Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/658



NOTES TO RULE XX.

NOTE I.--Active participles have the same government as the verbs from which they are derived; the preposition of, therefore, should never be used after the participle, when the verb does not require it. Thus, in phrases like the following, of is improper: "Keeping of one day in seven;"--"By preaching of repentance;"--"They left beating of Paul."

NOTE II.--When a transitive participle is converted into a noun, of must be inserted to govern the object following; as, "So that there was no withstanding of him."--Walker's Particles. p. 252. "The cause of their salvation doth not so much arise from their embracing of mercy, as from God's exercising of it"--Penington's Works, Vol. ii, p. 91. "Faith is the receiving of Christ with the whole soul."--Baxter. "In thy pouring-out of thy fury upon Jerusalem."--Ezekiel, ix, 8.

NOTE III.--When the insertion of the word of, to complete the conversion of the transitive participle into a noun, produces ambiguity or harshness, some better phraseology must be chosen. Example: "Because the action took place prior to the taking place of the other past action."--Kirkham's Gram., p. 140. Here the words prior and place have no regular construction; and if we say, "prior to the taking of place of the other," we make the jumble still worse. Say therefore, "Because the action took place before the other past action;"--or, "Because the action took place previously to the other past action."

NOTE IV.--When participles become nouns, their adverbs should either become adjectives, or be taken as parts of such nouns, written as compound words: or, if neither of these methods be agreeable, a greater change should be made. Examples of error: 1. "Rightly understanding a sentence, depends very much on a knowledge of its grammatical construction."--Comly's Gram., 12th Ed., p. 8. Say, "The right understanding of a sentence," &c. 2. "Elopement is a running away, or private departure."--''Webster's El. Spelling-Book''. p. 102. Write "running-away" as one word. 3. "If they [Milton's descriptions] have any faults, it is their alluding too frequently to matters of learning, and to fables of antiquity."--Blair's Rhet., p. 451. Say, "If they have any fault, it is that they allude too frequently," &c.

NOTE V.--When the participle is followed by an adjective, its conversion into a noun appears to be improper; because the construction of the adjective becomes anomalous, and its relation doubtful: as, "When we speak of ambition's being restless or, 'a disease's being deceitful.'"--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 346; Kirkham's, p. 224. This ought to be, "When we speak of ambition as being restless, or a disease as being deceitful;" but Dr. Blair, from whom the text originally came, appears to have written it thus: "When we speak of ambition's being restless, or a disease being deceitful."--LECT. xvi, p. 155. This is inconsistent with itself; for one noun is possessive, and the other, objective. NOTE VI.--When a compound participle is converted into a noun, the hyphen seems to be necessary, to prevent ambiguity; but such compound nouns are never elegant, and it is in general better to avoid them, by some change in the expression. Example: "Even as the being healed of a wound, presupposeth the plaster or salve: but not, on the contrary; for the application of the plaster presupposeth not the being healed."--Barclays Works, Vol. i, p. 143. The phrase, "the being healed" ought to mean only, the creature healed; and not, the being-healed, or the healing received, which is what the writer intended. But the simple word healing might have been used in the latter sense; for, in participial nouns, the distinction of voice and of tense are commonly disregarded.

NOTE VII.--A participle should not be used where the infinitive mood, the verbal noun, a common substantive, or a phrase equivalent, will better express the meaning. Examples: 1. "But placing an accent on the second syllable of these words, would entirely derange them."--Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 239. Say rather, "But, to place an accent--But the placing of an accent--or, But an accent placed on the second syllable of these words, would entirely derange them." 2. "To require their being in that case."--Ib., Vol. ii, p. 21. Say, "To require them to be in that case."