Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/1033



THE KEY.--PART IV.--PROSODY.

CHAPTER I.--PUNCTUATION.

SECTION I.--THE COMMA.

CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF SIMPLE SENTENCES.

"A short simple sentence should rarely be divided by the comma."--Felton cor. "A regular and virtuous education is an inestimable blessing."--''L. Mur. cor. "Such equivocal expressions mark an intention to deceive."--Id. "They are this and that, with their plurals these and those."--Bullions cor. "A nominative and a verb sometimes make a complete sentence; as, He sleeps."--Felton cor. "TENSE expresses the action as connected with certain relations of time; MOOD represents it as further modified by circumstances of contingency, conditionality, &c."--Bullions cor. "The word noun means name."--Ingersoll cor. "The present or active participle I explained then."--Id. "Are some verbs used both transitively and intransitively?"--Cooper cor. "Blank verse is verse without rhyme."--Brown's Institutes'', p. 235. "A distributive adjective denotes each one of a number considered separately."--Hallock cor.

"And may at last my weary age   Find out the peaceful hermitage." --MILTON: Ward's Gr., 158; Hiley's, 124.

UNDER THE EXCEPTION CONCERNING SIMPLE SENTENCES.

"A noun without an article to limit it, is taken in its widest sense."--Lennie, p. 6. "To maintain a steady course amid all the adversities of life, marks a great mind."--Day cor. "To love our Maker supremely and our neighbour as ourselves, comprehends the whole moral law."--Id. "To be afraid to do wrong, is true courage."--Id. "A great fortune in the hands of a fool, is a great misfortune."--Bullions cor. "That he should make such a remark, is indeed strange."--Farnum cor. "To walk in the fields and groves, is delightful."--Id. "That he committed the fault, is most certain."--Id. "Names common to all things of the same sort or class, are called Common nouns; as, man, woman, day."--Bullions cor. "That it is our duty to be pious, admits not of any doubt."--Id. "To endure misfortune with resignation, is the characteristic of a great mind."--Id. "The assisting of a friend in such circumstances, was certainly a duty."--Id. "That a life of virtue is the safest, is certain."--Hallock cor. "A collective noun denoting the idea of unity, should be represented by a pronoun of the singular number."--Id.

UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS.

"When the sun had arisen, the enemy retreated."--Day cor. "If he become rich, he may be less industrious."--Bullions cor. "The more I study grammar, the better I like it."--Id. "There is much truth in the old adage, that fire is a better servant than master."--Id. "The verb do, when used as an auxiliary, gives force or emphasis to the expression."--P. E. Day cor. "Whatsoever is incumbent upon a man to do, it is surely expedient to do well."--Adams cor. "The soul, which our philosophy divides into various capacities, is still one essence."--Channing cor. "Put the following words in the plural, and give the rule for forming it."--Bullions cor. "We will do it, if you wish."--Id. "He who does well, will be rewarded."--Id. "That which is always true, is expressed in the present tense."--Id. "An observation which is always true, must be expressed in the present tense."--Id. "That part of orthography which treats of combining letters to form syllables and words, is called SPELLING."--Day cor. "A noun can never be of the first person, except it is in apposition with a pronoun of that person."--Id. "When two or more singular nouns or pronouns refer to the same object, they require a singular verb and pronoun."--Id. "James has gone, but he will return in a few days."--Id. "A pronoun should have the same person, number, and gender, as the noun for which it stands."--Id. "Though he is out of danger, he is still afraid."--Bullions cor. "She is his inferior in sense, but his equal in prudence."--Murray's Exercises, p. 6. "The man who has no sense of religion, is little to be trusted."--Bullions cor. "He who does the most good, has the most pleasure."--Id. "They were not in the most prosperous circumstances, when we last saw them."--Id. "If the day continue pleasant, I shall return."--Felton cor. "The days that are past, are gone forever."--Id. "As many as are friendly to the cause, will sustain it."--Id. "Such as desire aid, will receive it."--Id. "Who gave you that book, which you prize so much?"--Bullions cor. "He who made it, now preserves and governs it."--Id.

"Shall he alone, whom rational we call,   Be pleas'd with nothing, if not blest with all?"--Pope.

UNDER THE EXCEPTIONS CONCERNING SIMPLE MEMBERS.

"Newcastle is the town in which Akenside was born."--Bucke cor. "The remorse which issues in reformation, is true repentance."--Campbell cor. "Men who are intemperate, are destructive members of community."-- Alexander cor. "An active-transitive verb expresses an action which extends to an object."--Felton cor. "They to whom much is given, will have much, to answer for."--L. Murray cor. "The prospect which we have, is charming."--Cooper cor. "He is the person who informed me of the matter."--Id. "These are the trees that produce no fruit."--Id. "This is the book which treats of the subject."--Id. "The proposal was such as