An English Grammar by William Moran Baskerville - HTML preview

In a moment we were all shaking hands with one another.—Dickens.

The unjust purchaser forces the two to bid against each other.—Ruskin.

By

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2. ir original meaning, either and neither refer to only two persons or objects; as, for

Distributives either and neither.

example,—Some one must be poor, and in want of his gold—or his corn. Assume that no one

is in want of either.—Ruskin Their [Ernest's and the poet's] minds accorded into one strain, and made delightful music

which neither could have claimed as all his own.—Hawthorne.

Sometimes these are made to refer to several objects, in which case any should be used

Use of any.

instead; as,—

Was it the winter's storm? was it hard labor and spare meals? was it disease? was it the tomahawk? Is

it possible that neither of these causes, that not all combined, were able to blast this bud of hope?—

Everett.

Once I took such delight in Montaigne ...; before that, in Shakespeare; then in Plutarch; then in

Plotinus; at one time in Bacon; afterwards in Goethe; even in Bettine; but now I turn the pages of either

of them languidly, whilst I still cherish their genius.—Emerson.

The

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. jective pronoun any is nearly always regarded as plural, as shown in the following

Any usually plural.

sentences:—If any of you have been accustomed to look upon these hours as mere visionary

hours, I beseech you, etc.—Beecher Whenever, during his stay at Yuste, any of his friends had died, he had been

punctual in doing honor to their memory.—Stirling.

But I enjoy the company and conversation of its inhabitants, when any of them are so good as to visit me.—Franklin.

Do you think, when I spoke anon of the ghosts of Pryor's children, I mean that any of them are dead?—Thackeray.

In earlier Modern English, any was often singular; as,—

If any, speak; for him have I offended.—Shakespeare.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.—Bible.

Very rarely the singular is met with in later times; as,—

Here is a poet doubtless as much affected by his own descriptions as any that reads them can be.—

Burke.

The above instances are to be distinguished from the adjective any, which is plural as often

Caution.

as singular.

The

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. jective pronoun none is, in the prose of the present day, usually plural, although it is

None usually plural.

historically a contraction of ne ān (not one). Examples of its use are,—In earnest, if ever man

was; as none of the French philosophers were.—Carlyle.

None of Nature's powers do better service.—Prof. Dana

One man answers some question which none of his contemporaries put, and is isolated.—Emerson.

None obey the command of duty so well as those who are free from the observance of slavish bondage.—Scott.

Do you think, when I spoke anon of the ghosts of Pryor's children, I mean that any of them are dead? None are, that I

know of.—Thackeray.

Early apples begin to be ripe about the first of August; but I think none of them are so good to eat as some to smell.—

Thoreau.

The singular use of none is often found in the Bible; as,—

None of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.—Luke iv 27

Also the singular is sometimes found in present-day English in prose, and less rarely in poetry; for example,—

Perhaps none of our Presidents since Washington has stood so firm in the confidence of the people.—

Lowell In signal none his steed should spare.—Scott

Like the use of any, the pronoun none should be distinguished from the adjective none, which is used absolutely, and

hence is more likely to confuse the student.

Compare with the above the following sentences having the adjective none:—

Reflecting a summer evening sky in its bosom, though none [no sky] was visible overhead.—Thoreau

The holy fires were suffered to go out in the temples, and none [no fires] were lighted in their own

dwellings.—Prescott

The

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5r.onoun all has the singular construction when it means everything; the plural, when it

All singular and plural.

means all persons: for example,—Singular.

The light troops thought ... that all was lost.—Palgrave

All was won on the one side, and all was lost on the other.—Bayne

Having done all that was just toward others.—Napier

But the King's treatment of the great lords will be judged leniently by all who remember,

Plural.

etc.—Pearson.

When all were gone, fixing his eyes on the mace, etc.—Lingard

All who did not understand French were compelled, etc.—Mcmaster.

The

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. mpounds somebody else, any one else, nobody else, etc., are treated as units,

Somebody's else, or somebody

and the apostrophe is regularly added to the final word else instead of the first. Thackeray

else's?

has the expression somebody's else, and Ford has nobody's else, but the regular usage is

shown in the following selections:—A boy who is fond of somebody else's pencil case.—G. Eliot.

A suit of clothes like somebody else's.—Thackeray.

Drawing off his gloves and warming his hands before the fire as benevolently as if they were somebody else's.—

Dickens.

Certainly not! nor any one else's ropes.—Ruskin.

Again, my pronunciation—like everyone else's—is in some cases more archaic.—Sweet.

Then everybody wanted some of somebody else's.—Ruskin.

His hair...curled once all over it in long tendrils, unlike anybody else's in the world.—N. P. Willis.

"Ye see, there ain't nothin' wakes folks up like somebody else's wantin' what you've got."—Mrs. Stowe.

ADJECTIVES.

AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES WITH NOUNS.

The

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. tement that adjectives agree with their nouns in number is restricted to the words this

These sort, all manner of, etc.

and that (with these and those), as these are the only adjectives that have separate forms

for singular and plural; and it is only in one set of expressions that the concord seems to be violated,—in such as "these

sort of books," "those kind of trees," "all manner of men;" the nouns being singular, the adjectives plural. These expressions are all but universal in spoken English, and may be found not infrequently in literary English; for example,

—These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness

Harbor more craft, etc.

—Shakespeare

All these sort of things.—Sheridan.

I hoped we had done with those sort of things.—Muloch.

You have been so used to those sort of impertinences.Sydney Smith.

Whitefield or Wesley, or some other such great man as a bishop, or those sort of people.—Fielding.

I always delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes.—Austen.

There are women as well as men who can thoroughly enjoy those sort of romantic spots.—Saturday

Review, London.

The library was open, with all manner of amusing books.—Ruskin.

According to the approved usage of Modern English, each one of the above adjectives would have to be changed to the

singular, or the nouns to the plural.

The reason for the prevalence of these expressions must be sought in the history of the

History of this construction.

language: it cannot be found in the statement that the adjective is made plural by the

attraction of a noun following.

In Old and Middle English, in keeping with the custom of looking at things concretely rather

At the source.

than in the abstract, they said, not "all kinds of wild animals," but "alles cunnes wilde deor"

(wild animals of-every-kind). This the modern expression reverses.

But in early Middle English the modern way of regarding such expressions also appeared,

Later form.

gradually displacing the old.

Consequently we have a confused expression. We keep the form of logical agreement in

The result.

standard English, such as, "This sort of trees should be planted;" but at the same time the

noun following kind of is felt to be the real subject, and the adjective is, in spoken English, made to agree with it, which

accounts for the construction, "These kind of trees are best."

The inconvenience of the logical construction is seen when we wish to use a predicate with

A question.

number forms. Should we say, "This kind of rules are the best," or "This kind of rules is the

best?" Kind or sort may be treated as a collective noun, and in this way may take a plural verb; for example, Burke's

sentence, "A sort of uncertain sounds are, when the necessary dispositions concur, more alarming than a total silence."

COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS.

The

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. mparative degree of the adjective (or adverb) is used when we wish to compare two

Use of the comparative degree.

objects or sets of objects, or one object with a class of objects, to express a higher degree of

quality; as,—Which is the better able to defend himself,—a strong man with nothing but his fists, or a paralytic cripple

encumbered with a sword which he cannot lift?—Macaulay.

Of two such lessons, why forget

The nobler and the manlier one?

—Byron.

We may well doubt which has the stronger claim to civilization, the victor or the vanquished.—Prescott.

A braver ne'er to battle rode.—Scott.

He is taller, by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court.—Swift.

Whe

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9.an object is compared with the class to which it belongs, it is regularly excluded from

Other after the comparative form.

that class by the word other; if not, the object would really be compared with itself: thus,—

The character of Lady Castlewood has required more delicacy in its manipulation than perhaps any other which

Thackeray has drawn.—Trollope.

I used to watch this patriarchal personage with livelier curiosity than any other form of humanity.—Hawthorne.

Exercise.

See if the word other should be inserted in the following sentences:—

1. There was no man who could make a more graceful bow than Mr. Henry.—Wirt.

2. I am concerned to see that Mr. Gary, to whom Dante owes more than ever poet owed to translator,

has sanctioned, etc.—Macaulay.

3. There is no country in which wealth is so sensible of its obligations as our own.—Lowell.

4. This is more sincerely done in the Scandinavian than in any mythology I know.—Carlyle.

5. In "Thaddeus of Warsaw" there is more crying than in any novel I remember to have read.—

Thackeray.

6. The heroes of another writer [Cooper] are quite the equals of Scott's men; perhaps Leather-stocking

is better than any one in "Scott's lot."—Id.

The

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. perlative degree of the adjective (or adverb) is used regularly in comparing more

Use of the superlative degree.

than two things, but is also frequently used in comparing only two things.

Examples of superlative with several objects:—

It is a case of which the simplest statement is the strongest.—Macaulay.

Even Dodd himself, who was one of the greatest humbugs who ever lived, would not have had the

face.—Thackeray.

To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid.—Huxley.

Compare the first three sentences in Sec. 428 with the following:—

Superlative with two objects.

Which do you love best to behold, the lamb or the lion? —Thackeray.

Which of these methods has the best effect? Both of them are the same to the sense, and differ only in

form.—Dr Blair.

Rip was one of those ... who eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got easiest.—Irving.

It is hard to say whether the man of wisdom or the man of folly contributed most to the amusement of

the party.—Scott.

There was an interval of three years between Mary and Anne. The eldest, Mary, was like the Stuarts

—the younger was a fair English child.—Mrs. Oliphant.

Of the two great parties which at this hour almost share the nation between them, I should say that one

has the best cause, and the other contains the best men.—Emerson.

In all disputes between States, though the strongest is nearly always mainly in the wrong, the weaker

is often so in a minor degree.—Ruskin.

She thought him and Olivia extremely of a size, and would bid both to stand up to see which was the

tallest.—Goldsmith.

These two properties seem essential to wit, more particularly the last of them.—Addison.

"Ha, ha, ha!" roared Goodman Brown when the wind laughed at him. "Let us see which will laugh

loudest."—Hawthorne.

431. In Shakespeare's time it was quite common to use a double comparative and superlative

Double comparative and

by using more or most before the word already having -er or -est. Examples from superlative.

Shakespeare are,—How much more elder art thou than thy looks!—Merchant of Venice.

Nor that I am more better than Prospero.—Tempest.

Come you more nearer.—Hamlet.

With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.—J. Cæsar.

Also from the same period,—

Imitating the manner of the most ancientest and finest Grecians.—Ben Jonson.

After the most straitest sect of our religion.—Bible, 1611.

Such expressions are now heard only in vulgar English. The following examples are used purposely, to represent the

characters as ignorant persons:—The artful saddler persuaded the young traveler to look at "the most convenientest and

handsomest saddle that ever was seen."—Bulwer.

"There's nothing comes out but the most lowest stuff in nature; not a bit of high life among them."—Goldsmith.

THREE FIRST OR FIRST THREE?

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. ese two expressions, over which a little war has so long been buzzing, we think it not necessary to say more than

that both are in good use; not only so in popular speech, but in literary English. Instances of both are given below.

The meaning intended is the same, and the reader gets the same idea from both: hence there is properly a perfect liberty

in the use of either or both.

For Carlyle, and Secretary Walsingham also, have been helping them heart and soul

First three, etc.

for the last two years.—Kingsley.

The delay in the first three lines, and conceit in the last, jar upon us constantly.—Ruskin.

The last dozen miles before you reach the suburbs.—De Quincey.

Mankind for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw.—Lamb.

T he first twenty numbers were expressed by a corresponding number of dots. The first five had

specific names.—Prescott.

These are the three first needs of civilized life.—Ruskin.

Three first, etc.

He has already finished the three first sticks of it.—Addison.

In my two last you had so much of Lismahago that I suppose you are glad he is gone.—Smollett.

I have not numbered the lines except of the four first books. —Cowper.

The seven first centuries were filled with a succession of triumphs.—Gibbon.

ARTICLES.

The

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. finite article is repeated before each of two modifiers of the same noun, when the

Definite article.

purpose is to call attention to the noun expressed and the one understood. In such a case

two or more separate objects are usually indicated by the separation of the modifiers. Examples of this construction are,

—With a singular noun.

The merit of the Barb, the Spanish, and the English breed is derived from a mixture of Arabian

blood.—Gibbon.

The righteous man is distinguished from the unrighteous by his desire and hope of justice.—Ruskin.

He seemed deficient in sympathy for concrete human things either on the sunny or the stormy side.—

Carlyle.

It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than that between the first and the second part of the volume.

—The Nation, No. 1508.

There was also a fundamental difference of opinion as to whether the earliest cleavage

With a plural noun.

was between the Northern and the Southern languages.—Taylor, Origin of the Aryans.

The

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. me repetition of the article is sometimes found before nouns alone, to distinguish clearly, or to emphasize the

meaning; as,—In every line of the Philip and the Saul, the greatest poems, I think, of the eighteenth century.—Macaulay.

He is master of the two-fold Logos, the thought and the word, distinct, but inseparable from each other.—Newman.

The flowers, and the presents, and the trunks and bonnet boxes ... having been arranged, the hour of parting came.—

Thackeray.

Freq

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5. ntly, however, the article is not repeated before each of two or more adjectives, as in

The not repeated. One object and

Sec. 433, but is used with one only; as,—Or fanciest thou the red and yellow Clothes-screen

several modifiers, with a singular

yonder is but of To-day, without a Yesterday or a To-morrow?—Carlyle.

noun.

The lofty, melodious, and flexible language.—Scott.

The fairest and most loving wife in Greece.—Tennyson.

Neither can there be a much greater resemblance between the ancient and modern

Meaning same as in Sec. 433, with

general views of the town.—Halliwell-phillipps.

a plural noun.

At Talavera the English and French troops for a moment suspended their conflict.—Macaulay.

The Crusades brought to the rising commonwealths of the Adriatic and Tyrrhene seas a large increase

of wealth.—Id.

Here the youth of both sexes, of the higher and middling orders, were placed at a very tender age.—

Prescott.

The

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6. definite article is used, like the definite article, to limit two or more modified nouns,

Indefinite article.

only one of which is expressed. The article is repeated for the purpose of separating or

emphasizing the modified nouns. Examples of this use are,—We shall live a better and a higher and a nobler life.—

Beecher.

The difference between the products of a well-disciplined and those of an uncultivated understanding is often and

admirably exhibited by our great dramatist.—S. T. Coleridge.

Let us suppose that the pillars succeed each other, a round and a square one alternately.—Burke.

As if the difference between an accurate and an inaccurate statement was not worth the trouble of looking into the most

common book of reference.—Macaulay.

To every room there was an open and a secret passage.—Johnson.

Notice that in the above sentences (except the first) the noun expressed is in contrast with the modified noun omitted.

Usu

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. the article is not repeated when the several adjectives unite in describing one and the

One article with several adjectives.

same noun. In the sentences of Secs. 433 and 436, one noun is expressed; yet the same

word understood with the other adjectives has a different meaning (except in the first sentence of Sec. 436). But in the

following sentences, as in the first three of Sec. 435, the adjectives assist each other in describing the same noun. It is

easy to see the difference between the expressions "a red-and-white geranium," and "a red and a white geranium."

Examples of several adjectives describing the same object:—

To inspire us with a free and quiet mind.—B. Jonson.

Here and there a desolate and uninhabited house.—Dickens.

James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy.—Macaulay.

So wert thou born into a tuneful strain,

An early, rich, and inexhausted vein.

—Dryden.

The

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8. definite article (compare Sec. 434) is used to lend special emphasis, interest, or

For rhetorical effect.

clearness to each of several nouns; as,—James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy, a

tyrant, a murderer, and a usurper.—Macaulay.

Thou hast spoken as a patriot and a Christian.—Bulwer.

He saw him in his mind's eye, a collegian, a parliament man—a Baronet perhaps.—Thackeray.

VERBS.

CONCORD OF VERB AND SUBJECT IN NUMBER.

In E

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9 l.ish, the number of the verb follows the meaning rather than the form of its subject.

A broad and loose rule.

It will not do to state as a general rule that the verb agrees with its subject in person and

number. This was spoken of in Part I., Sec. 276, and the following illustrations prove it.

The statements and illustrations of course refer to such verbs as have separate forms for singular and plural number.

The

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. gular form of the verb is used—

Singular verb.

(1) When the subject has a singular form and a singular meaning.

Subject of singular form.

Such, then, was the earliest American land.—Agassiz.

He was certainly a happy fellow at this time.—G. Eliot.

He sees that it is better to live in peace.—Cooper.

(2) When the subject is a collective noun which represents a number of persons or things

Collective noun of singular

taken as one unit; as,—The larger breed [of camels] is capable of transporting a weight of a

meaning.

thousand pounds.—Gibbon.

Another school professes entirely opposite principles.—The Nation.

In this work there was grouped around him a score of men.—W. Phillips

A number of jeweled paternosters was attached to her girdle.—Froude.

Something like a horse load of books has been written to prove that it was the beauty who blew up the booby.—Carlyle

This usage, like some others in this series, depends mostly on the writer's own judgment. Another writer might, for

example, prefer a plural verb after number in Froude's sentence above.

(3) When the subject consists of two or more singular nouns connected by or or nor; as,—

Singulars connected by or or nor.

It is by no means sure that either our literature, or the great intellectual life of our

nation, has got already, without academies, all that academies can give.—M. Arnold.

Jesus is not dead, nor John, nor Paul, nor Mahomet. —Emerson.

(4) When the subject is plural in form, but represents a number of things to be taken together

Plural form and singular meaning.

a s forming one unit; for example,—Thirty-four years affects one's remembrance of some

circumstances.—De Quincey.

Between ourselves, three pounds five shillings and two pence is no bad day's work.—Goldsmith.

Every twenty paces gives you the prospect of some villa; and every four hours, that of a large town.—Montague Two

thirds of this is mine by right.—Sheridan

The singular form is also used with book titles, other names, and other singulars of plural form; as,—

Politics is the only field now open for me.—Whittier.

"Sesame and Lilies" is Ruskin's creed for young girls.—Critic, No. 674

The Three Pigeons expects me down every moment.—Goldsmith.

(5) With several singular subjects not disjoined by or or nor, in the following cases:—

Several singular subjects to one

singular verb.

(a) Joined by and, but considered as meaning about the same thing, or as making up one

general idea; as,—

In a word, all his conversation and knowledge has been in the female world—Addison.

The strength and glare of each [color] is considerably abated.—Burke

To imagine that debating and logic is the triumph.—Carlyle

In a world where even to fold and seal a letter adroitly is not the least of accomplishments.—De

Quincey The genius and merit of a ri