Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/495

 them in the plural: as, "The nominative and the objective case;" or, "The nominative and objective cases."--"The third, the fifth, the seventh, and the eighth chapter;" or, "The third, fifth, seventh, and eighth chapters." [338]

NOTE VII.--When two phrases of the same sentence have any special correspondence with each other, the article, if used in the former, is in general required also in the latter: as, "For ye know neither the day nor the hour."--Matt., xxv, 13. "Neither the cold nor the fervid are formed for friendship."--Murray's Key, p. 209. "The vail of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom."--Matt., xxvii, 51.

NOTE VIII.--When a special correspondence is formed between individual epithets, the noun which follows must not be made plural; because the article, in such a case, cannot be repeated as the construction of correspondents requires. Thus, it is improper to say, "Both the first and second editions" or, "Both the first and the second editions" for the accurate phrase, "Both the first and the second edition;" and still worse to say, "Neither the Old nor New Testaments" or, "Neither the Old nor the New Testaments" for the just expression, "Neither the Old nor the New Testament." Yet we may say, "Neither the old nor the new statutes" or, "Both the early and the late editions;" for here the epithets severally apply to more than one thing.

NOTE IX.--In a series of three or more terms, if the article is used with any, it should in general be added either to every one, or else to the first only. The following phrase is therefore inaccurate: "Through their attention to the helm, the sails, or rigging."--Brown's Estimate, Vol. i, p. 11. Say, "the rigging."

NOTE X.--As the article an or a denotes "one thing of a kind," it should not be used as we use the, to denote emphatically a whole kind; and again, when the species is said to be of the genus, no article should be used to limit the latter. Thus some will say, "A jay is a sort of a bird;" whereas they ought to say, "The jay is a sort of bird." Because it is absurd to suggest, that one jay is a sort of one bird. Yet we may say, "The jay is a bird," or, "A jay is a bird;" because, as every species is one under the genus, so every individual is one under both.

NOTE XI.--The article should not be used before the names of virtues, vices, passions, arts, or sciences, in their general sense; before terms that are strictly limited by other definitives; or before any noun whose signification is sufficiently definite without it: as, "Falsehood is odious."--"Iron is useful."--"Beauty is vain."--"Admiration is useless, when it is not supported by domestic worth"--Webster's Essays, p. 30.

NOTE XII.--When titles are mentioned merely as titles; or names of things, merely as names or words; the article should not be used before them: as, "He is styled Marquis;" not, "the Marquis," or, "a Marquis,"--"Ought a teacher to call his pupil Master?"--"Thames is derived from the Latin name Tam~esis."

NOTE XIII.--When a comparison or an alternative is made with two nouns, if both of them refer to the same subject, the article should not be inserted before the latter; if to different subjects, it should not be omitted: thus, if we say, "He is a better teacher than poet," we compare different qualifications of the same man; but if we say, "He is a better teacher than a poet," we speak of different men, in regard to the same qualific