NOTE I.—The putting of a noun in an unknown case after a participle or a participial noun, produces an anomaly which it seems better to avoid; for the cases ought to be clear, even in exceptions to the common rules of construction. Examples: (1.) "WIDOWHOOD, n. The state of being a widow."—Webster's Dict. Say rather, "WIDOWHOOD, n. The state of a widow."—Johnson, Walker, Worcester. (2.) "I had a suspicion of the fellow's being a swindler/" Say rather, "I had a suspicion that the fellow was a swindler." (3.) "To prevent its being a dry detail of terms."—Buck. Better, "To prevent it from being a dry detail of terms." [361]

NOTE II.—The nominative which follows a verb or participle, ought to accord in signification, either literally or figuratively, with the preceding term which is taken for a sign of the same thing. Errors: (1.) "To be convicted of bribery, was then a crime altogether unpardonable."—Blair's Rhet., p. 265. To be convicted of a crime, is not the crime itself; say, therefore, "Bribery was then a crime altogether unpardonable." (2.) "The second person is the object of the Imperative."—Murray's Gram., Index, ii, 292. Say rather, "The second person is the subject of the imperative;" for the object of a verb is the word governed by it, and not its nominative.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VI.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.—OF PROPER IDENTITY.

"Who would not say, 'If it be me,' rather than, If it be I?"—Priestley's Gram., p. 105.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the pronoun me,—which comes after the neuter verb be, is in the objective case, and does not agree with the pronoun it, the verb's nominative,[362] which refers to the same thing. But, according to Rule 6th, "A noun or a pronoun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees in case with a preceding noun or pronoun referring to the same thing." Therefore, me should be I; thus, "Who would not say, 'If it be I,' rather than, 'If it be me?'"]

"Who is there? It is me."—Priestley, ib., p. 104. "It is him."—Id., ib., 104. "Are these the houses you were speaking of? Yes, they are them."—Id., ib., 104. "It is not me you are in love with."—Addison's Spect., No. 290; Priestley's Gram., p. 104; and Campbell's Rhet., p. 203. "It cannot be me."—SWIFT: Priestley's Gram., p. 104. "To that which once was thee."—PRIOR: ib., 104. "There is but one man that she can have, and that is me."—CLARISSA: ib., 104. "We enter, as it were, into his body, and become, in some measure, him."—ADAM SMITH: ib., p. 105. "Art thou proud yet? Ay, that I am not thee."—Shak., Timon. "He knew not whom they were."—Milnes, Greek Gram., p. 234. "Who do you think me to be?"—Priestley's Gram., p. 108. "Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?"—Matt., xvi, 13. "But whom say ye that I am?"—Ib., xvi, 15.—"Whom think ye that I am? I am not he."—Acts, xiii, 25. "No; I am mistaken; I perceive it is not the person whom I supposed it was."—Winter in London, ii, 66. "And while it is Him I serve, life is not without value."—Zenobia, i, 76. "Without ever dreaming it was him."—Life of Charles XII, p. 271. "Or he was not the illiterate personage whom he affected to be."—Montgomery's Lect. "Yet was he him, who was to be the greatest apostle of the Gentiles."—Barclay's Works, i, 540. "Sweet was the thrilling ecstacy; I know not if 'twas love, or thee."—Queen's Wake, p. 14. "Time was, when none would cry, that oaf was me."—Dryden, Prol. "No matter where the vanquish'd be, nor whom."—Rowe's Lucan, B. i, l. 676. "No, I little thought it had been him."—Life of Oration. "That reverence and godly fear, whose object is 'Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.'"—Maturin's Sermons, p. 312. "It is us that they seek to please, or rather to astonish."—West's Letters, p. 28. "Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac."—Gen., xxiv, 14. "Although I knew it to be he."—Dickens's Notes, p. 9. "Dear gentle youth, is't none but thee?"—Dorset's Poems, p. 4. "Whom do they say it is?"—Fowler's E. Gram., §493.

"These are her garb, not her; they but express Her form, her semblance, her appropriate dress."—Hannah More.

UNDER NOTE I.—THE CASE DOUBTFUL.

"I had no knowledge of there being any connexion between them."—Stone, on Freemasonry, p. 25. "To promote iniquity in others, is nearly the same as being the actors of it ourselves."—Murray's Key, p. 170. "It must arise from feeling delicately ourselves."—Blair's Rhet., p. 330; Murray's Gram., 248. "By reason of there not having been exercised a competent physical power for their enforcement."—Mass. Legislature, 1839. "PUPILAGE, n. The state of being a scholar."—Johnson, Walker, Webster, Worcester. "Then the other part's being the definition would make it include all verbs of every description."—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 343. "John's being my friend,[363] saved me from inconvenience."—Ib., p. 201. "William's having become a judge, changed his whole demeanor."—Ib., p. 201. "William's having been a teacher, was the cause of the interest which he felt."—Ib., p. 216. "The being but one among many stifleth the chidings of conscience."—Book of Thoughts, p. 131. "As for its being esteemed a close translalation [sic—KTH], I doubt not many have been led into that error by the shortness of it."—Pope's Pref. to Homer. "All presumption of death's being the destruction of living beings, must go upon supposition that they are compounded, and so discerptible."—Butler's Analogy, p. 63. "This argues rather their being proper names."—Churchill's Gram., p. 382. "But may it not be retorted, that its being a gratification is that which excites our resentment?"—Campbell's Rhet., p. 145. "Under the common notion, of its being a system of the whole poetical art."—Blair's Rhet., p. 401. "Whose time or other circumstances forbid their becoming classical scholars."—Literary Convention, p. 113. "It would preclude the notion of his being a merely fictitious personage."—Philological Museum, i, 446. "For, or under pretence of their being heretics or infidels."—The Catholic Oath; Geo. III, 31st. "We may here add Dr. Home's sermon on Christ's being the Object of religious Adoration."—Relig. World, Vol. ii, p. 200. "To say nothing of Dr. Priestley's being a strenuous advocate," &c.—Ib., ii, 207. "By virtue of Adam's being their public head."—Ib., ii, 233. "Objections against there being any such moral plan as this."—Butler's Analogy, p. 57. "A greater instance of a man's being a blockhead."—Spect., No. 520. "We may insure or promote its being a happy state of existence to ourselves."—Gurney's Evidences, p. 86. "By its often falling a victim to the same kind of unnatural treatment."—Kirkham's Elocution, p. 41. "Their appearing foolishness is no presumption against this."—Butler's Analogy, p. 189. "But what arises from their being offences; i. e. from their being liable to be perverted."—Ib., p. 185. "And he entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God."—Acts, xviii, 7.

UNDER NOTE II.—OF FALSE IDENTIFICATION.

"But to be popular, he observes, is an ambiguous word."—Blair's Rhet., p. 307. "The infinitive mood, or part of a sentence, is often the nominative case to a verb."—L. Murray's Index, Octavo Gram., Vol. ii, p. 290. "When any person, in speaking, introduces his own name, it is the first person; as, 'I, James, of the city of Boston.'"—R. C. Smith's New Gram., p. 43. "The name of the person spoken to, is the second person; as, 'James, come to me.'"—Ibid. "The name of the person or thing spoken of, or about, is the third person; as, 'James has come.'"—Ibid. "The object [of a passive verb] is always its subject or nominative case."—Ib., p. 62. "When a noun is in the nominative case to an active verb, it is the actor."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 44. "And the person commanded, is its nominative."—Ingersoll's Gram., p. 120. "The first person is that who speaks."—Pasquier's Lévizac, p. 91. "The Conjugation of a Verb is its different variations or inflections throughout the Moods and Tenses."—Wright's Gram., p. 80. "The first person is the speaker. The second person is the one spoken to. The third person is the one spoken of."—Parker and Fox's Gram., Part i, p. 6; Hiley's, 18. "The first person is the one that speaks, or the speaker."—Sanborn's Gram., pp. 23 and 75. "The second person is the one that is spoken to, or addressed."—Ibid. "The third person is the one that is spoken of, or that is the topic of conversation."—Ibid. "I, is the first person Singular. We, is the first person Plural."—Murray's Gram., p. 51; Alger's, Ingersoll's, and many others. "Thou, is the second person Singular. Ye or you, is the second person Plural."—Ibid. "He, she, or it, is the third person Singular. They, is the third person Plural."—Ibid. "The nominative case is the actor, or subject of the verb."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 43. "The noun John is the actor, therefore John is in the nominative case."—Ibid. "The actor is always the nominative case."—Smith's New Gram., p. 62. "The nominative case is always the agent or actor."—Mack's Gram., p. 67. "Tell the part of speech each name is."—J. Flint's Gram., p. 6. "What number is boy? Why? What number is pens? Why?"—Ib., p. 27. "The speaker is the first person, the person spoken to, the second person, and the person or thing spoken of, is the third person."—Ib., p. 26. "What nouns are masculine gender? All males are masculine gender."—Ib., p. 28. "An interjection is a sudden emotion of the mind."—Barrett's Gram., p. 62.

RULE VII.—OBJECTIVES.

A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case: as, "The temple of fame stands upon the grave: the flame that burns upon its altars, is kindled from the ashes of great men"—Hazlitt.

"Life is His gift, from whom whate'er life needs, With ev'ry good and perfect gift, proceeds."—Cowper, Vol. i, p. 95.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VII.

OBS. 1.—To this rule there are no exceptions; for prepositions, in English, govern no other case than the objective.[364] But the learner should observe that most of our prepositions may take the imperfect participle for their object, and some, the pluperfect, or preperfect; as, "On opening the trial they accused him of having defrauded them."—"A quick wit, a nice judgment, &c., could not raise this man above being received only upon the foot of contributing to mirth and diversion."—Steele. And the preposition to is often followed by an infinitive verb; as, "When one sort of wind is said to whistle, and an other to roar; when a serpent is said to hiss, a fly to buzz, and falling timber to crash; when a stream is said to flow, and hail to rattle; the analogy between the word and the thing signified, is plainly discernible."—Blair's Rhet., p. 55. But let it not be supposed that participles or infinitives, when they are governed by prepositions, are therefore in the objective case; for case is no attribute of either of these classes of words: they are indeclinable in English, whatever be the relations they assume. They are governed as participles, or as infinitives, and not as cases. The mere fact of government is so far from creating the modification governed, that it necessarily presupposes it to exist, and that it is something cognizable in etymology.

OBS. 2.—The brief assertion, that, "Prepositions govern the objective case," which till very lately our grammarians have universally adopted as their sole rule for both terms, the governing and the governed,—the preposition and its object,—is, in respect to both, somewhat exceptionable, being but partially and lamely applicable to either. It neither explains the connecting nature of the preposition, nor applies to all objectives, nor embraces all the terms which a preposition may govern. It is true, that prepositions, when they introduce declinable words, or words that have cases, always govern the objective; but the rule is liable to be misunderstood, and is in fact often misapplied, as if it meant something more than this. Besides, in no other instance do grammarians attempt to parse both the governing word and the governed, by one and the same rule. I have therefore placed the objects of this government here, where they belong in the order of the parts of speech, expressing the rule in such terms as cannot be mistaken; and have also given, in its proper place, a distinct rule for the construction of the preposition itself. See Rule 23d.

OBS. 3.—Prepositions are sometimes elliptically construed with adjectives, the real object of the relation being thought to be some objective noun understood: as, in vain, in secret, at first, on high; i. e. in a vain manner, in secret places, at the first time, on high places. Such phrases usually imply time, place, degree, or manner, and are equivalent to adverbs. In parsing, the learner may supply the ellipsis.

OBS. 4.—In some phrases, a preposition seems to govern a perfect participle; but these expressions are perhaps rather to be explained as being elliptical: as, "To give it up for lost;"—"To take that for granted which is disputed."—Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 109. That is, perhaps, "To give it up for a thing lost;"—"To take that for a thing granted," &c. In the following passage the words ought and should are employed in such a manner that it is difficult to say to what part of speech they belong: "It is that very character of ought and should which makes justice a law to us; and the same character is applicable to propriety, though perhaps more faintly than to justice."—Kames, El. of Crit., Vol. i, p. 286. The meaning seems to be, "It is that very character of being owed and required, that makes justice a law to us;" and this mode of expression, as it is more easy to be parsed, is perhaps more grammatical than his Lordship's. But, as preterits are sometimes put by enallage for participles, a reference of them to this figure may afford a mode of explanation in parsing, whenever they are introduced by a preposition, and not by a nominative: as, "A kind of conquest Cæsar made here; but made not here his brag Of, came, and saw, and overcame"—Shak., Cymb., iii, 1. That is,—"of having come, and seen, and overcome." Here, however, by assuming that a sentence is the object of the preposition, we may suppose the pronoun I to be understood, as ego is in the bulletin referred to, "Veni, vidi, vici." For, as a short sentence 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."—Young.

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. Here the adverb, though an indeclinable word, appears to be made the object of the preposition. It is in fact used substantively, and governed 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 consistent 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.

OBS. 6.—Nouns of time, measure, distance, or value, have often so direct a relation to verbs or adjectives, that the prepositions which are supposed to govern them, are usually suppressed; as, "We rode sixty miles that day." That is,—"through sixty miles on that day." "The country is not a farthing richer."—Webster's Essays, p. 122. That is,—"richer by a farthing." "The error has been copied times without number."—Ib., p. 281. That is,—"on or at times innumerable." "A row of columns ten feet high, and a row twice that height, require different proportions." Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 344. That is,—"high to ten feet," and, "a row of twice that height." "Altus sex pedes, High on or at six feet."—Dr. Murray's Hist of Europ. Lang., ii, 150. All such nouns are in the objective case, and, in parsing them, the learner may supply the ellipsis;[365] or, perhaps it might be as well, to say, as do B. H. Smart and some others, that the noun is an objective 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,"—"A boy of twelve years old," 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.

OBS. 7.—After the adjectives like, near, and nigh, the preposition to or unto is often understood;[366] as, "It is like [to or unto] silver."—Allen. "How like the former."—Dryden. "Near yonder copse."—Goldsmith. "Nigh this recess."—Garth. As similarity and proximity are relations, and not qualities, it might seem proper to call like, near, and nigh, prepositions; and some grammarians have so classed the last two. Dr. Johnson seems to be inconsistent in calling near a preposition, in the phrase, "So near thy heart," and an adjective, in the phrase, "Being near their master." See his Quarto Dict. I have not placed them with the prepositions, for the following 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.[367] But like, when it expresses similarity of manner, and near and nigh, when they express proximity of degree, are adverbs.

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;[368] 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.[369] 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 Horne 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, l. 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 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 Esdraelon."—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."]

"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."—Ib., 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."—Hatter's Letters. "I cannot tell who to compare them to."—Bunyan's P. P., p. 128. "I 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." [370]—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.

"This life has joys for you and I, And joys that riches ne'er could buy."—Burns.

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."—Ib., p. 12. "A boy of six years old may be taught to speak as correctly, as 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."—Merchants 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, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"—Rom., ix, 20. "O rare we!"—Cowper. "Miserable 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 participle, 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.

————-"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, l. 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,[371] So horribly to shake our disposition With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?"—Shak. Hamlet.

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, "[Greek: Kai hysteræsantos oinou]," "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.

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. Again: "There must, you will bear in mind, always be a verb expressed or understood. One would think, that this was not the case in [some instances: as,] 'Sir, I beg you to give me a bit of bread.' The sentence which follows the Sir, is complete; but the Sir appears to stand wholly without connexion. However, the full meaning is this: 'I beg you, who are a Sir, to give me a bit of bread.' Now, if you take time to reflect a little on this matter, you will never be puzzled for a moment by those detached words, to suit which grammarians have invented vocative cases and cases absolute, and a great many other appellations, with which they puzzle themselves, and confuse and bewilder and torment those who read their books."—Ib., Let. xix, ¶¶ 225 and 226. All this is just like Cobbett. But, let his admirers reflect on the matter as long as they please, the two independent nominatives it and state, in the text, "It being, or the state of things being such," will forever stand a glaring confutation both of his doctrine and of his censure: "the case absolute" is there still! He has, in fact, only converted the single example into a double one!

OBS. 7.—The Irish philologer, J. W. Wright, is even more confident than Cobbett, in denouncing "the case absolute;" and more severe in his reprehension of "Grammarians in general, and Lowth and Murray in particular," for entertaining the idea of such a case. "Surprise must cease," says he, "on an acquaintance with the fact, that persons who imbibe such fantastical doctrine should be destitute of sterling information on the subject of English grammar.—The English language is a stranger to this case. We speak thus, with confidence, conscious of the justness of our opinion:—an opinion, not precipitately formed, but one which is the result of mature and deliberate inquiry. 'Shame being lost, all virtue is lost:' The meaning of this is,—'When shame is being lost, all virtue is lost.' Here, the words is being lost form the true present tense of the passive voice; in which voice, all verbs, thus expressed, are unsuspectedly situated: thus, agreeing with the noun shame, as the nominative of the first member of the sentence."—Wright's Philosophical Gram., p. 192. With all his deliberation, this gentleman has committed one oversight here, which, as it goes to contradict his scheme of the passive verb, some of his sixty venerable commenders ought to have pointed out to him. My old friend, the "Professor of Elocution in Columbia College," who finds by this work of "superior excellence," that "the nature of the verb, the most difficult part of grammar, has been, at length, satisfactorily explained," ought by no means, after his "very attentive examination" of the book, to have left this service to me. In the clause, "all virtue is lost," the passive verb "is lost" has the form which Murray gave it—the form which, till within a year or two, all men supposed to be the only right one; but, according to this new philosophy of the language, all men have been as much in error in this matter, as in their notion of the nominative absolute. If Wright's theory of the verb is correct, the only just form of the foregoing expression is, "all virtue is being lost." If this central position is untenable, his management of the nominative absolute falls of course. To me, the inserting of the word being into all our passive verbs, seems the most monstrous absurdity ever broached in the name of grammar. The threescore certifiers to the accuracy of that theory, have, I trow, only recorded themselves as so many ignoramuses; for there are more than threescore myriads of better judgements against them.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VIII.

NOUNS OR PRONOUNS PUT ABSOLUTE.

"Him having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed."—Brown's Inst., p. 190.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the pronoun him, whose case depends on no other word, is in the objective case. But, according to Rule 8th, "A noun or a pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word." Therefore, him should be he; thus, "He having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed."]

"Me being young, they deceived me."—Inst. E. Gram., p. 190. "Them refusing to comply, I withdrew."—Ib. "Thee being present, he would not tell what he knew."—Ib. "The child is lost; and me, whither shall I go?"—Ib. "Oh! happy us, surrounded with so many blessings."—Murray's Key, p. 187; Merchant's, 197; Smith's New Gram., 96; Farnum's, 63. "'Thee, too! Brutus, my son!' cried Cæsar, overcome."—Brown's Inst., p. 190. "Thee! Maria! and so late! and who is thy companion?"—New-York Mirror, Vol. x, p. 353. "How swiftly our time passes away! and ah! us, how little concerned to improve it!"—Comly's Gram., Key, p. 192.

"There all thy gifts and graces we display, Thee, only thee, directing all our way."