Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/667



EXCEPTION SECOND.

The word amen, which is commonly called an adverb, is often used independently at the beginning or end of a declaration or a prayer; and is itself a prayer, meaning, So let it be: as, "Surely, I come quickly. Amen: Even so, come Lord Jesus."--Rev., xxii, 20. When it does not stand thus alone, it seems in general to be used substantively; as, "The strangers among them stood on Gerizim, and echoed amen to the blessings."--Wood's Dict. "These things saith the Amen."--Rev., iii, 14

EXCEPTION THIRD.

An adverb before a preposition seems sometimes to relate to the latter, rather than to the verb or participle to which the preposition connects its object; as, "This mode of pronunciation runs considerably beyond ordinary discourse."--Blair's Rhet., p. 334. "Yea, all along the times of the apostasy, this was the thing that preserved the witnesses."--Penington's Works, Vol. iv, p. 12. [See Obs. 8th on Rule 7th.]

"Right against the eastern gate,    Where the great sun begins his state."--Milton, L'Allegro.

EXCEPTION FOURTH.

The words much, little, far, and all, being originally adjectives, are sometimes preceded by the negative not, or (except the last) by such an adverb as too, how, thus, so, or as, when they are taken substantively; as, "Not all that glitters, is gold."--"Too much should not be offered at once."--Murray's Gram., p. 140. "Thus far is consistent."--Ib., p. 161. "Thus far is right."--Lowth's Gram., p. 101.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XXI.

OBS. 1.--On this rule of syntax, Dr. Adam remarks, "Adverbs sometimes likewise qualify substantives;" and gives Latin examples of the following import: "Homer plainly an orator:"--"Truly Metellus;"--"To-morrow morning." But this doctrine is not well proved by such imperfect phrases, nor can it ever be very consistently admitted, because it destroys the characteristic difference between an adjective and an adverb. To-morrow is here an adjective; and as for truly and plainly, they are not such words as can make sense with nouns. I therefore imagine the phrases to be elliptical: "Verè Metellus," may mean, "This is truly Metellus;" and "Homerus planè orator," "Homer was plainly an orator." So, in the example, "Behold an Israelite indeed," the true construction seems to be, "Behold, here is indeed an Israelite;" for, in the Greek or Latin, the word Israelite is a nominative, thus: "Ecce verè Israëlita."--Beza; also Montanus. "[Greek: Ide alæthos 'Israaelitæs.]"--''Greek Testament. Behold appears to be here an interjection, like Ecce''. If we make it a transitive verb, the reading should be, "Behold a true Israelite;" for the text does not mean, "Behold indeed an Israelite." At least, this is not the meaning in our version. W. H. Wells, citing as authorities for the doctrine, "Bullions, Allen and Cornwell, Brace, Butler, and Webber," has the following remark: "There are, however, certain forms of expression in which adverbs bear a special relation to nouns or pronouns; as, 'Behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters.'--Gen. 6: 17. 'For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power.'--1 Thes. 1: 5."--Wells's School Gram., 1st Ed., p. 156; late Ed., 168. And again, in his Punctuation, we find this: "When, however, the intervening word is an adverb, the comma is more commonly omitted; as, 'It is labor only which gives a relish to pleasure.'"--Ib., p. 176. From all this, the doctrine receives no better support than from Adam's suggestion above considered. The word "only" is often an adjective, and wherever its "special relation" is to a noun or a pronoun, it can be nothing else. "Even," when it introduces a word repeated with emphasis, is a conjunction.

OBS. 2.--When participles become nouns, their adverbs are not unfrequently left standing with them in their original relation; as, "For the fall and rising again of many in Israel."--Luke, ii, 34. "To denote the carrying forward of the action."--Barnard's Gram., p. 52. But in instances like these, the hyphen seems to be necessary. This mark would make the terms rising-again and carrying-forward compound nouns, and not participial nouns with adverbs relating to them.

"There is no flying hence, nor tarrying here."--Shak., Macbeth.

"What! in ill thoughts again? men must endure   Their going hence, ev'n as their coming hither."--Id.

OBS. 3.--Whenever any of those words which are commonly used adverbially, are made to relate directly to nouns or pronouns, they must be reckoned adjectives, and parsed by Rule 9th. Examples: "The above verbs."--Dr. Adam. "To the above remarks."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 318. "The above instance."--Ib., p. 442. "After the above partial illustration."--''Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang.'', ii, 62. "The above explanation."--Cobbett's Gram., ¶ 22. "For very age."--Zech., viii, 4. "From its very greatness."--''Phil. Museum'', i, 431. "In his then situation."--Johnson's Life of Goldsmith. "This was the then state of Popery."--Id., Life of Dryden, p. 185. "The servant becomes the master of his once master."--Shillitoe. "Time when is put in the ablative, time how long is put in the accusative."--Adam's Lat. Gram., p. 201; Gould's, 198. "Nouns signifying the time when or how long, may be put in the objective case without a preposition."--Wilbur and Livingston's Gram., p. 24. "I hear the far-off curfew sound."--Milton. "Far on the thither side."--Book of Thoughts, p. 58. "My hither way."--"Since my here remain in England."--Shak. "But short and seldom truce."--Fell. "An exceeding knave."--Pope. "According