Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/1047



"TRAVERSE, [literally to cross,] To deny what the opposite party has alleged. To traverse an indictment, or the like, is to deny it."--Id.

"The Ordinal numerals denote the order, or succession, in which any number of persons or things are mentioned; as, first, second, third, fourth, &c."--Hiley cor.

"Nouns have three persons; the First, the Second, and the Third. The First person is that which denotes the speaker: the Second is that which denotes the person or thing spoken to; the Third is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of."--Hart cor.

"Nouns have three cases; the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective. The relations indicated by the cases of a noun, include three distinct ideas; viz., those of subject, object, and ownership."--Id.

"In speaking of animals that are of inferior size, or whose sex is not known or not regarded, we often treat them as without sex: thus, we say of a cat, It is treacherous;' of an infant, It is beautiful;' of a deer, 'It was killed.'"--Id.

"When THIS and THAT, or THESE and THOSE, refer to a preceding sentence; THIS or THESE represents the latter member or term, and THAT or THOSE, the former."--Churchill cor.; and Lowth.

"The rearing of them became his first care; their fruit, his first food; and the marking of their kinds, his first knowledge."--N. Butler cor.

"After the period used with abbreviations, we should employ other points, if the construction demands them; thus, after 'Esq.,' in the last example, there should be, besides the period, a comma."--Id.

"In the plural, the verb has the same form in all the persons; but still the principle in Rem. 5, under Rule iii, that the first or second person takes precedence, is applicable to verbs, in parsing."--Id.

"Rex and Tyrannus are of very different characters. The one rules his people by laws to which they consent; the other, by his absolute will and power: that government is called freedom; this, tyranny."--L. Murray cor.

"A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned: as, George, London, America, goodness, charity."--See Brown's Institutes, p. 31.

"Etymology treats of the classification of words, their various modifications, and their derivation"--P. E. Day cor.

"To punctuate correctly, implies a thorough acquaintance with the meaning of words and phrases, as well as with all their corresponding connexions."--W. Day cor.

"All objects that belong to neither the male nor the female kind, are said to be of the neuter gender, except certain things personified."--Weld cor twice.

"The Analysis of the Sounds in the English language, presented in the preceding statements, is sufficiently exact for the purpose in hand. Those who wish to pursue the subject further, can consult Dr. Rush's admirable work, 'The Philosophy of the Human Voice.'"--Fowler cor. "Nobody confounds the name of w or y with the sound of the letter, or with its phonetic import."--Id. ☞ This assertion is hardly true. Strange as such a blunder is, it has actually occurred. See, in Orthography, Obs. 5, on the Classes of the Letters, at p. 156.--G. B.]

LESSON II--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"From adjectives of one syllable, and some of two, the comparative is formed by adding r or er to the positive; and the superlative, by adding st or est: as, sweet, sweeter, sweetest; able, abler, ablest."--Bullions cor.

"From monosyllables, or from dissyllables ending with a vowel or the accent, the comparative is formed by adding er or r to the positive; and the superlative, by adding est or st: as, tall, taller, tallest; wise, wiser, wisest; holy, holier, holiest; complete, completer, completest."--Id.

"By this method, the confusion and unnecessary labour occasioned by studying grammars, in these languages, constructed on different principles, are avoided; the study of one is rendered a profitable introduction to the study of an other; and an opportunity is furnished to the inquiring student, of comparing the languages in their grammatical structure, and of seeing at once wherein they agree, and wherein they differ."--Id.

"No larger portion should be assigned for each recitation, than the class can easily master; and, till the previous lessons are well learned, a new portion should not be given out."--Id. "The acquisitions made in every new lesson, should be riveted and secured by repeated revisals."--Id.

"The personal pronouns may be parsed briefly, thus: I is a personal pronoun, of the first person, singular number, masculine gender, (feminine, if the speaker is a female,) and nominative case.' His is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and possessive case.'"--Id.

"When the male and the female are expressed by distinct terms, as, shepherd, shepherdess, the masculine term has also a general meaning, expressing both male and female; and is always to be used when the office, occupation, or profession, and not the sex, of the individual, is chiefly to be expressed; the feminine term being used only when the discrimination of sex is indispensably necessary. Thus, when it is said, 'The poets of this country are distinguished for correctness of taste,' the term 'poets' clearly includes both male and female writers of poetry."--Id.

"Nouns and pronouns connected by conjunctions, must be in the same case"--Ingersoll cor.