Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/585

 several duties."--Hope of Israel, p. 72. Say, "For all of them know their several duties."

NOTE VII.--When the verb has different forms, that form should be adopted, which is the most consistent with present and reputable usage in the style employed: thus, to say familiarly, "The clock hath stricken;"--"Thou laughedst and talkedst, when thou oughtest to have been silent;"--"He readeth and writeth, but he doth not cipher," would be no better, than to use don't, won't, can't, shan't, and didn't, in preaching.

NOTE VIII.--Every finite verb not in the imperative mood, should have a separate nominative expressed; as, "I came, I saw, I conquered:" except when the verb is repeated for the sake of emphasis, or connected to an other in the same construction, or put after but or than; as, "Not an eminent orator has lived but is an example of it."--Ware. "Where more is meant than meets the ear."--Milton's Allegro. (See Obs. 5th and Obs. 18th above.)

"They bud, blow, wither, fall, and die."--Watts.

"That evermore his teeth they chatter,   Chatter, chatter, chatter still."--Wordsworth.

NOTE IX.--A future contingency is best expressed by a verb in the subjunctive present; and a mere supposition, with indefinite time, by a verb in the subjunctive imperfect; but a conditional circumstance assumed as a fact, requires the indicative mood:[393] as, "If thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever."--Bible. "If it were not so, I would have told you."--Ib. "If thou went, nothing would be gained."--"Though he is poor, he is contented."--"Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor."--2 Cor., viii, 9.

NOTE X.--In general, every such use or extension of the subjunctive mood, as the reader will be likely to mistake for a discord between the verb and its nominative, ought to be avoided as an impropriety: as, "We are not sensible of disproportion, till the difference between the quantities compared become the most striking circumstance."--''Kames, El. of Crit.'', ii, 341. Say rather, "becomes;" which is indicative. "Till the general preference of certain forms have been declared."--''Priestley's Gram., Pref.'', p. xvii. Say, "has been declared;" for "preference" is here the nominative, and Dr. Priestley himself recognizes no other subjunctive tenses than the present and the imperfect; as, "If thou love, If thou loved."--Ib., p. 16.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XIV.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--VERB AFTER THE NOMINATIVE.

"Before you left Sicily, you was reconciled to Verres."--Duncan's Cicero, p. 19.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the passive verb was reconciled is of the singular number, and does not agree with its nominative you, which is of the second person plural. But, according to Rule 14th, "Every finite verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number." Therefore, was reconciled should be were reconciled; thus, "Before you left Sicily, you were reconciled to Verres."]

"Knowing that you was my old master's good friend."--Spect., No. 517. "When the judge dare not act, where is the loser's remedy?"--Webster's Essays, p. 131. "Which extends it no farther than the variation of the verb extend."--Murray's Gram., 8vo, Vol. i, p. 211. "They presently dry without hurt, as myself hath often proved."--Roger Williams. "Whose goings forth hath been from of old, from everlasting."--Keith's Evidences. "You was paid to fight against Alexander, not to rail at him."--Porter's Analysis, p. 70. "Where more than one part of speech is almost always concerned."--Churchill's Gram., Pref., p. viii. "Nothing less than murders, rapines, and conflagrations, employ their thoughts."--Duncan's Cicero, p. 175. "I wondered where you was, my dear."--Lloyd's Poems, p. 185. "When thou most sweetly sings."--''Drummond of Hawthornden''. "Who dare, at the present day, avow himself equal to the task?"--Music of Nature, p. 11. "Every body are very kind to her, and not discourteous to me."--Byron's Letters. "As to what thou says respecting the diversity of opinions."--The Friend, Vol. ix, p. 45. "