CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



any change on the word governed. Errors are 

 never made on this point when the pronoun imme- 

 diately follows the verb or preposition. No one 

 thinks of saying : ' I saw he,' or, ' The man spoke 

 to we.' It is only when the object is at some dis- 

 tance from the governing word, so that the object- 

 ive relation is obscured, that a wrong case is apt 

 to be used. Ex., ' He that promises too much, do 

 not trust ;' for, ' Him that,' &c. If the sentence 

 were arranged differently, beginning, ' Do not trust 

 him, &c., the error would never occur. It is 

 especially in the use of who and whom that errors 

 of case are apt to be made. Ex., ' Do you know 

 who you speak to ?' for ' whom you speak to.' 



Care requires to be taken not to use the object- 

 ive case when the pronoun is the subject of a verb. 

 Ex., 'Who did that? Me' By supplying the 

 ellipsis, we see that the nominative should be 

 used /(did it). There is such a strong propensity 

 in all, learned and unlearned, to use me, him, 

 them, &c. in answer to questions and in such 

 phrases as, ' It is me, it was her,' &c. that there 

 are not wanting those that defend the practice as 

 t, and according to the instinctive genius of 

 the English language. They hold that there are 

 two forms of the nominative case, one to be used 

 when a verb immediately follows, and another 

 when the pronoun has to stand alone. The 

 analogy of the French language is in favour of 

 this view ; for while '/ am here,' is 'Je suis ici,' 

 the answer to 'Who is there ?' is 'Mot' (me) ; and 

 ' Cest mot' (it is me), is the legitimate phrase, 

 never ' C'estje' (it is /). But as yet this opinion, 

 however much countenanced by usage, is con- 

 sidered a heresy by orthodox grammarians ; and, 

 accordingly, such expressions as, 'It was her, I am 

 taller than him,' are to be avoided as errors. 



It is the dread of falling into this error that 

 drives many into the very opposite of using the 

 nominative case after a verb or preposition, in 

 such expressions as : ' Between you and /.' 



Apposition. When one noun (or pronoun) is 

 joined to another to explain it, the two are said to 

 be in apposition ; and then they must be both in 

 the same case. Ex., London, the capital, is the 

 greatest city in the world. They hanged the leader 

 of the gang, him that had so long defied the law. 

 The leader of the gang was hanged, he that had so 

 long defied the law. ; 



The verb To Be. The verb to be has the same 

 case after it that it has before it. Ex., 'Alfred 

 was king! Here Alfred is nominative to was, 

 and as was merely declares that king is another 

 name for the same person, king agrees with 

 Alfred in case. ' // was he! He is here in the 

 nominative, because it is the nominative to was ; 

 in, ' I took // to be him,' him is objective, because 

 // is the object to the verb took. 



ORDER OF WORDS. 



I. The subject precedes the verb. 

 Exceptions. (a.) When a question is asked. 

 Ex., ' Art thou mad ?' 



(b.) With the imperative mood. Ex., ' Come ye.' 

 (c.) In the conditional mood, when the conjunc- 



593 



tion is suppressed. Ex., '//,-,/ 7 known that, r 

 instead of, l If I had known that.' 



(</.) When the sentence or clause is introduced 

 by there, here, where. Ex., ' There stood a church 

 at the corner of the street. Here are yottr gl< 

 Also in such parenthetical phrases as, said he, 

 replied Ja HI, :\: 



2. The transitive verb precedes its object. 

 Excep. When the objective is the relative. 



Ex., ' This is the letter that he wrote! 



3. The adjective immediately precedes the 

 noun. 



Excep. When the adjective has any words 

 joined with it. Ex., ' A question too important to 

 be negl. 



4. The adverb is placed before the adjective it 

 qualifies ; with an intransitive verb it is placed after. 

 Ex., ' A very good man. She dances well' When 

 the verb has an object, the adverb usually follows 

 it ; as, ' The ball wounded him severely.' But no 

 general rule can be given regarding the adverb, 

 except to take care that it be so placed as to affect 

 the word it ought to affect. More errors in this 

 respect are committed with the adverb only, than 

 with any other. According to the position of only, 

 the very same words may be made to express 

 several very different meanings. 



Ex., (i.) He only lived for their sakes. 



(2.) He lived only for their sakes. 



(3.) He lived for their sakes only. 



(4.) He lived for their sakes alone. 



These sentences imply respectively 



(r.) He lived for their sakes, but did not 

 work, did not die, &c. for their sakes. 



(2.) He lived for their sakes, and not for any 

 other reason. 



(3.) He lived for their sakes, and not for any 

 more worthy reason. 



(4.) He lived for their sakes, and not for the 

 sake of any other persons. 



The rules given above apply only to the order 

 observed in plain, unimpassioned prose. In 

 poetry, and for rhetorical effect, the usual order is 

 largely departed from. 



Such are a few of the principles of the widest 

 application in syntax. Our space forbids us to 

 enter into the details required in a complete 

 treatise. The object throughout has been to put 

 the reader in the way of observing and investigat- 

 ing for himself, rather than to attempt a complete 

 view of any part of the subject. The right under- 

 standing of the structure of sentences the ability 

 to see at a glance the relation of the several parts 

 to one another goes far to render detailed rules 

 unnecessary. In clearing up, for instance, the 

 mystery of how to use commas, semicolons, &c. 

 it is worth any number of formal directions. 



Under the head of Syntax it is usual to give a 

 number of rules about the choice of words and 

 phrases. On this vast field we cannot enter. It 

 involves the knowledge of the correct meaning of 

 all the words, and idiomatic combinations of 

 words, in the language ; and belongs rather to 

 Lexicography than to Grammar. This knowledge 

 is acquired only by extensive experience by read- 

 ing good authors and hearing good speakers. 



