Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/1029



PROMISCUOUS CORRECTIONS OF FALSE SYNTAX.

LESSON I.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"Why is our language less refined than that of Italy, Spain, or France?"--''L. Murray cor. "Why is our language less refined than the French?"--Ingersoll cor. "I believe your Lordship will agree with me, in the reason why our language is less refined than that of Italy, Spain, or France."--Swift cor. "Even in this short sentence, 'why our language is less refined than those of Italy, Spain, or France,' we may discern an inaccuracy; the pronominal adjective 'those' is made plural, when the substantive to which it refers, or the thing for which it stands, 'the language of Italy, Spain, or France,' is singular."--Dr. H. Blair cor. "The sentence would have run much better in this way:--'why our language is less refined than the Italian, the Spanish, or the French.'"--Id. "But when arranged in an entire sentence, as they must be to make a complete sense, they show it still more evidently."--L. Murray cor. "This is a more artificial and refined construction, than that in which the common connective is simply used."--Id. "I shall present to the reader a list of certain prepositions or prefixes, which are derived from the Latin and Greek languages."--Id. "A relative sometimes comprehends the meaning of a personal pronoun and a copulative conjunction."--Id. "Personal pronouns, being used to supply the places of nouns, are not often employed in the same clauses with the nouns which they represent."--Id. and Smith cor. "There is very seldom any occasion for a substitute where the principal word is present."--L. Mur. cor. "We hardly consider little children as persons, because the term person gives us the idea of reason, or intelligence."--Priestley et al. cor. "The occasions for exerting these two qualities are different."--Dr. Blair et al. cor. "I'll tell you with whom time ambles withal, with whom time trots withal, with whom time gallops withal, and with whom he stands still withal. I pray thee, with whom doth he trot withal?"--Buchanan's Gram.'', p. 122. "By greatness, I mean, not the bulk of any single object only but the largeness of a whole view."--Addison cor. "The question may then be put, What more does he than mean?"--Dr. Blair cor. "The question might be put, What more does he than mean?"--Id. "He is surprised to find himself at so great a distance from the object with which he set out."--Id.; also Murray cor. "Few rules can be given which will hold good in all cases."--''Lowth and Mur. cor. "Versification is the arrangement of words into metrical lines, according to the laws of verse."--Johnson cor. "Versification is the arrangement of words into rhythmical lines of some particular length, so as to produce harmony by the regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity."--L. Murray et al. cor. "Amelia's friend Charlotte, to whom no one imputed blame, was too prompt in her own vindication."--L. Murray cor. "Mr. Pitt's joining of the war party in 1793, the most striking and the most fatal instance of this offence, is the one which at once presents itself."--Brougham cor. "To the framing of such a sound constitution of mind."--Lady cor. "'I beseech you,' said St. Paul to his Ephesian converts, 'that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.' "--See Eph.'', iv, 1. "So as to prevent it from being equal to that."--Booth cor. "When speaking of an action as being performed." Or: "When speaking of the performance of an action."--Id. "And, in all questions of actions being so performed, est is added for the second person."--Id. "No account can be given of this, but that custom has blinded their eyes." Or: "No other account can be given of this, than that custom has blinded their eyes."--Dymond cor.

"Design, or chance, makes others wive;    But nature did this match contrive."--Waller cor.

LESSON II.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"I suppose each of you thinks it is his own nail."--Abbott cor. "They are useless, because they are apparently based upon this supposition."--Id. "The form, or manner, in which this plan may be adopted is various."--''Id. "The making of intellectual effort, and the acquiring of knowledge, are always pleasant to the human mind."--Id. "This will do more than the best lecture that ever was delivered."--Id. "The doing of easy things is generally dull work."--Id. "Such are the tone and manner of some teachers."--Id. "Well, the fault is, that some one was disorderly at prayer time."--Id. "Do you remember to have spoken on this subject in school?"--Id. "The course above recommended, is not the trying of lax and inefficient measures"--Id. "Our community agree that there is a God."--Id. "It prevents them from being interested in what is said."--Id. "We will also suppose that I call an other boy to me, whom I have reason to believe to be a sincere Christian."--Id. "Five minutes' notice is given by the bell."--Id. "The Annals of Education give'' notice of it." Or: "The work entitled 'Annals of Education' gives notice of it."--''Id. "Teachers' meetings will be interesting and useful."--Id. "She thought a half hour's study would conquer all the difficulties."--Id. "The difference between an honest and a hypocritical confession."--Id. "There is no point of attainment at which we must stop."--Id. "Now six hours' service is as much as is expected of teachers."--Id. "How many are seven times nine?"--Id. "Then the reckoning proceeds till it comes to ten hundred."--Frost cor. "Your success will depend on your own exertions; see, then, that you be diligent."--Id. "Subjunctive Mood, Present Tense: If I be known, If thou be known, If he be known;" &c.--Id. "If I be loved, If thou be loved, If he be loved;" &c.--Frost right. "An Interjection is a word used to express sudden emotion. Interjections are so called because they are generally thrown in between the parts of discourse, without any reference to the structure of those parts."--Frost cor. "The Cardinal numbers are those which simply tell how many; as, one, two, three."--Id. "More than one organ are'' concerned in the utterance of almost every consonant." Or thus: "More organs