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RULE II. The verb must agree with its nominative case, in numb and person.

RULE III. The infire mode, or part of a sentence, is sometimes the nominative to a verb, and in other respects does the office of a noun; as, "To see the sun is pleasant."

RULE IV. When an address is made to a person, the noun, or pronoun, is in the nominative case independent; as, "Who art thou, O man?"

RULE V. A noun, joined with a participle, and standing independent of the rest of the sentence, is in the nominative case absolute; as, "Shame being lost, all virtue is lost."

QUESTIONS.

Of what does Syntax treat?-Of what parts does it consist ?-What is concord ?-What is government?-How should the Rules of Syntax be committed to memory ?-You will repeat the first five of these Rules in their order.—In the examples under the first Rule, how are the words, Apostle, and conqueror, parsed?" We was wiser than they." Thou should love thy neighbour."-What violations of the second Rule, do you find in these sentences?--In the example under Rule third, how do you parse the verb to see?-To what does the adjective pleasant belong?--In the example under the next Rule, how do you parse man?"John, bring me a book."-In this sentence, how do you parse John ?—In the example under Rule fifth, how do you parse shame?

REVIEW.

A sentence is an assemblage of words, ranged in proper order, and concurring to make complete sense.

Sentences are of two kinds, simple and compound. A simple sentence has in it but one subject, and one finite verb: as, 'Life is short.'

A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences, connected together: as, 'Life is short, and art is long.' Idleness produces want, vice, and misery.'

As sentences themselves are divided into simple and compound, so the members of sentences may be divided likewise into simple and compound members: for whole sentences, whether simple or compounded, may become members of other sentences, by means of some additional connexion; as in the following example: The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know; my people do not consider.' sentence consists of two compounded members, each of which is subdivided into two simple members, which are properly called clauses.

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There are three sorts of simple sentences; the explicative, or explaining; the interrogative, or asking; the imperative, or commanding.

An explicative sentence is, when a thing is said to be or not to be, to do or not to do, to suffer or not to suffer, in a direct manner: as, 'I am; thou writest; Thomas is loved.' If the sentence be negative, the adverb not is placed after the auxiliary, or after the verb itself when it has no auxiliary: as, I did not touch him; or, 'I

touched him not.'

In an interrogative sentence, or when a question is asked, the nominative case follows the principal verb, or the auxiliary: as, 'Was it he?' 'Did Alexander conquer the Persians?'

In an imperative sentence, when a thing is commanded to be, to do, to suffer, or not, the nominative case likewise follows the verb or the auxiliary: as, 'Go, thou traitor! Do thou go:' Haste ye away:' unless the verb let be used; as, ' Let us be gone.'

A phrase is two or more words rightly put together, making sometimes part of a sentence, and sometimes a whole sentence.

The principal parts of a simple sentence are, the subject, the attribute, and the object.

The subject is the thing chiefly spoken of; the attribute is the thing or action affirmed or denied of it; and the object is the thing affected by such action,

The nominative denotes the subject, and usually goes before the verb or attribute; and the word or phrase, denoting the object, follows the verb: as, A wise man governs his passions.' Here, a wise man is the subject; governs, the attribute, or thing affirmed; and his passions, the object.

OF RULE I. Nouns are not unfrequently set in apposition to sentences, or parts of sentences; as 'If a man had a complete idea of infinite, he could add two infinites together, or could make one infinite infinitely greater than another; absurdities too gross to be confuted." Here the absurdities are the whole preceding propositions.

OF RULE II.-Every verb, except in the infinitive mode, ought to have a nominative, either expressed or understood; as, 'Awake, arise,' that is 'Awake ye, arise ye,' &c.

Every nominative case, except the case absolute, and the nominative independent, should belong to some verb, either expressed or understood; as 'Who wrote this? James; that is, 'James wrote it.'

When a verb comes between two nouns, either of which may be understood as the subject of the affirmation, it may agree with either of them; but some regard must be had to that which is more naturally the subject of it, as also to that which stands next to the verb: as, 'His meat was locusts and wild honey;' A great cause of the low state of industry were the restraints put upon it ;' 'The wages of sin is death.'

In such instances as those which follow, either of the clauses may be considered as the nominative to the verb. To show how the understanding proceeds herein, is the design of the following discourse.' This sentence may be inverted without changing a single word: The design of the following discourse is, to show how the understanding proceeds herein.' 'To fear no eye, and to suspect no tongue, is the great prerogative of innocence.' This sentence may be inverted but, accord

ing to the English idiom, the pronoun it would, in that case, precede the verb: as, 'It is the prerogative of innocence, to fear no eye, and to suspect no tongue.'

The nominative case is commonly placed before the verb; but sometimes it is put after the verb, if it is a simple tense; and between the auxiliary, and the verb or participle, if a compound tense : as,

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1st, When a question is asked, a command given, or a wish expressed: as, ( Confidest thou in me? Read thou; Mayst thou be happy!' 'Long live the King!' 2d, When a supposition is made, without the conjunction if as, 'Were it not for this;' 'Had I been

there.'

3d, When a verb neuter is used: as, 'On a sudden appeared the king.'Above it stood the seraphim.'

4th, When the verb is preceded by the adverbs, here, there, then, thence, thus, &c.: as, 'Here am I;' 'There was he slain ;' "Then cometh the end;' Thence ariseth his grief;' 'Hence proceeds his anger;' 'Thus was the affair settled.'

5th, When a sentence depends on neither or nor, so as to be coupled with another sentence as, 'Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.'

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6th, When an emphatical adjective introduces a sentence as, Happy is the man whose heart does not reproach him.'

OF RULE III.-When several phrases, connected by a copulative conjunction, expressed or understood, are made nominatives to a verb, the verb must be plural; as,

To be temperate in eating and drinking, to use exercise in the open air, and to keep the mind free from tumultuous emotions, are the best preservatives of health.'

The infinitive mode does the office of a substantive in the objective case; as, 'Boys love to play,' that is, they love play.

OF RULE IV.-When an address is made to a person, the noun is independent of any verb. The nominative independent is, of course, always in the second person.

OF RULE V.-Good writers have in some few instanees, though incorrectly, put the case absolute in the objective; as,

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What is a sentence?-What is a simple sentence?— What is a compound sentence?-How many sorts of simple sentences are there?-What is an explicative sentence?--What an interrogative sentence?---What an imperative sentence? What is a phrase?—What are the three principal parts of a simple sentence?--In what cases does the nominative come after the verb?-

LESSON XXII.

RULE VI. 1wo or more nouns singular, con nected by one or more copulative conjunctions, have verbs and pronouns agreeing with them in the plural number; as, "Socrates and Plato were wise." But,

RULE VII. If the conjunctions connecting them be disjunctive, the agreeing words must be in the singular number; as, “John, or James, or Joseph intends to accompany me."

RULE VIII. A noun of multitude may have a verb or pronoun agreeing with it, either of the singular or plural number; as, "My people do not consider."

RULE IX. Neuter and Passive verbs may have the same case after them as before them, when both nouns refer to the same thing; as, "John is a good child." "We persuaded him to become a Christian."

RULE X. The relative pronoun must agree with its antecedent, in gender, number, and person; as, "Thou, who lovest wisdom,"

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