FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE II.-NOMINATIVES.

Thee must have been idle.

[FORMULE-Not proper, because the objective pronoun thee is made the subject of the verb must have been. But, according to Rule 2d, "A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case." Therefore, thes should be thou; thus, Thou must have been idle.]

Him that is studious, will improve.
Them that seek wisdom, will be wise.
She and me are of the same age.

You are two or three years older than us.
Are not John and thee cousins?

I can write as handsomely as thee.

Nobody said so but him.

Whom dost thou think was there?

Who broke this slate? Me.

We are alone; here's none but thee and I.-Shak.

Them that honour me, I will honour; and them that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed.

He whom in that instance was deceived, is a man of sound judgement.

RULE III.-APPOSITION.

A Noun or a personal Pronoun used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the

same case: as,

"But he, our gracious Master, kind as just,

Knowing our frame, remembers we are dust."-Barbauld.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE III.

OBS. 1.-Apposition is the using of different words or appellations, to des ignate the same thing. Apposition also denotes the relation which exists be tween the words which are so employed. In parsing, rule third should be applied only to the explanatory term; because the case of the principal term depends on its relation to the rest of the sentence, and comes under some other rule.

OBS. 2.-To this rule, there are properly no exceptions. But there are many puzzling examples under it, which the following observations are designed to explain. The rule supposes the first word to be the principal term, with which the other is in apposition; and it generally is so: "but the explanatory word is sometimes placed first, especially among the poets; as,

"From bright'ning fields of ether fair disclos'd,

Child of the sun, refulgent Summer comes."-Thomson.

OBS. 3.-The pronouns of the first and second persons are often prefixed to nouns, merely to distinguish their person; as, "I John saw these things.""This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders."-Bible. "His praise, ye brooks, attune."-Thomson. In this case of apposition, the words are closely united, and either of them may be taken as the explanatory term: the learner will find it easier to parse the noun by rule third.

OBS. 4.-When two or more nouns of the possessive case are put in apposi tion, the possessive termination added to one, denotes the case of both or all: as, "His brother Philip's wife ;"-"John the Baptist's head;"—" At my

friend Johnson's, the bookseller." By a repetition of the possessive sig distinct governing noun is implied, and the apposition is destroyed.

OBS. 5.-In like manner, a noun without the possessive sign, is sometimes put in apposition with a pronoun of the possessive case; as, "As an author, his Adventurer' is his capital work." -Murray.

"Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage,

The promised father of the future age."-Pope.

OBS. 6.-When a noun or a pronoun is repeated for the sake of emphasis, the word which is repeated, may properly be said to be in apposition with that which is first introduced; as, "They have forsaken me, the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."-Jer., ii, 13.

OBS. 7.-A noun is sometimes put in apposition to a sentence; as, permitted me to consult his library-a kindness which I shall not forget."W. Allen.

OBS. 8.-A distributive term in the singular number, is frequently construed in apposition with a comprehensive plural; as, They reap vanity, every one with his neighbour."-Bible. "Go ye every man unto his city." Ibid. And sometimes a plural word is emphatically put after a series of particulars comprehended under it; as, " Ambition, interest, honour, all concurred."-Murray. "Royalists, republicans, churchmen, sectaries, courtiers, patriots, all parties concurred in the illusion."-Hume.

OBS. 9.-To express a reciprocal action or relation, the pronominal adjectives each other and one an other are employed: as, "They love each other;" "They love one an other." The words, separately considered, are singular; but, taken together, they imply plurality; and they can be properly construed only after plurals, or singulars taken conjointly. Each other is usually applied to two objects; and one an other, to more than two. The terms, though reciprocal, and closely united, are never in the same construction. If such expressions be analyzed, each and one will generally appear to be in the nominative case, and other in the objective; as, "They love each other;" i. e., each loves the other. Each is properly in apposition with they, and other is governed by the verb. The terms, however, admit of other constructions; as, "Be ye helpers one of an other."-Bible. Here one is in apposition with ye, and other is governed by of. "Ye are one an other's joy."-1b. Here one is in apposition with ye, and other's is in the possessive case, being governed by joy. "Love will make you one another's joy." Here one is in the objective case, being in apposition with you, and other's is governed as before. The Latin terms alius alium, alii alios, &c., sufficiently confirm this doctrine. OBS. 10.-The common and the proper name of an object are often associated, and put in apposition; as, The river Thames,-The ship Albion,-The poet Cowper,-Lake Eric,-Cape May,-Mount Atlas. But the proper name of a place, when accompanied by the common name, is generally put in the objective case, and preceded by of; as, The city of New York, The land of Canaan.

OBS. 11.-The several proper names which distinguish an individual, are always in apposition, and should be taken together in parsing; as, William Pitt,-Marcus Tullius Cicero.

OBS. 12.-When an object acquires a new name or character from the action of a verb, the new appellation is put in apposition with the object of the active verb, and in the nominative after the passive: as, "They named the child John "- "The child was named John."- "They elected him president;" -"He was elected president." After the active verb, the acquired name must be parsed by Rule 3d; after the passive, by Rule 21st.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE III.-APPOSITION.

I have received a letter from my cousin, she that was here last week.

[FORMULE.-Not proper, because the nominative pronoun she is used to explain the objective noun cousin. But, acedin ng to Rule 3d, “A noun or a personal pronoun

nsed to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case." Therefore, she should be her; thus, I have received a letter from my cousin, her that was here last week.]

The book is a present from my brother Richard, he that keeps the bookstore.

I am going to see my friends in the country, they that we met at the ferry.

This dress was made by Catharine, the milliner, she that we saw at work.

Dennis, the gardener, him that gave me the tulips, has promised me a piony.

Resolve me, why the cottager and king,

Him whom sea-sever'd realms obey, and him
Who steals his whole dominion from the waste,
Repelling winter blasts with mud and straw,
Disquieted alike, draw sigh for sigh.

RULE IV.-ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns: as, "He is a wise man, though he is young."

EXCEPTION FIRST.

An adjective sometimes relates to a phrase or sentence which is made the subject of an intervening verb; as, "To insult the afflicted, is impious.”— Dillwyn. "That he should refuse, is not strange."

EXCEPTION SECOND.

With an infinitive or a participle denoting being or action in the abstract, an adjective is sometimes also taken abstractly; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, pronoun, or other subject;) as, "To be sincere, is to be wise, innocent, and safe."-Hawkesworth. "Capacity marks the abstract quality of being able to receive or hold.”—Crabb's Synonymes.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE IV.

OBS. 1.-Adjectives often relate to nouns understood; as, "The nine" [muses]." Philip was one of the seven" [deacons].—Acts, xxi, 8. "He came unto his own [possessions], and his own [men] received him not."-John, i, 11. "The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty [God], and a terrible" [God].-Deut., x, 17.

OBS. 2.-In as much as qualities belong only to things, most grammarians teach that every adjective belongs to some noun expressed or understood; and suppose a countless number of unnecessary ellipses. But it is evident that in the construction of sentences, adjectives often relate immediately to pronouns, and, through them, to the nouns they represent. This is still more obviously the case, in some other languages, as may be seen by the following examples, which retain something of the Greek idiom: "All ye are brethren."-Matt., xxiii, 8. "Whether of them twain did the will of his father?"-Matt., xxi, 31.

Ons. 3.-When an adjective follows a finite verb, and is not followed by a noun, it generally relates to the subject of the verb; as, "I am glad that the door is made wide."-"Every thing which is false, vicious, or unworthy, is despicable to him, though all the world sh th approve it."-Spectator, No.

n

520. Here false, vicious, and unworthy, relate to which; and despicable relates to thing.

OBS. 4.-When an adjective follows an infinitive or a participle, the no or pronoun to which it relates, is sometimes before it, and sometimes af it, and often considerably remote; as, "A real gentleman cannot but practise those virtues which, by an intimate knowledge of mankind, he has found to be useful to them."-"He [a melancholy enthusiast] thinks himself obliged in duty to be sad and disconsolate."-Addison. "He is scandalized at youth for being lively, and at childhood for being playful."-Id. "But growing weary of one who almost walked him out of breath, he left him for Horace and Anacreon."-Steele.

OBS. 5.-Adjectives preceded by the definite article, are often used, by ellipsis, as having the force of nouns. They designate those classes of objects which are characterized by the qualities they express; and, in parsing, the noun may be supplied. They are most commonly of the plural number, and refer to persons, places, or things, understood; as, "The careless [persons] and the imprudent, the giddy and the fickle, the ungrateful and the interested everywhere meet us."-Blair.

"Together let us beat this ample field,

Try what the open [places], what the covert, yield.”—Pope.

OBS. 6.-The adjective is generally placed immediately before its noun ; as, "Vain man! is grandeur given to gay attire ?"-Beattie.

OBS. 7.-Those adjectives which relate to pronouns most commonly follow them; as, "They left me weary on a grassy turf."-Milton.

OBS. 8.-In the following instances, the adjective is placed after the noun to which it relates :

1. When other words depend on the adjective; as, "A mind conscious of right,"-"A wall three feet thick.”

2. When the quality results from the action of a verb; as, "Virtue renders life happy."

3. When the adjective would thus be more clearly distinctive; as, "Goodness infinite," "_" Wisdom unsearchable."

4. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, “Truth stands independent of all external things."-Burgh.

OBS. 9.-In some cases, the adjective may either precede or follow the noun; as,

1. In poetry; as,

"Wilt thou to the isles

Atlantic, to the rich Hesperian clime,
Fly in the train of Autumn ?"—Akenside.

2. In some technical expressions; as, "A notary public," or, "A public notary."

3. When an adverb precedes the adjective; as, “A Being infinitely wise,” or, "An infinitely wise Being." 4. When several adjectives belong to the same noun; as, "A woman, modest, sensible, and virtuous," or, "A modest, sensible, and virtuous wo

man."

OBS. 10.-An emphatic adjective may be placed first in the sentence, though it belong after the verb; as, "Weighty is the anger of the righteous."Bible.

OBS. 11.-By an ellipsis of the noun, an adjective with a preposition before it, is sometimes equivalent to an adverb; as, "In particular," that is, in a particular manner; equivalent to "particularly." In parsing, supply the ellipsis. [See Obs. 2d, under Rule xxii.]

NOTES TO RULE IV.

NOTE I-Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their nouns in number; as, That sort, those sorts. NOTE II.-When the adjective is necessarily plural, or neces

sarily singular, the noun should be made so too; as, “Twenty pounds," not, "Twenty pound;"-"One session,”-not, "One sessions."

OBS. 1.-In some peculiar phrases, this rule appears to be disregarded; as, "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient."-John, vi, 7. “Twenty sail of vessels;"—"A hundred head of cattle."

OBS. 2.-To denote a collective number, a singular adjective may precede a plural one; as, "One hundred men,"-"Every six weeks,"—"One seven times."-Dan., iii, 19.

OBS. 3.-To denote plurality, the adjective many may, in like manner, pre eede an or a with a singulur noun; as,

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air."-Gray. NOTE III-The reciprocal expression, one an other, should not be applied to two objects, nor each other, or one the other, to more than two: because reciprocity between two is some act or relation of each or one to the other, an object definite, and not of one to an other, which is indefinite; but reciprocity among three or more is of one, each, or every one, not to one other solely, or the other definitely, but to others, a plurality, or to an other, taken indefinitely and implying this plurality.

NOTE IV. The comparative degree can only be used in reference to two objects, or classes of objects; the superlative compares one or more things with all others of the same class, whether few or many: as, "Edward is taller than James; he is the largest of my scholars."

NOTE V. When the comparative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison should never include the former; as, "Iron is more useful than all the metals." It should be, "than all the other metals."

NOTE VI.-When the superlative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison should never exclude the former; as, "A fondness for show, is, of all other follies, the most vain." The word other should be expunged.

NOTE VII.-Comparative terminations, and adverbs of de gree, should not be applied to adjectives that are not susceptible of comparison; and all double comparatives and double superlatives should be avoided: as, "So universal a complaint:" say, "So general."—"Some less nobler plunder:" say, "less noble."- The most straitest sect:" expunge most.

NOTE VIII.-When adjectives are connected by and, or, or nor, the shortest and simplest should in general be placed first; as, "He is older and more respectable than his brother."

NOTE IX.-An adjective and its noun may be taken as a compound term, to which other adjectives may be prefixed. The most distinguishing quality should be expressed next to the noun: as, "A fine young man,"-not, “A young fine man,"