A SHORT
INTRODUCTION
TO
ENGLISH GRAMMAR:
WITH CRITICAL NOTES.

Nam ipsum Latine loqui est illud quidem in magna laude ponendum: sed non tam sua sponte, quam quod est a plerisque neglectum. Non enim tam præclarum est scire Latine, quam turpe nescire; neque tam id mihi oratoris boni, quam civis Romani proprium videtur.

Cicero.

LONDON: Printed by J. Hughs;
For A. Millar in the Strand;
And R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-mall. 1762.

PREFACE.

The English Language hath been much cultivated during the last two hundred years. It hath been considerably polished and refined; it hath been greatly enlarged in extent and compass; its force and energy, its variety, richness, and elegance, have been tried with good success, in verse and in prose, upon all subjects, and in every kind of stile: but whatever other improvements it may have received, it hath made no advances in Grammatical accuracy.

It is now about fifty years since Doctor Swift made a public remonstrance, addressed to the Earl of Oxford, then Lord Treasurer, of the imperfect State of our Language; alledging in particular, “that in many instances it offended against every part of Grammar.” Swift must be allowed to have been a good judge of this matter. He was himself very attentive to this part, both in his own writings, and in his remarks upon those of his friends: he is one of our most correct, and perhaps our very best prose writer. Indeed the justness of this complaint, as far as I can find, hath never been questioned; and yet no effectual method hath hitherto been taken to redress the grievance of which he complains.

But let us consider, how, and in what extent, we are to understand this charge brought against the English Language. Does it mean, that the English Language as it is spoken by the politest part of the nation, and as it stands in the writings of our most approved authors, oftentimes offends against every part of Grammar? Thus far, I am afraid, the charge is true. Or does it further imply, that our Language is in its nature irregular and capricious; not subject, or not easily reduceable, to a System of rules? In this respect, I am persuaded, the charge is wholly without foundation.

The English Language is perhaps of all the present European Languages by much the most simple in its form and construction. Of all the ancient Languages extant that is the most simple, which is undoubtedly the most ancient: but even that Language itself does not equal the English in simplicity.

The Words of the English Language are subject to fewer variations from their original Form, than those perhaps of any other Language whatsoever. Its Substantives have but one variation of Case: nor have they any beside the natural distinction of Gender. Its Adjectives admit of no change at all, except that which expresses the degrees of Comparison. All the possible variations of the original form of the Verb are not above six or seven; whereas in many Languages they amount to one or two hundred: and almost the whole business of Modes, Times, and Voices is managed with great ease by the assistance of eight or nine commodious little Verbs; called from their use Auxiliaries. The Construction of this Language is so easy and obvious, that our Grammarians have thought it hardly worth while to give us any thing like a regular and systematical Syntax. The last English Grammar that hath been presented to the public, and by the Person best qualified to have given us a perfect one, comprises the whole Syntax in ten lines. The reason, which he assigns for being so very concise in this part, is, “because our Language has so little inflection, that its Construction neither requires nor admits many rules.” In truth, the easier any subject is in its own nature, the harder is it to make it more easy by explanation; and nothing is commonly more unnecessary, and at the same time more difficult, than to give a Demonstration in form of a proposition almost self-evident.

It is not owing then to any peculiar irregularity or difficulty of our Language, that the general practice both of speaking and writing it is chargeable with inaccuracy. It is not the Language, but the practice, that is in fault. The truth is, Grammar is very much neglected among us: and it is not the difficulty of the Language, but on the contrary the simplicity and facility of it, that occasions this neglect. Were the Language less easy and simple, we should find ourselves under a necessity of studying it with more care and attention. But as it is, we take it for granted, that we have a competent knowledge and skill, and are able to acquit ourselves properly, in our own native tongue: a faculty solely acquired by use, conducted by habit, and tried by the ear, carries us on without reflection; we meet with no rubs or difficulties in our way, or we do not perceive them; we find ourselves able to go on without rules, and we do not so much as suspect that we stand in need of them.

A Grammatical Study of our own Language makes no part of the ordinary method of instruction which we pass thro’ in our childhood; and it is very seldom that we apply ourselves to it afterward. And yet the want of it will not be effectually supplied by any other advantages whatsoever. Much practice in the polite world, and a general acquaintance with the best authors, are good helps, but alone will hardly be sufficient: we have writers, who have enjoyed these advantages in their full extent, and yet cannot be recommended as models of an accurate style. Much less then will what is commonly called Learning serve the purpose; that is, a critical knowledge of ancient languages, and much reading of ancient authors: the greatest Critic and most able Grammarian of the last age, when he came to apply his Learning and his Criticism to an English Author, was frequently at a loss in matters of ordinary use and common construction in his own Vernacular Idiom.

But perhaps the Notes subjoined to the following pages will furnish a more convincing argument, than any thing that can be said here, both of the truth of the charge of inaccuracy brought against our Language as it subsists in practice, and of the necessity of investigating the Principles of it, and studying it Grammatically, if we would attain to a due degree of skill in it. It is with reason expected of every person of a liberal education, and much more is it indispensably required of every one who undertakes to inform or entertain the public, that he should be able to express himself with propriety and accuracy. It will evidently appear from these Notes, that our best Authors for want of some rudiments of this kind have sometimes fallen into mistakes, and been guilty of palpable errors in point of Grammar. The examples there given are such as occurred in reading, without any very curious or methodical examination: and they might easily have been much increased in number by any one, who had leisure or phlegm enough to have gone through a regular course of reading with this particular view. However, I believe, they may be sufficient to answer the purpose intended; to evince the necessity of the Study of Grammar in our own Language, and to admonish those, who set up for Authors among us, that they would do well to consider this part of Learning as an object not altogether beneath their regard.

The principal design of a Grammar of any Language is to teach us to express ourselves with propriety in that Language, and to be able to judge of every phrase and form of construction, whether it be right or not. The plain way of doing this, is to lay down rules, and to illustrate them by examples. But besides shewing what is right, the matter may be further explained by pointing out what is wrong. I will not take upon me to say, whether we have any Grammar that sufficiently performs the first part: but the latter method here called in, as subservient to the former, may perhaps be found in this case to be of the two the more useful and effectual manner of instruction.

Besides this principal design of Grammar in our own Language, there is a secondary use to which it may be applied, and which, I think, is not attended to as it deserves. A good foundation in the General Principles of Grammar is in the first place necessary for all those who are initiated in a learned education; and for all others likewise, who shall have occasion to furnish themselves with the knowledge of modern, languages. Universal Grammar cannot be taught abstractedly: it must be done with reference to some language already known, in which the terms are to be explained, and the rules exemplified. The learner is supposed to be unacquainted with all but his own native tongue; and in what other, consistently with reason and common sense, would you go about to explain it to him? When he has a competent knowledge of the main principles, the common terms, the general rules, the whole subject and business of Grammar, exemplified in his own Language; he then will apply himself with great advantage to any foreign language, whether ancient or modern. To enter at once upon the Science of Grammar, and the Study of a foreign Language, is to encounter two difficulties together, each of which would be much lessened by being taken separately and in its proper order. For these plain reasons a competent Grammatical knowledge of our own Language is the true foundation upon which all Literature, properly so called, ought to be raised. If this method were adopted in our Schools; if children were first taught the common principles of Grammar by some short and clear System of English Grammar, which happily by its simplicity and facility is perhaps of all others the fittest for such a purpose, they would have some notion of what they were going about, when they should enter into the Latin Grammar; and would hardly be engaged so many years, as they now are, in that most irksome and difficult part of literature, with so much labour of the memory, and with so little assistance of the understanding.

A design somewhat of this kind gave occasion to the following little System, intended merely for a private and domestic use. The chief end of it was to explain the general principles of Grammar as clearly and intelligibly as possible. In the Definitions therefore easiness and perspicuity have been sometimes prefered to logical exactness. The common Divisions have been complied with, as far as truth and reason would permit. The known and received Terms have been retained, except in one or two instances, where others offered themselves, which seemed much more significant. All disquisitions, which appeared to have more of subtilty than of usefulness in them, have been avoided. In a word, it was calculated for the use of the Learner even of the lowest class. Those, who would enter more deeply into this Subject, will find it fully and accurately handled, with the greatest acuteness of investigation, perspicuity of explication, and elegance of method, in a Treatise intitled Hermes, by James Harris Esq; the most beautiful and perfect example of Analysis that has been exhibited since the days of Aristotle.

The following short System is proposed only as an Essay, upon a Subject, tho’ of little esteem, yet of no small importance; and in which the want of something better adapted to real use and practice, than what we have at present, seems to be generally acknowledged. If those, who are qualified to judge of such matters, and do not look upon them as beneath their notice, shall so far approve of it, as to think it worth a revisal, and capable of being improved into something really useful; their remarks and assistance, communicated through the hands of the Bookseller, shall be received with all proper deference and acknowledgement.

A SHORT
INTRODUCTION
TO
ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

GRAMMAR.

Grammar is the Art of rightly expressing our thoughts by Words.

Grammar in general, or Universal Grammar, explains the Principles which are common to all languages.

The Grammar of any particular Language, as the English Grammar, applies those common principles to that particular language, according to the established usage and custom of it.

Grammar treats of Sentences, and the several parts of which they are compounded.

Sentences consist of Words; Words, of one or more Syllables; Syllables, of one or more Letters.

So that Letters, Syllables, Words, and Sentences, make up the whole subject of Grammar.

LETTERS.

A Letter is the first Principle, or least part of a Word.

An Articulate Sound is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech.

A Vowel is a simple articulate sound, formed by the impulse of the voice, and by the opening only of the mouth in a particular manner.

A Consonant cannot be perfectly sounded by itself; but joined with a vowel forms a compound articulate sound, by a particular motion or contact of the parts of the mouth.

A Diphthong, or Double Vowel, is the union of two or more vowels pronounced by a single impulse of the voice.

In English there are twenty-six Letters:

A, a; B, b; C, c; D, d; E, e; F, f; G, g; H, h; I, i; J, j; K, k; L, l; M, m; N, n; O, o; P, p; Q, q; R, r; S, s; T, t; U, u; V, v; W, w; X, x; Y, y; Z, z.

J j, and V v, are consonants; the former having the sound of the soft g, and the latter that of a coarser f: they are therefore intirely different from the vowels i and u, and distinct letters of themselves; they ought also to be distinguished by a peculiar Name; the former may be called ja, and the latter vee.

Six of the letters are vowels, and may be sounded by themselves; a, e, i, o, u, y.

Y is in sound wholly the same with i; and is written instead of it at the end of words; or before another i, as flying, denying: it is retained likewise in some words derived from the Greek; and it is always a vowel.

W is either a vowel, or a diphthong: its proper sound is the same as the Italian u, the French ou, or the English oo: after o, it is sometimes not sounded at all, sometimes like a single u.

The rest of the letters are consonants; which cannot be sounded alone: some not at all, and these are called Mutes, b, c, d, g, k, p, q, t: others very imperfectly, making a kind of obscure sound, and these are called Semi-vowels, or Half-vowels, l, m, n, r, f, s; the first four of which are also distinguished by the name of Liquids.

The Mutes and the Semi-vowels are distinguished by their names in the Alphabet, those of the former all beginning with a consonant; bee, cee, &c; those of the latter all beginning with a vowel, ef, el, &c.

X is a double consonant, compounded of c, or k, and s.

Z seems not to be a double consonant in English, as it is commonly supposed: it has the same relation to s, as v has to f, being a thicker and coarser expression of it.

H is only an Aspiration, or Breathing: and sometimes at the beginning of a word is not sounded at all; as, an hour, an honest man.

C is pronounced like k, before a, o, u; and soft, like s, before e, i, y: in like manner g is pronounced always hard before a, o, u; sometimes hard and sometimes soft before i, and y; and for the most part soft before e.

The English Alphabet, like most others, is both deficient and redundant; in some cases, the same letters expressing different sounds, and different letters expressing the same sounds.

SYLLABLES.

A Syllable is a sound either simple or compounded, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word, or part of a word.

Spelling is the art of reading by naming the letters singly, and rightly dividing words into their syllables. Or, in writing, it is the expressing of a word by its proper letters.

In Spelling, a syllable in the beginning or middle of a word ends in a vowel, unless the consonant x follow it, or two consonants, whereof the former is a liquid, or the same as the latter.

But the best and only sure rule for dividing the syllables in spelling, is to divide them as they are naturally divided in a right pronunciation.

WORDS.

Words are articulate sounds, used by common consent as signs of ideas, or notions.

There are in English nine Sorts of Words, or, as they are commonly called, Parts of Speech.

1. The Article, prefixed to substantives, when they are common names of things, to point them out, and to shew how far their signification extends.

2. The Substantive, or Noun, being the name of any thing conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion.

3. The Pronoun, standing instead of the noun.

4. The Adjective, added to the noun to express the quality of it.

5. The Verb, or Word by way of eminence, signifying to be, to do, or to suffer.

6. The Adverb, added to verbs, and also to adjectives and other adverbs, to express some circumstance belonging to them.

7. The Preposition, put before nouns and pronouns chiefly, to connect them with other words, and to shew their relation to them.

8. The Conjunction, connecting sentences together.

9. The Interjection, thrown in to express the affection of the speaker, though unnecessary with respect to the construction of the sentence.

EXAMPLE.

1. 1. 1
   2. The
   3. 2
   4. power
   5. 7
   6. of
   7. 2
   8. speech
   9. 5
   10. is
   11. 1
   12. a
   13. 2
   14. faculty
   15. 4
   16. peculiar
   17. 7
   18. to
   19. 2
   20. man,
   21. 8
   22. and
   23. 5
   24. was
   25. 5
   26. bestowed
   27. 7
   28. on
   29. 3
   30. him
   31. 7
   32. by
   33. 3
   34. his
   35. 4
   36. beneficent
   37. 2
   38. Creator
   39. 7
   40. for
   41. 1
   42. the
   43. 4
   44. greatest
   45. 8
   46. and
   47. 6
   48. most
   49. 4
   50. excellent
   51. 2
   52. uses;
   53. 8
   54. but
   55. 9
   56. alas!
   57. 6
   58. how
   59. 6
   60. often
   61. 5
   62. do
   63. 3
   64. we
   65. 5
   66. pervert
   67. 3
   68. it
   69. 7
   70. to
   71. 1
   72. the
   73. 4
   74. worst
   75. 7
   76. of
   77. 2
   78. purposes?

In the foregoing sentence the Words the, a, are Articles; power, speech, faculty, man, creator, uses, purposes, are Substantives; him, his, we, it, are Pronouns; peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are Adjectives; is, was, bestowed, do, pervert, are Verbs; most, how, often, are Adverbs; of, to, on, by, for, are Prepositions; and, but, are Conjunctions; and alas is an Interjection.

The Substantives power, speech, faculty, and the rest, are General, or Common, Names of things; whereof there are many sorts belonging to the same kind, or many individuals belonging to the same sort: as there are many sorts of power, many sorts of speech, many sorts of faculty, many individuals of that sort of animal called man; and so on. These general or common names are here applied in a more or less extensive signification, according as they are used without either, or with the one, or with the other, of the two Articles a and the. The words speech, man, being accompanied with no article, are taken in their largest extent, and signify all of the kind or sort, all sorts of speech, and all men. The word faculty, with the article a before it, is used in a more confined signification, for some one out of many of that kind; for it is here implied, that there are other faculties peculiar to man beside speech. The words power, creator, uses, purposes, with the article the before them, (for his Creator is the same as the Creator of him) are used in the most confined signification for the things here mentioned and ascertained: the power is not any one indeterminate power out of many sorts, but that particular sort of power here specified, namely, the power of speech; the creator is the One great Creator of man and of all things; the uses, and the purposes, are particular uses and purposes; the former are explained to be those in particular, that are the greatest and most excellent; such for instance, as the glory of God, and the common benefit of mankind; the latter, to be the worst, as lying, slandering, blaspheming, and the like.

The Pronouns him, his, we, it, stand instead of some of the nouns, or substantives, going before them; as him supplies the place of man; his of man’s; we of men (implied in the general name man, including all men, of which number is the speaker;) it of the power, before mentioned. If instead of these pronouns the nouns for which they stand had been used, the sense would have been the same, but the frequent repetition of the same words would have been disagreeable and tedious: as, The power of speech peculiar to man, bestowed on man, by man’s Creator, &c.

The Adjectives peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are added to their several substantives to denote the character and quality of each.

The Verbs is, was bestowed, do pervert, signify severally, being, suffering, and doing. By the first it is implied, that there is such a thing as the power of speech, and it is affirmed to be of such a kind; namely, a faculty peculiar to man: by the second it is said to have been acted upon, or to have suffered, or to have had something done to it; namely, to have been bestowed on man: by the last, we are said to act upon it, or to do something to it; namely, to pervert it.

The Adverbs most, often, are added to the adjective excellent, and to the verb pervert, to shew the circumstance belonging to them; namely, that of the highest degree to the former, and that of frequency to the latter: concerning the degree of which frequency also a question is made by the adverb how, added to the adverb often.

The Prepositions of, to, on, by, for, placed before the substantives and pronouns speech, man, him, &c. connect them with other words, substantives, adjectives, and verbs, as power, peculiar, bestowed, &c. and shew the relation which they have to those words; as the relation of subject, object, agent, end; for denoting the end, by the agent, on, the object; to and of denote possession, or the belonging of one thing to another.

The Conjunctions and, and but, connect the three parts of the sentence together; the first more closely both with regard to the sentence and the sense; the second connecting the parts of the sentence, tho’ less strictly, and at the same time expressing an opposition in the sense.

The Interjection alas! expresses the concern and regret of the speaker; and though thrown in with propriety, yet might have been omitted without injuring the construction of the sentence, or destroying the sense.

ARTICLE.

The Article is a word prefixed to substantives, to point them out, and to shew how far their signification extends.

In English there are but two articles, a, and the: a becomes an before a vowel or a silent h.

A is used in a vague sense to point out one single thing of the kind, in other respects indeterminate: the determines what particular thing is meant.

A substantive without any article to limit it is taken in its widest sense: thus man means all mankind; as,

“The proper study of mankind is man:”

Pope.

where mankind and man may change places without making any alteration in the sense. A man means some one or other of that kind, indefinitely; the man means, definitely, that particular man, who is spoken of: the former therefore is called the Indefinite, the latter the Definite, Article[1].

Example: “Man was made for society, and ought to extend his good-will to all men: but a man will naturally entertain a more particular kindness for the men with whom he has the most frequent intercourse; and enter into a still closer union with the man, whose temper and disposition suit best with his own.”

It is of the nature of both the Articles to determine or limit the thing spoken of: a determines it to be one single thing of the kind, leaving it still uncertain which; the determines which it is, or of many which they are. The first therefore can only be joined to Substantives in the singular number[2]; the last may also be joined to plurals.

There is a remarkable exception to this rule in the use of the Adjectives few and many, (the latter chiefly with the word great before it) which, though joined with plural Substantives, yet admit of the singular Article a: as, a few men, a great many men;

“Told of a many thousand warlike French:”—

“The care-craz’d mother of a many children.”

Shakespear.

The reason of it is manifest from the effect which the Article has in these phrases: it means a small or great number collectively taken, and therefore gives the idea of a Whole, that is, of Unity. Thus likewise a hundred, a thousand, is one whole number, an aggregate of many collectively taken; and therefore still retains the Article a, tho’ joined as an Adjective to a plural Substantive: as, a hundred years;[3]

“For harbour at a thousand doors they knock’d;

Not one of all the thousand, but was lock’d.”

Dryden.

The Definite Article the is sometimes applied to Adverbs in the comparative degree, and its effect is to mark the degree the more strongly, and to define it the more precisely: as, “The more I examine it, the better I like it. I like this the least of any.”

SUBSTANTIVE.

A Substantive, or Noun, is the Name of a thing; of whatever we conceive in any way to subsist, or of which we have any notion.

Substantives are of two sorts; Proper, and Common, Names. Proper Names are the names appropriated to individuals; as the names of persons and places: such are George, London. Common Names stand for kinds, containing many sorts; or sorts, containing many individuals under them; as, Animal, Man.

Proper Names being the names of individuals, and therefore of things already as determinate as they can be made, admit not of Articles, or of Plurality of Number; unless by a Figure, or by Accident: as when great Conquerors are called Alexanders; and some great Conqueror An Alexander, or The Alexander of his age; when a Common Name is understood, as The Thames, that is, the River Thames; The George, that is, the Sign of St. George: or when it happens that there are many persons of the same name; as, The two Scipios.

Whatever is spoken of is represented as one, or more, in Number: these two manners of representation in respect of number are called the Singular, and the Plural, Number.

In English, the Substantive Singular is made Plural, for the most part, by adding to it s; or es, where it is necessary for the pronunciation: as, king, kings; fox, foxes; leaf, leaves; in which last, and many others, f is also changed into v, for the sake of an easier pronunciation, and more agreeable sound. Some few Plurals end in en: as, oxen, chicken, children, brethren; and men, women, by changing the a of the Singular into e[4]. This form we have retained from the Teutonic; as likewise the introduction of the e in the former syllable of two of the last instances; weomen, (for so we pronounce it) brethren, from woman, brother[5]: something like which may be noted in some other forms of Plurals; as, mouse, mice; louse, lice; tooth, teeth; foot, feet; goose, geese[6].

The English Language, to express different connexions and relations of one thing to another, uses, for the most part, Prepositions. The Greek and Latin among the antient, and some too among the modern languages, as the German, vary the termination or ending of the Substantive to answer the same purpose. These different endings are in those languages called Cases. And the English being derived from the same origin as the German, that is, from the Teutonic[7], is not wholly without them. For instance, the relation of Possession, or Belonging, is often expressed by a Case, or a different ending of the Substantive. This Case answers to the Genitive Case in Latin, and may still be so called; tho’ perhaps more properly the Possessive Case. Thus, “God’s grace:” which may also be expressed by the Preposition; as, “the grace of God.” It was formerly written Godis grace; we now very improperly always shorten it with an Apostrophe, even tho’ we are obliged to pronounce it fully; as, “Thomas’s book:” that is, “Thomasis book;” not “Thomas his book,” as it is commonly supposed[8].

When the thing, to which another is said to belong, is expressed by a circumlocution, or by many terms, the sign of the Possessive Case is added to the last term: as, “The King of Great Britain’s Soldiers.” When it is a Noun ending with s, or in the Plural Number in s, the sign of the Possessive Case is not added: as, “for righteousness sake; on eagles wings.” Both the Sign and the Preposition seem sometimes to be used: as, “a soldier of the king’s:” but here are really two Possessives; for it means, “one of the soldiers of the king.”

The English in its Substantives has but two different terminations for Cases; that of the Nominative, which simply expresses the Name of the thing, and that of the Possessive Case.

Things are frequently considered with relation to the distinction of Sex or Gender; as being Male, or Female, or Neither the one, nor the other. Hence Substantives are of the Masculine, or Feminine, or Neuter, that is, Neither, Gender: which latter is only the exclusion of all consideration of Gender.

The English Language, with singular propriety, following nature alone, applies the distinction of Masculine and Feminine only to the names of Animals; all the rest are Neuter: except when by a Poetical or Rhetorical fiction things inanimate and Qualities are exhibited as Persons, and consequently become either Male or Female. And this gives the English an advantage above most other languages in the Poetical and Rhetorical Style: for when Nouns naturally Neuter are converted into Masculine and Feminine[9], the Personification is more distinctly and forcibly marked.

Some few Substantives are distinguished as to their Gender by their termination: as, prince, princess; actor, actress; lion, lioness; hero, heroine; &c.

The chief use of Gender in English is in the Pronoun of the Third Person, which must agree in that respect with the Noun for which it stands.

PRONOUN.

A Pronoun is a word standing instead of a Noun, as its Substitute or Representative.

In the Pronoun are to be considered the Person, Number, Gender and Case.

There are Three Persons which may be the Subject of any discourse: first, the Person who speaks may speak of himself; secondly, he may speak of the Person to whom he addresses himself; thirdly, he may speak of some other Person.

These are called, respectively, the First, Second, and Third, Persons: and are expressed by the Pronouns I, Thou, He.

As the Speakers, the Persons spoken to, and the Persons spoken of, may be many, so each of these Persons hath the Plural Number; We, Ye, They.

The Persons speaking and spoken to are supposed to be present, from which and other circumstances their Sex is commonly known, and needs not to be marked by a distinction of Gender in their Pronouns: but the Person spoken of being absent and in many respects unknown, it is necessary that it should be marked by a distinction of Gender; at least when some particular Person is spoken of, who ought to be more distinctly marked: accordingly the Pronoun Singular of the Third Person hath the Three Genders, He, She, It.

Pronouns have Three Cases; the Nominative; the Genitive, or Possessive; like Nouns; and moreover a Case, which follows the Verb Active, or the Preposition, expressing the Object of an Action, or of a Relation. It answers to the Oblique Cases in Latin; and may be properly enough called the Objective Case.

PRONOUNS;
according to their Persons, Numbers, Cases, and Genders.

PERSONS.

CASES.

The Personal Pronouns have the nature of Substantives, and as such stand by themselves: the rest have the nature of Adjectives, and as such are joined to Substantives; and may be called Pronominal Adjectives.

Thy, My, Her, Our, Your, Their, are Pronominal Adjectives: but His, (that is, Hee’s) Her’s, Our’s, Your’s, Their’s, have evidently the Form of the Possessive Case: and by Analogy, Mine, Thine[12], may be esteemed of the same rank. All these are used, when the Noun they belong to is understood: the two latter sometimes also instead of my, thy, when the Noun following them begins with a vowel.

Beside the foregoing there are several other Pronominal Adjectives; which tho’ they may sometimes seem to stand by themselves, yet have always some Substantive belonging to them, either referred to, or understood: as, This, that, other, any, some, one, none; these are called Definitive, because they define and limit the extent of the thing, to which they either refer, or are joined. The three first of these are varied to express Number; as, These, those, others; the last of which admits of the Plural form only when its Substantive is not joined to it, but referred to, or understood: none of them are varied to express the Gender or Case. One is sometimes used in an Indefinite sense (answering to the French on) as in the following phrases; “one is apt to think;” “one sees;” “one supposes.” Who, which, that, are called Relatives, because they more directly refer to some Substantive going before; which therefore is called the Antecedent. They also connect the following part of the Sentence with the foregoing. These belong to all the three Persons; whereas the rest belong only to the Third. One of them only is varied to express the three Cases; Who, whose[13], (that is, who’s[14]) whom: none of them have different endings for the Numbers. Who, which, what, are called Interrogatives, when they are used in asking questions. The two latter of them have no variation of Number or Case.

Own, and self, in the Plural selves, are joined to the Possessives my, our, thy, your, his, her, their; as, my own hand; myself, yourselves; both of them expressing emphasis, or opposition; as, “I did it my own self,” that is, and no one else: the latter also forming the Reciprocal Pronoun; as, “he hurt himself.” Himself, themselves, seem to be used in the Nominative Case by corruption instead of his self, their selves: as, “he came himself;” “they did it themselves;” where himself, themselves, cannot be in the Objective Case. If this be so, self must be in these instances, not a Pronoun, but a Noun. Thus Dryden uses it:

“What I show,

Thy self may freely on thy self bestow.”

Ourself, the Plural Pronominal Adjective with the Singular Substantive, is peculiar to the Regal Style.

Own is an Adjective; or perhaps the Participle (owen) of the obsolete verb owe; to possess; to be the right owner of a thing.

All Nouns whatever in Grammatical Construction are of the Third Person: except when an address is made to a Person; then the Noun, answering to the Vocative Case in Latin, is of the Second Person.

ADJECTIVE.

An Adjective is a word joined to a Substantive to express its Quality[15].

In English the Adjective is not varied on account of Gender, Number, or Case. The only variation it admits of is that of the Degrees of Comparison.

Qualities admit of more and less, or of different degrees: and the words that express Qualities have accordingly proper forms to express different degrees. When a Quality is simply expressed, without any relation to the same in a different degree, it is called the Positive; as, wise, great. When it is expressed with augmentation, or with reference to a less degree of the same, it is called the Comparative; as, wiser, greater. When it is expressed as being in the highest degree of all, it is called the Superlative; as, wisest, greatest.

So that the simple word, or Positive, becomes Comparative by adding r or er; and Superlative by adding st, or est, to the end of it. And the Adverbs more and most placed before the Adjective have the same effect; as, wise, more wise, most wise[16].

Monosyllables, for the most part, are compared by er and est; and Dissyllables by more and most: as, mild, milder, mildest; frugal, more frugal, most frugal. Dissyllables ending in y easily admit of er and est; as happy, lovely. Words of more than two syllables hardly ever admit of er and est.

In some few words the Superlative is formed by adding the Adverb most to the end of them: as, nethermost, uttermost, or utmost, undermost, uppermost, foremost.

In English, as in most languages, there are some words of very common use that are irregular in this respect: as, good, better, best; bad, worse, worst; little, less[17], least; much, or many, more, most; and a few others.

VERB.

A Verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer.

There are three kinds of Verbs; Active, Passive, and Neuter Verbs.

A Verb Active expresses an Action, and necessarily implies an agent, and an object acted upon: as, to love; “I love Thomas.”

A Verb Passive expresses a Passion, or a Suffering, or the receiving of an Action; and necessarily implies an Object acted upon, and an Agent by which it is acted upon: as, to be loved; “Thomas is loved by me.”

So when the Agent takes the lead in the Sentence, the Verb is Active, and the Object follows: when the Object takes the lead, the Verb is Passive, and the Agent follows.

A Verb Neuter expresses Being, or a state or condition of being; when the Agent and the Object acted upon coincide, and the event is properly neither Action nor Passion, but rather something between both: as, I am; I walk; I sleep.

The Verb Active is called also Transitive, because the Action passeth over to the Object, or hath an effect upon some other thing: and the Verb Neuter is called Intransitive, because the effect is confined within the Agent, and doth not pass over to any object.

In English many Verbs are used both in an Active and a Neuter signification, the construction only determining of which kind they are.

In a Verb are to be considered the Person, the Number, the Time, and the Mode.

The Verb varies its endings to express, or agree with, the different Persons: as, “I love, Thou lovest, He loveth, or loves.”

So also to express the different Numbers of the same Person: as, “Thou lovest, ye love; He loveth, they love[18].”

So likewise to express different Times: as, “I love, I loved; I bear, I bore, I have born.”

The Mode is the Manner of representing the Action or Passion. When it is simply declared, or a question is asked concerning it, it is called the Indicative Mode; when it is bidden, it is called the Imperative; when it is subjoined as the end or design, or mentioned under a condition, a supposition, or the like, for the most part depending on some other Verb, and having a Conjunction before it, it is called the Subjunctive; when it is barely expressed without any limitation of person or number, it is called the Infinitive; and when it is expressed in a form in which it may be joined to a Noun as its quality or accident, partaking thereby of the nature of an Adjective, it is called the Participle.

But to express the Time of the Verb the English uses also the assistance of other Verbs, called therefore Auxiliaries, or Helpers; do, be, have, shall, will: as, “I do love, I did love; I am loved, I was loved; I have loved, I have been loved; I shall, or will, love, or be loved.”

The two principal auxiliaries, to have, and to be, are thus varied according to Person, Number, Time, and Mode.

Time is Present, Past, or Future.

To HAVE.

To BE.

The Verb Active is thus varied according to Person, Number, Time and Mode.

But in discourse we have often occasion to speak of Time not only as Present, Past, and Future, at large and indeterminately, but also as such with some particular distinction and limitation; that is, as passing, or finished; as imperfect, or perfect. This will best be seen in an example of a Verb laid out and distributed according to these distinctions of Time.

Indefinite, or Undetermined, Time:

Definite, or Determined, Time:

To express the Present and Past Imperfect of the Active and Neuter Verb the Auxiliary do is sometimes used: I do (now) love; I did (then) love.

Thus with very little variation of the Principal Verb the several circumstances of Mode and Time are clearly expressed by the help of the Auxiliaries, be, have, do, let, may, can, shall, will.

The peculiar force of the several Auxiliaries is to be observed. Do and did mark the Action itself, or the Time of it[23], with greater force and distinction. They are also of frequent and almost necessary use in Interrogative and Negative Sentences. Let does not only express permission; but praying, exhorting, commanding. May and might express the possibility or liberty of doing a thing; can and could, the power. Must is sometimes called in for a helper, and denotes necessity. Would expresses the intention of the doer; should simply the event. Will in the first Person singular and plural promises or threatens; in the second and third Persons only foretells: shall on the contrary, in the first Person simply foretells; in the second and third Persons commands or threatens[24].

Do and have make the Present Time; did, had, the Past; shall, will, the Future: let the Imperative Mode; may, might, could, would, should, the Subjunctive. The Preposition to placed before the Verb makes the Infinitive Mode. Have, through its several Modes and Times, is placed only before the Perfect Participle; and be, in like manner, before the Present and Passive Participles: the rest only before the Verb itself in its Primary Form[25].

The Passive Verb is only the Participle Passive, (which for the most part is the same with the Indefinite Past Time Active, and always the same with the Perfect Participle) joined to the Auxiliary Verb to be through all its Variations: as, I am loved; I was loved; I have been loved; I shall be loved: and so on through all the Persons, Numbers, Times, and Modes.

The Neuter Verb is varied like the Active; but, having somewhat of the Nature of the Passive, admits in many instances of the Passive form, retaining still the Neuter signification; chiefly in such Verbs as signify some sort of motion, or change of place or condition: as, I am come; I was gone; I am grown; I was fallen[26]. The Verb am in this case precisely defines the Time of the action or event, but does not change the nature of it; the Passive form still expressing, not properly a Passion, but only a state or condition of Being.

IRREGULAR VERBS.

In English both the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect, or Passive, are formed by adding to the Verb ed; or d only when the Verb ends in e: as, turn, turned; love, loved. The Verbs that vary from this rule, in either or in both cases, are esteemed Irregular.

The nature of our language, the Accent and Pronunciation of it, inclines us to contract even all our Regular Verbs: thus loved, turned, are commonly pronounced in one syllable, lov’d, turn’d; and the second Person which was originally in three syllables, lovedest, turnedest, is become a dissyllable, lovedst, turnedst: for as we generally throw the accent as far back as possible towards the first part of the word, (in some even to the fourth syllable from the end,) the stress being laid on the first syllables, the rest are pronounced in a lower tone, more rapidly and indistinctly; and so are often either wholly dropt, or blended into one another.

It sometimes happens also, that the word which arises from a regular change does not sound easily or agreeably; sometimes by the rapidity of our pronunciation the vowels are shortened or lost; and the consonants which are thrown together do not easily coalesce with one another, and are therefore changed into others of the same organ, or of a kindred species: this occasions a further deviation from the regular form: thus, loveth, turneth, are contracted into lov’th, turn’th, and these for easier pronunciation immediately become loves, turns.

Verbs ending in ch, ck, p, x, ll, ss, in the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect or Passive admit the change of ed into t; as, snatcht, checkt, snapt, mixt, dropping also one of the double letters, dwelt, past; for snatched, checked, snapped, mixed, dwelled, passed: those that end in l, m, n, p, after a diphthong, moreover shorten the diphthong, or change it into a single short vowel; as, dealt, dreamt, meant, felt, slept, &c: all for the same reason; from the quickness of the pronunciation, and because the d after a short vowel will not easily coalesce with the preceding consonant. Those that end in ve change also v into f; as, bereave, bereft; leave, left; because likewise v after a short vowel will not easily coalesce with t.

All these, of which we have hitherto given examples, are considered not as Irregular, but as Contracted only; and in all of them the Intire as well as the Contracted form is used.

The formation of Verbs in English, both Regular and Irregular, is derived from the Saxon.

The Irregular Verbs in English are all Monosyllables, unless Compounded; and they are for the most part the same words which are Irregular Verbs in the Saxon.

As all our Regular Verbs are subject to some kind of Contraction, so the first Class of Irregulars is of those that become so from the same cause.

I.
Irregulars by Contraction.

Some Verbs ending in d or t have the Present, the Past Time, and the Participle Perfect and Passive, all alike, without any variation: as, Beat, burst[27], cast, cost, cut, hit, hurt, knit, let, lift[28], put, read[29], rent, rid, set, shed, shred, shut, slit, spread, thrust, wet[28].

These are Contractions from beated, bursted, casted, &c; because of the disagreeable sound of the syllable ed after d or t[30].

Others in the Past Time, and Participle Perfect and Passive, vary a little from the Present by shortening the diphthong, or changing the d into t: as, Lead, led; sweat, swet; meet, met; bleed, bled; breed, bred; feed, fed; speed, sped; bend, bent[28]; lend, lent; rend, rent; send, sent; spend, spent; build, built[28]; geld, gelt[28]; gild, gilt[28]; gird, girt[28].

Others not ending in d or t are formed by Contraction; have, had, for haved; make, made, for maked; flee, fled, for flee-ed.

The following beside the Contraction change also the Vowel; Sell, sold; tell, told; clothe, clad[28].

Stand, stood; and dare, durst, (which in the Participle hath regularly dared;) are directly from the Saxon, standan, stod; dyrran, dorste.

II.
Irregulars in ght.

The Irregulars of the Second Class end in ght, both in the Past Time and Participle; and change the vowel or diphthong into au or ou: they are taken from the Saxon, in which the termination is hte.

Fraught seems rather to be an Adjective than the Participle of the Verb to freight, which has regularly freighted. Raught from reach is obsolete.

III.
Irregulars in en.

The Irregulars of the Third Class form the Past Time by changing the vowel or diphthong of the Present; and the Participle Perfect and Passive by adding the termination en, beside, for the most part, the change of the vowel or diphthong. These also derive their formation in both parts from the Saxon.

The following are Irregular only in the Participle; and that without changing the vowel.

Some Verbs which change i short into a or u, and i long into ou, have dropt the termination en in the Participle.

In many of the foregoing the original and analogical form of the Past Time in a, which distinguished it from the Participle, is grown quite obsolete.

That all these had originally the termination en in the Participle, is plain from the following considerations. Drink and bind still retain it; drunken, bounden; from the Saxon, druncen, bunden: and the rest are manifestly of the same analogy with these. Begonnen, sonken, and founden, are used by Chaucer; and some others of them appear in their proper shape in the Saxon; scruncen, spunnen, sprungen, stungen, wunden. As likewise in the German, which is only another off-spring of the Saxon: begunnen, geklungen, getruncken, gesungen, gesuncken, gespunnen, gesprungen, gestuncken, geschwummen, geschwungen.

The following seem to have lost the en of the Participle in the same manner:

Hangen, and scoten, are the Saxon originals of the two first Participles; the latter of which is likewise still in use in its first form in one phrase; a shotten herring. Stuck seems to be a contraction from stucken, as struck now in use for strucken. Chaucer hath comen and wonnen: becommen is even used by Lord Bacon[37]. And most of them still subsist intire in the German; gehangen, kommen, gerunnen, gewonnen.

To this third Class belong the Defective Verbs, Be, been; and Go, gone; i. e. goen.

From this Distribution and account of the Irregular Verbs, if it be just, it appears, that originally there was no exception whatever from the Rule, That the Participle Præterit, or Passive, in English ends in d, t, or n. The first form included all the Regular Verbs, and those which are become Irregular by Contraction ending in t. To the second properly belonged only those which end in ght, from the Saxon Irregulars in hte. To the third, those from the Saxon Irregulars in en, which have still, or had originally, the same termination.

The same Rule affords a proper foundation for a division of the English Verbs into Three Conjugations, of which the three different Terminations of the Participle might respectively be the Characteristics. The Contracted Verbs, whose Participles now end in t, might perhaps be best reduced to the first Conjugation, to which they naturally and originally belonged; and they seem to be of a very different analogy from those in ght. But as the Verbs of the first Conjugation would so greatly exceed in number those of both the others, which together make but about 110[38]; and as those of the third Conjugation are so various in their form, and so incapable of being reduced to one plain Rule; it seems better in practice to consider the first in ed as the only Regular form, and the others as deviations from it; after the example of the Saxon and German Grammarians.

To the Irregular Verbs are to be added the Defective; which are not only for the most part Irregular, but are also wanting in some of their parts. They are in general words of most frequent and vulgar use; in which Custom is apt to get the better of Analogy. Such are the Auxiliary Verbs, most of which are of this number. They are in use only in some of their Times, and Modes; and some of them are a Composition of Times of several Defective Verbs having the same signification.

There are not in English so many as a Hundred Verbs, (being only the chief part, but not all, of the Irregulars of the Third Class,) which have a distinct and different form for the Past Time Active and the Participle Perfect or Passive. The General bent and turn of the language is towards the other form, which makes the Past Time and the Participle the same. This general inclination and tendency of the language, seems to have given occasion to the introducing of a very great Corruption; by which the Form of the Past Time is confounded with that of the Participle in these Verbs, few in proportion, which have them quite different from one another. This confusion prevails greatly in common discourse, and is too much authorised by the example of some of our best Writers[39]. Thus it is said, He begun, for he began; he run, for he ran; he drunk, for he drank: the Participle being used instead of the Past Time. And much more frequently the Past Time instead of the Participle: as, I had wrote, it was wrote, for I had written, it was written; I have drank, for I have drunk; bore, for born; chose, for chosen; bid, for bidden; got, for gotten; &c. This abuse has been long growing upon us, and is continually making further incroachments: as it may be observed in the example of those Irregular Verbs of the Third Class, which change i short into a and u; as, Cling, clang, clung; in which the original and analogical form of the Past Time in a is almost grown obsolete; and, the u prevailing instead of it, the Past Time is now in most of them confounded with the Participle. The Vulgar Translation of the Bible, which is the best standard of our language, is free from this corruption, except in a few instances; as, hid is used for hidden; held, for holden, frequently: bid, for bidden; begot, for begotten, once or twice: in which, and a few other like words, it may perhaps be allowed as a Contraction. And in some of these Custom has established it beyond recovery. In the rest it seems wholly inexcusable. The absurdity of it will be plainly perceived in the example of some of these Verbs, which Custom has not yet so perverted. We should be immediately shocked at I have knew, I have saw, I have gave, &c: but our ears are grown familiar with I have wrote, I have drank, I have bore, &c. which are altogether as barbarous.

ADVERB.

Adverbs are added to Verbs and Adjectives to denote some modification or circumstance of an action or quality: as, the manner, order, time, place, distance, motion, relation, quantity, quality, comparison, doubt, affirmation, negation, demonstration, interrogation.

In English they admit of no Variation; except some few of them, which have the degrees of Comparison: as,[40] “often, oftener, oftenest;” “soon, sooner, soonest.”

An Adverb is sometimes joined to another Adverb to modify or qualify its meaning; as, “very much; much too little; not very prudently.”

PREPOSITION.

Prepositions, so called because they are commonly put before the words to which they are applied, serve to connect words with one another, and to shew the relation between them.

One great use of Prepositions in English, is to express those relations which in some languages are chiefly marked by Cases, or the different endings of the Noun.

Most Prepositions originally denote the relation of Place, and have been thence transferred to denote by similitude other relations. Thus, out, in, through, under, by, to, from, of, &c. Of is much the same with from; “ask of me,” that is, from me: “made of wood;” “Son of Philip;” that is, sprung from him. For, in its primary sense, is pro, loco alterius, in the stead, or place, of another. The notion of Place is very obvious in all the rest.

CONJUNCTION.

The Conjunction connects or joins together Sentences; so as out of two to make one Sentence.

Thus, “You, and I, and Peter, rode to London,” is one Sentence made up of these three by the Conjunction and twice employed; “You rode to London; I rode to London; Peter rode to London.” Again, “You and I rode to London, but Peter staid at home,” is one Sentence made up of three by the Conjunctions and and but: both of which equally connect the Sentences, but the latter expresses an Opposition in the Sense. The first is therefore called a Conjunction Copulative; the other a Conjunction Disjunctive.

The use of Copulative Conjunctions is to connect, or to continue, the Sentence, by expressing an addition, and; a supposition, or condition, if, as; a cause, because[41], then; a motive, that; an inference, therefore; &c.

The use of Disjunctives is to connect and to continue the Sentence; but to express Opposition of meaning in different degrees: as, or, but, than, altho’, unless, &c.

INTERJECTION.

Interjections, so called because they are thrown in between the parts of a sentence without making any other alteration in it, are a kind of Natural Sounds to express the affection of the Speaker.

The different Passions have for the most part different Interjections to express them.

The Interjection O placed before a Substantive expresses more strongly an address made to that person or thing; as it marks in Latin what is called the Vocative Case.

SENTENCES.

A Sentence is an assemblage of words, expressed in proper form, and ranged in proper order, and concurring to make a complete sense.

Concord, or agreement of words, is when one word is required to be in like case, number, gender, or person, with another.

Regimen, or government, is when a word causeth a following word to be in some case, or mode.

Sentences are Simple, or Compounded.

A Simple Sentence hath in it but one Subject, and one Finite Verb; that is, a Verb in the Indicative, Imperative, or Subjunctive Mode.

A Phrase is two or more words rightly put together in order to make a part of a Sentence; and sometimes making a whole Sentence.

The most common Phrases used in simple Sentences are as follows:

1st Phrase: The Substantive before a Verb Active, Passive, or Neuter; when it is said what thing is, does, or is done: as, “I am;” “Thou writest;” “Thomas is loved:” where I, Thou, Thomas, are the Nominative[42] Cases; and answer to the question who, or what? as, “Who is loved? Thomas.” And the Verb agrees with the Nominative Case in number and person[43]; as, Thou being the Second Person Singular, the Verb writest is so too.

2d Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Neuter or Passive; when it is said, that such a thing is, or is made, or thought, or called, such another thing; or, when the Substantive after the Verb is spoken of the same thing or person with the Substantive before the Verb: as, “a calf becomes an ox;” “Plautus is accounted a Poet;” “I am He.” Here the latter Substantive is in the Nominative Case as well as the former; and the Verb is said to govern the Nominative Case: or, the latter Substantive may be said to agree in Case with the former.

3d Phrase: The Adjective after a Verb Neuter or Passive, in like manner: as, “Life is short, and Art is long.” “Exercise is esteemed wholesome.”

4th Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Active, or Transitive: as when one thing is said to act upon, or do something to another: as, “to open a door;” “to build a house;” “Alexander conquered the Persians.” Here the thing acted upon is in the Objective[44] Case; as it appears plainly when it is expressed by the Pronoun, which has a proper termination for that Case; “Alexander conquered them;” and the Verb is said to govern the Objective Case.

5th Phrase: A Verb following another Verb; as, “boys love to play:” where the latter Verb is in the Infinitive Mode.

6th Phrase: When one thing is said to belong to another; as, “Milton’s poems:” where the thing to which the other belongs is placed first, and is in the Possessive Case; or else last with the Preposition of before it; as, “the poems of Milton.”

7th Phrase: When another Substantive is added to express and explain the former more fully; as, “Paul the Apostle;” “King George:” where they are both in the same case; and the latter is said to be put in Apposition to the former.

8th Phrase: When the quality of the Substantive is expressed by adding an Adjective to it: as, “a wise man;” “a black horse.” Participles have the nature of Adjectives; as, “a learned man;” “a loving father.”

9th Phrase: An Adjective with a Verb in the Infinitive Mode following it: as, “worthy to die;” “fit to be trusted.”

10th Phrase: When a circumstance is added to a Verb, or to an Adjective, by an Adverb: as, “you read well;” “he is very prudent.”

11th Phrase: When a circumstance is added to a Verb or an Adjective by a Substantive with a Preposition before it: as, “I write for you;” “he reads with care;” “studious of praise;” “ready for mischief.”

12th Phrase: When the same Quality in different Subjects is compared; the Adjective in the Positive having after it the Conjunction as, in the Comparative the Conjunction than, and in the Superlative the Preposition of: as, “white as snow;” “wiser than I;” “greatest of all.”

The Principal parts of a Simple Sentence are the Agent, the Attribute, and the Object. The Agent is the thing chiefly spoken of; the Attribute is the thing or action affirmed or denied of it; and the Object is the thing affected by such action.

In English the Nominative Case denoting the Agent, usually goes before the Verb, or Attribution, and the Objective Case, denoting the Object, follows the Verb; and it is the order that determines the cases in Nouns: as, “Alexander conquered the Persians.” But the Pronoun, having a proper form for each of those cases, sometimes when it is in the Objective Case is placed before the Verb, and when it is in the Nominative Case follows the Object and Verb: as, “Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” And the Nominative Case is sometimes placed after a Verb Neuter: as, “Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen:” “On a sudden appeared the King.” And frequently with the Adverbs there and then: as, “There was a man:” “Then came unto him the Pharisees.” The reason of it is plain: the Neuter Verb not admitting of an Objective Case after it, no ambiguity of case can arise from such a position of the Noun.

Who, which, what, and the Relative that, though in the Objective Case, are always placed before the Verb; as are also their Compounds, whoever, whosoever, &c: as, “He whom you seek.” “This is what, or the thing which, or that, you want.” “Whomsoever you please to appoint.”

When the Verb is a Passive, the Agent and Object change places in the Sentence; and the thing acted upon is in the Nominative Case, and the Agent is accompanied with a Preposition: as, “The Persians were conquered by Alexander.”

A Noun of Multitude[45], or signifying many; and two Nouns in the Singular Number, joined together by a Conjunction Copulative; have Verbs, Nouns, and Pronouns, agreeing with them in the Plural Number: as, “When the King’s trump, the mob are for the King.” Dryden. “Socrates and Plato were wise; they were the most eminent Philosophers of Greece.”

If the Singulars so joined together are of several Persons, in making the Plural Pronoun agree with them in Person, the second Person takes place of the third, and the first of both: “He and You and I won it at the hazard of our lives: You and He shared it between you.”

The Verb to Be has always a Nominative Case after it; as, “it was I, and not He, that did it:” unless it be in the Infinitive Mode; “though you took it to be Him[46].”

The Adverbs when, while, after, &c. being left out, the Phrase is formed with the Participle independently of the rest of the Sentence: as, “The doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst.” This is called the Case Absolute. And the Case is in English always the Nominative: as,

“God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top

Shall tremble, He descending[47], will himself,

In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpet’s sound,

Ordain them laws.”

Milton, P. L. xii. 227.

To before a Verb is the sign of the Infinitive Mode: but there are some few Verbs, which have other Verbs following them in the Infinitive Mode without the sign to: as, bid, dare, need, make, see, hear; and, let, have, not used as Auxiliaries: as, “I bade him do it; you dare not do it; I saw him[48] do it; I heard him say it.”

The Infinitive Mode has much of the nature of a Substantive, expressing the Action itself which the Verb signifies; as the Participle has the nature of an Adjective. Thus the Infinitive Mode does the office of a Substantive in different cases; in the Nominative; as, “to play is pleasant:” in the Objective; as, “boys love to play.” In Greek it admits of the Article through all its cases, with the Preposition in the Oblique cases: in English the Article is not wanted, but the Preposition may be used: “For to will is present with me; but to perform that which is good I find not[49].” “All their works they do for to be seen of men[50].”

“For not to have been dip’d in Lethe’s lake

Could save the Son of Thetis from to die.”

Spenser.

Perhaps therefore the Infinitive and the Participle might be more properly called the Substantive Mode and the Adjective Mode[51].

The Participle with a Preposition before it, and still retaining its Government, answers to what is called in Latin the Gerund: as, “Happiness is to be attained, by avoiding evil, and by doing good; by seeking peace, and by pursuing it.”

The Participle, with an Article before it, and the Preposition of after it, becomes a Substantive, expressing the action itself which the Verb signifies[52]: as, “These are the Rules of Grammar, by the observing of which you may avoid mistakes.” Or it may be expressed by the Participle, or Gerund; “by observing which:” not, “by observing of which;” nor, “by the observing which:” for either of those two Phrases would be a confounding of two distinct forms.

I will add another example, and that of the best authority: “The middle station of life seems to be the most advantageously situated for the gaining of wisdom. Poverty turns our thoughts too much upon the supplying of our wants, and riches upon enjoying our superfluities.” Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 464.

The Participle frequently becomes altogether an Adjective; when it is joined to a Substantive merely to denote its quality; without any respect to time; expressing, not an Action, but a Habit; and as such it admits of the degrees of Comparison: as, “a learned, a more learned, a most learned, man; a loving, more loving, most loving, father.”

Simple Sentences are 1. Explicative, or explaining: 2. Interrogative, or asking: 3. Imperative, or commanding[53].