William Malone Baskervill

“ Coming back, then, from the question, What ground should grammar cover? we come to answer the question, What should grammar teach? and we give as an answer the definition,—
English grammar is the science which treats of the nature of words, their forms, and their uses and relations in the sentence. ”

“ It costs no more for a wise soul to convey his quality to other men.
17. It is easy to sugar to be sweet.
18. At times the black volume of clouds overhead seemed rent asunder by flashes of lightning.
19. The whole figure and air, good and amiable otherwise, might be called flabby and irresolute.
20. I have heard Coleridge talk, with eager energy, two stricken hours, and communicate no meaning whatsoever to any individual.
21. The word conscience has become almost confined, in popular use, to the moral sphere.
22. You may ramble a whole day together, and every moment discover something new. ”

“ Nouns are seldom used as names of objects without additional words joined to them to add to their meaning. For example, if we wish to speak of a friend's house, we cannot guide one to it by merely calling it a house. We need to add some words to tell its color, size, position, etc., if we are at a distance; and if we are near, we need some word to point out the house we speak of, so that no other will be mistaken for it. So with any object, or with persons.
As to the kind of words used, we may begin with the common adjectives telling the characteristics of an object. ”

“ Of making many English grammars there is no end; nor should there be till theoretical scholarship and actual practice are more happily wedded. In this field much valuable work has already been accomplished; but it has been done largely by workers accustomed to take the scholar's point of view, and their writings are addressed rather to trained minds than to immature learners. To find an advanced grammar unencumbered with hard words, abstruse thoughts, and difficult principles, is not altogether an easy matter. ”

“ The proper study of a language is an intellectual discipline of the highest order. If I except discussions on the comparative merits of Popery and Protestantism, English grammar was the most important discipline of my boyhood.—John Tyndall. ”

“ But in common use there is no such distinction. Both types of sentences are found; both are gerunds; sometimes the gerund has the possessive form before it, sometimes it has the objective. The use of the objective is older, and in keeping with the old way of regarding the person as the chief object before the mind: the possessive use is more modern, in keeping with the disposition to proceed from the material thing to the abstract idea, and to make the action substantive the chief idea before the mind. ”

“ To attain these ends it is necessary to keep ever in the foreground the real basis of grammar; that is, good literature. Abundant quotations from standard authors have been given to show the student that he is dealing with the facts of the language, and not with the theories of grammarians. It is also suggested that in preparing written exercises the student use English classics instead of "making up" sentences. But it is not intended that the use of literary masterpieces for grammatical purposes should supplant or even interfere with their proper use and real value as works of art. ”

“ Miller's is a name applied to every individual of its class, hence it is a common noun; it is the name of a male being, hence it is a gender noun, masculine; it denotes only one person, therefore singular number; it expresses possession or ownership, and limits neckcloth, therefore possessive case.
Neckcloth, like miller's, is a common class noun; it has no sex, therefore neuter; names one thing, therefore singular number; subject of the verb is understood, and therefore nominative case.
Thief is a common class noun; the connection shows a male is meant, therefore masculine gender ”

“ Although the omission of the relative is common when it would be the object of the verb or preposition expressed, there is an omission which is not frequently found in careful writers; that is, when the relative word is a pronoun, object of a preposition understood, or is equivalent to the conjunction when, where, whence, and such like: as, "He returned by the same route [by which] he came;" "India is the place [in which, or where] he died." Notice these sentences:—
In the posture I lay, I could see nothing except the sky.—Swift. ”

“ A proper noun is a name applied to a particular object, whether person, place, or thing.
It specializes or limits the thing to which it is applied, reducing it to a narrow application. Thus, city is a word applied to any one of its kind; but Chicago names one city, and fixes the attention upon that particular city. King may be applied to any ruler of a kingdom, but Alfred the Great is the name of one king only. ”

“ Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost.
2. I no longer wish to meet a good I do not earn, for example, to find a pot of buried gold.
3. Your goodness must have some edge to it—else it is none.
4. Man does not stand in awe of man, nor is his genius admonished to stay at home, but it goes abroad to beg a cup of water of the urns of other men.
5. A man cannot speak but he judges himself. ”

“ The real reason for the diversity of views is a confusion of two distinct things,—what the definition of grammar should be, and what the purpose of grammar should be.
The material of grammar.
The province of English grammar is, rightly considered, wider than is indicated by any one of the above definitions; and the student ought to have a clear idea of the ground to be covered.
Few inflections.
It must be admitted that the language has very few inflections at present, as compared with Latin or Greek; so that a small grammar will hold them all.
Making rules is risky. ”

“ A gay and pleasant sound is the whetting of the scythe in the mornings of June, yet what is more lonesome and sad than the sound of a whetstone or mower's rifle when it is too late in the season to make hay? ”

“ It has been our aim to make a grammar of as wide a scope as is consistent with the proper definition of the word. Therefore, in addition to recording and classifying the facts of language, we have endeavored to attain two other objects,—to cultivate mental skill and power, and to induce the student to prosecute further studies in this field. It is not supposable that in so delicate and difficult an undertaking there should be an entire freedom from errors and oversights. We shall gratefully accept any assistance in helping to correct mistakes. ”

“ Times of heroism are generally times of terror, but the day never shines in which this element may not work.
21. Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and as we pass through them they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue, and each shows only what lies at its focus. ”

“ The various offices which the infinitive and the participle have in the sentence will be treated in Part II., under "Analysis," as we are now learning merely to recognize the forms.
GERUNDS.
272. The gerund is like the participle in form, and like a noun in use.
The participle has been called an adjectival verbal; the gerund may be called a noun verbal. While the gerund expresses action, it has several attributes of a noun,—it may be governed as a noun; it may be the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or a preposition; it is often preceded by the definite article ”

“ The great difference is, that in English the gender follows the meaning of the word, in other languages gender follows the form; that is, in English, gender depends on sex: if a thing spoken of is of the male sex, the name of it is masculine; if of the female sex, the name of it is feminine. ”

“ The word what, however, is subject of the verb can't be cured, and hence is in the nominative case.
"What we call nature is a certain self-regulated motion or change." Here the subject of is, etc., is what we call nature; but of this, we is the subject, and what is the direct object of the verb call, so is in the objective case.
Another way.
Some prefer another method of treatment. As shown by the following sentences, what is equivalent to that which:—
It has been said that "common souls pay with what they do, nobler souls with that which they are."—Emerson. ”

“ They will shuffle and crow, crook and hide, feign to confess here, only that they may brag and conquer there, and not a thought has enriched either party, and not an emotion of bravery, modesty, or hope. ”

“ As the indirect object of a verb, naming the person or thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb: "Give the devil his due."
(3) Adverbially, defining the action of a verb by denoting time, measure, distance, etc. (in the older stages of the language, this took the regular accusative inflection) : "Full fathom five thy father lies;" "Cowards die many times before their deaths."
(4) As the second object, completing the verb, and thus becoming part of the predicate in acting upon an object: "Time makes the worst enemies friends;" "Thou makest the storm a calm." ”

“ If a chemist discovers a new substance, he cannot describe it to others without telling its qualities: he will say it is solid, or liquid, or gaseous; heavy or light; brittle or tough; white or red; etc.
Again, in pointing out an object, adjectives are used; such as in the expressions "this man," "that house," "yonder hill," etc.
Instead of using nouns indefinitely, the number is limited by adjectives; as, "one hat," "some cities," "a hundred men."
The office of an adjective, then, is to narrow down or limit the application of a noun. ”

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

“ Hence these words are like adjectives used as nouns, which we have seen in such expressions as, "The dead are there;" that is, a word, in order to be an adjective pronoun, must not modify any word, expressed or understood. It must come under the requirement of pronouns, and stand for a noun. For instance, in the following sentences—"The cubes are of stainless ivory, and on each is written, in letters of gold, 'Truth;'" "You needs must play such pranks as these;" "They will always have one bank to sun themselves upon, and another to get cool under;" ”

“ Forms would be a more accurate word than inflections, since inflection applies only to the case of nouns.
There are three ways to distinguish the genders:—
(1) By prefixing a gender word to another word.
(2) By adding a suffix, generally to a masculine word.
(3) By using a different word for each gender.
I. Gender shown by Prefixes.
Very few of class I.
28. Usually the gender words he and she are prefixed to neuter words; as he-goat—she-goat, cock sparrow—hen sparrow, he-bear—she-bear.
One feminine, woman, puts a prefix before the masculine man. Woman is a short way of writing wifeman. ”

“ This is not logical; it is not consistent with the general rules of grammar: but none the less it is good English.
Also in the sentence, "None remained but he," grammatical rules would require him instead of he after the preposition; yet the expression is sustained by good authority.
Some rules not rigid.
392. In some cases, authorities—that is, standard writers—differ as to which of two constructions should be used, or the same writer will use both indifferently. Instances will be found in treating of the pronoun or noun with a gerund, pronoun and antecedent, sometimes verb and subject, etc. ”

“ Another way of referring to an antecedent which is a distributive pronoun or a noun modified by a distributive adjective, is to use the plural of the pronoun following. This is not considered the best usage, the logical analysis requiring the singular pronoun in each case; but the construction is frequently found when the antecedent includes or implies both genders. The masculine does not really represent a feminine antecedent, and the expression his or her is avoided as being cumbrous.
Notice the following examples of the plural:—
Neither of the sisters were very much deceived.—Thackeray. ”

“ The subject of a simple sentence may be—
(1) Noun: "There seems to be no interval between greatness and meanness." Also an expression used as a noun; as, "A cheery, 'Ay, ay, sir!' rang out in response."
(2) Pronoun: "We are fortified by every heroic anecdote."
(3) Infinitive phrase: "To enumerate and analyze these relations is to teach the science of method."
(4) Gerund: "There will be sleeping enough in the grave;" "What signifies wishing and hoping for better things?"
(5) Adjective used as noun: "The good are befriended even by weakness and defect;" "The dead are there." ”

“ The term verb is from the Latin verbum meaning word: hence it is the word of a sentence. A thought cannot be expressed without a verb. When the child cries, "Apple!" it means, See the apple! or I have an apple! In the mariner's shout, "A sail!" the meaning is, "Yonder is a sail!"
Sentences are in the form of declarations, questions, or commands; and none of these can be put before the mind without the use of a verb.
One group or a group of words.
200. The verb may not always be a single word. On account of the lack of inflections, verb phrases are very frequent. ”

“ When it is said that art differs from science, that the power of art is founded on fact, that disposition is the thing to be created, the words italicized are pure abstract nouns; but in case an art or a science, or the arts and sciences, be spoken of, the abstract idea is partly lost. ”

“ A complement is a word added to a verb of incomplete predication to complete its meaning.
Notice that a verb of incomplete predication may be of two kinds,—transitive and intransitive.
Of a transitive verb.
The transitive verb often requires, in addition to the object, a word to define fully the action that is exerted upon the object; for example, "Ye call me chief." Here the verb call has an object me (if we leave out chief) , and means summoned; but chief belongs to the verb, and me here is not the object simply of call, but of call chief, just as if to say, "Ye honor me." ”

“ A relative, when restrictive, introduces a clause to limit and make clear some preceding word. The clause is restricted to the antecedent, and does not add a new statement; it merely couples a thought necessary to define the antecedent: as, "I gave it to a beggar who stood at the gate." It defines beggar.
413. It is sometimes contended that who and which should always be coördinating, and that always restrictive; but, according to the practice of every modern writer, the usage must be stated as follows:—
A loose rule the only one to be formulated. ”

“ In (a) , a verb and a preposition are used as one verb; in (b) , a verb, an adverb, and a preposition unite as a verb; in (c) , an article, a noun, a preposition, are united with verbs as one verb phrase.
Definition and caution.
201. A verb is a word used as a predicate, to say something to or about some person or thing. In giving a definition, we consider a verb as one word.
Now, it is indispensable to the nature of a verb that it is "a word used as a predicate." Examine the sentences in Sec. 200: In (1) , obeyed is a predicate ”