SYNTAX.

SYNTAX treats of the construction of sentences.

NOTE. The principles of construction have been given in the body of this work. For convenience of reference, the rules are bere brought together with a few additional notes.

RULES.

THE SUBJECT.

RULE I. A noun or pronoun, used as the subject of a proposition, must be in the nominative case. (Page 26. See, also, ¶¶ 33, a, b, c, 191, 281.)

THE PREDICATE.

RULE II. A noun or pronoun, used with the copula to form the predicate, must be in the nominative case. (Page 29. See, also, ¶¶ 198, 283.)

RULE III. An adjective used with the copula to form the predicate, belongs to the subject. (Page 32. See, also, ¶200.)

NOTE 1. Adjectives may thus belong to a substantive phrase or clause; as, "To steal is base."

NOTE 2. Sometimes an adverb, or even a preposition, is joined to the copula, to form the predicate; as, "Thy glorious day is o'er " 'The boy is cheerful, but his brother is not so."

ROLE IV. The verb must agree with its subject in number and person. (Page 35.)

NOTE. Some verbs are used only in one person, and are hence alled unipersonal; as, "It rains; "Methinks."

THE ADJECTIVE ELEMENT.

RULE V. An adjective or participle, used as a modifier, eelongs to the noun or pronoun which it limits. (Page 51'

NOTE 1. Adjectives v hich imp.y number, should agree in number with the nouns to which they belong; as, "all men ;' "several men." When two numerals precede a noun, one sin gular and the other plural, the plural should be placed next to the noun; as, "the first two lines," not "the two first lines."

NOTE 2. When objects are contrasted, that refers to the first, and this to the last mentioned, as, "Wealth and poverty are both temptations; that tends to excite pride, this discontentment." For the use of comparatives and superlatives, see ¶¶ 61, 62, and 63.

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NOTE 3. In the use of the indefinite article, a should be placed before the sound of a consonant, and an before that of a vowel; a house ;' as, "a [y]union; 66 an inch; "an hour." NOTE 4. When the article, or any other merely limiting word, stands before two connected adjectives, (1,) it should be repeated, if they belong to different objects; as, “a white and a red flag," i. e. two flags; (2,) it should be used but once, if they belong to the same object; as, "this tall and beautiful tree," i. e. one tree.

NOTE 5. By a peculiar idiom, the is used with comparatives, to denote proportionate equality (332, a.); as, "The more I see it, the better I like it."

RULE VI. A noun or pronoun used to identify another noun or pronoun, is put by apposition in the same case; as, "His brother George was absent." (Page 53.)

NOTE. Two or more proper names, or a title and a proper namo, applied to one person, though in apposition, should be taken as one complex noun; as, "George Washington; "General Gates."

RULE VII. A noun or pronoun, used to limit another noun by denoting possession, must be in the possessive case; as, "Stephen's courage failed." (Page 55. See ¶ 164; see, also, ¶ 205.)

THE OBJECTIVE ELEMENT

RULE VIII. A noun or pronoun, used as the :bject of a transitive vero or its participles, must be in the objective

case; as, "We paid him." (Page 58. See ¶¶ 206 and 295.)

ADVERBIAL ELEMENT.

RULE IX. Adverbs are used to limit verbs, participles, adjectives, and other adverbs. (Page 65.)

NOTE. Two negatives occurring in the same sentence render it affirmative; as, "Nor did they not perceive their evil plight' "They did perceive their evil plight." Two negatives are often elegantly used to express an affirmation, one being the prefix of a derivative word; as, "Nor was he unsuccessful; "Mine is not an unwelcome task."

INTERJECTIONS, AND THE CASE INDEPENDENT.

RULE X. The nominative case independent, and the interjection, have no grammatical relation to the other parts of the sentence. (Page 68.)

NOTE 1. A noun may be in the nominative case independent, (1,) by direct address; as, "Friends, awake; "— (2,) by exclamation; as, "Oh, solitude!" — (3,) by pleonasm; as, “And Harry's flesh, it fell away."

NOTE 2. When a noun is used absolutely with a participle, the two are equivalent to a subordinate clause, and are, therefore, grammatically related to the principal clause. (See ¶ 351.)

CONNECTIVES.

NOTE. The following rules apply either to connectives or to words in some way associated with connectives.

RULE XI. Coördinate conjunctions are used to connect similar elements. (Page 75.)

ROLE XII. When a verb or pronoun relates to two or more nouns connected by a coördinate conjunction,-

1st. If it agrees with them conjointly, it must be in the plural number;

2d But, if it agrees with them taken separately, it must be of the same number as that which stands rext to it;

3d. If it agrees with one, and not the other, it must be of the same number as that with which it agrees. (Page 77.)

RULE XIII A preposition is used to show the relation of its object o the preceding word, on which the object depends; as, George went into the GARDEN.” (Page

85.)

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RULE XIV. A noun or pronoun used to complete the relation of a preposition, must be in the objective case; as, They gathered around him." (Page 85.)

NOTE 1. The object of the preposition may be either a word, phrase, or clause; as, "He came in haste;" "This is a book for you to read ;' ""Much depends upon who the commissioners are.” NOTE 2. The objective is used without a preposition, after like, nigh, near, and worth. See, also, Note, page 109.

RULE XV. The infinitive depends upon the word which t limits; as, "We went to see you." (Page 87.)

NOTE 1. This rule applies to the infinitive only when it is a subordinate element; when it is a principal element, apply either Rule I. or Rule II.

NOTE 2. The infinitive is often used after so, as, too, and than. (See ¶ 233, a.)

For the omission of the to, see T 213; also ¶ 235, (a.)

RULE XVI.

Subordinate connectives are used to join

dissimilar elements. (Page 128.)

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NOTE. These connectives are of three kinds, — conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, and relative pronouns.

RULE XVII. The relative pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person, number, and gender, but not in case. (Page 136.)

NOTE 1. This rule is equally true of the personal pronouns, though they do not always, like the relative, have an immediate antecedent

NOTE 2. When the antecedent is compound, apply RULE XIL NOTE 3. When the antecedent is a collective noun, the pronoun should be in the plural number, if the antecedent refers to the individuals composing the collection; otherwise it should be in the singular; as, "The committee who were appointed last year submitted no report." If reference were made to the committee as a body, who could not be used, but which or that must be substituted.

For the construction of the relative, see Sect. III., Chap III.

PROSODY.

1 ROSODY treats of the laws of versification.

A verse is a succession of accented and unaccented syl ables, constituting a line of poetry.

Verse is of two kinds,

rhyme and blank verse. In rhyme, there is a correspondence in sound between the last syllables of different lines.

Blank verse is without rhyme.

Accent is a stress of the voice placed upon a particular syllable, to distinguish it from others. Every word consisting of more than one syllable, must have one of its syl. lables accented.

The quantity of a syllable is the time employed in utter ing it. All syllables are either long or short.

A long syllable is equal in quantity to two short ones. A foot is a portion of verse containing two or more syl. lables, combined according to accent.

The principal feet, in English, are the iambus, the trochee, the anapast, and the dactyle.

The iambus consists of a short and a long sylable.