LESSONS IN ENGLISH. 



Under the heads of AORBEMENT and DEPBNDENCB (or 

 fOTornment) may all the facts and laws of grammar be arranged. 

 You soo the two set forth as they appear in this wntenoe : 



Agreement. Agreement, fitptndmce. 



The 



in. in 



drinks water. 



Bat here is an instance of agreement of which I have not 

 : , namely, that between the article and the noon the man ; 

 , rof erring to the same object, agree in sense. I 

 subjoin then 



Instance* of Agreement. Instances of Government. 



The article and the nouu. The object and its vorb. 



The adjective and the noun. Tho nouu and the preposition. 



The vorb and the nouu. A verb and a preposition. 



A vorb and a verb. 



Verbs of different kinds. The government of a noun by a vorb 

 takes place only when the verb is transitive. A transitive verb 

 is a verb tho action of which passes from the subject to the 

 object; thus, in the sentence, The man drinks water, the act 

 denoted by the word drinking passes directly from man to 

 Verbs that have an object directly dependent on them 

 are called transitive, that is, passing over (from Lat. trans, 

 " over," and eo, " I go "). 



Transitive verbs have for their opposite verbs intransitive, 

 that is, verbs tho action denoted by which does not extend to an 

 object, but remains confined to the subject, Sleeps, in the sen- 

 tence, The man sleeps, is an intransitive verb. 



Intransitive verbs may appear either with a personal subject, 

 as in the last sentence, or without a personal subject, as in It 

 rains. 



Transitive verbs may exist in two forms as 1. ACTIVE. The 

 inan drinks water; 2. PASSIVE. The water is drunk by the man. 



These two forms are commonly called voices. In the first the 

 verb is said to be in the active voice ; in the second the verb is 

 said to be in the passive voice. A transitive verb is in the 

 active voice when it has a subject and an object. A transitive 

 vorb is in the passive voice when it has only a subject. In the 

 passive voice the object of the active verb has become the subject. 

 Only transitive verbs can exist in tho passive form. 



I have endeavoured to show you that the form " man drinks " 

 is the simplest sentence that can be constructed. A sentence 

 equally simple can, however, exist in another shape; as, The 

 .nan is good. 



In the analysis of this sentence, I have to introduce and 

 explain a new term or two. 



You already know that the man is the subject of tho verb is, 

 but what is good ? The word good is an adjective, or it may bo 

 called an attributive, because it assigns the attribute or quality 

 of the noun man. This attribute is connected with the subject 

 wan by means of the verb is. A verb so connecting an attribute 

 with a subject is called a copula, or link ; and that copula in 

 union with the attribute is termed tho predicate. This name is 

 given to the united copula and attribute, because when so united 

 the predicate and copula predicate or declare something of the 

 subject. These facts may be exhibited thus : 



PREDICATE. 



Copula. Attribute. 

 1. The man is good. 



Verb. Object,. 

 2. The man drinks watr. 



In tho second sentence you see drinks water, that is, a verb 

 and its object is the predicate, for it is they which there predi- 

 cate or declare something of the subject. 



In the case of intransitive verbs, the predicate has no attri- 

 bute, as exhibited in this sentence : 



SUBJECT. PREDICATE. 



The boy runs. 



A yet more abstract form of a simple sentence is found in 

 example : 



SUBJECT. PREDICATE. 



The man is, 



where is is the predicate to the subject the man. Here, how- 

 ever, observe that the word is is employed in tho sense of 

 exists, and 30 is seen to belong to the general class of intran- 

 sitive verbs. 



It may be added that the verb to be is sometimes called a sub- 

 stantive verb, because it denotes existence in its most abstract 

 form. 



Before going further, I may remark here that intransitive 

 verb* are also denominated neuter (neither) twrii, beoaiuw th*j 

 are properly neither active nor passive. 



SYNTAX OP THE SUBJECT. 



I now proceed to the grammatical analyst* of simple sentence* 

 considered in their several element*, taking, as the thread of 

 my discourse, the oft-repeated model in its fullest form 

 The sick man copiously drinks pure water at UM wtll. 



I shall consider what modifications the several parts may 

 undergo, and what instances of agreement or government tb(f 

 involve. 



I shall first take the subject, the sick man, and then the pre- 

 dicate, copiously drinks pure water at the weU. 



THE ARTICLE. 



The subject consists simply of three words. Of these wordr. 

 tho first, the, may become a, as a sicfc man. As the sentence 

 stood originally, some particular sick man was designated. Now 

 this determinativeness is lost, and instead we have the state- 

 ment that a sick man, whoever ho may be, drinks, etc. 



This want of determinativeness may be increased by substi- 

 tuting the indefinite pronoun some for the definite article the. 

 Or it may be wholly removed, and an exact determination may 

 be substituted, by putting this into the place of a or the, a< 

 this (or that) sick man drinks. 



A gives an intimation of unity, but one declares unity ex- 

 plicitly. One, then, is also a determinative. 



Of these determinatives some are singular, others plural, ai.U 

 they may be arranged thus : 



DETERMINATIVES. 



Singular. A, one, some, this, that. 



Plural. some, these, thoee. 



These determinatives are adjectival, that is, they qualify 

 nouns, as a man. Of these adjectival determinatives on and 

 some may be used with a substantival force, as 



SCBSTANTTVAL DETERMINATIVES. 



" I love boys." " All boys ? " " No, good ones." 

 Here are many books, some in Greek, some in Latin. 

 These determinatives all agree with their nouns. Thus <i 

 agrees with man ; some also agrees with books, for some and 

 books are symbols of the same objects. 



The definite article is prefixed to adjectives and adverbs to 

 assist in the expression of comparisons ; as 



Adjectives. The longer the noviciate the greater the progress. 

 Adverb. I choose the book the rather because, etc. 



The definite article is also prefixed to adjectives in the super- 

 lative degree, in order to denote the highest possible amount, 

 being thus used intensively ; as 



The most strenuous exertions will be made. 



The indefinite article gives to plurals the force of totality or 

 unity; as 



" Let the damsel abide a few days." ((Jen. xxiv. 55.) 



When a few is the subject of a proposition, it has a plural 

 verb ; as 



" When a few years are come, then I shall go." (Job xri. 22.) 

 The repetition of the article with adjectives of dissimilar 

 import requires the verb to be in the plural ; as 



The metaphorical and the literal meaning are improperly mixed. 

 Here two meanings are intended. But in this example, 

 Th original and present signification is retained, 



only one signification is meant. We may also say 

 The north and south poles are wide asunder. 



THE ADJECTIVE. 



The next word in the subject is the adjective sict, which 

 qualifies the noun man. As qualification is the attribute of the 

 adjective, it may bo called the qualifier, and whatever word 

 qualifies a noun performs the part of an adjective. 



Adjectives may pass into adverbs ; that is, adjectives may 

 qualify verbs instead of nouns. When I say "the house is 

 near," near is an adjective. But when I say "he stood near," 

 I use near in an adverbial sense. 



Near has also the appearance of a preposition, as " they live 

 near each other ; " but here it is really an adverb, the preposi- 

 tion to being understood. 



