from tumultuous emotions, are the best preservatives of health."

2. Every verb, except in the infinitive mood, or the participle, ought to have a nominative case, either expressed or implied: as, “ Awake; arise;" that is, "Awake ye; arise ye."

We shall here add some examples of inaccuracy, in the use of the verb without its nominative case. "As it hath pleased him of his goodness to give you safe deliverance, and hath preserved you in the great danger," &c. The verb "hath preserved,” has here no nominative case, for it cannot be properly supplied by the preceding word, "him," which is in the objective case. It ought to be, "and as he hath preserved you;" or rather," and to preserve you." "If the calm in which he was born, and lasted so long, had continued ;"" and which lasted," &c. "These we have extracted fron an historian of undoubted credit, and are the same that were practised," &c. ; "and they are the same." "A man whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and had great abilities to manage the business; "and who had," &c. "A cloud gathering in the north; which we have helped to raise, and may quickly break in a storm upon our heads ;"" and which may quickly."

3. Every nominative case, except the case absolute, and when an address is made to a person, should belong to some verb, either expressed or implied: as, "Who wrote this book?" "James;" that is, "James wrote it." "To whom thus Adam," that is, "spoke."

One or two instances of the improper use of the nominative case, without any verb, expressed or implied, to answer it, may be sufficient to illustrate the usefulness of the preceding observation.

"Which rule, if it had been observed, a neighbouring prince would have wanted a great deal of that incense

which hath been offered up to him." The pronoun it is here the nominative case to the verb "observed;" and which rule, is left by itself, a nominative, case without any verb following it. This form of expression, though inproper, is very common. It ought to be, "If this rula had been observed," &c. "Man, though he has great variety of thoughts, and such from which others, as well as himself might receive profit and delight, yet they are all within his own breast." In this sentence, the nominative man stands alone and unconnected with any verb, either expressed or implied. It should be, “ Though man has great variety," &c.

4. When a verb comes between two nouns, either of which may be understood as the subject of the affirmation, it may agree with either of them; but some regard must be had to that which is more naturally the subject of it, as also to that which stands next to the verb: as, " His meat was locusts and wild honey;" "A great cause of the low state of industry were the restraints put upon it;" “The wages of sin is death."

5. When the nominative case has no personal tense of a verb, but is put before a participle, independently on the rest of the sentence, it is called the case absolute: as, "Shame being lost, all virtue is lost;"" That having been discussed long ago, there is no occasion to resume it."

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As in the use of the case absolute, the case is. in English, always the nominative, the following example is erroneous, in making it the objective. "Solomon was of this mind; and I have no doubt he made as wise and true proverbs,. as any body has done since; him only excepted, who was a much greater and wiser inan than Solomon." It should be, lie only execpted.".

The nominative case is commonly placed. before the verb; but sometimes it is put after the verb, if it, is:a. simple tense; and, between the auxiliary, and the verb or participle, if a compound tense: es,

1st. When a question is asked, a command given, or a wish expressed: as, "Confidest thou in me?" "Read thou;"Mayst thou be happy!" "Long live the King!"

2d. When a supposition is made without the conjunction if: as, "Were it not for this ;"" Had I been there." 3d. When a verb neuter is used: as, "On a sudden appeared the king."

4th. When the verb is preceded by the adverbs, here, there, then, thence, hence, thus, &c. : as, "Here am I ;' "There was he slain ;" "Then cometh the end ;" "Thence ariseth his grief;" "Hence proceeds his anger;" "Thus was the affair settled."

5th. When a sentence depends on neither or nor, so as to be coupled with another sentence: as, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

The phrases, as follows, as appears, form what are called impersonal verbs; and should therefore be confined to the singular number: as, "The arguments advanced were nearly as follows;" "The positions were as appears incontrovertible :" that is, "as it follows," "as it appears." If we give the sentence a different turn, and instead of as, say such as, the verb is no longer termed impersonal; but properly agrees with its nominative, in the plural number: as, "The arguments advanced were nearly such as follow;" "The positions were such as appear incontrovertible."

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They who are inclined to favour the opinion of Horne Tooke, "That as, however and whenever used in English,

* In our ideas on this subject, we are supported by general usage, and by the authority of an eminent critic on language and composition. "When a verb is used impersonally," says Dr. Campbell in his Philosophy of Rhetoric, "it ought undoubtedly to be in the singular number, whether the neuter pronoun be expressed or understood. For this reason, analogy and usage favour this mode of expression: "The conditions of the agreement were as follows;" and not, as follow. A few late writers have inconsiderately adopted this last form, through a mistake of the construction. For the same reason, we ought to say, "I shall consider his censures so far only as concerns my friend's conduct ;" and not "so far as concern."

means the same as it, or that, or which ;" and who are not satisfied whether the verbs, in the sentences first mentioned, should be in the singular or plural number, may vary the form of expression. Thus, the sense of the preceding sentences may be conveyed in the following terms. “The arguments advanced were nearly of the following nature ;" "The following are nearly the arguments which were advanced ;” “The arguments advanced were nearly those which follow :" "It appears that the positions were incontrovertible ;" "That the positions were ircontrovertible is apparent ;""The positions were apparently incontrovertible."

RULE II.

Two or more nouns, &c. in the singular number, joined together by one or more copulative conjunctions, expressed or understood, must have verbs, nouns, and pronouns, agreeing with them. in the plural number: as, "Socrates and Plato were wise; they were the most eminent philosophers of Greece ;" "The sun that rolls over our heads, the food that we receive, the rest that we enjoy, daily admonish us of a superior and superintending Power."

This rule is often violated; some instances of which are annexed. "And so was also James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon;"" and so were also." "All joy, tranquillity, and peace, even for ever and ever, doth dwell;"" dwell for ever." "By whose power all good and evil is distributed ;" "are distributed." "Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished;"" are perished." "The thoughtless and intemperate enjoyment of pleasure, the criminal abuse of it, and the forgetfulness of our being accountable creatures, obliterates every serious thought of the proper business of

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