SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS

The Sentence

1. Language is thought expressed in words.

2. To express thought words are combined into sentences.

3. A sentence is a group of words which expresses a complete thought.

4. Sentences may be declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory.

(1) A declarative sentence declares or asserts something as a fact.

(2) An interrogative sentence asks a question.

(3) An imperative sentence expresses a command or a request.

(4) An exclamatory sentence expresses surprise, grief, or some other emotion in the form of an exclamation or cry.

A declarative, an interrogative, or an imperative sentence may also be exclamatory.

Subject and Predicate

5. Every sentence consists of a subject and a predicate.

The subject of a sentence designates the person, place, or thing that is spoken of; the predicate is that which is said of the subject.

6. The simple subject of a sentence is a noun or pronoun.

The simple predicate of a sentence is a verb or verb-phrase.

7. The simple subject, with such words as explain or complete its meaning, forms the complete subject.

The simple predicate, with such words as explain or complete its meaning, forms the complete predicate.

8. A compound subject or predicate consists of two or more simple subjects or predicates, joined, when necessary, by conjunctions.

Either the subject or the predicate, or both, may be compound.

The Parts of Speech

9. In accordance with their use in the sentence, words are divided into eight classes called parts of speech,—namely, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

(1) A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.

(2) A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. It designates a person, place, or thing without naming it.

Nouns and pronouns are called substantives.

The substantive to which a pronoun refers is called its antecedent.

(3) An adjective is a word which describes or limits a substantive.

This it usually does by indicating some quality.

An adjective is said to belong to the substantive which it describes or limits.

An adjective which describes is called a descriptive adjective; one which points out or designates is called a definitive adjective.

(4) A verb is a word which can assert something (usually an action) concerning a person, place, or thing.

Some verbs express state or condition rather than action.

A group of words that is used as a verb is called a verb-phrase.

Certain verbs, when used to make verb-phrases, are called auxiliary (that is, “aiding”) verbs, because they help other verbs to express action or state of some particular kind.

Is (in its various forms) and several other verbs may be used to frame sentences in which some word or words in the predicate describe or define the subject. In such sentences, is and other verbs that are used for the same purpose are called copulative (that is, “joining”) verbs.

(5) An adverb is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

A word or group of words that changes or modifies the meaning of another word is called a modifier.

Adjectives and adverbs are both modifiers.

(6) A preposition is a word placed before a substantive to show its relation to some other word in the sentence.

The substantive which follows a preposition is called its object.

(7) A conjunction connects words or groups of words.

(8) An interjection is a cry or other exclamatory sound expressing surprise, anger, pleasure, or some other emotion or feeling.

10. The meaning of a word in the sentence determines to what part of speech it belongs.

The same word may be sometimes one part of speech, sometimes another.

11. The infinitive is a verb-form which partakes of the nature of a noun. It is commonly preceded by the preposition to, which is called the sign of the infinitive.

12. The participle is a verb-form which has no subject, but which partakes of the nature of an adjective and expresses action or state in such a way as to describe or limit a substantive.

A participle is said to belong to the substantive which it describes or limits.

The chief classes of participles are present participles and past participles, so called from the time which they denote.

Substitutes for the Parts of Speech

Phrases

13. A group of connected words, not containing a subject and a predicate, is called a phrase.

A phrase is often equivalent to a part of speech.

(1) A phrase used as a noun is called a noun-phrase.

(2) A phrase used as a verb is called a verb-phrase.

(3) A phrase used as an adjective is called an adjective phrase.

(4) A phrase used as an adverb is called an adverbial phrase.

14. Adjective or adverbial phrases consisting of a preposition and its object, with or without other words, may be called prepositional phrases.

Clauses

15. A clause is a group of words that forms part of a sentence and that contains a subject and a predicate.

16. A clause used as a part of speech is called a subordinate clause. All other clauses are said to be independent.

17. Clauses of the same order or rank are said to be coördinate.

18. Sentences may be simple, compound, or complex.

(1) A simple sentence has but one subject and one predicate, either or both of which may be compound.

(2) A compound sentence consists of two or more independent coördinate clauses, which may or may not be joined by conjunctions.

(3) A complex sentence consists of two or more clauses, one of which is independent and the rest subordinate.

A compound sentence in which one or more of the coördinate clauses are complex is called a compound complex sentence.

19. Subordinate clauses, like phrases, are used as parts of speech. They serve as substitutes for nouns, for adjectives, or for adverbs.

(1) A subordinate clause that is used as a noun is called a noun (or substantive) clause.

(2) A subordinate clause that modifies a substantive is called an adjective clause.

(3) A subordinate clause that serves as an adverbial modifier is called an adverbial clause.

PART TWO
INFLECTION AND SYNTAX

CHAPTER I
INFLECTION

52. Inflection is a change of form in a word indicating some change in its meaning. A word thus changed in form is said to be inflected.

Thus the nouns man, wife, dog, may change their form to man’s, wife’s, dog’s, to express possession; or to men, wives, dogs, to show that two or more are meant.

The pronouns I, she, may change their form to our, her.

The adjectives large, happy, good, may change their form to larger, happier, better, to denote a higher degree of the quality; or to largest, happiest, best, to denote the highest degree.

The verbs look, see, sing, may change their form to looked, saw, sang, to denote past time.

The examples show that a word may be inflected (1) by the addition of a final letter or syllable (dog, dogs; look, looked), (2) by the substitution of one letter for another (man, men), or (3) by a complete change of form (good, better, best).

53. The inflection of a substantive is called its declension; that of an adjective or an adverb, its comparison; that of a verb, its conjugation.

Note. Some forms which we regard as due to inflection are really distinct words. Thus we is regarded as a form of the pronoun I, but it is in fact an altogether different word. Such irregularities, however, are not numerous, and are properly enough included under the head of inflection.

The table below gives a summary view of inflection, and may be used for reference with the following chapters.

CHAPTER II
NOUNS

CLASSIFICATION—COMMON NOUNS AND PROPER NOUNS

54. A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.

55. Nouns are divided into two classes—proper nouns and common nouns.

1. A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing.

Examples:

2. A common noun is a name which may be applied to any one of a class of persons, places, or things.

Examples:

Proper nouns begin with a capital letter; common nouns usually begin with a small letter.

Note. Although a proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing, that name may be given to more than one individual. More than one man is named James; but when we say James, we think of one particular person, whom we are calling by his own name. When we say man, on the contrary, we are not calling any single person by name: we are using a noun which applies, in common, to all the members of a large class of persons.

Any word, when mentioned merely as a word, is a noun. Thus,—

And is a conjunction.

56. A common noun becomes a proper noun when used as the particular name of a ship, a newspaper, an animal, etc.

57. A proper noun often consists of a group of words, some of which are perhaps ordinarily used as other parts of speech.

Examples:

Note. These are (strictly speaking) noun-phrases ([§ 41]); but, since all are particular names, they may be regarded as proper nouns.

58. A proper noun becomes a common noun when used as a name that may be applied to any one of a class of objects.

59. Certain proper nouns have become common nouns when used in a special sense. These generally begin with a small letter.

Examples:

60. A lifeless object, one of the lower animals, or any human quality or emotion is sometimes regarded as a person.

This usage is called personification, and the object, animal, or quality is said to be personified.

Each old poetic Mountain
Inspiration breathed around.—Gray.

Who’ll toll the bell?
“I,” said the Bull,
“Because I can pull.”

His name was Patience.—Spenser.

Smiles on past Misfortune’s brow
Soft Reflection’s hand can trace;
And o’er the cheek of Sorrow throw
A melancholy grace.—Gray.

Love is and was my lord and king,
And in his presence I attend.—Tennyson.

Time gently shakes his wings.—Dryden.

The name of anything personified is regarded as a proper noun and is usually written with a capital letter.

Note. The rule for capitals is not absolute. When the personification is kept up for only a sentence or two (as frequently in Shakspere), the noun often begins with a small letter.

SPECIAL CLASSES OF NOUNS

61. An abstract noun is the name of a quality or general idea.

Examples:

Many abstract nouns are derived from adjectives.

Examples:

62. A collective noun is the name of a group, class, or multitude, and not of a single person, place, or thing.

Examples:

The same noun may be abstract in one of its meanings, collective in another.

63. Abstract nouns are usually common, but become proper when the quality or idea is personified ([§ 60]).

Collective nouns may be either proper or common.

64. A noun consisting of two or more words united is called a compound noun.

Examples:

As the examples show, the parts of a compound noun may be joined (with or without a hyphen) or written separately. In some words usage is fixed, in others it varies. The hyphen, however, is less used than formerly.

Note. The first part of a compound noun usually limits the second after the manner of an adjective. Indeed, many expressions may be regarded either (1) as compounds or (2) as phrases containing an adjective and a noun. Thus railway conductor may be taken as a compound noun, or as a noun (conductor) limited by an adjective (railway).

INFLECTION OF NOUNS

65. In studying the inflection of nouns and pronouns we have to consider gender, number, person, and case.

1. Gender is distinction according to sex.

2. Number is that property of substantives which shows whether they indicate one person or thing or more than one.

3. Person is that property of substantives which shows whether they designate (1) the speaker, (2) the person spoken to, or (3) the person or thing spoken of.

4. Substantives have inflections of case to indicate their grammatical relations to verbs, to prepositions, or to other substantives.

These four properties of substantives are included under inflection for convenience. In strictness, however, nouns are inflected for number and case only. Gender is shown in various ways,—usually by the meaning of the noun or by the use of some pronoun. Person is indicated by the sense, by the pronouns used, and by the form of the verb.

I. GENDER

66. Gender is distinction according to sex.

Nouns and pronouns may be of the masculine, the feminine, or the neuter gender.

1. A noun or pronoun denoting a male being is of the masculine gender.

Examples:

2. A noun or pronoun denoting a female being is of the feminine gender.

Examples:

3. A noun or pronoun denoting a thing without animal life is of the neuter gender.

Examples:

A noun or pronoun which is sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine is often said to be of common gender.

Examples:

67. A pronoun must be in the same gender as the noun for which it stands or to which it refers.

Each of the following pronouns is limited to a single gender:

All other pronouns vary in gender.

68. A neuter noun may become masculine or feminine by personification ([§ 60]).

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean.—Shelley.

Stern daughter of the Voice of God!
O Duty!—Wordsworth.

Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe.—Milton.

69. In speaking of certain objects, such as a ship and the moon, it is customary to use she and her. In like manner, he is used in speaking of the sun and of most animals, without reference to sex, although it often designates an insect or other small creature, and even a very young child.

Who and which are both used in referring to the lower animals. Which is the commoner, but who is not infrequent, especially if the animal is thought of as an intelligent being.

Thus one would say, “The dog which is for sale is in that kennel,” even if one added, “He is a collie.” But which would never be used in such a sentence as, “I have a dog who loves children.”

70. The gender of masculine and of feminine nouns may be shown in various ways.

1. The male and the female of many kinds or classes of living beings are denoted by different words.

MasculineFeminine
fathermother
husbandwife
uncleaunt
kingqueen
monknun
wizardwitch
lordlady
horsemare
gandergoose
drakeduck
cockhen
ramewe
bullcow
harthind
buckdoe
foxvixen[10]

2. Some masculine nouns become feminine by the addition of an ending.

MasculineFeminine
heirheiress
baronbaroness
lionlioness
princeprincess
emperorempress
tigertigress
executorexecutrix
administratoradministratrix
heroheroine
JosephJosephine
sultansultana
PhilipPhilippa

Note. The feminine gender is often indicated by the ending ess. Frequently the corresponding masculine form ends in or or er: as,—actor, actress; governor, governess; waiter, waitress. The ending ess is not so common as formerly. Usage favors proprietor, author, editor, etc., even for the feminine (rather than the harsher forms proprietress, authoress, editress), whenever there is no special reason for emphasizing the difference of sex.

3. A few feminine words become masculine by the addition of an ending. Thus,—widow, widower; bride, bridegroom.

4. Gender is sometimes indicated by the ending man, woman, maid, boy, or girl.

Examples:

5. A noun or a pronoun is sometimes prefixed to a noun to indicate gender.

Examples:

6. The gender of a noun may be indicated by some accompanying part of speech, usually by a pronoun.

Note. The variations in form studied under 2 and 3 (above) are often regarded as inflections. In reality, however, the masculine and the feminine are different words. Thus, baroness is not an inflectional form of baron, but a distinct noun, made from baron by adding the ending ess, precisely as barony and baronage are made from baron by adding the endings y and age. The process is rather that of derivation or noun-formation than that of inflection.

II. NUMBER

71. Number is that property of substantives which shows whether they indicate one person, place, or thing or more than one.

There are two numbers,—the singular and the plural.

The singular number denotes but one person, place, or thing. The plural number denotes more than one person, place, or thing.

72. Most nouns form the plural number by adding s or es to the singular.

Examples:

Special Rules

1. If the singular ends in s, x, z, ch, or sh, the plural ending is es.

Examples:

2. Many nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant also take the ending es in the plural.

Examples:

3. Nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel form their plural in s: as,—cameo, cameos; folio, folios.

4. The following nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant also form their plural in s:—

73. In some nouns the addition of the plural ending alters the spelling and even the sound of the singular form.

1. Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant change y to i and add es in the plural.

Examples:

Most proper names ending in y, however, take the plural in s.

Examples:

2. Some nouns ending in f or fe, change the f to v and add es or s.

Examples:

74. A few nouns form their plural in en.

These are:

Note. Ancient or poetical plurals belonging to this class are: eyne (for eyen, from eye), kine (cows), shoon (shoes), hosen (hose).

75. A few nouns form their plural by a change of vowel.

These are:

Note. German, Mussulman, Ottoman, dragoman, firman, and talisman, which are not compounds of man, form their plurals regularly: as,—Germans, Mussulmans. Norman also forms its plural in s.

76. A few nouns have the same form in both singular and plural.

Examples:

Note. This class was larger in older English than at present. It included, for example, year, which in Shakspere has two plurals:—“six thousand years,” “twelve year since.”

77. A few nouns have two plurals, but usually with some difference in meaning.

SingularPlural
brotherbrothers (relatives)
brethren (members of the same society)
horsehorses (animals)
horse (cavalry)
footfeet (parts of the body)
foot (infantry)
sailsails (on vessels)
sail (vessels in a fleet)
headheads (in usual sense)
head (of cattle)
fishfishes (individually)
fish (collectively)
pennypennies (single coins)
pence (collectively)
clothcloths (pieces of cloth)
clothes (garments)
diedies (for stamping)
dice (for gaming)

78. When compound nouns are made plural, the last part usually takes the plural form; less often the first part; rarely both parts.

Examples:

79. Letters of the alphabet, figures, signs used in writing, and words regarded merely as words take ’s in the plural.

80. Foreign nouns in English sometimes retain their foreign plurals; but many have an English plural also.

Some of the commonest are included in the following list:[12]

SingularPlural
alumna (feminine)alumnæ
alumnus (masculine)alumni
amanuensisamanuenses
analysisanalyses
animalculumanimalcula[13]
antithesisantitheses
appendixappendices
appendixes
axisaxes
bacillusbacilli
bacteriumbacteria
banditbanditti
bandits
basisbases
beaubeaux
beaus
candelabrumcandelabra
cumuluscumuli
cherubcherubim
cherubs
crisiscrises
curriculumcurricula
datumdata
ellipsisellipses
erratumerrata
formulaformulæ
formulas
geniusgenii
geniuses
genusgenera
gymnasiumgymnasia
gymnasiums
hippopotamushippopotami
hypothesishypotheses
larvalarvæ
memorandummemoranda
memorandums
nebulanebulæ
oasisoases
parenthesisparentheses
phenomenonphenomena
radiusradii
seraphseraphim
seraphs
speciesspecies
stratumstrata
synopsissynopses
tableautableaux
tempotempi
terminustermini
thesistheses
trousseautrousseaux
vertebravertebræ

The two plurals sometimes differ in meaning: as,—

81. When a proper name with the title Mr., Mrs., Miss, or Master, is put into the plural, the rules are as follows:—

1. The plural of Mr. is Messrs. (pronounced Messers[14]). The name remains in the singular. Thus,—

Mr. Jackson, plural Messrs. (or the Messrs.) Jackson.

2. Mrs. has no plural. The name itself takes the plural form. Thus,—

Mrs. Jackson, plural the Mrs. Jacksons.

3. In the case of Miss, sometimes the title is put into the plural, sometimes the name. Thus,—

Miss Jackson, plural the Misses Jackson or the Miss Jacksons.

The latter expression is somewhat informal. Accordingly, it would not be used in a formal invitation or reply, or in addressing a letter.

4. The plural of Master is Masters. The name remains in the singular. Thus,—

Master Jackson, plural the Masters Jackson.

Other titles usually remain in the singular, the name taking the plural form: as,—the two General Follansbys. But when two or more names follow, the title becomes plural: as,—Generals Rolfe and Johnson.

82. Some nouns, on account of their meaning, are seldom or never used in the plural.

Such are many names of qualities (as cheerfulness, mirth), of sciences (as chemistry[15]), of forces (as gravitation).

Many nouns, commonly used in the singular only, may take a plural in some special sense. Thus,—

earth (the globe)earths (kinds of soil)
ice (frozen water) ices (food)
tin (a metal) tins (tin dishes or cans)
nickel (a metal) nickels (coins)

83. Some nouns are used in the plural only.

Such are:

84. A few nouns are plural in form, but singular in meaning.

Such are:

Note. These nouns were formerly plural in sense as well as in form. News, for example, originally meant “new things.” Shakspere uses it both as a singular and as a plural. Thus,—“This news was brought to Richard” (King John, v. 3. 12); “But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?” (1 Henry IV, iii. 2. 121). In a few words modern usage varies. The following nouns are sometimes singular, sometimes plural: alms, amends, bellows, means, pains (in the sense of “effort”), tidings.

III. PERSON

85. Person is that property of substantives which shows whether they denote (1) the speaker, (2) the person spoken to, or (3) the person spoken of.

A substantive is in the first person when it denotes the speaker, in the second person when it denotes the person spoken to, in the third person when it denotes the person or thing spoken of.

The examples show (1) that the person of a noun has nothing to do with its form, but is indicated by the sense or connection; (2) that certain pronouns denote person with precision. Thus, I is always of the first person; you of the second; and he of the third. These personal pronouns will be treated in [Chapter III].

IV. CASE

86. Substantives have inflections of case to indicate their grammatical relations to verbs, to prepositions, or to other substantives.

There are three cases,—the nominative, the possessive, and the objective.

The possessive case is often called the genitive.

The nominative and the objective case of a noun are always alike in form. In some pronouns, however, there is a difference (as,—I, me; he, him).

Declension of Nouns

87. The inflection of a substantive is called its declension. To decline a noun is to give its case-forms in order, first in the singular number and then in the plural. Thus,—

Singular
Nominativeboyhorseflychimneycalflassmandeer
Possessiveboy’shorse’sfly’schimney’scalf’slass’sman’sdeer’s
Objectiveboyhorseflychimneycalflassmandeer
Plural
Nominativeboyshorsesflieschimneyscalveslassesmendeer
Possessiveboys’horses’flies’chimneys’calves’lasses’men’sdeer’s
Objectiveboyshorsesflieschimneyscalveslassesmendeer
Nominative Case

88. The nominative case is used in the following constructions: (1) the subject, (2) the predicate nominative, (3) the vocative, (or nominative of direct address), (4) the exclamatory nominative, (5) appositive with a nominative, (6) the nominative absolute.

1. The subject of a verb is in the nominative case.

In the third example, face is the simple subject; the complete subject is the boy’s face. In the fourth, men is the simple subject; the complete subject is a thousand men. Both face and men are in the nominative case; face is in the singular number; men in the plural.

2. A substantive standing in the predicate, but describing or defining the subject, agrees with the subject in case and is called a predicate nominative.

A predicate nominative is also called a subject complement or an attribute.

The rule for the case of the predicate nominative is particularly important with respect to pronouns ([§ 119]).

I am he.Are you she?
It is I.It was we who did it.

The predicate nominative is commonest after the copula is (in its various forms). It will be further studied in connection with intransitive and passive verbs ([§§ 214], [252]).

3. A substantive used for the purpose of addressing a person directly, and not connected with any verb, is called a vocative.

A vocative is in the nominative case, and is often called a nominative by direct address or a vocative nominative.

Note. A vocative word is sometimes said to be independent by direct address, because it stands by itself, unconnected with any verb. That a vocative is really in the nominative case may be seen in the use of the pronoun thou in this construction: as,—I will arrest thee, thou traitor (see [§ 115]).

4. A substantive used as an exclamation is called an exclamatory nominative (or nominative of exclamation).

Certain exclamatory nominatives are sometimes classed as interjections ([§ 375]).

5. A substantive added to another substantive to explain it and signifying the same person or thing, is called an appositive and is said to be in apposition.

An appositive is in the same case as the substantive which it limits.

Hence a substantive in apposition with a nominative is in the nominative case.

Note. Apposition means “attachment”; appositive means “attached noun or pronoun.” An appositive modifies the noun with which it is in apposition much as an adjective might do (compare “Balboa, a Spaniard” with “Spanish Balboa”). Hence it is classed as an adjective modifier.

Possessive Case

89. The possessive case denotes ownership or possession.

Note. Most uses of the possessive come under the general head of possession in some sense. Special varieties of meaning are source (as in “hen’s eggs”) and authorship (as in “Wordsworth’s sonnets”).

A possessive noun or pronoun modifies the substantive to which it is attached as an adjective might do. Hence it is classed as an adjective modifier.

Forms of the Possessive Case

90. The possessive case of most nouns has, in the singular number, the ending ’s.

Examples:

Plural nouns ending in s take no further ending for the possessive. In writing, however, an apostrophe is put after the s to indicate the possessive case.

Examples:

Plural nouns not ending in s take ’s in the possessive.

Examples:

Note. In older English the possessive of most nouns was written as well as pronounced with the ending -es or -is. Thus, in Chaucer, the possessive of child is childës or childis; that of king is kingës or kingis; that of John is Johnës or Johnis. The use of an apostrophe in the possessive is a comparatively modern device, due to a misunderstanding. Scholars at one time thought the s of the possessive a fragment of the pronoun his; that is, they took such a phrase as George’s book for a contraction of George his book. Hence they used the apostrophe before s to signify the supposed omission of part of the word his. Similarly, in the possessive plural, there was thought to be an omission of a final es; that is, such a phrase as the horses’ heads was thought to be a contraction of the horseses heads. Both these errors have long been exploded.

91. Nouns like sheep and deer, which have the same form in both the singular and the plural, usually take ’s in the possessive plural.

Thus, the deer’s tracks would be written, whether one deer or more were meant.

92. Possessive Singular of Nouns ending in s.

1. Monosyllabic nouns ending in s or an s-sound usually make their possessive singular by adding ’s.

Examples:

Note. Most of these monosyllabic nouns in s are family names. The rule accords with the best usage; but it is not absolute, for usage varies. Hence forms like Charles’ and Wells’ cannot be condemned as positively wrong, though Charles’s and Wells’s are preferable. In speaking, the shorter form is often ambiguous, for there is no difference in sound between Dix’ and Dick’s, Mr. Hills’ and Mr. Hill’s, Dr. Childs’ and Dr. Child’s.

2. Nouns of two or more syllables ending in s or an s-sound, and not accented on the last syllable, may make their possessive singular by adding ’s, or may take no ending in the possessive.

In the latter case, an apostrophe is added in writing, but in sound there is no difference between the possessive and the nominative.

Examples:

Most of the nouns in question are proper names. In speaking, one must often use the longer form to prevent ambiguity; for Williams’ and William’s, Roberts’ and Robert’s, Robbins’ and Robin’s, are indistinguishable in sound.

Note. Nouns of two or more syllables ending in s or an s-sound and accented on the last syllable, follow the rule for monosyllables. Thus,—Laplace’s mathematics (not Laplace’); Alphonse’s father (not Alphonse’).

When final s is silent (as in many French names), ’s must of course be added in the possessive. Thus,—Descartes’s philosophy (pronounced Daycárt’s).

Use of the Possessive Case

93.[16] Possession may be denoted by a phrase with of as well as by the possessive case. The distinction between the two forms cannot be brought under rigid rules, but the following suggestions will be of use.

I. In older English and in poetry the possessive case of nouns is freely used, but in modern prose it is rare unless the possessor is a living being. A phrase with of is used instead.

Contrast the poetic use:—

Belgium’s capital had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry.—Byron.

Other prepositions are sometimes used: as,—“the explosion in New York” (NOT “New York’s explosion”), “the station at Plymouth.”

II. When the possessor is a living being, good usage varies.

1. If there is actual ownership or possession of some material thing, the possessive case is generally used in the singular: as,—“John’s hat” (not “the hat of John”). The possessive plural, however, is often replaced by a phrase with of, to avoid ambiguity or harshness: as,—“the jewels of the ladies” (rather than “the ladies’ jewels”)[17], “the wings of the geese” (rather than “the geese’s wings”).

2. With nouns denoting a quality, an act, or the like, either the possessive or the of-phrase is proper: as,—“John’s generosity,” or “the generosity of John”; “John’s condition,” or “the condition of John”; “the guide’s efforts,” or “the efforts of the guide”; “Cæsar’s death,” or “the death of Cæsar.”

When there is any choice, it usually depends on euphony (that is, agreeable sound), and is therefore a question of style. Sometimes, however, there is a distinction in sense. “John’s fear,” for example, indicates that John is afraid; but “the fear of John” means the fear which John inspires in others.

III. The following phrases are established idioms with the possessive. In some of them, however, the possessive may be replaced by of and its object.

In the second group of phrases (“a moment’s pause,” etc.), the possessive denotes not ownership, but measure or extent.

IV. The possessive case of certain pronouns (my, our, your, his, her, its, their) is more freely used than that of nouns in expressions that do not denote actual ownership.

For the inflection of these pronouns, see [§ 115]. For the use of whose, see [§ 152].

94. When a thing belongs to two or more joint owners, the sign of the possessive is added to the last name only.

95. In compound nouns the last part takes the possessive sign. So also when a phrase is used as a noun.

Other examples are the following:—

Note. Noun-phrases often contain two substantives, the second of which is in apposition with the first. In such phrases, of is generally preferable to the possessive. Thus, we may say either “Tom the blacksmith’s daughter” or “the daughter of Tom the blacksmith”; but “the son of Mr. Hill the carpenter” is both neater and clearer than “Mr. Hill the carpenter’s son.” The use of ’s is also avoided with a very long phrase like “the owner of the house on the other side of the street.”

An objective may stand in apposition with a possessive, the latter being equivalent to of with an object. Thus,—“I am not yet of Percy’s mind [= of the mind of Percy], the Hotspur of the North” (Shakspere).

96. The noun denoting the object possessed is often omitted when it may be readily understood, especially in the predicate.

This construction is common in such expressions as:—

In the first example, “a relative of John’s” means “a relative of (= from among) John’s relatives.” The second example shows an extension of this construction by analogy. See [§ 122].

Objective Case

97. The objective case, as its name implies, is the case of the object. Most of its uses are covered by the following rule:—

The object of a verb or preposition is in the objective case.

The object of a preposition has already been explained and defined ([§§ 20–21]).

98. The object of a verb may be (1) the direct object, (2) the predicate objective, (3) the indirect object, (4) the cognate object. Of these the direct object is the most important.

The objective is also used (5) adverbially ([§ 109]), (6) in apposition with another objective ([§ 110]), and (7) as the subject of an infinitive ([§ 111]).

1. Direct Object

99. Some verbs may be followed by a substantive denoting that which receives the action or is produced by it. These are called transitive verbs. All other verbs are called intransitive.

In Nos. 1–4, the verb is followed by a noun denoting the receiver of the action. Thus, in the first sentence, the dog receives the blow; in the second, the target receives the action of hitting. In Nos. 5–7, the verb is followed by a noun denoting the product of the action. For example, the corn is produced by the action expressed by the verb raises.

In each example, the noun that follows the verb completes the sense of the verb. “That man struck ——.” “Struck whom?” “He struck the dog.” Until dog is added the sense of the verb struck is incomplete.

100. A substantive that completes the meaning of a transitive verb is called its direct object, and is said to be in the objective case.

Thus, in the examples above, dog is the direct object of the transitive verb struck; target is the direct object of hit,—and so on. Each of these nouns is therefore in the objective case.

The direct object is often called the object complement, or the object of the verb.

101. Intransitive verbs have no object.

Compare these sentences with those in [§ 99]. We observe that the verbs (unlike those in [§ 99]) admit no object, since their meaning is complete without the addition of any noun to denote the receiver or product of the action. “The man struck——” prompts the inquiry, “Struck whom?” But no such question is suggested by “The lion roared”; for “Roared what?” would be an absurdity.

102. The predicate nominative ([§ 88, 2]) must not be confused with the direct object. They resemble each other in two particulars: (1) both stand in the predicate, and (2) both complete the meaning of the verb. But they differ utterly in their relation to the subject of the sentence. For—

The predicate nominative describes or defines the subject. Hence both substantives denote the same person or thing.

Charles [SUBJECT] {is | was | became | was elected} captain [PREDICATE NOMINATIVE].

The direct object neither describes nor defines the subject. On the contrary, it designates that upon which the subject acts. Hence the two substantives regularly[18] denote different persons or things.

Charles [SUBJECT] {struck James [OBJECT]. | threw a stone [OBJECT]. | built a boat [OBJECT].}

Both the direct object and the predicate nominative are classed as complements, because they are used to complete the sense of the predicate verb ([§ 483]).

103. A verb of asking sometimes takes two direct objects, one denoting the person and the other the thing.

2. Predicate Objective

104. Verbs of choosing, calling, naming, making, and thinking may take two objects referring to the same person or thing.

The first of these is the direct object, and the second, which completes the sense of the predicate, is called a predicate objective.

The predicate objective is often called the complementary object or the objective attribute. It is classed as a complement.

An adjective may serve as predicate objective.

3. Indirect Object and Similar Idioms

105. Some verbs of giving, telling, refusing, and the like, may take two objects, a direct object and an indirect object.

The indirect object denotes the person or thing toward whom or toward which is directed the action expressed by the rest of the predicate.

Direct Object onlyDirect Object and Indirect Object
Dick sold his bicycle.Dick sold John his bicycle.
I gave permission.I gave this man permission.
He paid a dollar.He paid the gardener a dollar.
She taught Latin.She taught my children Latin.

Most of the verbs that admit an indirect object are included in the following list:—

Pronouns are commoner as indirect objects than nouns.

It is always possible to insert the preposition to before the indirect object without changing the sense.

Since the indirect object is equivalent to an adverbial phrase, it is classed as a modifier of the verb.

Thus, in “Dick sold John his bicycle,” John is an adverbial modifier of the predicate verb sold.

The indirect object is sometimes used without a direct object expressed. Thus,—

He paid the hatter.

Here hatter may be recognized as an indirect object by inserting to before it and adding a direct object (“his bill,” “his money,” or the like).

106. The objective case sometimes expresses the person for whom anything is done.

This construction may be called the objective of service.

Note. The objective of service is often included under the head of the indirect object. But the two constructions differ widely in sense, and should be carefully distinguished. To do an act to a person is not the same thing as to do an act for a person. Contrast “John paid the money to me,” with “John paid the money for me”; “Dick sold a bicycle to me,” with “Dick sold a bicycle for me.”

107. The objective case is used after like, unlike, near, and next, which are really adjectives or adverbs, though in this construction they are often regarded as prepositions.

The use of the objective after these words is a peculiar idiom similar to the indirect object ([§ 105]). The nature of the construction may be seen (as in the indirect object) by inserting to or unto (“She sang like unto a bird”).

Note. The indirect object, the objective of service, and the objective after like, unlike, and near are all survivals of old dative constructions. Besides the case of the direct object (often called accusative), English once had a case (called the dative) which meant to or for [somebody or something]. The dative case is easily distinguished in Greek, Latin, and German, but in English it has long been merged in form with the ordinary objective.

4. Cognate Object

108. A verb that is regularly intransitive sometimes takes as object a noun whose meaning closely resembles its own.

A noun in this construction is called the cognate object of the verb and is in the objective case.

Note. Cognate means “kindred” or “related.” The cognate object repeats the idea of the verb, often with some modification, and may be classed as an adverbial modifier. Its difference from the direct object may be seen by contrasting “The blacksmith struck the anvil” with “The blacksmith struck a mighty blow” (cf. “struck mightily”). For the pronoun it as cognate object, see [§ 120].

5. Adverbial Objective

109. A noun, or a phrase consisting of a noun and its modifiers, may be used adverbially. Such a noun is called an adverbial objective.

A group of words consisting of an adverbial object with its modifier or modifiers forms an adverbial phrase ([§ 41]).

6. Objective in Apposition

110. A substantive in apposition with an objective is itself in the objective case.

This rule follows from the general principle that an appositive is in the same case as the substantive to which it is attached ([§ 88, 5]).

7. Subject of an Infinitive

111. The subject of an infinitive is in the objective case.

This construction will be treated in connection with the uses of the infinitive ([§ 325]).

Parsing

112. To parse a word is to describe its grammatical form and to give its construction.

In parsing a noun, we mention the class to which it belongs, give its gender, number, person, and case, and tell why it is in that case. Thus,—

1. Frank shot a wolf.

Frank is a proper noun of the masculine gender, in the singular number and third person. It is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the verb shot.

Wolf is a common noun of the masculine or feminine [or common] gender, in the singular number and third person. It is in the objective case, because it is the object [or direct object] of the transitive verb shot.

2. Jane, come here.

Jane is a proper noun of the feminine gender, in the singular number and second person. It is in the nominative case, being used as a vocative (or in direct address).

3. The rope is fifteen feet long.

Feet is a common noun of the neuter gender, in the plural number and third person. It is in the objective case, being used as an adverbial modifier of the adjective long.

4. Edgar’s boat is a sloop.

Edgar’s is a proper noun of the masculine gender, in the singular number and third person. It is in the possessive case, modifying the noun boat.

CHAPTER III
PRONOUNS

113. A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. It designates a person, place, or thing without naming it.

The substantive to which a pronoun refers is called its antecedent.

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender, number, and person ([§ 11]).

Pronouns have in general the same constructions as nouns.

114. Pronouns may be classified as (1) personal, (2) adjective, (3) relative, and (4) interrogative.

Under adjective pronouns are included (a) demonstrative pronouns and (b) indefinite pronouns.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

115. The personal pronouns serve to distinguish (1) the speaker, (2) the person spoken to, and (3) the person, place, or thing spoken of ([§ 85]).

They are declined as follows:—

The Pronoun of the First Person: I
SINGULARPLURAL
NominativeINominativewe
Possessivemy or minePossessiveour or ours
ObjectivemeObjectiveus
The Pronoun of the Second Person: thou
SINGULARPLURAL
NominativethouNominativeyou or ye
Possessivethy or thinePossessiveyour or yours
ObjectivetheeObjectiveyou or ye
The Pronoun of the Third Person: he, she, it
SingularPlural
MASCULINEFEMININENEUTERMASCULINE, FEMININE, and NEUTER
Nominativehesheitthey
Possessivehisher or hersitstheir or theirs
Objectivehimheritthem

Unlike nouns, most of the personal pronouns have distinct forms for the nominative and the objective.

Note. The possessive case of personal pronouns never has the apostrophe. Thus,—its, yours, theirs.

The form it’s is proper only as a contraction of it is.

GENDER AND NUMBER

116. The pronouns of the first and second persons (I and thou) may be either masculine or feminine.

The pronouns of the third person have different forms for masculine, feminine, and neuter in the singular (he, she, it); but in the plural the form they serves for all three genders.

Note. In the oldest English his was both masculine and neuter. The neuter use lasted until the seventeenth century. Thus,—

That same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his lustre.—Shakspere, Julius Cæsar, i. 2. 123.

117. Thou, thy, thine, thee, and ye are old forms still found in poetry and the solemn style.

In ordinary prose, you, your, and yours are the only forms used for the second person, whether singular or plural. Yet you, even when denoting a single person, always takes the verb-forms that go with plural subjects. Thus,—

My friend, you were [NOT was] in error.

Hence you may best be regarded as always plural in form, but may be described as singular in sense when it stands for one person only.

Note. Members of the Society of Friends (commonly called Quakers) and of some other religious bodies use thee and thy in their ordinary conversation.

Ye was formerly the regular nominative plural, and you the objective; but the forms were afterwards confused. Ye has gone out of use except in poetry and the solemn style, and you is now the regular form for both nominative and objective.

Where an objective form ye is found printed instead of you (as often in Shakspere,—“A southwest blow on ye”), it represents an indistinct pronunciation of you rather than the old nominative ye. This indistinct sound may still be heard in rapid or careless speech (“I’ll tell yer the truth”).

Ye as an abbreviation for the (as in “ye old town”) has nothing to do with the pronoun ye. The y simply stands for the character þ (an old sign for th), and the abbreviation was pronounced the, never ye.

118. They, you, and we are often used indefinitely for “one” or “people in general.”

Note. We, our, and us are used in editorial articles instead of I, my, and me, because the writer represents the whole editorial staff. This practice should not be followed in ordinary composition.

A sovereign ruler may use we, our, and us when speaking of himself in proclamations and other formal documents. This construction is often called “the plural of majesty.” Thus,—

Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom.—Shakspere.

The form ’em (as in “Tell me your counsels; I will not disclose ’em,” in Julius Cæsar) is not a contraction of them, but of hem, an old objective plural of he.

CASE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Nominative Case

119. Nominative constructions of the personal pronouns are the same as those of nouns ([§ 88]).

For the nominative absolute, see [§ 345].

Care must be taken not to use an objective form when a predicate nominative is required.

120. It has several peculiar uses in the nominative.

1. It is used as the subject in many expressions like “It rains,” “It snows,” “It lightens,” “It is cold,” where no definite subject is thought of. In this use, it is said to be impersonal.

Note. An impersonal it also occurs as a cognate object ([§ 108]) in colloquial language: as,—“Hang it!” “Go it!” “He went it.” “He farmed it for a year.” Other examples of the indefinite and impersonal it in various constructions are: “We are roughing it.” “Keep it up.” “You’ll catch it.” “Let it all go.” “He made a poor job of it.” “He made a success of it.”

2. It often serves as grammatical subject merely to introduce the verb is, the real subject of the thought standing in the predicate. In this use it is called an expletive (or “filler”).

In these examples, the subject of the thought (he, Christmas, ride) appears as a predicate nominative.

3. The antecedent of it is often a group of words.

Wearing tight shoes is foolish. It deforms the feet.

121. In imperative sentences the subject (you) is commonly omitted: as,—“Shut the door.”

Note. The subject I is sometimes omitted in wishes (as, “Would he were here!” for “I would that he were here”). So also in “Thank you,” “Pray tell me” (compare prithee for “I pray thee”).

Expressions like “Canst tell?” (for “Canst thou tell?”), “Art there?” (for “Art thou there?”) are common in poetry and older English. These come from the gradual wearing away and final disappearance of the pronoun thou (canst thou, canstow, canstë, canst).

Possessive Case

122. The possessive forms my, thy, our, your, her, and their are used when a noun follows; mine, thine, ours, yours, hers, and theirs cannot be followed by a noun, and stand commonly in the predicate. His may be used in either way.

My brother has arrived.The fault is mine.
Our work is done.Those seats are ours.
I have torn your glove.This pencil is yours.
Their turn has come.That field is theirs.
His hair is black.The book is not his.

Examples of mine, yours, etc. not in the predicate are:

In such cases the pronoun is always emphatic. The construction is chiefly colloquial.

Note. In older English and in poetry mine and thine are common instead of my and thy before words beginning with a vowel or h: as,—

Mine is sometimes used after a vocative noun: as,—brother mine.

For expressions like “a friend of mine,” “that unruly tongue of yours,” see [§ 96].

123. When two or more separate objects are spoken of as possessed, a possessive should precede the name of each if there is danger of ambiguity.

Objective Case

124. The commonest constructions in which personal pronouns take the objective case are the following:—

1. Object of a preposition ([§ 97]): as,—

Take it from him.

2. Direct object of a transitive verb ([§ 99]): as,—

I will find you.

3. Indirect object of a transitive verb ([§ 105]): as,—

He gave me a dollar.

4. Subject of an infinitive (see [§ 325]).

Note. In poetry the objective me is sometimes used in exclamations: as,—“Me miserable!” (Milton).

In methinks and meseems (“it seems to me”), me is a remnant of the old dative, as in the indirect object (see [§ 107]).

The compounds thereof, therewith, therefrom, etc., are equivalent to of it, with it, from it, etc.: as,—“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus xxv. 10).

For the impersonal it as cognate object, see [§ 120].

THE SELF-PRONOUNS (COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS)

125. The three compound personal pronouns are made by adding the word self to certain forms of the personal pronouns. Thus,—

To these may be added the indefinite oneself, more commonly written as two words, one’s self ([§ 139]).

Observe that yourself is singular, and yourselves plural. Hisself and theirselves are incorrect forms. Ourself (not ourselves) is the compound pronoun corresponding to the royal we ([§ 118]).

What touches us ourself shall be last served.—Shakspere.

126. 1. The compound personal pronouns may be used to emphasize substantives.

In this use they are called intensive pronouns.

An intensive pronoun is in apposition with the substantive to which it refers.

2. The compound personal pronouns may be used as the objects of transitive verbs or of prepositions when the object denotes the same person or thing as the subject.

In this use they are called reflexive pronouns.

These pronouns are called reflexive (that is, “bending back”) because they refer back to the subject and repeat its meaning in an object construction.

Note. A reflexive pronoun sometimes refers to a substantive in the objective case: as,—“Our captors left us to ourselves.”

In older English the simple personal pronouns me, thee, etc., were often used reflexively: as,—“I held me [= myself] still”; “Yield thee [= thyself] captive”; “They built them [= for themselves] houses” (see [§ 106]). This idiom survives in colloquial language (as, “I have hurt me,” “I have bought me a rifle”), but it is avoided in writing except in a few expressions such as: “I must look about me”; “We gazed about us”; “Look behind you.”

127. The adjective own is sometimes inserted between the first and the second part of the self-pronouns for emphasis.

Examples:

In this use, self is in strictness a noun limited by the possessive and by the adjective own, but the phrases may be regarded as compound pronouns. Other adjectives are sometimes inserted between the possessive and self: as,—my very self, his worthless self.

128. The intensive pronouns are sometimes used without a substantive. Thus,—

In poetry and older English, the intensives are even found as subjects: as,—“Ourself will mingle with society” (Macbeth).

129. The intensive pronouns should not be used as simple personal pronouns.

Thus we should say:—“He was kind to Mary and me” (NOT myself); “They invited my wife and me (NOT myself).”

ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS

130. Some words are used either as adjectives or as pronouns. Such words are called adjective pronouns.

Adjective pronouns are classified, according to their meaning, as (1) demonstrative pronouns and (2) indefinite pronouns.

I. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

131. The demonstratives are this (plural, these), that (plural, those). They point out persons or things for special attention.

The demonstratives may be used either as adjectives or as pronouns.

This sailor saved my life.These girls are energetic.
Be kind to this child.I am not alarmed by these threats.
Give this boy a dime.These cherries are sour.
This fire is too hot.Look at these acorns.
That saw is dull.Those trees are dying.
We must cross that stream.Take those dishes away.
That train is late.Who are those strangers?
Send that dog home.Do you see those rocks?
I am tired of that tune.I am sorry for those children.
This is a fine morning.[19]These are cowboys.
This is my uncle.Robert gave me these.
Can you do this?I never saw these before.
This is the road.Who are these?
Look at this.These are our rackets.
That is Ellen in the canoe.Those are deer.
That would please him.Those are nasturtiums.
That must be he.What are those?
What is that?Those are kangaroos.

If the demonstrative is followed by a noun which it limits (as in “this sailor”), it is an adjective. If the demonstrative points out something which it does not name (as in “This is a fine morning”), it takes the place of a noun and is therefore a pronoun. The simple subject of the sentence “This camera is expensive” is the noun camera, which is modified by the adjective this. The subject of the sentence “This is expensive” is the pronoun this.

Note. Yon, yond, and yonder are common as demonstratives in older English and in poetry. Thus,—“Nerissa, cheer yon stranger” (Merchant of Venice). “Question yond man” (As You Like It). “Is not yond Diomed?” (Troilus and Cressida). “Call yonder fellow hither” (Henry V). “Is yonder the man?” (As You Like It).

132. Demonstratives have only the inflection of number. They have the same form for all three genders. The nominative and objective cases are alike; the possessive is replaced by of with the objective.

SingularPlural
Nom. and Obj.thisNom. and Obj.these
Possessive[of this]Possessive[of these]
Nom. and Obj.thatNom. and Obj.those
Possessive[of that]Possessive[of those]

Yon, yond, and yonder are not inflected.

133. A demonstrative pronoun may be used to avoid the repetition of a noun.

134. The singular forms this and that (not the plurals these and those) are used with the nouns kind and sort.

II. INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

135. The indefinite pronouns point out objects less clearly or definitely than demonstratives do.

Examples:

136. Most indefinites may be either pronouns or adjectives. But none is always a substantive in modern use, and every is always an adjective.

137. None may be either singular or plural. When it means distinctly not one, it is singular. In many instances either construction is permissible.

138. Each other and one another are regarded as compound pronouns. They designate related persons or things.

The relation indicated by these pronouns is that of reciprocity. Hence they are often called reciprocal pronouns.

There is no real distinction between each other and one another. The rules sometimes given for such a distinction are not supported by the best usage.

139. One (possessive one’s) is often used as an indefinite personal pronoun. Thus,—

One does not like one’s [NOT his or their] motives to be doubted.

The use of his (for one’s) to refer back to a preceding one is found in respectable writers, but is contrary to the best usage.

For the indefinite use of we, you, they, see [§ 118].

140. All, several, few, many, and similar words are often classed as indefinites. They may be used as adjectives or as substantives. Everybody, everything, anybody, anything, somewhat, aught, naught,[20] etc., are called indefinite nouns.

141. Care should be taken in framing such sentences as the following:—

In sentences of this kind, the personal pronoun (he, his, him) must be in the singular to agree with its antecedent (everybody, anybody, etc.) (see [§ 113]).

Note. When the antecedent is of common gender (as in the last example), the personal pronouns (he, his, him) may be regarded as of common gender also. In very precise or formal language, one may say he or she, his or her: as,—“Each of us must lead his or her own life”; but this form of expression is to be avoided unless the distinction is clearly necessary.

142. When used as adjectives, none of the indefinites have any forms of inflection. The same is true when they are pronouns, except as follows:—

Others is used as the plural of another. The possessive forms are:—singular, another’s; plural, others’. The other (possessive, the other’s) has in the plural the others (possessive, the others’). Each other and one another add ’s in the possessive. One has a possessive one’s; the one becomes the ones in the plural.

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

143. Relative pronouns have a peculiar function in the sentence, since they serve both as pronouns and as connectives. Their use may be seen by comparing the two sentences that follow:—

Each consists of two parts or clauses ([§ 44]). In No. 1, the two clauses are connected by the conjunction and, which belongs to neither; the pronoun he, which stands for sailor, is the subject of the second clause. In No. 2, there is no conjunction; instead, we find the word who, which replaces and he. This who is a pronoun, since it stands for sailor (precisely as he does in No. 1) and (like he) is the subject of the verb saved. But who is also a connective, since it joins the two parts of the sentence as and does in No. 1. Such words (which serve both as pronouns and as connectives) are called relative pronouns.

In No. 1, the two clauses are coördinate. Neither serves as a modifier, and each might stand alone as a complete sentence (“This is the sailor.” “He saved my life”). The sentence is compound ([§ 44]). In No. 2, on the contrary, the clause who saved my life is a subordinate or dependent clause, for it is used as an adjective modifier of the noun sailor, which it limits by showing what particular sailor is meant. The sentence is complex ([§ 44]). The dependent clause (who saved my life) is connected with the main clause (this is the sailor) by the pronoun who, which refers to sailor.

144. Relative pronouns connect dependent clauses with main clauses by referring directly to a substantive in the main clause.[21]

This substantive is the antecedent of the relative ([§ 11]).

Thus in [§ 143] the noun sailor is the antecedent of who.

Relative means “carrying back.” These pronouns are so called because they carry the mind back directly to the antecedent.

145. The simple relative pronouns are who, which, that, as, and what.

Who and which are declined as follows in both the singular and the plural:—

Nominativewhowhich
Possessivewhosewhose
Objectivewhomwhich

That, as, and what are not inflected. They have the same form for both nominative and objective and are not used in the possessive case.

146. As may be used as a relative pronoun when such stands in the main clause.

147. As is often used as a relative after the same.

This color is the same as that [is].

Other relatives are also used after the same.

148. Who is either masculine or feminine; which and what are neuter; that and as are of all three genders.

In older English the which is often used for which: as,—

Our foster-nurse of nature is repose,
The which he lacks.—Shakspere.

For other uses of as, see [§§ 368], [428–429]. For but in such sentences as “There was nobody but believed him,” see [§ 370].

149. A relative pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender, number, and person.

The sentences in [§ 148] illustrate the agreement of the relative with its antecedent in gender.

Since relative pronouns have the same form for both numbers and for all three persons, their number and person must be discovered, in each instance, by observing the number and person of the antecedent.

To determine the number and person of a relative pronoun is particularly necessary when it is the subject of the clause, for the form of the verb varies (as the examples show) according to the number and person of the subject ([§ 222]). Hence the rule for the agreement of a relative with its antecedent is of much practical importance.

150. The case of a relative pronoun has nothing to do with its antecedent, but depends on the construction of its own clause.

151. A relative pronoun in the objective case is often omitted.

Here is the book which you wanted.Here is the book you wanted.
The noise that I heard was the wind.The noise I heard was the wind.
The man whom I met was a carpenter.The man I met was a carpenter.

Note. In older English a relative in the nominative is often omitted: as,—“There’s two or three of us have seen strange sights” (Julius Cæsar), that is, “There are two or three of us who have seen,” etc. The same omission is often made in rapid or careless colloquial speech. It is approved in clauses with there in such sentences as “He is one of the best men there are in the world” ([§ 232]).

152. Certain questions of gender call for particular attention.

1. Which is commonly used in referring to the lower animals unless these are regarded as persons. This is true even when he or she is used of the same animals ([§ 69]).

2. The possessive whose may be used of any object that has life.

3. In the case of things without animal life, of which and whose are both common. The tendency is to prefer of which in prose, but whose is often used because of its more agreeable sound. In poetry, whose is especially frequent.

Note. In older English, which is often used for who or whom: as,—“He which hath your noble father slain, pursued my life” (Hamlet).

The compounds whereof, wherefrom, wherewith, etc., are equivalent to of which, from which, etc. (cf. [§ 124]). Thus,—“Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him” (Genesis xxvii. 41).

DESCRIPTIVE AND RESTRICTIVE RELATIVES

153. The clause introduced by a relative pronoun is an adjective clause, since it serves as an adjective modifier of the antecedent ([§ 143]). There are two different ways in which the antecedent may be thus modified.

In the first sentence, the italicized relative clause serves simply to describe the Italian, not to identify him. The flower is a mere detail of the picture.

In the second sentence, the relative clause serves not merely to describe the Italian, but also to distinguish him from all others. The flower is mentioned as a means of identification. The relative clause confines or restricts the meaning of the antecedent (Italian).

154. A relative pronoun that serves merely to introduce a descriptive fact is called a descriptive relative.

A relative pronoun that introduces a clause confining or limiting the application of the antecedent is called a restrictive relative.

Thus in the first example in [§ 153], who is a descriptive relative; in the second, it is a restrictive relative.

155. Before a descriptive relative we regularly make a pause in speaking, but never before a restrictive relative. Hence the rule:—

A descriptive relative is preceded by a comma; a restrictive relative is not.

156. Who, which, and that are all used as restrictive relatives; but some writers prefer that to which, especially in the nominative case.

Note. That is not now employed as a descriptive relative, though it was common in this use not very long ago. Thus in 1844 Disraeli wrote: “The deer, that abounded, lived here in a world as savage as themselves” (Coningsby, book iii, chapter 5).

The omission of the relative ([§ 151]) is possible only when the relative is restrictive.

THE RELATIVE PRONOUN WHAT

157. The relative pronoun what is equivalent to that which, and has a double construction:—(1) the construction of the omitted or implied antecedent (that); (2) the construction of the relative (which).

In parsing what, mention both of its constructions.

Note. Another method of dealing with the relative what is to regard the whole clause (what was said; what is said to him; what he learns) as a noun clause. Thus the clause what was said in the first sentence would be the subject of is; in the second and third sentences, the clause would be the object of remembers. What, in the first sentence, would be parsed as the subject of was said; in the second, as the subject of is said; and in the third, as the object of learns. Neither view is incorrect, and each has its special advantages. The student may well be familiar with both methods, remembering that grammar cannot be treated like mathematics.

COMPOUND RELATIVE PRONOUNS

158. The compound relative pronouns are formed by adding ever or soever to who, which, and what.

They are declined as follows:—

Nominativewhoever (whosoever)whichever (whichsoever)
Possessivewhosever (whosesoever)————
Objectivewhomever (whomsoever)whichever (whichsoever)

Whatever (whatsoever) has no inflection. The nominative and the objective are alike, and the possessive is supplied by the phrase of whatever (of whatsoever).

The phrase of whichever (of whichsoever) is used instead of whosever exactly as of which is used instead of whose ([§ 152]).

159. The compound relative pronouns may include or imply their own antecedents and hence may have a double construction.

Whoever calls, he must be admitted. [Here he, the antecedent of whoever, is the subject of must be admitted, and whoever is the subject of calls.]

Whoever calls must be admitted. [Here the antecedent he is omitted, being implied in whoever. Whoever has therefore a double construction, being the subject of both calls and must be admitted.]

In such sentences, care should be taken to use whoever and whomever correctly. The nominative (whoever) is required when the relative is the subject of its own clause.

160. The compound relatives are sometimes used without an antecedent expressed or implied.

Note. This construction is closely related to that explained in [§ 159]. “Whoever deserts you, I will remain faithful,” is practically equivalent to “Whoever deserts you, let him desert you! I will remain faithful.” No antecedent, however, is felt by the speaker, and hence none need be supplied in parsing. Compare concessive clauses ([§ 401]).

161. Which, what, whichever, and whatever are often used as adjectives.

162. A noun limited by the adjectives what, whichever, and whatever, may have the same double construction that these relatives have when they are used as pronouns ([§ 159]). Thus,—

Take whichever pen is not in use. [Here pen is both the direct object of take, and the subject of is.]

Whoso for whosoever and whatso for whatsoever are common in older English.

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

163. The interrogative pronouns are who, which, and what. They are used in asking questions.[22]

164. Who has a possessive whose, and an objective whom. Which and what are not inflected.

Who may be either masculine or feminine; which and what may be of any gender.

165. The objective whom often begins a question (as in the third example in [§ 163]). Care should be taken not to write who for whom.

166. Which and what are used as interrogative adjectives.

167. The interrogative adjective what may be used in a peculiar form of exclamatory sentence. Thus,—

What! by itself often serves as an exclamation: as,—“What! do you really think so?” In this use what may be regarded as an interjection.

168. In parsing pronouns the following models may be used:—

1. He was my earliest friend.

He is a personal pronoun of the third person. It is in the masculine gender, the singular number, and the nominative case, being the subject of the verb was.

2. A policeman whom I met showed me the house.

Whom is a relative pronoun of the masculine gender, singular number, and third person, agreeing with its antecedent, policeman. It is in the objective case, being the direct object of the transitive verb met.

3. The corporal, whose name was Scott, came from Leith.

Whose is a relative pronoun of the masculine gender, singular number, and third person, agreeing with its antecedent, corporal. It is in the possessive case, modifying the noun name.

4. Whose birthday do we celebrate in February?

Whose is an interrogative pronoun in the masculine or feminine gender, singular number, and possessive case, modifying the noun birthday.

5. He injured himself severely.

Himself is a compound personal pronoun of the third person, used reflexively. It is of the masculine gender, singular number, and third person, agreeing with its antecedent, he. It is in the objective case, being the direct object of the transitive verb injured.

CHAPTER IV
ADJECTIVES

CLASSIFICATION OF ADJECTIVES

169. An adjective is a word which describes or limits a substantive.

An adjective is said to belong to the substantive which it describes or limits.

An adjective which describes is called a descriptive adjective; one which points out or designates is called a definitive adjective ([§ 13]).

Most adjectives are descriptive: as,—round, cold, red, angry, graceful, excessive, young, sudden, Roman.

Note. Many descriptive adjectives are compound (see [§ 64]): as,—steadfast, lionlike, fireproof, downright, heartsick, everlasting, brown-eyed, broad-shouldered, ill-tempered, dear-bought, far-fetched, never-ending, self-evident, self-important. “He was a matter-of-fact person.” “Tom is hail-fellow-well-met with everybody.” “This is an out-of-the-way place.” “A dashing, down-at-the-heel youth answered my knock.”

170. A proper noun used as an adjective, or an adjective derived from a proper noun, is called a proper adjective and usually begins with a capital letter.

Examples:

Note. Many so-called proper adjectives begin with a small letter because their origin is forgotten or disregarded: as,—china dishes, italic type, mesmeric power, a jovial air, a saturnine expression, a mercurial temperament, a stentorian voice.

171. Definitive adjectives include:—pronouns used as adjectives (as, this opportunity; those pictures; either table; what time is it?); numeral adjectives (as, two stars; the third year); the articles, a (or an) and the.

Pronouns used as adjectives (often called pronominal adjectives) have been studied under Pronouns—demonstratives ([§§ 131–134]), indefinites ([§§ 135–142]), relatives ([§§ 143–162]), interrogatives ([§§ 163–167]).

Numeral adjectives will be treated, along with other numerals (nouns and adverbs), in [§§ 204–208].

The articles will be treated in [§§ 173–180].

172. Adjectives may be classified, according to their position in the sentence, as attributive, appositive, and predicate adjectives.

1. An attributive adjective is closely attached to its noun and regularly precedes it.

2. An appositive adjective is added to its noun to explain it, like a noun in apposition ([§ 88, 5]).

Noun in AppositionAppositive Adjective
The castle, a ruin, stood on the edge of the cliff.The castle, ancient and ruinous, stood on the edge of the cliff.
Bertram, the ringleader, refused to surrender.Bertram, undaunted, refused to surrender.

3. A predicate adjective completes the meaning of the predicate verb, but describes or limits the subject.

Predicate adjectives are common after is (in its various forms) and other copulative verbs, particularly become and seem ([§ 17]).

Note. The construction of the predicate adjective is similar to that of the predicate nominative ([§ 88, 2]). Both are known as complements, because they complete the meaning of a verb.

After look, sound, taste, smell, feel, a predicate adjective is used to describe the subject. Thus,—

For predicate adjectives after passive verbs, see [§ 492].

For the use of an adjective as predicate objective, see [§ 104].

THE ARTICLES

173. The adjectives a (or an) and the are called articles.

1. The definite article the points out one or more particular objects as distinct from others of the same kind.

2. The indefinite article a (or an) designates an object as merely one of a general class or kind.

The article a is a fragment of ān (pronounced ahn), the ancient form of the numeral one; an keeps the n, which a has lost. The is an old demonstrative, related to that.

174. The with a singular noun sometimes indicates a class or kind of objects.

Note. In this use the is often called the generic article (from the Latin genus, “kind” or “sort”). The singular number with the generic the is practically equivalent to the plural without an article. Thus in the first example the sense would be the same if we had, “Scholars are not necessarily dryasdusts.”

175. An adjective preceded by the may be used as a plural noun.

176. An is used before words beginning with a vowel or silent h; a before other words. Thus,—

177. Special rules for a or an are the following:—

1. Before words beginning with the sound of y or w, the form a, not an, is used.

Examples:

This rule covers all words beginning with eu and many beginning with u. Note that the initial sound is a consonant, not a vowel. An was formerly common before such words (as,—an union, such an one), but a is now the settled form.

2. Before words beginning with h and not accented on the first syllable, an is often used. Thus, we say—

In such cases, the h is very weak in sound, and is sometimes quite silent, so that the word practically begins with a vowel. Usage varies, but careful writers favor the rule here given. An was formerly more common before h than at present.

178. With two or more connected nouns or adjectives the article should be repeated whenever clearness requires (cf. [§ 123]).

179. A is often used distributively, in the sense of each.

In such phrases a is better than per, except in strictly commercial language.

180. When used with adjectives, the articles precede, except in a few phrases: as,—

For the adverb the, which is quite distinct from the article in use and meaning, see [§ 195].

For the preposition a (as in “He went a-fishing”), see [§ 352].

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

181. In comparing objects with each other, we may use three different forms of the same adjective.

This inflection of adjectives is called comparison, and the three forms are called degrees of comparison.

182. The degrees of comparison indicate by their form in what degree of intensity the quality described by the adjective exists.

There are three degrees of comparison,—the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.

1. The positive degree is the simplest form of the adjective, and has no special ending.

It merely describes the quality, without expressing or suggesting any comparison.

Thomas is strong.

Thus, the positive degree of the adjective strong is strong.

2. The comparative degree of an adjective is formed by adding the termination er to the positive degree.

It denotes that the quality exists in the object described in a higher degree than in some other object.

William is stronger than Thomas.

Thus, the comparative degree of the adjective strong is stronger.

3. The superlative degree is formed by adding est to the positive degree.

It denotes that the quality exists in the highest degree in the object described.

Herbert is strongest of the three.

Other examples of the comparison of adjectives are:—

Positive DegreeComparative DegreeSuperlative Degree
richricherrichest
poorpoorerpoorest
fastfasterfastest
firmfirmerfirmest

183. Rules of Spelling.

1. Adjectives ending in silent e drop this letter before the comparative ending er and the superlative ending est. Thus,—

2. Most adjectives ending in y change y to i before the endings er and est. Thus,—

3. Adjectives having a short vowel and ending in a single consonant double this before the endings er and est. Thus,—

184. Many adjectives are compared by prefixing the adverbs more and most to the positive degree.

Many adjectives of two syllables and most adjectives of three or more syllables are so compared. Thus,—

Some adjectives may be compared in either way.

Examples:

Note. The adverbs less and least may be used with an adjective, if one wishes to run down the scale of comparison: as,—terrible, less terrible, least terrible. This idiom, however, should not be regarded as comparison of the adjective. “Superlative” means “in the highest degree,” and is not applicable to least terrible, which means “terrible in the lowest degree.”

IRREGULAR COMPARISON

185. Several adjectives have irregular comparison.[23]

PositiveComparativeSuperlative
bad (evil, ill)worseworst
farfartherfarthest
——furtherfurthest
goodbetterbest
latelater, latterlatest, last
well (in health)better——
littleless, lesserleast
much, manymoremost

Old has comparative older or elder, superlative oldest or eldest. Elder or eldest may be used with certain nouns of relationship, or in the phrases the elder and the eldest.

This is my elder brother.My brother is older than yours.
Jane was the eldest of six children.I shall wear my oldest clothes.

Elder is also used as a noun: as,—“You should respect your elders.”

Next is a superlative of nigh. It is used only in the sense of “the very nearest.”

186. A few superlatives end in -most. With these, one or both of the other degrees are commonly wanting.

PositiveComparativeSuperlative
——(former)foremost
hindhinderhindmost
——innerinmost, innermost
(out, adverb)outeroutmost, outermost
(utter)utmost, uttermost
(up, adverb)upperuppermost
————endmost
——nethernethermost
top——topmost
————furthermost
north——northmost
northern(more northern)northernmost
south——southmost
southern(more southern)southernmost
east, eastern(more eastern)easternmost
west, western(more western)westernmost

Note. The ending -most is not the adverb most. It is a very old superlative ending -mest changed under the influence of the adverb most.

187. For adjectives incapable of comparison, see [§ 202]. For special rules for the use of comparative and superlative, see [§§ 199–203].

188. In parsing an adjective, tell whether it is descriptive or definitive, mention the substantive to which it belongs, and specify the degree of comparison.

CHAPTER V
ADVERBS

189. An adverb is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

190. Adverbs are classified according to their meaning as: (1) adverbs of manner; (2) adverbs of time; (3) adverbs of place; (4) adverbs of degree.[24]

1. Adverbs of manner answer the question “How?” “In what way?”

They modify verbs or adjectives, rarely adverbs. Most of them are formed from adjectives by adding ly.

2. Adverbs of time answer the question “When?” They usually modify verbs. Thus,—

3. Adverbs of place answer the question “Where?” They usually modify verbs. Thus,—

4. Adverbs of degree answer the question “To what degree or extent?” They modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Thus,—

191. Some adverbs have the same form as the corresponding adjectives.

Other examples are:—

Under this head come certain adverbs of degree used to modify adjectives.

That dark, light, etc., are adverbs in this use appears from the fact that they answer the question “How?” Thus,—“His eyes were blue.” “How blue?” “Dark blue.”

Note. In the oldest English many adverbs ended in -ë, as if formed directly from adjectives by means of this ending. Thus, the adjective for hot was hāt, side by side with which was an adverb hātë (dissyllabic), meaning hotly. In the fourteenth century this distinction was still kept up. Thus, Chaucer used both the adjective hōt and the dissyllabic adverb hōtë, meaning hotly. Between 1400 and 1500 all weak final e’s disappeared from the language. In this way the adverb hotë, for example, became simply hot. Thus these adverbs in -ë became identical in form with the corresponding adjectives. Hence in the time of Shakspere there existed, in common use, not only the adjective hot, but also the adverb hot (identical in form with the adjective but really descended from the adverb hotë). One could say not only “The fire is hot” (adjective), but “The fire burns hot” (adverb of manner).

The tendency in modern English has been to confine the form without ending to the adjective use and to restrict the adverbial function to forms in -ly. Thus, a writer of the present time would not say, in prose, “The fire burns hot,” but “The fire burns hotly.” Nevertheless, a number of the old adverbs without ending still remain in good use, and must not be regarded as erroneous.

In poetry, moreover, such adverbs are freely employed; as,—“The boy like a gray goshawk stared wild.” [In prose: stared wildly.]

For adverbial phrases, see [§§ 41–42], [475].

For the adverbial objective, see [§ 109].

192. Yes and no are peculiar adverbs used in assenting and denying. Thus,—

Are you hungry?

No.

Note. As now used, yes and no stand for complete sentences. Originally, however, they were modifiers, and hence they are still classed as adverbs. The original meaning of no was “never.” Compare never as an emphatic negative in modern English: as,—“Will you surrender?” “Never!” The oldest affirmative adverb was yea. Yes was originally a compound of yea with a form of so, and was used in emphatic affirmatives (like our just so!).

Other adverbs or adverbial phrases are sometimes used like yes or no. Such are certainly, assuredly, by no means, not at all. In these cases, however, the modifying effect of the word or phrase may easily be seen when the sentence is supplied. Thus,—“Will you help me?” “Certainly [I will help you].”

193. There is often used merely to introduce a sentence in the inverted order ([§ 5]).

In this use, there is sometimes called an expletive (or “filler”). It is unemphatic, and has lost all its force as an adverb of place. Contrast “There [emphatic] stood an Indian under a tree” with, “There [unemphatic expletive] stood an Indian under a tree.”

RELATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS

194. Relative adverbs introduce subordinate clauses and are similar in their use to relative pronouns.

I know a farmhouse {in which | where} we can spend the night.

Where is an adverb of place, modifying can spend. But it also introduces the subordinate clause, as the relative pronoun which does. Hence where is called a relative adverb.

195. The principal relative adverbs are:—where, whence, whither, wherever, when, whenever, while, as, how, why, before, after, till, until, since.

Because of their similarity to conjunctions, these words are often called conjunctive adverbs.

As and since in the sense of “because,” and while in the sense of “although,” are classed as conjunctions ([§ 368]).

The clauses introduced by relative adverbs may be either adjective or adverbial ([§§ 49–50], [379–382]).

Note. In “The more you waste, the sooner you will want” (and similar sentences) the is not an article, but an old case-form of the pronoun that, used as an adverb of degree. We may expand the sentence as follows: “To what extent you waste more, to that extent you will want sooner.” Thus it appears that the first the has a relative force, and the second the a demonstrative force.

196. An interrogative adverb introduces a question.

Where, when, whence, whither, how, why, may be used as interrogative adverbs. Thus,—

COMPARISON OF ADVERBS

197. Adverbs have three degrees of comparison,—the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.

1. Most adverbs are compared by means of more and most.

2. A few adverbs are compared by means of the endings er and est. Thus,—

PositiveComparativeSuperlative
nearnearernearest
soonsoonersoonest

Further examples are:—

Some adverbs are compared in both ways. Thus,—

198. Several adverbs have irregular comparison.

PositiveComparativeSuperlative
farfartherfarthest
forthfurtherfurthest
illworseworst
badly
nighnighernighest
next
wellbetterbest
latelaterlatest
last
littlelessleast
muchmoremost

These adverbs in the main have the same forms as the adjectives studied in [§ 185] above. Note, however: (1) that good and bad are never adverbs; (2) that ill and well, better and best, worse and worst, may be either adverbs or adjectives. Rather is now used in the comparative only.

USE OF THE COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE

199. The comparative degree, not the superlative, is used in comparing two persons or things.

The superlative is used in comparing one person or thing with two or more.

Right:Mary is the more agreeable of the two.
Mary is the most agreeable of all the family.
Wrong:I like both Mary and Jane, but I am fondest of Mary.
I am studying Latin, history, and geometry, but I dislike the latter.

The same principle applies to adverbs.

Note. In older English the superlative sometimes occurs when only two objects are thought of. This use is still found in a few proverbial phrases: as,—“Put your best foot foremost.”

200. The superlative is sometimes used merely for emphasis, without implying any definite comparison: as—“My dearest Kate!”

The superlative of emphasis is very common with most.

Excessive use of this construction (like frequent repetition of very) is tiresome and weakens style.

Double comparison (as more worthier, most unkindest) is common in older English, but is now a gross error.

201. When two adjectives or adverbs are contrasted by means of than, more is used with the first.

Note. The adverb rather is often used with the first adjective or adverb (as,—“rather kind than wise” or “kind rather than wise”

), but in a slightly different sense.

202. Many adjectives and adverbs are, from their meaning, incapable of comparison. Such are:—

1. Adjectives expressing a quality as absolute or complete, and adverbs derived from such adjectives.

Examples:

2. The adverbs here, there, then, now, when, and the like.

Note. Words like perfect, exact, straight, etc., are commonly said to be incapable of comparison, but this is an error. For each of these words may vary in sense. When perfect (for example) denotes absolute perfection, it cannot be compared. But perfect has also another sense: namely, “partaking in a higher or lower degree of the qualities that make up absolute perfection,” so that we may describe one statue as more perfect than another, or one of three statues as the most perfect of them all. In this use, which is unobjectionable, we simply admit that nothing in the world is absolutely flawless, and assert that the three statues approach ideal perfection in various degrees.

203. An adjective phrase may sometimes be compared by means of more and most.

NUMERALS—ADJECTIVES, NOUNS, AND ADVERBS

204. Words indicating number are called numerals. They are adjectives, nouns, or adverbs.

205. The chief classes of numerals are cardinals and ordinals.

1. Cardinal numeral adjectives (one, two, three, four, etc.) are used in counting, and answer the question “How many?”

Note. In such expressions as “The boy was sixteen,” the numeral is a predicate adjective limiting boy ([§ 172, 3]). We need not expand sixteen to “sixteen years old.”

2. Ordinal numeral adjectives (first, second, third, etc.) denote the position or order of a person or thing in a series.

206. All the cardinal and ordinal numerals may become nouns and may take a plural ending in some of their senses.

Note. Hundred, thousand, million were originally nouns, but are now equally common as adjectives. Other numeral nouns are:—twain, couple, pair, brace, trio, quartette, quintette, foursome, dozen, score, century.

207. Certain numeral adjectives (single, double, triple, etc.) indicate how many times a thing is taken or of how many like parts it consists.

Some of these words may be used as adverbs.

208. Certain numeral adverbs and adverbial phrases indicate how many times an action takes place.

The only adverbs of this kind in ordinary use are once and twice. For larger numbers an adverbial phrase (three times, four times, etc.) is employed. Thrice, however, is still common in poetry and the solemn style.

CHAPTER VI
VERBS

CLASSIFICATION OF VERBS

209. A verb is a word which can assert something (usually an action) concerning a person, place, or thing ([§ 14]).

Most verbs express action. Some, however, merely express state or condition. Thus,—

A verb-phrase is a group of words that is used as a verb ([§ 15]).

210. Certain verbs, when used to make verb-phrases, are called auxiliary (that is, “aiding”) verbs, because they help other verbs to express action or state of some particular kind ([§ 16]).

The auxiliary verbs are is (are, was, were, etc.), may, can, must, might, shall, will, could, would, should, have, had, do, did.

The auxiliary verb may be separated from the rest of the verb-phrase by other words.

211. Verbs are either transitive or intransitive ([§ 99]).

Some verbs may be followed by a substantive denoting that which receives the action or is produced by it. These are called transitive verbs. All other verbs are called intransitive.

A substantive that completes the meaning of a transitive verb is called its direct object.

In the following sentences, the first four verbs are transitive (with objects), the last five are intransitive (without objects):—

212. A verb which is transitive in one of its senses may be intransitive in another.

Transitive (with Object)Intransitive (without Object)
Boys fly kites.Birds fly.
The pirates sank the ship.The stone sank.
I closed my eyes.School closed yesterday.
Tom tore his coat.The cloth tore easily.

213. Many transitive verbs may be used absolutely,—that is, merely to express action without any indication of the direct object.

Transitive Verb with Object expressedTransitive Verb used absolutely
The horses drank water.The horses drank from the brook.
The farmer plows his fields.The farmer plows in the spring.
Charles is drawing a picture.Charles is drawing.

There is a sharp contrast between a transitive verb used absolutely and a real intransitive verb. To the former we can always add an object; with the latter no object is possible.

214. Is (in its various forms) and several other verbs may be used to frame sentences in which some word or words in the predicate describe or define the subject ([§ 17]).

Such verbs are called copulative (that is, “joining”) verbs.

Is in this use is often called the copula (or “link”).

In the first four examples, the copulative verb (the simple predicate[26]) is followed by a predicate nominative ([§ 88, 2]); in the last five by a predicate adjective ([§ 172, 3]).

The copulative verbs are intransitive, since they take no object. Sometimes, however, they are regarded as a third class distinct both from transitive and intransitive verbs.

215. The verb is is not always a copula. It is sometimes emphatic and has the sense of exist.

Most of the other copulative verbs may be used in some sense in which they cease to be copulative.

INFLECTION OF VERBS

216. Verbs have inflections of tense, person and number, and mood. They also have the distinction of voice, which is expressed by the help of verb-phrases.

Tense indicates time; person and number correspond with person and number in substantives; mood shows the manner in which the action is expressed; voice indicates whether the subject acts or is acted upon.

TENSE OF VERBS

217. The tense of a verb indicates its time.[27]

Verbs have forms of tense to indicate present, past, or future time.

1. A verb in the present tense refers to present time.

2. A verb in the past tense refers to past time.[28]

3. A verb in the future tense refers to future time.

The present, the past, and the future are called simple tenses.

Present TensePast TenseFuture Tense
He lives here.He lived here.He will live here.
The sun shines.The sun shone.The sun will shine.
I know him.I knew him.I shall know him.
FORMS OF THE PRESENT AND THE PAST

218. The present and the past tense have special forms of inflection.

For the moment we will consider the form which the verb has when its subject is the first personal pronoun I.

In the present tense the verb has its simplest form, without any inflectional ending.

219. The past tense is formed in two ways, and a verb is classed as weak or strong in accordance with the way in which it forms this tense.

1. Weak verbs form the past tense by adding ed, d, or t to the present.

Examples:

2. Strong verbs form the past tense by changing the vowel of the present, without the addition of an ending.

Examples:

Weak verbs are sometimes called regular, and strong verbs irregular verbs.

For a list of the strong verbs see [pp. 291–297].

Note. The terms strong and weak were first applied to verbs for a somewhat fanciful reason. The strong verbs were so called because they seemed to form the past tense out of their own resources, without calling to their assistance any ending. The weak verbs were so called because they could not form the past tense without the aid of the ending ed, d, or t.

220. The ending that is written ed is fully pronounced only when d or t precedes (as,—thread, threaded; attract, attracted). Otherwise, e is silent, so that the ending becomes, in pronunciation, d or t (as,—entered, pronounced enter’d; rocked, pronounced rockt).

In poetry and the solemn style, however, the silent e in the ending ed is sometimes restored to its ancient rights.

221. Many weak verbs show special irregularities in the past tense.

1. Make has made in the past, and have has had.

2. Some verbs in -nd and -ld form their past tense by changing this d to t.

Examples:

3. A few verbs add d or t in the past and also change the vowel of the present. Thus,—

sellsold
telltold
shoeshod
saysaid (pronounced sed)
hearheard (pronounced herd)
bringbrought
buybought
catchcaught
seeksought
beseechbesought
teachtaught
methinksmethought

Work has an old past tense wrought, common in poetry; its usual past is worked. For must, would, etc., see [p. 299].

4. Some verbs that have a long vowel sound in the present have in the past a short vowel sound before the ending t.

Examples:

5. Some verbs in d or t preceded by a long vowel sound have a short vowel in the past but add no ending.

Examples:

6. Some verbs in d or t have in the past the same form as in the present.

Examples:

Note. The verbs in 5 and 6 might appear to be strong verbs, since they have no ending in the past and some of them change the vowel. They are, however, all weak verbs. Their lack of ending is due to the fact that the d or t of the termination has been absorbed in the final d or t of the verb itself. Thus, the past set was originally settë (dissyllabic), and this form, after the loss of -ë, became indistinguishable in sound from set, the present.

For lists of irregular weak verbs, see [pp. 291–299].

PERSON AND NUMBER—THE PERSONAL ENDINGS

222. A verb must agree with its subject in number and person.

Verbs, like substantives, have two numbers (singular and plural) and three persons (first, second, and third).

The singular number denotes a single person or thing. The plural number denotes more than one person or thing.

The first person denotes the speaker; the second person denotes the person spoken to; the third person denotes the person or thing spoken of.

223. The inflections of person and number in verbs may be seen by framing sentences with the personal pronouns as subjects. Thus,—

Present Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I walk.1. We walk.
2. Thou walk-est.2. You walk.
3. He walk-s [old form, walk-eth].3. They walk.
Past Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I walked.1. We walked.
2. Thou walked-st.2. You walked.
3. He walked.3. They walked.

From the sentences it is evident (1) that the person and number of a verb are usually shown by its subject only, but (2) that some verb-forms have special endings which denote person and number.

224. The endings by means of which a verb indicates person and number are called personal endings.

1. In the present tense a verb has two personal endings, est for the second person singular and s for the third person singular (old form eth).

The first person singular and all three persons of the plural are alike. The simplest form of the verb is used and no personal ending is added.

2. The past tense has but one personal ending,—est or st in the second person singular.[31]

The forms in est or st are confined to poetry and the solemn style. In ordinary language, the second person plural is used to address a single person.

The following table shows the personal endings of the present and the past tense:—

Personal Endings
Present TensePast Tense
SINGULARPLURALSINGULARPLURAL
1. [no ending]1. [no ending]1. [no ending]1. [no ending]
2. -est, -st2. [no ending]2. -est, -st2. [no ending]
3. -s [old, -eth]3. [no ending]3. [no ending]3. [no ending]
Conjugation of the Present and the Past

225. The inflection of a verb is called its conjugation ([§ 53]). When we inflect a verb we are said to conjugate it.

Conjugation of the Weak Verb Walk
Present Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I walk.1. We walk.
2. Thou walkest.[32]2. You walk.
3. He walks.3. They walk.
Past Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I walked.1. We walked.
2. Thou walkedst.2. You walked.
3. He walked.3. They walked.
Conjugation of the Strong Verb Find
Present Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I find.1. We find.
2. Thou findest.2. You find.
3. He finds.3. They find.
Past Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I found.1. We found.
2. Thou foundest.2. You found.
3. He found.3. They found.
Conjugation of the Copula
Present Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I am.1. We are.
2. Thou art.2. You are.
3. He is.3. They are.
Past Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I was.1. We were.
2. Thou wast.2. You were.
3. He was.3. They were.

Note. The English verb formerly had more personal endings. In Chaucer, for instance, the typical inflection of the present is:—

SingularPlural
1. I walkë.1. We walken (or walkë).
2. Thou walkest.2. Ye walken (or walkë).
3. He walketh.3. They walken (or walkë).

The disappearance of all weak final e’s in the fifteenth century ([§ 191]) reduced the first person singular and the whole plural to the single form walk. Later, walks (a dialect form) was substituted for walketh, and still later the second person singular was replaced in ordinary use by the plural. The result has been that in modern speech there are only two common forms in the present tense,—walk and walks. In poetry and the solemn style, however, walkest and walketh are still in use. The plural in en is frequently adopted by Spenser as an ancient form (or archaism): as,—“You deemen the spring is come.”

Special Rules of Number and Person

226. When the subject is compound ([§ 38]), the number of the verb is determined by the following rules:—

1. A compound subject with and usually takes a verb in the plural number.

2. A compound subject with or or nor takes a verb in the singular number if the substantives are singular.

3. A compound subject with and expressing but a single idea sometimes takes a verb in the singular number.

The sum and substance [= gist] of the matter is this.

Note. This construction is rare in modern English prose. It is for the most part confined to such idiomatic phrases as end and aim (= purpose), the long and short of it, etc. The poets, however, use the construction freely (as in Kipling’s “The tumult and the shouting dies”).

4. If the substantives connected by or or nor differ in number or person, the verb usually agrees with the nearer.

But colloquial usage varies, and such expressions are avoided by careful writers. The following sentences show how this may be done:—

227. In such expressions as the following, the subject is not compound, and the verb agrees with its singular subject:—

228. Nouns that are plural in form but singular in sense commonly take a verb in the singular number ([§ 84]).

In some words usage varies. Thus, pains, in the sense of care or effort, is sometimes regarded as a singular and sometimes as a plural.

Great pains has (or have) been taken about the matter.

229. Collective nouns take sometimes a singular and sometimes a plural verb.

When the persons or things denoted are thought of as individuals, the plural should be used. When the collection is regarded as a unit, the singular should be used.[33]

230. A number in the sense of “several” or “many” regularly takes the plural; the number takes the singular.

231. Half, part, portion, and the like, take either the singular or the plural according to sense.

232. A verb which has for its subject a relative pronoun is in the same person and number as the antecedent. For examples, see [§ 149].

Errors are especially common in such sentences as,—

THE FUTURE TENSE

233. The future tense is a verb-phrase consisting of the auxiliary verb shall or will followed by the infinitive without to ([§ 29]).

The following table shows the form of the future for each of the three persons (1) in assertions and (2) in questions:—

Future Tense
Assertions (Declarative)
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I shall fall.1. We shall fall.
2. Thou wilt fall.2. You will fall.
3. He will fall.3. They will fall.
Questions (Interrogative)
SINGULARPLURAL
1. Shall I fall?1. Shall we fall?
2. Shalt thou fall?2. Shall you fall?
3. Will he fall?3. Will they fall?

234. Common errors are the use of will for shall (1) in the first person in assertions and questions, and (2) in the second person in questions.

In the following sentences the first person of the future tense is correctly formed:—

I shall [NOT will] drown.Shall [NOT will] I drown?
I shall [NOT will] fail.Shall [NOT will] I fail?
We shall [NOT will] sink.Shall [NOT will] we sink?

The verb-phrases with shall express merely the action of the verb in future time. They do not indicate any willingness or desire on the part of the subject.

Contrast the following sentences, in which I will or we will is used:—

Here the verb-phrases with will do not (as in the previous examples of I shall) express the action of the verb in future time. They express the present willingness or desire or determination of the speaker to do something in the future.

Hence such verb-phrases with will in the first person are not forms of the future tense. They are special verb-phrases expressing willingness or desire.

235. In the first person shall, not will, is the auxiliary of the future tense in both assertions and questions. It denotes simple futurity, without expressing willingness, desire, or determination.

Will in the first person is used in promising, threatening, consenting, and expressing resolution. It never denotes simple futurity.

I. Simple Futurity (Future Tense)
II. Promises, Threats, etc.

I’ll and we’ll are contractions of I will and we will and can never stand for I shall and we shall.

236. When willingness is expressed by an adjective, I shall is correct; when by an adverb, I will. Thus,—

Note. Such expressions as I shall be glad, I shall be willing, I shall be charmed to do this, express willingness not by means of shall but in the adjectives glad, willing, charmed. To say, “I will be glad to do this,” then, would be wrong, for it would be to express volition twice. Such a sentence could only mean “I am determined to be glad to do this.”

On the other hand, in “I will gladly help you,” volition is expressed by the verb-phrase will help and the adverb merely modifies the phrase by emphasizing the speaker’s willingness. Hence I will is correct.

237. Will, when emphasized, always expresses determination on the part of the subject, even in the second and third persons.

238. In the second person Shall you? not Will you? is the proper form of the future tense in questions.

Will you? always denotes willingness, consent, or determination, and never simple futurity.

Note that in questions in the second person, the auxiliary used is the same as that expected in the answer.

I. Future Tense (Simple Futurity)
II. Verb-Phrase denoting Willingness, etc.

239. Shall in the second and third persons is not the sign of the future tense in declarative sentences.

It is used in commanding, promising, threatening, and expressing resolution, the volition being that of the speaker.

In prophetic language, shall is common in the second and third persons, even when there is no idea of commanding or the like.

The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.—Joel ii. 31.

240. In military orders and official communications, custom permits the more courteous will in the place of shall in the second and third persons.

For shall and will in subordinate clauses, see [pp. 130–132].

241. Future time may also be expressed by the present tense, or by about or going with the infinitive ([§ 319]).

COMPLETE OR COMPOUND TENSES

242. Completed action is denoted by special verb-phrases made by prefixing to the past participle some form of the auxiliary verb have.

These are called the complete or compound tenses.

There are three complete or compound tenses,—the perfect (or present perfect), the pluperfect (or past perfect), and the future perfect.

1. The perfect (or present perfect) tense denotes that the action of the verb is complete at the time of speaking. It is formed by prefixing have (hast, has) to the past participle.

Note. With several verbs of motion the auxiliary be is sometimes used instead of have: as,—“My friends are gone” (or “have gone”); “Your time is come” (or “has come”).

2. The pluperfect (or past perfect) tense denotes that the action was completed at some point in past time. It is formed by prefixing had (hadst) to the past participle.

3. The future perfect tense denotes that the action will be completed at some point in future time. It is formed by prefixing the future tense of have (shall have, etc.) to the past participle.

Before I hear from you again, I shall have landed at Naples.

The future perfect tense is rare except in very formal writing.

243. The forms of the past participle will be studied in [§ 334]. Meanwhile, the following practical rule will serve every purpose:—

The past participle is that verb-form which is used after I have.

Examples:

244. A verb-phrase made by prefixing having to the past participle is called the perfect participle.

Having reached my destination, I stopped.

A verb-phrase made by prefixing to have to the past participle is called the perfect infinitive.

I am sorry to have missed you.

245. Three forms of the verb are so important that they are called the principal parts. These are:—

PresentPastPast Participle
(I) walk(I) walkedwalked
(I) think(I) thoughtthought
(I) see(I) sawseen
(I) come(I) camecome
(I) make(I) mademade

VOICE—ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

246. Voice is that property of verbs which indicates whether the subject acts or is acted upon.

There are two voices, active and passive.

1. A verb is in the active voice when it represents the subject as the doer of an act.

2. A verb is in the passive voice when it represents the subject as the receiver or the product of an action.

247. The passive voice of a verb is expressed by a verb-phrase made by prefixing some form of the copula (is, was, etc.) to the past participle.

In the passive voice of the complete tenses, the past participle been follows the proper form of the auxiliary have (as in the third example in [§ 246, 2]).

The passive of the infinitive is made by prefixing to be (perfect, to have been) to the past participle. Thus,—

248. The following table gives the conjugation of the verb strike in the active and passive of the six tenses:—

Active VoicePassive Voice
Present Tense
SINGULAR
1. I strike.1. I am struck.
2. Thou strikest.2. Thou art struck.
3. He strikes.3. He is struck.
PLURAL
1. We strike.1. We are struck.
2. You strike.2. You are struck.
3. They strike.3. They are struck.
Past Tense
SINGULAR
1. I struck.1. I was struck.
2. Thou struckest.2. Thou wast (or wert) struck.
3. He struck.3. He was struck.
PLURAL
1. We struck.1. We were struck.
2. You struck.2. You were struck.
3. They struck.3. They were struck.
Future Tense
SINGULAR
1. I shall strike.1. I shall be struck.
2. Thou wilt strike.2. Thou wilt be struck.
3. He will strike.3. He will be struck.
PLURAL
1. We shall strike.1. We shall be struck.
2. You will strike.2. You will be struck.
3. They will strike.3. They will be struck.
Perfect (or Present Perfect) Tense
SINGULAR
1. I have struck.1. I have been struck.
2. Thou hast struck.2. Thou hast been struck.
3. He has struck.3. He has been struck.
PLURAL
1. We have struck.1. We have been struck.
2. You have struck.2. You have been struck.
3. They have struck.3. They have been struck.
Pluperfect (or Past Perfect) Tense
SINGULAR
1. I had struck.1. I had been struck.
2. Thou hadst struck.2. Thou hadst been struck.
3. He had struck.3. He had been struck.
PLURAL
1. We had struck.1. We had been struck.
2. You had struck.2. You had been struck.
3. They had struck.3. They had been struck.
Future Perfect Tense
SINGULAR
1. I shall have struck.1. I shall have been struck.
2. Thou wilt have struck.2. Thou wilt have been struck.
3. He will have struck.3. He will have been struck.
PLURAL
1. We shall have struck.1. We shall have been struck.
2. You will have struck.2. You will have been struck.
3. They will have struck.3. They will have been struck.
Use of the Passive Voice

249. Any sentence of which the predicate is a transitive verb followed by an object, may be changed from the active to the passive form without affecting the sense.

In this change, (1) bear, the object of the active verb shot, becomes the subject of the passive verb was shot; and (2) Richard, the subject of the active verb shot, becomes by Richard, an adverbial phrase, modifying the passive verb was shot. Thus we have the rule:—

The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive, and the subject of the active verb becomes in the passive an adverbial phrase modifying the predicate verb.

Active VoicePassive Voice
My cat caught a bird.A bird was caught by my cat.
Austin thanked Charles.Charles was thanked by Austin.
The bullet penetrated a tree.A tree was penetrated by the bullet.
Sargent painted that portrait.That portrait was painted by Sargent.
The fireman had saved the child.The child had been saved by the fireman.

250. Intransitive verbs are ordinarily used in the active voice only.

251. An intransitive verb followed by a preposition is often used in the passive, the object of the preposition becoming the subject of the verb.

Active VoicePassive Voice
Everybody laughed at him.He was laughed at by everybody.
The attorney general has not yet passed upon this bill.This bill has not yet been passed upon.
He has tampered with this lock.This lock has been tampered with.
The cart ran over me.I was run over by the cart.

Other examples are:

Note. In this idiom, the preposition is treated like an ending attached to the verb to make it transitive. In other words, laugh at, pass upon, etc., are treated as compound verbs, and the object of the preposition is, in effect, the object of the compound. In the passive, this object becomes the subject and the preposition (now lacking an object) remains attached to the verb. The passive construction is well established, but not always graceful.

252. The passive of some verbs of choosing, calling, naming, making, and thinking may be followed by a predicate nominative ([§ 88, 2]).

Active VoicePassive Voice
(PREDICATE OBJECTIVE)(PREDICATE NOMINATIVE)
We elected John president.John was elected president.
The Roman people called the chief friend.The chief was called friend by the Roman people.
The herald proclaimed him emperor.He was proclaimed emperor by the herald.

Note. In the active voice, these verbs may take two objects referring to the same person or thing,—a direct object and a predicate objective ([§ 104]). In the passive, the direct object becomes the subject, and the predicate objective becomes a predicate nominative, agreeing with the subject ([§ 88, 2]).

Object of the Passive

253. When a verb takes both a direct and an indirect object, one of the two is often retained after the passive, the other becoming the subject. Thus,—

1. The indirect object is retained.

Active VoicePassive Voice
My aunt gave me this watch.This watch was given me by my aunt.
We allowed them free choice.Free choice was allowed them.
He allowed each speaker an hour.An hour was allowed each speaker.
Congress granted me a pension.A pension was granted me.

Note. The preposition to is often inserted in the passive construction, especially with a noun; as,—“A small pension was granted to Dr. Johnson.”

2. The direct object is retained.

Active VoicePassive Voice
We allowed them their choice.They were allowed their choice.
He allowed each speaker an hour.Each speaker was allowed an hour.
They showed me the way.I was shown the way.
Experience has taught me wisdom.I have been taught wisdom by experience.

The direct object after a passive verb is often called the retained object.

Note. This construction, though common, is avoided by many careful writers, except in a few well-established idioms. Its habitual use gives one’s style a heavy and awkward air. Instead of “He was given permission,” one may say “He received permission”; instead of “I was given this watch by my aunt,” either “It was my aunt who gave me this watch” or “This watch was a present from my aunt.”

254. The verb ask, which may take two direct objects,—one denoting the person, the other the thing,—sometimes retains its second object in the passive construction ([§ 103]).

PROGRESSIVE VERB-PHRASES

255. In addition to the tense-forms already described, verbs have so-called progressive forms.

The progressive form of a tense represents the action of the verb as going on or continuing at the time referred to.

Both ate and was eating are in the past tense. But ate merely expresses a past action, whereas was eating describes this action as continuing or in progress in past time.

256. The progressive form is a verb-phrase made by prefixing to the present participle some form of the verb to be.

Active VoicePresent Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I am striking.1. We are striking.
2. Thou art striking.2. You are striking.
3. He is striking.3. They are striking.

So in the other tenses:

PastI was striking, etc.
FutureI shall be striking, etc.
PerfectI have been striking, etc.
PluperfectI had been striking, etc.
Future perfectI shall have been striking, etc.
PresentI am being struck, etc.
PastI was being struck, etc.

257. In the passive, the progressive forms are confined to the present and the past tense.

258. In subordinate clauses, the verb is (in its various forms) with its subject is often omitted in progressive phrases.

In parsing, the omitted words should be supplied.

259. For such progressive forms as is building for is being built, see [§ 352].

EMPHATIC VERB-PHRASES

260. The present or the past of a verb in the active voice may be expressed with emphasis by means of a verb-phrase consisting of do or did and the infinitive without to.

Such a phrase is called the emphatic form of the present or past tense.

“I do see you” and “I did go” differ from “I see you” and “I went” merely in emphasis. Hence do see is called the emphatic form of the present tense of see, and did go the emphatic form of the past tense of go.

261. In questions and in negative statements the emphatic forms are used without the effect of emphasis.

Did you go? I did not go.

Note. Do often stands for some other verb which has just been used: as, “Jack swims better than I do,” “You looked as tired as she did.” This idiom comes from the omission of the infinitive in the verb-phrase:—“Jack swims better than I do [swim].”

In poetry and older English the verb-phrase with do or did in declarative sentences often carries no emphasis, but merely takes the place of the present or past: as,—“The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

MOOD OF VERBS

262. Mood is that property of verbs which shows the manner in which the action or state is expressed.

Mood (or mode) is derived from the Latin word modus, “manner.”

Compare the following sentences, noting the form of the verb in each:

In the first and second sentences, the form is is used to assert or question a fact; in the third, the form were expresses a condition or supposition that is contrary to fact; in the fourth, the form be expresses a command or request.

The difference in form seen in the verb in these sentences is called a difference of mood.

263. There are three moods,—the indicative, the imperative, and the subjunctive.

1. The indicative is the mood of simple assertion or interrogation, but it is used in other constructions also.

2. The imperative is the mood of command or request.

3. The subjunctive mood is used in certain special constructions of wish, condition, and the like.

Thus, in the examples in [§ 262], is is in the indicative, were in the subjunctive, and be in the imperative mood.

I. INDICATIVE MOOD

264. The ordinary forms of the indicative mood in the active and the passive voice and in all six tenses,—present, past, future, perfect (or present perfect), pluperfect (or past perfect), and future perfect,—may be seen in the table on [pp. 108–110].

For the progressive form of the indicative, see [§ 256]; for the emphatic form, see [§ 260].

265. The commonest uses of the indicative mood are in statements or questions as to matters of fact; but it may express almost any other form of thought. Thus,

Note. The indicative and the subjunctive were originally quite distinct in form, and each had its own set of constructions. But, as our language has grown simpler in its structure, the forms of these two moods have become almost identical, and the uses of the indicative have been greatly multiplied at the expense of the subjunctive. Indeed, there is scarcely any variety of thought expressed by the subjunctive or the imperative for which the indicative cannot also be employed. It is therefore impossible to frame any satisfactory definition of the indicative. Its functions are too varied to be included in one general statement. The indicative is often described as the mood which asserts thought as a fact, and the subjunctive as the mood which expresses thought as supposition (or as mere thought). But the indicative, as well as the subjunctive, may express supposition, condition, doubt, desire, concession, etc. Hence the definitions in [§ 263] are as exact as the facts of the language allow. All the efforts of grammarians to devise more “accurate” definitions break down when tested by actual usage.

II. IMPERATIVE MOOD

266. The imperative is the mood of command or request.

The imperative has both voices, active and passive, but only one tense,—the present. It has both numbers, the singular and the plural, but only one person, the second. It has the same form for both the singular and the plural.

267. 1. The imperative active is the verb in its simplest form.

For examples, see [§ 266].

The imperative of the verb to be is be. Thus,—

2. The imperative passive is a verb-phrase consisting of be and a past participle.

268. The subject of an imperative is seldom expressed unless it is emphatic.

The subject, when expressed, may precede the imperative: as,—You sit here.

Note. In older English, the subject often followed the imperative: as,—Go thou, Go you, Hear ye. This use is now confined to the solemn style and to poetry.

269. The emphatic form of the imperative consists of the imperative do, followed by the infinitive without to.

The form with do is often used when the subject is expressed as,—Do you remain.

270. Prohibition (or negative command) is commonly expressed by means of the form with do.

In poetry and the solemn style prohibition is often expressed by the simple imperative with not.

271. Commands are sometimes expressed in the indicative by means of shall or will ([§§ 239–240]).

For such expressions as “Forward!” “Off with you!” and the like, see [§ 530].

For the imperative in conditions, see [§ 418].

III: SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
Forms of the Subjunctive

272. The subjunctive mood is used in certain special constructions of wish, condition, and the like.

In older English, the subjunctive forms were common in a variety of uses, as they still are in poetry and the solemn style. In ordinary prose, however, subjunctive forms are rare, and in conversation they are hardly ever heard, except in the case of the copula be.

The subjunctive forms of be are the following:—

Subjunctive Mood
Present Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I be.1. If we be.
2. If thou be.2. If you be.
3. If he be.3. If they be.
Past Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I were.1. If we were.
2. If thou wert.2. If you were.
3. If he were.3. If they were.
Perfect (or Present Perfect) Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I have been.1. If we have been.
2. If thou have been.2. If you have been.
3. If he have been.3. If they have been.
Pluperfect (or Past Perfect) Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. If I had been.1. If we had been.
2. If thou hadst been.2. If you had been.
3. If he had been.3. If they had been.

If is used in the paradigm because it is in clauses beginning with if that the subjunctive is commonest in modern English; but if is of course no part of the subjunctive inflection.

273. In other verbs, the subjunctive active has the same forms as the indicative, except in the second and third persons singular of the present and the perfect, which are like the first person:—

PresentPerfect
1. If I strike.1. If I have struck.
2. If thou strike.2. If thou have struck.
3. If he strike.3. If he have struck.

In the passive subjunctive, the subjunctive forms of the copula ([§ 272]) are used as auxiliaries:—present, If I be struck; past, If I were struck; perfect, If I have been struck; pluperfect, If I had been struck. (See table, [p. 304].)

274. Progressive verb-phrases in the subjunctive may be formed by means of the copula:—present, If I be striking; past, If I were striking. The present is rare; the past is common.

Uses of the Subjunctive

Subjunctive in Wishes and Exhortations

275. The subjunctive is often used in wishes or prayers.

In the first five examples, the wish is expressed in an independent sentence. In the last two, the construction is subordinate,—the that-clause being the object of an unexpressed “I wish” ([§ 407]).

276. The subjunctive be is often omitted when it may easily be supplied.

277. Wishes are often introduced by may or would.

May and would in such expressions were originally subjunctives; would stands for I would, that is, I should wish. Want in the first example is an infinitive without to ([§ 311]). For wishes expressed by the infinitive, see [§ 320].

278. Exhortations in the first person plural sometimes take the subjunctive in elevated or poetical style.

Exhortation is ordinarily expressed by let us followed by the infinitive without to.

Let is a verb in the imperative mood, us is its object, and the infinitive (join, have, camp) depends on let.

Subjunctives in Concessions, Conditions, etc.

279. The subjunctive is used after though, although, to express an admission or concession not as a fact but as a supposition.

When the concession is stated as an admitted fact, the indicative is regular.

280. After if and unless, expressing condition, the subjunctive may be used in a variety of ways.

In conditional clauses, the present subjunctive denotes either present or future time. It puts the supposed case doubtfully, but not necessarily as improbable. (See examples 1–3.)

The past subjunctive refers to present time. It implies that the supposed case is not now a fact. (See examples 4 and 5.)

The pluperfect (or past perfect) subjunctive refers to past time. It implies that the supposed case was not a fact. (See 6 and 7.)

For details of conditional sentences, see [pp. 167–172].

281. Concession or condition may be expressed by the subjunctive without though or if, the verb preceding the subject, which is sometimes omitted.

I. Concession

II. Condition

Note. The subjunctive in these concessive and conditional uses is really the same as that in exhortations ([§ 278]). “Try [we] as we may” means literally, “Let us try as hard as we can,” and this has the force of “However hard we try” or “Although we try ever so hard.”

282. After as if (as though), the past subjunctive is used.

283. The subjunctive may express not what is or was, but what would be or would have been, the case.

This construction is old-fashioned. Modern English commonly uses should (or would) be, should (or would) have been, instead.

284. The subjunctive is occasionally used after that, lest, before, until, etc., in subordinate clauses referring to the future and commonly expressing purpose or expectation.

This construction is confined to poetry and the solemn or formal style. In ordinary language the indicative or a verb-phrase with may is used.

285. The past subjunctive had is common in had rather and similar phrases.

Note. Had in this construction is sometimes condemned as erroneous or inelegant; but the idiom is well-established.

Might better, would better, and would rather may be used instead of had better, etc.; but would better is improper in the first person.

286. The subjunctive forms are often replaced by verb-phrases containing the auxiliaries may, might, could, would, should.

1. In wishes ([§ 277]).

2. In concessions and conditions ([§§ 279–280]).

3. In sentences expressing not what is or was, but what would be or would have been, the case ([§ 283]).

4. In subordinate clauses introduced by that, lest, before, until, etc. ([§ 284]).

POTENTIAL VERB-PHRASES

USE OF MODAL AUXILIARIES

287. Several auxiliary verbs are used to form verb-phrases indicating ability, possibility, obligation, or necessity.

Such verb-phrases are called potential phrases, that is, “phrases of possibility.”

The auxiliary verbs used in potential phrases are:—may, can, must, might, could, would, and should. They are called modal auxiliaries and are followed by the infinitive without to.

Note. The fact that give, etc., in such phrases as can give, are infinitives may be seen by comparing “I can strike” with “I am able to strike,” “I may strike” with “I am permitted to strike,” “I must strike” with “I am obliged to strike,” and so on. In earlier periods of the language, when the infinitive had a special ending (-an or -en), the nature of the construction was unmistakable.

288. Potential phrases may be arranged in tables of conjugation, like that on [pp. 108–110]. They are often called, collectively, the potential mood.

Active Voice
Present Tense
SINGULARPLURAL
1. I may strike.[34]1. We may strike.
2. Thou mayst strike.2. You may strike.
3. He may strike.3. They may strike.
Past Tense
1. I might strike.[35]1. We might strike.
2. Thou mightst strike.2. You might strike.
3. He might strike.3. They might strike.
Perfect (or Present Perfect) Tense
1. I may have struck.[36]1. We may have struck.
2. Thou mayst have struck.2. You may have struck.
3. He may have struck.3. They may have struck.
Pluperfect (or Past Perfect) Tense
1. I might have struck.[37]1. We might have struck.
2. Thou mightst have struck.2. You might have struck.
3. He might have struck.3. They might have struck.
Passive Voice
Present Tense
I may be struck, etc.We may be struck, etc.
Past Tense
I might be struck, etc.We might be struck, etc.
Perfect (or Present Perfect) Tense
I may have been struck, etc.We may have been struck, etc.
Pluperfect (or Past Perfect) Tense
I might have been struck, etc.We might have been struck, etc.

289. Can (past tense, could) regularly indicates that the subject is able to do something.

290. May (past tense, might) indicates (1) permission, (2) possibility or doubtful intention, (3) a wish.

291. In asking permission, the proper form is “May I?” not “Can I?” With negatives, however, can is more common than may, except in questions. Thus,—

292. Must expresses necessity or obligation.

Note. Must, though originally a past tense, is in modern English almost always used as a present. Past necessity may be expressed by had to with the infinitive: as,—“I had to wait for the train.”

293. Ought with the present infinitive, expresses a present duty or moral obligation; with the perfect infinitive, a past duty or obligation. Should is often used in the same sense.

Note. Ought is really an old past tense of the verb owe, but is now always a present. Its former meaning may be seen in Dame Quickly’s “You ought him a thousand pound” (Shakspere, 1 Henry IV, iii. 3. 152).

Had should never be prefixed to ought.

CorrectIncorrect
You ought to stay at home.You had ought to stay at home.
We oughtn’t to make so much noise.We hadn’t ought to make so much noise.
John ought to begin, oughtn’t he?John ought to begin, hadn’t he?

294. Should and ought sometimes express what would certainly be expected in the case supposed.

295. Would in all three persons sometimes indicates habitual action in the past.

SPECIAL RULES FOR SHOULD AND WOULD

296. Should is the past tense of shall, and would is the past tense of will. Hence the rules for should and would are similar to those for shall and will ([§§ 233–239]). But there is much variation, especially in subordinate clauses.

I. IN SIMPLE SENTENCES AND INDEPENDENT CLAUSES

297. Except in certain kinds of subordinate clauses, the distinction between should and would is practically the same as that between shall and will.

When the auxiliary verb expresses futurity without any idea of wishing, consenting, or the like, the forms are as follows:—

SINGULARPLURAL
1. I should fall.1. We should fall.
2. Thou wouldst fall.2. You would fall.
3. He would fall.3. They would fall.
SINGULARPLURAL
1. Should I fall?1. Should we fall?
2. Shouldst thou fall?2. Should you fall?
3. Would he fall?3. Would they fall?

298. Common errors are the use of I would for I should in assertions, and that of Would I? and Would you? for Should I? and Should you? in questions.

The correct forms are shown in the following sentences.

I. I should (we should) and I would (we would) in assertions:—

In the first six examples, I (or we) should is correct, because the auxiliary gives no suggestion of the speaker’s will (or volition). In the last six, on the contrary, the speaker’s willingness or desire is plainly expressed by the auxiliary, and I (or we) would is therefore used.

Note. In such sentences as the fifth,—“I should wish to examine the plans again before deciding,”—wish expresses volition. Hence “I would wish” is incorrect, for it expresses volition twice and can mean only “I desire to wish.” On the same principle we say “I should prefer,” “I should be glad,” etc. (see [§ 236]).

Sometimes either I would or I should may be used, but with a difference in meaning. Thus, in the eighth example, “I should help you” might be substituted for “I would help you.” This change, however, makes the remark sound less cordial and sympathetic; for I should (unlike I would) gives no hint of the speaker’s desire to be of service.

II. Should I (or we)? in questions:—

Note. Would I? is confined, for the most part, to questions in which one repeats the words or thought of another. Thus,—“You would give five dollars for a ticket.” “Would I? No, I wouldn’t!” In this use it is chiefly colloquial.

III. Should you? and Would you? in questions:—

The choice between should and would in these sentences corresponds to the form expected in the answer ([§ 238]).

299. The chief occasions on which Would you? is correct are:—(1) in asking advice in a matter of doubt, and (2) in asking consent or permission.

In examples 6 and 7 in [§ 298], III, the speaker asks advice; in 8, 9, and 10, he asks consent or permission.

300. Note that the proper forms are I should like, Should I like? and Should you like?

Note. Would is very common in these phrases, even among writers of repute, but it is still contrary to the best usage. The reason for should is the same as in I should wish ([§ 298], I, note).

301. I’d and we’d are contractions of I would and we would. Hence they can never stand for I should and we should ([§ 235]).

302. Should in the second and third persons may be used in simple declarative sentences and independent clauses to express the will of the speaker ([§ 239]).

II. SHOULD AND WOULD IN SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

303. In some kinds of subordinate clauses, the use of should and would differs considerably from that in simple sentences and principal clauses.

The following classes require attention:—(1) clauses of purpose or expectation ([§ 304]), (2) conditional and concessive clauses ([§ 305]), (3) clauses expressing volition not that of the subject ([§ 306]), (4) clauses stating something as an idea ([§ 307]), (5) indirect discourse ([§ 308]).

304. In subordinate clauses expressing the purpose or expectation with which anything is done, shall and should are used in all three persons.

305. In conditional or concessive clauses expressing a future supposed case doubtfully, shall and should are used in all three persons; but will and would are proper when the subject is thought of as wishing or consenting.

When a future supposed case is admitted or conceded as certain, will may be used in the second and third persons to denote mere futurity.

306. Shall and should are often used in the second and third persons in subordinate clauses to express volition which is not that of the subject.

307. When a clause with that states something, not as a fact but as an idea to be considered, should is the proper auxiliary in all three persons.

308. For shall and will, should and would, in indirect discourse, see [§§ 438–439].

THE INFINITIVE

309. The infinitive is a verb-form that has some of the properties of a noun ([§ 28]). Its two-sided character comes out clearly when it is used as the subject of a sentence.

Each of these infinitives (to hope, to flatter, etc.) is a noun, for each is the simple subject of a sentence. Besides, an ordinary noun may be substituted for each infinitive with no change in meaning; as,—“Hope is our only resource”; “Flattery is not my custom”; “Sleep was an impossibility.”

But each of these infinitives is also a verb,—for (1) it expresses action; (2) it may be modified by an adverb, as in No. 5; (3) it takes an object if it is transitive, as in No. 6.

An infinitive (as the examples show) has regularly no subject and therefore lacks both number and person. Hence it is not bound by the general rule for the agreement of a verb with its subject ([§ 222]). From this fact it derives its name, infinitive, which means “unrestricted” or “free from limitations.”[38]

310. The infinitive is a verb-form which partakes of the nature of a noun. It expresses action or state in the simplest possible way, without person or number.

It is commonly preceded by the preposition to, which is called the sign of the infinitive.

To is not, in strictness, a part of the infinitive, but it may be so regarded for convenience, since the infinitive, in most of its uses, is preceded by to.

Note. To sometimes stands for an infinitive in careless speech: as,—“You may go if you wish to” (that is, “if you wish to go”). Such expressions are to be avoided. It is better to say, “You may go if you wish.”

311. The infinitive often lacks to, especially in verb-phrases with the auxiliaries will, shall, may, can, must, might, could, would, should, do, did. For examples, see [pp. 102], [114], [124].

312. The infinitive has two tenses,—the present and the perfect.

1. The present infinitive is the verb in its simplest form, usually preceded by to: as,—to live, to teach, to bind, to strike.

2. The perfect infinitive is made by prefixing the infinitive of the auxiliary verb have to the past participle ([§ 243]): as,—to have lived, to have taught, to have bound, to have struck.

313. An infinitive may be modified by an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or an adverbial clause.

No modifier should be inserted between to and the infinitive.

Note. Careless writers pay slight attention to this rule, and some good writers and speakers defy it, hoping to break it down. But it is unquestionably still in accord with the best usage.

314. The infinitive may take an object if its meaning allows.

315. The infinitive is used in a variety of constructions,—(1) as a noun, (2) as an adjective modifier or adverbial modifier, (3) in the so-called infinitive clause.

I. THE INFINITIVE AS NOUN

316. The infinitive is used in various noun constructions,—as subject, as predicate nominative, as nominative of exclamation, as appositive, as object of certain prepositions, as modifier.

317. An infinitive with or without a complement or modifiers, may be used as the subject of a sentence, as a predicate nominative, or as an appositive.

318. An infinitive in the predicate is often in apposition with the expletive subject it.

In this use the infinitive, though grammatically in apposition with it, is really the subject of the thought (see [§ 120, 2]).

319. The infinitive may be used as the object of the prepositions but, except, about.

Note. Can but and cannot but are distinct idioms. (1) In “I can but thank you,” but is an adverb (= only). The sentence means: “I can only thank you—simply that and nothing more!” (2) In “I cannot but thank you,” but is a preposition (= except). The idiom is shortened from “I cannot choose but thank you,”—that is, “I have no choice except to do so,” or, in other words, “I cannot help it.”

The infinitive after for (now a gross error) was once in good use: as,—

What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol for to sing.—Herrick.

320. The infinitive may be used as a nominative of exclamation ([§ 88, 4]).

II. THE INFINITIVE AS A MODIFIER

321. An infinitive may be used as an adjective modifier of a noun or as an adverbial modifier of an adjective.

In this use the infinitive is said to depend on the word which it modifies.

With Nouns (Adjective Modifier)With Adjectives (Adverbial Modifier)
An opportunity to advance came.The men are ready to advance.
Determination to win brings success.John is eager to win.
Willingness to oblige makes friends.I shall be glad to oblige you.
I wish I had the ability to swim.We are all able to swim.
His anxiety to please us was laughable.He is anxious to please everybody.

Note. This use is due to the fact that the infinitive with to is really a prepositional phrase ([§ 42]). Thus, “determination to win” is equivalent to “determination for victory,” and “eager to win” to “eager for victory.” The adjective force of the infinitive comes out clearly in “nothing to eat,” where to eat is practically synonymous with eatable.

In its adjective use, the present infinitive sometimes shows no distinction in voice, so that the active and the passive are interchangeable: as,—“a house to let” or “to be let”; “an axe to grind” or “to be ground.” In such expressions the active form is usually preferable.

322. The infinitive without to may be used as an adjective modifier after the direct object of see, hear, feel, and some other verbs of like meaning.

In this use the infinitive is practically equivalent to a participle. Compare “I heard him shout” with “I heard him shouting.” Hence the substantive may be regarded as an object, and the infinitive as its modifier. But the construction closely approaches that of an infinitive clause ([§§ 324–325]).

323. An infinitive may modify a verb (1) by completing its meaning, or (2) by expressing the purpose of the action.

I. Complementary Infinitive

After dare, the complementary infinitive may or may not have to. Thus,—“I dare not do it”; “Who will dare to speak?”

II. Infinitive of Purpose

Both the complementary infinitive and the infinitive of purpose may be regarded as adverbial phrases modifying the verb.

Note. After some verbs the infinitive approaches the construction of a pure noun and is often regarded as an object. Thus,—“I desire to see you” (compare “I desire a sight of you”). It is simpler, however, to regard all such infinitives as complementary and to treat them as adverbial modifiers. For it is impossible to distinguish the construction of the infinitive after certain adjectives (as in “I am eager to see you”) from its construction after such verbs as wish and desire.

III. THE INFINITIVE CLAUSE

324. A peculiar infinitive construction often replaces a that-clause as the object of a verb. Thus,—

I wished {that he should go. | him to go.}

In the first sentence, the noun clause that he should go is the object of wished; in the second, this clause is replaced by him to go, but without any change in meaning. This expression consists of two parts:—(1) him, a pronoun in the objective case, which replaces the subject he; and (2) an infinitive to go, which replaces the predicate should go. Thus it is plain that him to go is also a noun clause, of which him is the subject, and to go the predicate. Such an expression is called an infinitive clause.

325. A kind of clause, consisting of a substantive in the objective case followed by an infinitive, may be used as the object of certain verbs.

Such clauses are called infinitive clauses, and the substantive is said to be the subject of the infinitive.

The subject of an infinitive is in the objective case.

Infinitive clauses are used (1) after verbs of wishing, commanding, advising, and the like, and (2) after some verbs of believing, declaring, and perceiving.[39] Thus,—

After a few verbs the infinitive without to is used in infinitive clauses.

Note. Ordinarily the infinitive cannot assert and hence has no subject ([§ 309]). The infinitive clause is, therefore, a peculiar exception, for him to go makes an assertion as clearly as that he should go does. That him is really the subject of to go and not the object of wished is manifest, for I wished him makes no sense. The object of wished is the whole clause (him to go).

Originally, to be sure, the noun or pronoun in the objective was felt to be the object of the main verb, and this relation may still be felt in “I ordered him to go”; but even here the real object of ordered is the clause (as may be seen in “I ordered the castle to be blown up”). The substantive has come to be the real subject of the infinitive, and should be so treated in parsing.

326. A predicate pronoun after to be in an infinitive clause is in the objective case, agreeing with the subject of the infinitive.

Care should be taken not to confuse this construction with the predicate nominative ([§ 88, 2]).

Predicate Pronoun after to bePredicate Nominative
I believed it to be her.I believed that it was she.
We know the author to be him.We know that the author is he.
The author is known to be he.
He thought Richard to be me.He thought that Richard was I.
Richard was thought to be I.
We suspected the intruders to be them.We suspected that the intruders were they.

Note the case of the relatives and of the predicate pronouns in the following sentences:—

327. An infinitive clause may be the object of the preposition for. Thus,—

328. An infinitive clause with for may be used as a subject, as a predicate nominative, or as the object of a preposition.

PARTICIPLES

329. Certain words unite in themselves some of the properties of adjectives with some of the properties of verbs. Such words are called participles ([§ 31]). Thus,—

Shattered and sinking, but gallantly returning the enemy’s fire, the frigate drifted out to sea.

Shattered, sinking, and returning are verb-forms which are in some respects similar to infinitives: for (1) they express action; (2) they have no subject to agree with, and hence have neither person nor number; and (3) one of them takes a direct object. They differ from infinitives, however, in that they resemble, not nouns, but adjectives, for they describe the substantive frigate to which they belong.

Such verb-forms are called participles, because they share (or participate in) the nature of adjectives.

330. The participle is a verb-form which has no subject, but which partakes of the nature of an adjective and expresses action or state in such a way as to describe or limit a substantive.

FORMS OF PARTICIPLES

331. Verbs have three participles,—the present, the past, and the perfect.

332. The present participle ends in -ing. It usually describes an action as taking place at the same time with some other action.

333. The present participle often refers to time preceding that denoted by the predicate verb.

334. The past participle is always associated with the idea of past time or completed action.

1. The past participle of a weak verb has the same form as the past tense.[40]

Present TensePast TensePast Participle
I mend chairs.I mended the chairs.The chairs are mended.
I sweep the rooms.I swept the rooms.The rooms are swept.
I seek treasure.I sought treasure.Treasure is sought.
I lose money.I lost money.The money is lost.

2. The past participle of strong verbs shows a change from the vowel of the present tense.

All strong verbs had originally the ending en (n) in the past participle, but this ending has been lost in many verbs.

Present TensePast TensePast Participle
He speaks.He spoke.(He has) spoken.
He draws.He drew.(He has) drawn.
He sings.He sang.(He has) sung.
He wins.He won.(He has) won.

The forms show great variety and must be learned by practice. (See [pp. 291–297] for a list.)

335. The perfect participle is made by prefixing having to the past participle.

336. The present participle is used in forming the progressive verb-phrases ([§§ 255–259]).

The past participle is used in forming the complete tenses ([§§ 242–244]) and the passive voice ([§ 247]).

CONSTRUCTIONS OF PARTICIPLES

337. Since the participle has adjective properties, its constructions are in the main like those of adjectives.

338. A participle is said to belong to the substantive which it describes or limits.

339. A participle should not be used without some substantive to which it may belong.

Apparent exceptions are concerning, considering, pending, generally speaking, etc. The first three may be classed as prepositions ([§ 355]), the last as an independent participle.

We fought every day, and, generally speaking, twice every day.—De Quincey.

Note. The rule in [§ 339] does not apply to such phrases as on entering, after investigating, etc., in which the words in -ing are not participles, but verbal nouns ([§ 348]). Thus the following sentences are grammatical:—“On entering the room, a strange sight appeared”; “After investigating the subject, the plan was adopted.” Such expressions, however, should be used with caution, since they are sometimes awkward or ambiguous.

340. A participle may be modified by an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or an adverbial clause.

341. A participle may take an object if its meaning allows.

The participle, with its modifiers and such other words as are attached to it, is sometimes called a participial phrase.

342. A participle may be used as a pure adjective.

343. The past participle is often used as a predicate adjective expressing state or condition.

This construction is easily confused with the passive of verbs. The distinction may be seen in the following examples:—

In the first sentence, were drenched is the past passive of the verb drench (compare the active “every time a gust of wind struck us, it drenched us”). In the second, the participle drenched expresses mere condition, and is therefore a predicate adjective. The distinction, however, is not always sharp, and in cases of doubt the phrase may be taken together as a passive verb.

Note. The real test is the following. Whenever a person or thing is distinctly present to the mind as the doer of the action, we have a passive verb-phrase. Whenever, on the other hand, the participle merely describes condition with no thought of its being the result of an antecedent act, the construction is that of a predicate adjective ([§ 172, 3]).

Nominative Absolute

344. A substantive, with the participle belonging to it, is often used to make a peculiar form of adverbial modifying phrase: as,—

The wind failing, we lowered the sail.

Here the wind failing is equivalent to an adverbial phrase (on the failure of the wind) or an adverbial clause (when the wind failed). It defines the time of the action.

{The wind failing, | On the failure of the wind, | When the wind failed,} we lowered the sail.

345. A substantive, with a participle, may express the cause, time, or circumstances of an action.

This is called the absolute construction.

The substantive is in the nominative case and is called a nominative absolute.

Note. This construction is called absolute (that is, “free” or “loosened”) because the substantive is not in any one of the constructions (subject, object, apposition, etc.) which ordinarily attach nouns grammatically to other words in the sentence. Nevertheless, the whole phrase, though standing apart from the rest of the sentence, is in meaning an adverbial modifier of some verb.

346. The participle being is sometimes omitted in the absolute construction.

VERBAL NOUNS IN -ING (PARTICIPIAL NOUNS)

347. English has a large and important class of verbal nouns that end in -ing, and that serve as the names of actions.

These are identical in form with present participles, for which they are frequently mistaken. The distinction, however, is clear, for the present participle is never used as the name of an action. Hence no such word in -ing that is a subject or an object, or stands in any other noun construction, can be a participle.

That nouns in -ing are real nouns may be proved by putting ordinary nouns in their place.

Travelling broadens the mind.Travel broadens the mind.
Talking is useless.Talk is useless.
He is afraid of falling.He is afraid of a fall.

348. From nearly every English verb there may be formed a verbal noun in -ing.

Verbal nouns in -ing have the form of present participles, but the construction of nouns.

They are often called participial nouns.

Such nouns are freely used, either by themselves or in a series along with ordinary nouns.

349. Verbal nouns in -ing have certain properties of the verb.

1. Verbal nouns in -ing may take a direct or an indirect object if their meaning allows.

2. A verbal noun in -ing may take an adverbial modifier.

Speaking extemporaneously is good practice. [Here the verbal noun speaking is the simple subject; but it is modified by the adverb extemporaneously, precisely as if it were a verb.]

But verbal nouns in -ing, like other nouns, may be modified by adjectives.

Extemporaneous speaking is good practice.

3. To the verbal nouns being and having, past participles may be attached, so as to give the effect of voice and tense.

Such expressions are verbal noun-phrases.

350. Verbal nouns in -ing are similar in some of their constructions to infinitives used as nouns ([p. 135]).

Infinitive as NounVerbal Noun in -ing
To swim was difficult.Swimming was difficult.
My business is to make shoes.My business is making shoes.
To see is to believe.Seeing is believing.

Nouns in -ing are sometimes called infinitives or gerunds.

351. A noun in -ing may be used as an adjective, or as the adjective element in a compound noun ([§ 64]).

Note. Other examples are:—a working day, an ironing board, drinking water, smelling salts, marching orders, a walking tour, a swimming race, a vaulting pole. In such cases it makes little difference whether the two nouns are taken together as a compound, or whether the first is regarded as an adjective modifying the second. The difference between this use and that of the participle is perfectly clear. A “sleeping dog” is a dog that sleeps; a “sleeping car” is a car for sleeping. Sometimes, indeed, either explanation is possible. Thus, a “hoisting engine” may be understood either as an “engine that hoists,” or as an “engine for hoisting.” But it is better to class these exceptions with the nouns in -ing.

352. When a verbal noun in -ing is preceded by an article or any other adjective, it cannot take an object.

Observe that, in each instance, the object (song-birds, ship, maps, confectionery, wells) is replaced by a prepositional phrase when an article or other adjective precedes the verbal noun.

Note. In such expressions as “I went a-fishing,” a is a shortened form of the preposition on, and fishing is a verbal noun used as its object. When a is omitted we have “I went fishing,” “The house is building,” and the like, in which the word in -ing seems to be a participle, but is really the object of the omitted a (= on).

353. The possessive case of a noun or pronoun may be used to limit a verbal noun in -ing.

CHAPTER VII
PREPOSITIONS

354. A preposition is a word placed before a substantive to show its relation to some other word in the sentence.

The substantive which follows a preposition is called its object and is in the objective case.

A phrase consisting of a preposition and its object, with or without other words, is called a prepositional phrase.

A prepositional phrase may be either adjective or adverbial.

Thus, in the first example, of nuts is an adjective phrase modifying the noun heap, and on the floor is an adverbial phrase modifying the verb lay. In the second sentence, the verb stood is modified by two adverbial phrases, behind the tree and for some time.

355. The following list includes most of the prepositions:

Note. Such expressions as by means of, in accordance with, in spite of, etc., are really phrases, but may be regarded as compound prepositions.

Several participles like concerning, considering, pending, are common in a prepositional use and are therefore included in the list ([§ 339]).

For a (a form of on) in abed, asleep, afire, a-fishing, etc., see [§ 352].

Per is confined to the strictly commercial style except in such expressions as perforce, per cent, per annum ([§ 179]).

356. A preposition may stand at the end of a sentence or clause.

Note. This order, though informal, is common in the best authors; but, if carelessly used, it may result in awkwardness of style. Sometimes a relative which is the object of the preposition is omitted (see [§ 151]). Thus, in the second sentence, which might be dropped, and the object of in would then be “which, understood.” For “He was laughed at,” and the like, see [§ 251].

In poetry a preposition sometimes follows its object directly: as,—“Barefoot plod I the cold ground upon” (Shakspere).

357. Certain adverbial expressions like “on Sunday,” “on March first,” occur both with and without the preposition.

Note. The forms without on are good colloquial English, but are avoided in the more formal style. No preposition need be supplied in parsing. The noun is an adverbial objective ([§ 109]).

358. Care is required in the use of pronouns as the objects of prepositions.

359. Several words are used either as adverbs or prepositions.

As AdverbAs Preposition
I fell down.I fell down the steps.
Stand by!He stood by the window.
A big dog ran behind.A dog ran behind the carriage.
Keep off!Keep off the grass.

Other examples are:—

For words used either as prepositions or as conjunctions, see [pp. 152–154].

360. Prepositions show various distinctions in use and meaning which must be learned by practice and by the study of synonyms in a large dictionary.

The following groups afford opportunity for such study:—

CHAPTER VIII
CONJUNCTIONS

361. Conjunctions connect words or groups of words.

Conjunctions are either coördinate or subordinate.[41]

1. A coördinate conjunction connects words or groups of words that are independent of each other.

In each of the first four sentences, the conjunction (and, or, but) connects single words that are in the same construction (subjects, objects, predicate adjectives, adverbs). In the fifth, but connects an adverb with an adverbial phrase (both being modifiers of the verb embarked). In the sixth, and joins the two coördinate clauses of a compound sentence ([§ 44]). In the seventh, and joins two coördinate clauses which, taken together, make up the subordinate clause until ... deserted; this clause may therefore be called a compound subordinate clause (see [§ 454]).

2. A subordinate conjunction connects a subordinate clause with the clause on which it depends.

362. The chief coördinate conjunctions are:—

Several of these are much used for transition, whether from sentence to sentence or from one paragraph to another.

Such are:—

363. Then is an adverb when it denotes time, a conjunction when it denotes consequence or the like.

364. Yet and still are adverbs when they express time or degree, conjunctions when they connect.

365. For and notwithstanding may be either prepositions or conjunctions.

PrepositionsConjunctions
I am waiting for you.We must go, for it is late.
Jane is coming, notwithstanding the storm.It is a hard storm. She will come, notwithstanding.

Note. For is sometimes classified as a subordinate conjunction, but the fact that it may be used to begin an independent sentence (even when such a sentence opens a paragraph) justifies its inclusion among the coördinates.

366. The chief subordinate conjunctions are:—

A few phrases may be regarded as compound conjunctions. Such are:—in order that, so that, provided that, in case that, but that, as if, as though, even if. Provided, and in case (without that) may also be used as conjunctions: as,—“I will go provided it doesn’t rain.”

367. The subordinate conjunction that is often omitted when it may readily be supplied.

Note. This omission is similar to that of the relative pronoun ([§ 151]). It is extremely common, not only in colloquial language but also in literature, whether prose or verse.

368. As and since in the sense of “because,” and while in the sense of “though,” are conjunctions.

When denoting time, as is an adverb, while is a noun or an adverb, and since is an adverb or a preposition.

369. Conjunctions used in pairs are called correlative conjunctions.

The chief correlatives are:—

Examples of correlatives may be seen in the following sentences:—

370. But is used as a subordinate conjunction in the sense of but that or unless.

Note. In the last two examples the subject of the subordinate clause is omitted:—“There is not a wave but [it] is associated,” “There was nobody but [he] loved her.” In such cases, but is sometimes regarded as a relative pronoun.

Notwithstanding is used as a subordinate conjunction in the sense of though.

I shall go, notwithstanding the road is said to be impassable.

371. Relative adverbs are similar in their use to conjunctions, and are therefore often called conjunctive adverbs ([§§ 194–195]).

Note. Most conjunctions, historically considered, are merely adverbs (or adverbial phrases) which have come to be used in so peculiar a way as to form a special class among the parts of speech. Thus the adverbs since and while become conjunctions when they cease to denote time; because is a corruption of the phrase by cause; but is developed from an old adverb meaning “outside.”

CHAPTER IX
INTERJECTIONS

372. An interjection is a cry or other exclamatory sound expressing surprise, anger, pleasure, or some other emotion or feeling.

Examples:

When written, interjections are often followed by an exclamation point (!).

373. Among interjections are properly included calls to animals (like “whoa!”) and imitations of sounds such as “mew!” “cock-a-doodle-do!” “ding dong!” “swish!” “tu-whit-tu-who!”

374. Interjections usually have no grammatical connection with the phrases or sentences in which they stand.

Hence they are counted among the “independent elements” of a sentence ([§ 501]).

Sometimes, however, a substantive is connected with an interjection by means of a preposition. Thus,—

Adjectives and adverbs are also found in this use: as,—“Good for you!” “Up with it!”

Note. All such expressions are often regarded as elliptical sentences, as if “O for a camera!” stood for “O, I wish for a camera!” and “Good for you!” for “That is good for you!” But it is better to treat them as exclamatory phrases.[42] Other exclamatory phrases are “Dear me!” “Goodness gracious!” “O my!” and the like.

375. Almost any part of speech may be used as an exclamation.

Such words are often called interjections, but it is better to describe them as nouns, adjectives, etc., used in exclamation, and to confine the term interjection to words which belong to no other part of speech.

Note. Thus nonsense! and fire! are nouns in the exclamatory nominative; I! is a pronoun in the same construction; halt! is a verb in the imperative (compare hark! hush! behold! look!); good! is an adjective; forward! on! away! and back! are adverbs; but! is a conjunction.

The following examples illustrate various exclamatory expressions,—words, phrases, and sentences:—

CHAPTER X
CLAUSES AS PARTS OF SPEECH

376. A clause is a group of words that forms part of a sentence and that contains a subject and a predicate.

A clause used as a part of speech is called a subordinate clause ([§ 46]).

377. A subordinate clause may be introduced by (1) a relative or an interrogative pronoun, (2) a relative or an interrogative adverb, (3) a subordinate conjunction.

The relative pronouns are: who, which, what, that (= who or which), as (after such or same), and the compound relatives whoever, whichever, whatever. Their uses have already been studied ([pp. 66–73]).

The chief relative adverbs are: where, whence, whither, wherever, when, whenever, while, before, after, till, until, since, as, how, why ([p. 86]).

The interrogative pronouns are: who, which, what ([§§ 163–165]).

The interrogative adverbs are: where, when, whence, whither, how, why.

The most important subordinate conjunctions are: because, since (= because), though, although, if, unless, that (in order that, so that), lest, as, as if, as though, than, whether (whether ... or).

378. According to their use as parts of speech, subordinate clauses are adjective, adverbial, or noun clauses.

I. ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

379. A subordinate clause that modifies a substantive is called an adjective clause ([§ 47]).

In each of these groups, a noun (men, spots) is modified (1) by an adjective, (2) by an adjective phrase, (3) by an adjective clause. The sense remains unchanged.

380. Adjective clauses may be introduced (1) by relative pronouns, (2) by relative adverbs of place (where, whence, whither, etc.) or time (when, while, etc.).

II. ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

381. A subordinate clause that serves as an adverbial modifier is called an adverbial clause ([§ 47]).

In each of these groups, the verb (spoke, stands, pay) is modified (1) by an adverb, (2) by an adverbial phrase, (3) by an adverbial clause.

382. Adverbial clauses may be introduced (1) by relative adverbs (when, where, before, etc.); (2) by subordinate conjunctions (if, though, because, etc.); (3) by relative or interrogative pronouns.

383. Adverbial clauses oftenest modify verbs, but they are also common as modifiers of adjectives and adverbs.

384. An adverbial clause with that may be used to modify verbs and adjectives.

Note. In this use that is equivalent either to “because” or to “as to the fact that.” The clause may be explained as a noun clause in the adverbial objective construction ([§ 109]).

For the classification of adverbial clauses according to their meaning (place, time, cause, concession, etc.), see [pp. 163–182].

III. NOUN (OR SUBSTANTIVE) CLAUSES

385. A subordinate clause that is used as a noun is called a noun (or substantive) clause ([§ 47]).

In each of these groups a noun (agreement, victory, etc.) is replaced (1) by an infinitive, (2) by a noun clause. In the first two examples, the noun clause is the subject; in the last two, it is the object of a verb (feared, expect).

386. Noun clauses may be used in any of the more important constructions of nouns:—(1) as subject, (2) as direct object of a transitive verb, (3) in apposition with a substantive, (4) as a predicate nominative.

387. Noun clauses may be introduced (1) by the subordinate conjunctions that, whether (whether ... or), and if (in the sense of whether); (2) by the interrogative pronouns who, which, what; (3) by the interrogative adverbs where, whence, whither, how, why, when ([§ 196]).

388. Noun clauses are common as objects of verbs (1) of commanding, desiring, etc.; (2) of telling, thinking, etc.; (3) of asking, doubting, etc.

See (1) clauses of purpose ([§ 406]); (2) indirect discourse ([§§ 431–437]); (3) indirect questions ([§ 443]).

Object clauses frequently omit that ([§ 367]).

For the infinitive clause replacing a that-clause as object, see [§§ 324–325].

389. A noun clause may be used as the retained object of a passive verb ([§ 253]).

Active Voice (Clause as Object)Passive Voice (Retained Object)
They informed me that the train was late.I was informed that the train was late.
Charles told us that the ice was thin.We were told that the ice was thin.
They asked me whether (or if) I liked tennis.I was asked whether I liked tennis.

390. A noun clause may be the object of a preposition.

For a noun clause used as an adverbial objective, see [§ 384].

391. Noun clauses with that are common in the predicate when the expletive it is the grammatical subject ([§ 120, 2]).

In such sentences the real subject of the thought is the clause. This, however, may be regarded as grammatically in apposition with it, as if one said “It (that war was at hand) was plain.”

Note. This useful idiom enables us to adopt a kind of inverted order ([§ 5]), and thus to shift the emphasis. Contrast “That war was at hand was plain” with “It was plain that war was at hand.” In the former sentence, the noun clause is made prominent; in the latter, the adjective plain.

392. The following sentences, taken from distinguished authors of different periods, illustrate the usefulness of the noun clause in its various constructions.

CHAPTER XI
THE MEANINGS OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

393. Subordinate clauses may be classified not only according to their use as parts of speech, but also, in quite a different way, in accordance with their various meanings. These distinctions in idea are of capital importance for the accurate and forcible expression of thought.

394. The variety of meanings which subordinate clauses may express is great, but most of these meanings come under the following heads:—(1) place or time, (2) cause, (3) concession, (4) purpose, (5) result, (6) condition, (7) comparison,[43] (8) indirect discourse, (9) indirect question.

The general meaning of the clause is usually indicated by the word which introduces it.

I. CLAUSES OF PLACE AND TIME

395. An adjective or an adverbial clause may express place or time.

I. Adjective Clauses
II. Adverbial Clauses

396. Adjective clauses of place and time may be introduced by relative pronouns (see examples above).

Adjective and adverbial clauses of place and time may be introduced by relative adverbs. Thus,—

For as and since in causal clauses, see [§ 398]; for while in concessive clauses, see [§ 399].

397. Clauses of time are sometimes shortened by the omission of the copula and its subject.

II. CAUSAL CLAUSES

398. An adverbial clause may express cause.

Causal clauses are introduced by the subordinate conjunctions because, since, as, inasmuch as, and sometimes that.

Since is a preposition or an adverb when it denotes time; as is an adverb when it denotes time. Both since and as are conjunctions when they express cause. For as used as a relative pronoun, see [§ 147].

III. CONCESSIVE CLAUSES

399. An adverbial clause may express concession.

A concessive clause is usually introduced by a subordinate conjunction, though, although, or even if. It admits (or concedes) some fact or supposition in spite of which the assertion in the main clause is made.

Note. While is often used as a weaker or more courteous synonym for although.

The main clause, when it follows the concessive clause, may be emphasized by means of yet, still, nevertheless.

Concessive clauses sometimes omit the copula and its subject.

400. For the distinction between the indicative and the subjunctive in concessive clauses, see [§ 279]; for that between should and would, see [§ 305].

401. A concessive clause may be introduced by the conjunction as, or by a relative pronoun or a relative adverb.

Note. The adverbial use of however is quite distinct from its use as a coördinate conjunction ([§ 362]).

402. Concession is sometimes expressed by a subjunctive clause without a conjunction to introduce it ([§ 281]).

IV–V. CLAUSES OF PURPOSE AND OF RESULT

403. A subordinate clause may express purpose or result.

I. Clauses of Purpose
II. Clauses of Result

404. Clauses of purpose may be introduced by the subordinate conjunction that or by a phrase containing it (so that, in order that, to the end that, etc.).

Negative clauses of purpose may be introduced by that ... not or by lest. For lest with the subjunctive, see [§ 284].

405. Clauses of result may be introduced by the phrase so that, consisting of the adverb so and the subordinate conjunction that; or by that alone, especially when so, such, or some similar word stands in the main clause.

406. A clause of purpose or of result may be either an adverbial clause (as in [§ 403]) or a substantive clause.

407. A substantive clause of purpose is often used as the object of a verb of commanding, desiring, or the like.

408. For subordinate clauses with shall or should, implying purpose or expectation, see [§ 304].

409. Purpose may be expressed by the infinitive with to or in order to, and result by the infinitive with to or as to.

Negative result is often expressed by the adverb too and the infinitive.

Iron is too heavy to float. [Compare: Iron is so heavy that it does not float.]

410. Purpose may be expressed by an infinitive clause ([§ 325]).

VI. CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

411. A clause that expresses a condition introduced by if, or by some equivalent word or phrase, is called a conditional clause.

A sentence that contains a conditional clause is called a conditional sentence.

412. A conditional sentence in its simplest form consists of two parts:—

(1) A subordinate (adverbial) clause, commonly introduced by if, and expressing the condition.

(2) A main clause expressing the conclusion, that is, the statement which is true in case the condition expressed in the if-clause is true.

Thus in the first example in [§ 411], the condition is if it rains; the conclusion is we shall remain at home.

Either the condition or the conclusion may come first.

The conditional clause is often called the protasis, and the conclusion is often called the apodosis.

The conclusion of a conditional sentence may be declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory.

413. A conditional clause may be introduced by provided (or provided that), granted that, supposing (or suppose), on condition that.

Suppose is really an imperative and supposing a participle, the clause being the object.

414. A negative condition is commonly introduced by if ... not or unless.

415. Double (or alternative) conditions may be introduced by whether ... or.

416. A conditional clause may be introduced by whoever, whenever, or some similar compound ([§§ 159], [195]).

Note. In older English and in poetry, who is common in this construction: as,—“Who [= whoever] steals my purse, steals trash” (Shakspere).

417. A conditional clause sometimes omits the copula and its subject.

The if-clause is sometimes used as an exclamation, with the conclusion omitted.

If I only had a rifle!

418. A condition may be expressed by means of an assertion, a question, an imperative, or the absolute construction ([§ 345]).

Note. In such cases, there is no subordinate conditional clause. Thus, in the first example, we have two independent coördinate clauses, making a compound sentence ([§ 44]).

FORMS OF CONDITIONS

419. Conditional sentences show great variety of form, but it is easy to classify them according to the time of the supposed case and the degree of doubt that the speaker expresses.

420. Conditions may be present, past, or future.

Present and Past Conditions

421. Present and past conditions may be either (1) non-committal or (2) contrary to fact.

1. A condition is non-committal when it implies nothing as to the truth or falsity of the case supposed.

If James is angry, I am sorry. [Perhaps James is angry, perhaps not.]

2. A condition is contrary to fact when it implies that the supposed case is not or was not true.

If James were angry, I should be sorry. [James is not angry.]

422. In a non-committal present condition, the if-clause[44] takes the present indicative; in a non-committal past condition, the past, the perfect, or the pluperfect.

The conclusion may be in any form that the sense allows.

I. Present Condition, Non-committal
II. Past Condition, Non-committal

If John had reached home before we started, he must have made a quick journey.

In each of these examples, the speaker declines to commit himself as to the truth of the supposed case. Perhaps the pebble was a diamond, perhaps not; Tom may or may not have apologized; whether or not John had reached home, we cannot tell.

423. In a condition contrary to fact, the if-clause takes the past subjunctive when the condition refers to present time, the pluperfect subjunctive when it refers to past time.

The conclusion regularly takes should or would ([§ 286, 3]).

In each of these sentences, the speaker distinctly implies that the supposed case (or condition) is (or was) not a fact. It follows, of course, that the conclusion is not a fact:—John is not here; therefore I do not recognize him.

424. In conditions contrary to fact, the subjunctive without if is common. In this use, the subject follows the verb ([§ 281]).

Note. In older English, the subjunctive may be used in both clauses: as,—“He were no lion, were not Romans hinds” (Shakspere).

Future Conditions

425. Future conditions always imply doubt, for no one can tell what may or may not happen to-morrow.

426. In all future conditions, some verb-form denoting future time is used in both clauses.

1. In a future condition which suggests nothing as to the probability or improbability of the case supposed, the present indicative is regularly used in the if-clause, and the future indicative in the conclusion.

If it rains to-morrow, I shall not go.

In very formal or exact language a verb-phrase with shall may be used in the if-clause: as,—“If it shall rain to-morrow, I shall not go.”

2. The present subjunctive is sometimes used in the if-clause. This form commonly suggests more doubt than the present indicative.

If it rain to-morrow, I shall not go.

3. In a future condition which puts the supposed case rather vaguely, often with a considerable suggestion of doubt, a verb-phrase with should or would is used in both clauses.

If it should rain to-morrow, I should not go.

For the use of should or would in such clauses, see [§ 305].

A phrase with were to may replace the should-phrase in the if-clause. This form often emphasizes the suggestion of doubt.

If it were to rain to-morrow, I should not go.

The past subjunctive may stand in the if-clause instead of the should-phrase.

If it rained to-morrow, I should not go.

Note. The comparative amount of doubt implied in the different kinds of future conditions cannot be defined with precision; for it varies with the circumstances or the context, and often depends on emphasis or the tone of the voice. Thus, in “if it should rain to-morrow,” should may be so emphasized as to make the supposed case seem highly improbable, whereas an emphasis on to-morrow would have a very different effect. As to the subjunctive, its use is often due rather to the writer’s liking for that mood than to any special doubt in his mind.

427. For even if in concessive clauses, see [§ 399]; for as if in clauses of comparison, see [§ 428]; for if (in the sense of whether) in indirect questions, see [§ 442].

VII. CLAUSES OF COMPARISON

428. An adverbial clause introduced by as if may express comparison.[45]

As though is also used, but as if is now preferred by most writers.

The subjunctive were, not the indicative was, is used after as if ([§ 282]).

429. As and than, as subordinate conjunctions, introduce clauses of comparison or degree.

When the verb is omitted, the substantive that follows as or than is in the same case in which it would stand if the verb were expressed. Thus,—

VIII. INDIRECT DISCOURSE

430. A quotation may be direct or indirect.

A direct quotation repeats a speech or thought in its original form.

An indirect quotation repeats a speech or thought in substance, but usually with some change in its form.

An indirect quotation, when a statement, is a subordinate clause dependent on some word of saying or thinking, and introduced by the conjunction that.

A direct quotation begins with a capital letter, unless it is a fragment of a sentence. It is enclosed in quotation marks.

An indirect quotation begins with a small letter. It usually has no quotation marks.

431. A substantive clause introduced by that may be used with verbs and other expressions of telling, thinking, knowing, and perceiving, to report the words or thought of a person in substance, but usually with some change of form.

Such clauses are said to be in the indirect discourse.

For distinction, a remark or a thought in its original form (as in a direct quotation) is said to be in the direct discourse.

432. Statements in indirect discourse, being substantive clauses, may be used in various noun constructions: (1) as object of some verb of telling, thinking, or the like, (2) as subject, (3) as predicate nominative, (4) as appositive.

433. The conjunction that is often omitted.

434. In indirect discourse, after the past or the pluperfect tense, the present tense of the direct discourse becomes past, and the perfect becomes pluperfect.

But a general or universal truth always remains in the present tense.

435. The clause with that in indirect discourse is sometimes replaced by an infinitive clause ([§ 325]).

In these sentences, him and them are, of course, the subjects of the infinitives, not the objects of declared and admitted.

436. When the verb of telling or thinking is in the passive voice, three constructions occur:—

1. A clause with that is used as the subject of the passive verb.

That Rogers desires the office is commonly reported.

2. The expletive it is used as the grammatical subject, and a that-clause follows the passive verb.

It is commonly reported that Rogers desires the office.

3. The subject of the that-clause becomes the subject of the passive verb, and the verb of the clause is replaced by an infinitive.

Rogers is commonly reported to desire the office.

The choice among these three idioms is largely a matter of emphasis or euphony. The first may easily become heavy or awkward, and it is therefore less common than either of the others.

Note. The third of these idioms is often called the personal construction, to distinguish it from the second, in which the grammatical subject is the impersonal it ([§ 120, 1]). The infinitive in this third idiom may be regarded as a peculiar adverbial modifier of the passive verb.

Further examples of the three constructions with passive verbs of telling, thinking, etc., are the following:—

437. A substantive clause with that is common after it seems, it is true, it is evident, and similar expressions.

This construction is really the same as that in [§ 436, 2].

438. The uses of shall and will, should and would, in indirect discourse are the same as in the direct,[48] with the following exception:—

When the first person with shall or should in direct discourse becomes the second or third person in the indirect, shall or should is retained.

The reason for the retention of shall or should is that, in such cases, the second or third person of the indirect discourse represents the first person of the direct.

The change from shall (after says) to should (after said) is a mere change of tense, according to the rule in [§ 434].

Note. The general principle is, to retain in the indirect discourse the auxiliary of the direct, simply changing the tense if necessary ([§ 434]). This principle of course covers the use of you or he shall or should to represent I shall or should. There is, however, one important exception to the general principle: when its application would result in the use of I will or I would to express mere futurity, I shall or I should is employed. Thus, John says to Charles, “If you fall overboard, you will drown”

; but Charles, reporting this, must say, “John tells me that, if I fall overboard, I shall [NOT will] drown.” The general rule, then, may be stated as follows: The indirect discourse retains the auxiliary of the direct (with a change in tense, if necessary), unless such retention makes will or would express simple futurity in the first person,—in that case, shall or should is used.

439. The following sentences illustrate the correct use of shall and will, should and would, in the indirect discourse:—

IX. INDIRECT QUESTIONS

440. A question expressed in the form actually used in asking it is called a direct question.

The direct form may be retained when the question is quoted or reported, as in the second example above. Often, however, a question is quoted or reported, not in the direct form, but in the form of a subordinate clause: as,—

He asked what my name was.

Such a clause is called an indirect question.

441. An indirect question expresses the substance of a direct question in the form of a subordinate clause.

Indirect questions depend on verbs or other expressions of asking, doubting, thinking, perceiving, and the like.

442. Both direct and indirect questions may be introduced (1) by the interrogative pronouns who, which, what; (2) by the interrogative adverbs when, where, whence, whither, how, why.

Indirect questions may be introduced by the subordinate conjunctions whether (whether ... or) and if.

The use of tenses in indirect questions is the same as in the indirect discourse ([§ 434]).

443. Indirect questions are usually noun clauses. They may be used in various noun constructions: (1) as object of some verb of asking or the like, (2) as subject, (3) as predicate nominative, (4) as appositive, (5) as object of a preposition.

An indirect question may be an adverbial clause.

444. Since the pronouns who, which, and what may be either interrogative or relative, an indirect question may closely resemble a relative clause. These two constructions, however, are sharply distinguished. A relative clause always asserts something. An indirect question, on the contrary, has an interrogative sense which may be seen by turning the question into the direct form.

The sailor who saved the child is a Portuguese. [The clause who saved the child is a relative clause, for it makes a distinct assertion about the sailor,—namely, that he saved the child. Who is a relative pronoun and sailor is its antecedent.]

{I asked | I do not know | It is still a question | It is doubtful} who saved the child.

[Here the clause who saved the child makes no assertion. On the contrary, it expresses a question which may easily be put in a direct form with an interrogation point: “Who saved the child?” Who is an interrogative pronoun. It has no antecedent.]

The following examples further illustrate the difference between these two constructions:—

Note. In such a sentence as “Tom knows who saved the child,” the indirect question may at first appear to be a relative clause with an omitted antecedent (the man, or the person). If, however, we insert such an antecedent (“Tom knows the man who saved the child”), the meaning is completely changed. In the original sentence, it is stated that Tom knows the answer to the question, “Who saved the child?” In the new form of the sentence, it is stated that Tom is acquainted with a certain person, and to this is added an assertion about this person in the form of a relative clause.

445. An indirect question is sometimes expressed by means of an interrogative pronoun or adverb followed by an infinitive.

In the first four examples the italicized phrase is used as a noun (either as subject or object). In the fifth, the phrase how to reply is adverbial, modifying the adjective phrase at a loss.

446. The subjunctive was formerly common in indirect questions, and is still occasionally used after if or whether.

447. The rule for shall (should) and will (would) in indirect questions is, to retain the auxiliary used in the direct question, merely changing the tense (shall to should; will to would) when necessary ([§ 442]).

I. Mere Futurity
1.Direct:What shall I do?
Indirect:
  • I wonder what I shall do.
  • You ask me what you shall do.
  • He asks me what he shall do.
  • I wondered what I should do.
  • You asked me what you should do.
  • He asked me what he should do.
2.Direct:Shall you lose your position?
Indirect:
  • {I ask | He asks} you if you shall lose your position.
  • {I asked | He asked} you if you should lose your position.
3.Direct:Will Charles lose his position?
Indirect:
  • I ask if Charles will lose his position.
  • {I | You | Tom} asked if Charles would lose his position.
II. Volition
4.Direct:Will you help me?
Indirect:
  • You ask if I will help you.
  • He asks if I will help him.
  • You asked if I would help you.
  • He asked if I would help him.
  • {I asked him | You asked him | Tom asked him} if he would {help me. | help you. | help him.}

Note. There is a single exception to the rule in [§ 447]. When, in changing from a direct to an indirect question, the third person with will or would becomes the first, shall or should is substituted unless volition is expressed. Thus, John says to Thomas, “Will Charles die of his wound?” Charles, reporting John’s question, says, “John asked Thomas whether I should die of my wound.” Compare [§ 438], note.

PART THREE
ANALYSIS

CHAPTER I
THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

448. Analysis is a Greek word which means “the act of dissolving or breaking up.” In grammar it is applied to the separation of a sentence into its constituent parts, or elements. To dissect a sentence in this way is to analyze it.

The elements which make up a sentence are: (1) the simple subject; (2) the simple predicate; (3) modifiers; (4) the complements,—direct object, predicate objective, predicate adjective, predicate nominative; and (5) the so-called independent elements,—the interjection, the vocative (or nominative of direct address), the exclamatory nominative, and various parenthetical expressions ([§ 501]).

449. The absolute essentials for a sentence are a substantive as subject and a verb as predicate ([§ 35]). By combining these two indispensable elements, in various ways, with modifiers and complements, the sentence may be extended to any length desired. Indeed, the sole limits are the constructive skill of the writer and the hearer’s ability to follow the thought without losing the thread.

In the present chapter, we shall consider how sentences are built up, or constructed. Our starting point in this study will be the simple sentence.

SIMPLE SENTENCES

450. The following statement is a simple sentence, for it contains but one subject and one predicate ([§ 46]):—

The polar bear | lives in the Arctic regions.

The framework or skeleton of this simple sentence consists of the subject noun bear (the simple subject) and the predicate verb lives (the simple predicate). To make the complete subject, bear takes as modifiers the two adjectives the and polar; to make the complete predicate, lives takes as modifier the adverbial phrase in the Arctic regions.

By attaching another simple subject to bear we make a compound subject. Similarly, we make a compound predicate by adding another verb ([§ 38]).

The polar bear and the walrus | live and thrive in the Arctic regions.

The compound subject is bear and walrus; the compound predicate is live and thrive. Both verbs are modified by the adverbial phrase in the Arctic regions. The sentence itself is still a simple sentence.

In each of the following simple sentences either the subject or the predicate or both are compound:—

COMPOUND SENTENCES

451. If we attach another simple sentence to that in [§ 450], the result is a compound sentence.

The polar bear | lives in the Arctic regions, || but || it | sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.

This is manifestly a compound sentence, for it consists of two coördinate clauses, joined by the conjunction but ([§ 46]).

The framework of the second clause consists of the subject it and the simple predicate reaches. To make the complete predicate, the verb reaches takes not only a modifier (the adverb sometimes), but a complement,—the direct object latitudes, which completes the meaning of the verb. This noun is itself modified by the adjective temperate. Both clauses are simple, for each contains but one subject and one predicate.

452. Obviously, almost any number of simple sentences may be joined (with or without conjunctions) to make one compound sentence.

The quiet August noon has come;
A slumberous silence fills the sky;
The fields are still, the woods are dumb,
In glassy sleep the waters lie.—Bryant.

COMPLEX SENTENCES

453. The simple sentence in [§ 450] may be made complex by means of a subordinate clause used as a modifier ([§ 47]).

In the first example, the simple subject (bear), besides its two adjective modifiers (the and polar), takes a third, the adjective clause which lives in the Arctic regions ([§ 47]). The sentence, then, is complex: the main clause is the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes; the subordinate clause is which lives in the Arctic regions.

The second sentence is also complex. The main clause is the same as in the first (the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes). The subordinate clause is when the ice drifts southward, an adverbial modifier of the predicate verb reaches.

COMPOUND AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

454. Two or more coördinate clauses may be joined to make one compound clause.

In the first example, the italicized words form a compound adjective clause, modifying the noun bear. It consists of two coördinate adjective clauses joined by and. These clauses are coördinate because they are of the same order or rank in the sentence ([§ 46]), each being (if taken singly) an adjective modifier of the noun.

In the second example, the predicate verb reaches is modified by a compound adverbial clause, similarly made up.

455. A clause is complex when it contains a modifying clause.

The polar bear, which lives in the Arctic regions when it is at home, sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.

Here the adjective clause which lives in the Arctic regions when it is at home is complex, for it contains the adverbial clause when it is at home, modifying the verb lives.

COMPOUND COMPLEX SENTENCES

456. Two or more independent complex clauses may be joined to make a compound complex sentence.

The brown bear, of which there are several varieties, is common in the temperate regions of the Eastern Hemisphere; || and || the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes when the ice drifts southward.

This is a compound complex sentence, for it consists of two complex clauses joined by the coördinate conjunction and. Each of these two clauses is independent of the other, for each might stand by itself as a complex sentence.

The first complex clause contains an adjective clause, of which there are several varieties, modifying bear; the second contains an adverbial clause, when the ice drifts southward, modifying reaches.

457. A sentence consisting of two or more independent clauses is also classed as a compound complex sentence if any one of these is complex.

Both of these are compound complex sentences. In one, the first clause is simple ([§ 451]) and the second is complex. In the other, the first clause is complex and the second is simple.

CHAPTER II
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES

SIMPLE SENTENCES

458. In analyzing a simple sentence, we first divide it into the complete subject and the complete predicate. Then we point out the simple subject with its modifiers, and the simple predicate with its modifiers and complement (if there is one). If either the subject or the predicate is compound, we mention the simple subjects or predicates that are joined.

1. The polar bear lives in the Arctic regions.

This is a simple sentence. The complete subject is the polar bear; the complete predicate is lives in the Arctic regions. The simple subject is the noun bear; the simple predicate is the verb lives. Bear is modified by the adjectives the and polar; lives is modified by the adverbial phrase in the Arctic regions. This phrase consists of the preposition in; its object, the noun regions; and the adjectives the and Arctic, modifying regions.

2. The polar bear and the walrus live and thrive in the Arctic regions.

The complete subject is the polar bear and the walrus. Two simple subjects (bear and walrus) are joined by the conjunction and to make a compound subject, and two simple predicates (live and thrive) are joined by and to make a compound predicate. Live and thrive are both modified by the adverbial phrase in the Arctic regions.

COMPOUND SENTENCES

459. In analyzing a compound sentence we first divide it into its coördinate clauses, and then analyze each clause by itself. Thus,—

The polar bear lives in the Arctic regions, but it sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.

This is a compound sentence consisting of two coördinate clauses joined by the conjunction but: (1) the polar bear lives in the Arctic regions and (2) it sometimes reaches temperate latitudes. The complete subject of the first clause is the polar bear [and so on, as in [§ 458], above]. The subject of the second clause is it; the complete predicate is sometimes reaches temperate latitudes. The simple predicate is reaches, which is modified by the adverb sometimes and is completed by the direct object latitudes. The complement latitudes is modified by the adjective temperate.

COMPLEX SENTENCES

460. In analyzing a complex sentence, we first divide it into the main clause and the subordinate clause.

1. The polar bear, which lives in the Arctic regions, sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.

This is a complex sentence. The main clause is the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes; the subordinate clause is which lives in the Arctic regions. The complete subject of the sentence is the polar bear, which lives in the Arctic regions; the complete predicate is sometimes reaches temperate latitudes. The simple subject is bear, which is modified by the adjectives the and polar and by the adjective clause which lives in the Arctic regions. The simple predicate is reaches, which is modified by the adverb sometimes and completed by the direct object latitudes. This complement, latitudes, is modified by the adjective temperate. The subordinate clause is introduced by the relative pronoun which. [Then analyze the subordinate clause.]

2. The polar bear reaches temperate latitudes when the ice drifts southward.

This is a complex sentence. The main clause is the polar bear reaches temperate latitudes; the subordinate clause is when the ice drifts southward. The complete subject of the sentence is the polar bear; the complete predicate is reaches temperate latitudes when the ice drifts southward. The simple subject is bear, which is modified by the adjectives the and polar. The simple predicate is reaches, which is modified by the adverbial clause when the ice drifts southward, and completed by the noun latitudes (the direct object of reaches). The complement latitudes is modified by the adjective temperate. The subordinate clause is introduced by the relative adverb when. [Then analyze the subordinate clause.]

3. The polar bear, which lives in the Arctic regions when it is at home, sometimes reaches temperate latitudes.

This is a complex sentence. The main clause is the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes; the subordinate clause is which lives in the Arctic regions when it is at home, which is complex, since it contains the adverbial clause when it is at home, modifying the verb lives.

4. He says that the polar bear lives in the Arctic regions.

This is a complex sentence. The main clause is he says; the subordinate clause is that the polar bear lives in the Arctic regions. The subject of the sentence is he, the complete predicate is says that the polar bear lives in the Arctic regions. The simple predicate is says, which is completed by its direct object, the noun clause that ... regions, introduced by the conjunction that. [Then analyze the subordinate clause.]

5. That the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes is a familiar fact.

This is a complex sentence. The main clause (is a familiar fact) appears as a predicate only, since the subordinate clause (that the polar bear sometimes reaches temperate latitudes) is a noun clause used as the complete subject of the sentence. The simple predicate is is, which is completed by the predicate nominative fact. This complement is modified by the adjectives a and familiar. The subordinate clause, which is used as the complete subject, is introduced by the conjunction that. [Then analyze this clause.]

COMPOUND COMPLEX SENTENCES

461. In analyzing a compound complex sentence, we first divide it into the independent clauses (simple or complex) of which it consists, and then analyze each of these as if it were a sentence by itself.

See the examples in [§§ 456], [457].

CHAPTER III
MODIFIERS

462. The various kinds of modifiers and complements have all been studied in preceding chapters,—each in connection with the construction which it illustrates. For purposes of analysis, however, it is necessary to consider modifiers as such and complements as such.

The topics will be taken up in the following order:—(1) modifiers,—of the subject, of the predicate; (2) complements; (3) modifiers of complements; (4) modifiers of modifiers.

463. A word or group of words that changes or modifies the meaning of another word is called a modifier ([§ 19]).

464. Modifiers may be attached not only to substantives and verbs, but also to adjectives and adverbs.

All modifiers of substantives are called adjective modifiers; all modifiers of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are called adverbial modifiers.

Note. The terms adjective modifier and adjective are not synonymous. All adjectives are adjective modifiers, but all adjective modifiers are not adjectives. Thus, in “Henry’s skates are rusty,” the possessive noun Henry’s is an adjective modifier, since it limits the noun skates as an adjective might do.

465. A group of words used as a modifier may be either a phrase or a clause ([§§ 40–46]).

A phrase or a clause used as an adjective modifier is called an adjective phrase or clause.

A phrase or a clause used as an adverbial modifier is called an adverbial phrase or clause.

Adjective and adverbial clauses are always subordinate, because they are used as parts of speech ([§ 46]).

MODIFIERS OF THE SUBJECT

466. Any substantive in the sentence may take an adjective modifier, but modifiers of the subject are particularly important.

The simple subject may be modified by (1) an adjective, an adjective phrase, or an adjective clause; (2) a participle; (3) an infinitive; (4) a possessive; (5) an appositive.

I. ADJECTIVES, ADJECTIVE PHRASES, ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

467. The simple subject may be modified by an adjective, an adjective phrase, or an adjective clause.

In each of these groups of sentences, the subject of the first sentence is modified by an adjective, that of the second by an adjective phrase, that of the third by an adjective clause.

Most adjective phrases are prepositional ([§ 42]), as in the examples.

468. An adjective clause may be introduced by a relative pronoun or a relative adverb. For lists, see [§ 377].

I. Relative Pronouns
II. Relative Adverbs

Note. A preposition and a relative pronoun may often replace a relative adverb. Thus, in the second example, on which might be substituted for when.

II. PARTICIPLES

469. The subject may be modified by a participle (with or without modifier or complement).

In the fourth example the participle is modified by an adverbial phrase; in the fifth and sixth, it has an object; in the seventh, it has both an object and a modifier; in the eighth, it is followed by the predicate adjective sullen. In analysis, the whole participial phrase (consisting of the participle and accompanying words) may be treated as an adjective phrase modifying the subject; but it is simpler to regard the participle as the modifier, and then to enumerate its modifiers, etc., separately.

Thus, in the seventh example, the simple subject natives is modified by the participle fearing, which has for a complement captivity (the direct object) and is modified by the adverbial phrase above all things.

Note. A participle, though a modifier of the subject, has at the same time a peculiar relation to the predicate, because it may take the place of an adverbial clause. Thus, in the seventh example, fearing is practically equivalent to the clause because they feared, which, if substituted for the participle, would of course modify the predicate verb leaped. This dual office of the participle comes from its twofold nature as (1) an adjective and (2) a verb. In analyzing, we treat the participle as an adjective modifier of the noun to which it belongs; but its function as a substitute for an adverbial clause is an important means of securing variety in style.

III. INFINITIVES

470. The subject may be modified by an infinitive.

In the fourth example, the infinitive has an adverbial modifier (rapidly); and in the fifth, it has a complement, its object (friend). In such instances, two methods of analysis are allowable, as in the case of participial phrases ([§ 469]).

IV. POSSESSIVES

471. The subject may be modified by a substantive in the possessive case.

Such a substantive may be called a possessive modifier.

In each of these examples, a substantive in the possessive case modifies the subject by limiting its meaning precisely as an adjective would do.

Note. An adjective phrase may often be substituted for a possessive. Thus, in the first example, instead of “Napoleon’s tomb” one may say “the tomb of Napoleon” ([§ 93]).

V. APPOSITIVES

472. The subject may be modified by a substantive in apposition ([§ 88, 5]).

Appositives often have modifiers of their own.

Thus carpenter is modified by the adjective the, captain by the possessive our, image by the adjectives a and grotesque.

In analyzing, the whole appositive phrase (consisting of the appositive and attached words) may be regarded as modifying the subject. It is as well, however, to treat the appositive as the modifier and then to enumerate the adjectives, etc., by which the appositive itself is modified.

473. A noun clause may be used as an appositive, and so may be an adjective modifier ([§ 386]).

An adjective in the appositive position is often called an appositive adjective ([§ 172]). “A sword, keen and bright, flashed from the soldier’s scabbard.”

MODIFIERS OF THE PREDICATE

474. The simple predicate, being a verb or verb-phrase, can have only adverbial modifiers.

The simple predicate may be modified by (1) an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or an adverbial clause, (2) an infinitive, (3) an adverbial objective, (4) a nominative absolute, (5) an indirect object, (6) a cognate object.

I. ADVERB, ADVERBIAL PHRASE, ADVERBIAL CLAUSE

475. The simple predicate may be modified by an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or an adverbial clause.

In each of these groups, the simple predicate of the first sentence is modified by an adverb, that of the second by an adverbial phrase, and that of the third by an adverbial clause.

Most adverbial phrases are prepositional ([§ 42]).

AdverbAdverbial Phrase
speedilywith speed
furiouslywith fury
latelyof late
instantlyin an instant
therein that place
rapidlyat a rapid rate
skillfullyin a skillful manner
with skill
promptlyon the instant
to-morrowon the morrow
unwillinglyagainst my will

Peculiar adverbial phrases are:—

476. An adverbial clause that modifies a verb may be introduced by (1) a relative adverb, or (2) a subordinate conjunction.

I. Relative Adverbs
II. Subordinate Conjunctions
II. INFINITIVE

477. The simple predicate may be modified by an infinitive ([§ 323]).

The infinitive may have a complement or a modifier, as in the last four examples.

III. ADVERBIAL OBJECTIVE

478. The simple predicate may be modified by an adverbial objective ([§ 109]).

The addition of modifiers to the adverbial objective makes an adverbial phrase.

In the first sentence, the adverbial phrase the entire distance modifies the verb ran as an adverb would do. This phrase consists of the noun distance with its adjective modifiers, the and entire.

IV. NOMINATIVE ABSOLUTE

479. The simple predicate may be modified by a nominative absolute ([§ 345]).

A substantive in the absolute construction makes with its modifiers an adverbial phrase.

In the first sentence, the adverbial absolute phrase, the ship having arrived, is equivalent to the adverbial prepositional phrase, on the arrival of the ship, and defines the time of the action expressed by the verb embarked.

V. INDIRECT OBJECT

480. The simple predicate may be modified by an indirect object ([§ 105]).

In these sentences, the indirect object me, being equivalent to a prepositional phrase, is an adverbial modifier.

The objective of service ([§ 106]) is also an adverbial modifier.

VI. COGNATE OBJECT

481. The simple predicate may be modified by a cognate object or by a phrase containing such an object ([§ 108]).

In the first sentence, the cognate object (daggers) modifies the predicate verb (looked) as the adverb angrily would do. It is therefore an adverbial modifier. In the second and third sentences the modifier of the predicate verb (sang, laughed) is an adverbial phrase consisting of a cognate object (song, laugh) with its adjective modifiers (a merry, a scornful).

CHAPTER IV
COMPLEMENTS

482. 1. Some verbs have a meaning that is complete in itself. Such a verb needs only a subject. When this has been supplied, we have a sentence, for the mere verb, without any additional word or words, is capable of being a predicate.

Verbs of this kind are sometimes called complete verbs, or verbs of complete predication.

2. Other verbs are not, by themselves, capable of serving as predicates. Thus,—

These are not sentences, for the predicate of each is unfinished. The verb requires the addition of a substantive or an adjective to complete its sense.

Verbs of this kind are often called incomplete verbs, or verbs of incomplete predication.

Note. The meaning of the verb determines to which of these classes it belongs. Accordingly, the same verb may belong to the first class in some of its senses and to the second in others ([§§ 212–215]).

483. A substantive or adjective added to the predicate verb to complete its meaning is called a complement.

Complements are of four kinds,—the direct object, the predicate objective, the predicate nominative, and the predicate adjective.

In the examples in [§ 482], deer and shoes are direct objects,—the former denoting the receiver of the action, the latter denoting the product; captain is a predicate nominative, denoting the same person as the subject Tom ([§ 88, 2]); sorry is a predicate adjective describing the subject man.

Complements may, of course, be modified. If they are substantives, they may take adjective modifiers; if adjectives, they may take adverbial modifiers ([§§ 464], [494]).

484. For convenience, the definitions of the four kinds of complements are here repeated, with examples.

1. THE DIRECT OBJECT

485. Some verbs may be followed by a substantive denoting that which receives the action or is produced by it. These are called transitive verbs. All other verbs are called intransitive.

A substantive that completes the meaning of a transitive verb is called its direct object ([§ 100]).

The direct object is often called the object complement, or merely the object of the verb.

Most of these objects are modified,—arm by the possessive his; telegraph by the and electric; price by a and high; task by the adjective phrase of great difficulty; dog by the and by the adjective clause which your uncle gave you.

486. A noun clause may be used as the direct object of a verb ([§ 386]).

For further examples, see [§§ 407], [432], [439], [441].

2. THE PREDICATE OBJECTIVE

487. Verbs of choosing, calling, naming, making, and thinking may take two objects referring to the same person or thing.

The first of these is the direct object, and the second, which completes the sense of the predicate, is called a predicate objective ([§ 104]).

The predicate objective is often called the complementary object or the objective attribute.

488. An adjective may serve as a predicate objective. Thus,—

Care should be taken not to confuse adverbs with adjectives in -ly serving as predicate objectives.

After the passive, a predicate objective becomes a predicate nominative ([§ 489]).

3. THE PREDICATE NOMINATIVE

489. A substantive standing in the predicate, but describing or defining the subject, agrees with the subject in case and is called a predicate nominative ([§ 88, 2]).

A predicate nominative is often called a subject complement or an attribute.

The predicate nominative is common after is and other copulative verbs, and after certain transitive verbs in the passive voice.

In most of the examples, the predicate nominative has one or more modifiers. In the first sentence, science is modified by the two adjectives a and useful; in the second, capital is modified by the adjective phrase of Massachusetts; in the last, friend is modified by the adjective clause upon whom I can rely.

For the distinction between the predicate nominative and the direct object, see [§ 102].

490. A noun clause may be used as a predicate nominative ([§ 386]).

491. An infinitive may be used as a predicate nominative.

The infinitive may have a complement or modifiers. In the second and third examples, it takes an object; in the fourth it is modified by an adverb.

4. THE PREDICATE ADJECTIVE

492. An adjective in the predicate belonging to a noun or pronoun in the subject is called a predicate adjective.

A predicate adjective completes the meaning of the predicate verb and is therefore a complement ([§ 172, 3].)

Like the predicate nominative, the predicate adjective is common after copulative verbs and after certain transitive verbs in the passive voice ([§§ 172, 3]; [252]).

In some of these examples, the predicate adjective has a modifier. In the third, easy is modified by the adverb very; in the fourth, false is modified by the adverbial phrase in every particular; in the last, tight is modified by perfectly.

493. An adjective phrase may be used as a predicate adjective. Thus,—

The adjective phrase may consist of an infinitive with or without the preposition about ([§ 319]).

CHAPTER V
MODIFIERS OF COMPLEMENTS AND OF MODIFIERS

COMPLEMENTS MODIFIED

494. Complements, being either substantives or adjectives, may be modified in various ways, most of which have been noted in [Chapter III].

1. A substantive used as a complement may have the same kinds of modifiers that are used with the subject ([§ 466]).

2. An adjective complement admits only adverbial modifiers.

495. The following sentences illustrate the modifiers of substantive complements:—

496. Adjective clauses are very common as modifiers of substantive complements (cf. [§ 468]).

497. An adjective used as a complement may be modified by an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or an adverbial clause.

MODIFIERS OF OTHER MODIFIERS

498. Modifiers may themselves be modified.

The chief varieties of such modification are illustrated in the following sentences.

I. Adjectives or adjective phrases may be modified by adverbs or by words or groups of words used adverbially.

II. Possessive nouns may be modified by adjectives or by possessives.

III. Appositives may be modified by adjectives or by groups of words used as adjectives.

IV. Adverbs or adverbial phrases may be modified by adverbs or by words or groups of words used adverbially.

499. An adjective may be modified by an infinitive ([§ 321]).

500. Adjective and adverbial clauses are very common as modifiers of modifiers (cf. [§ 496]).

CHAPTER VI
INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS

501. A word or group of words that has no grammatical connection with the sentence in which it stands is called an independent element.

Independent elements are of four kinds,—interjections, vocatives (or nominatives by direct address), exclamatory nominatives, and parenthetical expressions.

The first two sentences contain interjections ([§ 372]); the second two, vocatives (or nominatives by direct address) ([§ 88, 3]); the last three, exclamatory nominatives ([§ 88, 4]).

When the independent word has a modifier (as in the fifth and seventh examples), the whole phrase may be treated as an independent element.

502. A word or group of words attached to or inserted in a sentence as a mere comment, without belonging either to the subject or the predicate, is said to be parenthetical.

503. In analysis, an independent element is mentioned by itself, and not as a part of the complete subject or the complete predicate.

CHAPTER VII
COMBINATIONS OF CLAUSES

504. The use of subordinate clauses as complements and modifiers, and as modifiers of complements and of modifiers, may produce sentences of great length and complicated structure.

Such sentences, if skilfully composed, are not hard to follow. Their analysis requires merely the intelligent application of a few simple principles, which have already been explained and illustrated.

505. These principles may be summed up as follows:—

I. All clauses are either independent or subordinate. A clause is subordinate if it is used as a part of speech (noun, adjective, or adverb); otherwise, it is independent ([§ 46]).

II. Coördinate means “of the same rank” in the sentence ([§ 46]).

1. Two or more independent clauses in the same sentence are manifestly coördinate.

2. Two or more subordinate clauses are coördinate with each other when they are used together in the same construction,—as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

Such a group may be regarded as forming one compound subordinate clause.

In the first example, we have a compound noun clause; in the second, a compound adjective clause; in the third, a compound adverbial clause.

3. Coördinate clauses are either joined by coördinate conjunctions (and, or, but, etc.), or such conjunctions may be supplied without changing the sense ([§ 362]).

The good-natured old gentleman, who was friendly to both parties, [AND] who did not lack courage, AND who hated a quarrel, spoke his mind with complete frankness.

III. A subordinate clause may depend on another subordinate clause.

In such cases, the whole group of subordinate clauses may be taken together as forming one complex subordinate clause.

Thus, in the second example, when he saw the locomotive, which was puffing violently may be regarded as a complex adverbial clause modifying shied, and containing an adjective clause (which was puffing violently).

506. From the principles summarized in [§ 505], it appears that—

Clauses (like sentences) may be simple, compound, or complex.

1. A simple clause contains but one subject and one predicate, either or both of which may be compound ([§ 451]).

2. A compound clause consists of two or more coördinate clauses ([§ 454]).

3. A complex clause consists of at least two clauses, one of which is subordinate to the other.

507. The unit in all combinations of clauses is clearly the simple sentence, which, when used as a part of a more complicated sentence, becomes a simple clause.

The processes used in such combinations, as we have seen, are really but two in number,—coördination and subordination.

Coördination of clauses produces compound sentences or compound clauses; subordination of one clause to another produces complex sentences or complex clauses.

508. Every sentence, however long and complicated, belongs (in structure) to one of the three classes,—simple, compound, and complex.

SIMPLE SENTENCES

509. A simple sentence may have a compound subject or predicate (or both), and may also include a number of modifiers and complements.

Obviously, then, a simple sentence need not be short. It remains simple in structure so long as it contains but one simple or compound subject and one simple or compound predicate. Thus,—

1. You leave Glasgow in a steamboat, go down the Clyde fourteen miles, and then come to Dumbarton Castle, a huge rock five or six hundred feet high, not connected with any other high land, and with a fortress at the top.—Webster.

The length of this sentence is due partly to its compound predicate, partly to the modifier (and modifiers of the modifier) attached to the noun Dumbarton Castle.

2. He was little disposed to exchange his lordly repose for the insecure and agitated life of a conspirator, to be in the power of accomplices, to live in constant dread of warrants and king’s messengers, nay, perhaps, to end his days on a scaffold, or to live on alms in some back street of the Hague.—Macaulay.

This sentence is lengthened by means of a series of infinitives used as adverbial modifiers of the complement disposed (a participle used as an adjective). Each of these infinitives takes a complement or a modifier (or both).

3. The arbitrary measures of Charles I, the bold schemes of Strafford, and the intolerant bigotry of Laud, precipitated a collision between the opposite principles of government, and divided the whole country into Cavaliers and Roundheads.—May.

Both the subject and the predicate are compound. Each of the three nouns in the compound subject has modifiers. The two verbs in the compound predicate have each a complement, and the second has an adverbial modifier (a phrase).

4. Twenty of the savages now got on board and proceeded to ramble over every part of the deck and scramble about among the rigging, making themselves much at home and examining every article with great inquisitiveness.—Poe.

The predicate is compound. The sentence is extended by the use of participles (making and examining), which modify the simple subject twenty.

Note. A simple sentence with compound predicate often differs very slightly from a compound sentence. Thus in examples 4–7 the insertion of a single pronoun (they, she) to serve as a subject for the second verb (proceeded, browsed, etc.) will make the sentence compound.

COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCES

510. Every sentence that is not simple must be either compound or complex.

A sentence is compound if it consists of two or more independent clauses; complex, if it consists of one independent (main) clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

511. An ordinary compound sentence consists of two or more coördinate simple clauses.

Such a sentence may be of great length (as in the last example below), but its structure is usually transparent.

512. A complex sentence, in its most elementary form, consists of one simple independent (main) clause and one simple subordinate clause.

513. Both compound sentences and complex sentences admit of much variety in structure, according to the nature and the relations of the clauses that compose them.

COMPOUND COMPLEX SENTENCES

514. Any or all of the coördinate clauses that make up a compound sentence may be complex. In that case, the sentence is called a compound complex sentence.

Note. Compound complex sentences form a special class or subdivision under the general head of compound sentences.[49]

Old Uncle Venner was just coming out of his door, with a wood-horse and saw on his shoulder; and, trudging along the street, he scrupled not to keep company with Phœbe, so far as their paths lay together; nor, in spite of his patched coat and rusty beaver, and the curious fashion of his tow-cloth trousers, could she find it in her heart to outwalk him.—Hawthorne.

This sentence consists of three coördinate clauses, each independent of the others. These are joined by the coördinate conjunctions and, nor. The first and the third clause are simple, but the second clause is complex. Hence the whole forms one compound complex sentence.

The complex clause consists of two clauses, the second of which is subordinate to the first. Taken as a whole, however, this complex clause is manifestly coördinate with the two simple clauses, since the three form a series joined by coördinate conjunctions.

515. Further examples of compound complex sentences are:—

In this sentence they were is understood after till.

VARIETIES OF THE COMPLEX SENTENCE

516. A complex sentence may be expanded either by compounding the main clause, or by increasing the number of subordinate clauses. Both methods may be used in the same sentence.

517. The independent (main) clause of a complex sentence may be compound.

Note that the subordinate clause depends on the compound main clause, not upon either of its members.

Thus, in the first example, the subordinate clause (when they saw the ship) depends upon the compound main clause, they shouted for joy and some of them burst into tears. It is an adverbial modifier of both shouted and burst.

518. Though a complex sentence can have but one (simple or compound) main clause, there is, in theory, no limit to the number of subordinate clauses.

519. Subordinate clauses may be attached to the main clause (1) as separate modifiers or complements; (2) in a coördinate series of clauses, all in the same construction, and forming one compound clause; (3) in a series of successively subordinate clauses, forming one complex clause.

520. Two or more subordinate clauses may be attached to the main clause separately, each as a distinct modifier or complement.

521. Two or more subordinate clauses in the same construction, forming one compound clause, may be attached to the main clause as a modifier or complement.

In the first and second examples, three coördinate noun clauses are joined to make one compound clause, which is used as a complement,—as a predicate nominative in the first sentence, as the direct object of told in the second.

In the third example, a compound adjective clause modifies Ellis. In the fourth and fifth, a compound adverbial clause modifies the predicate verb (ordered, received). In the seventh, four that-clauses unite in one compound clause.

522. Two or more successively subordinate clauses, forming one complex clause, may be joined to the main clause as a modifier or complement.

In such a series, the first subordinate clause is attached directly to the main clause, the second is subordinate to the first, the third to the second, and so on in succession.

In the course of my travels, I met a good-natured old gentleman, (a) who was born in the village (b) where my parents lived (c) before they came to America.

Here gentleman (a complement in the main clause) is modified by the adjective clause who was born in the village (a). Village, in clause a, is modified by the adjective clause where my parents lived (b). Lived, the predicate verb of clause b, is modified by the adverbial clause before they came to America (c).

Thus it appears that a is subordinate to the main clause, and that b, in turn, is subordinate to a, and c to b. In other words, the three clauses (a, b, c) are united to make one complex clause,—who was born in the village where my parents lived before they came to America. This clause, taken as a whole, serves as an adjective modifier describing gentleman.

523. Further examples of the successive subordination of one clause to another may be seen in the following sentences:—

Note. The method of forming complex clauses by successive subordination, if overworked, produces long, straggling, shapeless sentences, as in the following example from Borrow:—“I scouted the idea that Slingsby would have stolen this blacksmith’s gear; for I had the highest opinion of his honesty, which opinion I still retain at the present day, which is upwards of twenty years from the time of which I am speaking, during the whole of which period I have neither seen the poor fellow nor received any intelligence of him.” A famous instance of the use of this structure for comic effect is “The House that Jack Built.”

SPECIAL COMPLICATIONS

524. The processes of coördination and subordination ([§§ 514–523]) may be so utilized in one and the same sentence as to produce a very complicated structure.

Examples of such sentences are given below, for reference ([§§ 525–526]). Their structure, however elaborate, is always either complex or compound complex.

I. IN COMPLEX SENTENCES

525. The following sentences are complex. They contain either compound or complex clauses, or both.

1. They preferred the silver with which they were familiar, and which they were constantly passing about from hand to hand, to the gold which they had never before seen, and with the value of which they were unacquainted.—Macaulay.

The main clause of this complex sentence is they preferred the silver to the gold. To this are separately attached ([§ 520]) two adjective clauses, both compound: (1) with which ... hand, modifying silver; (2) which they had ... unacquainted, modifying gold.

2. All London crowded to shout and laugh round the gibbet where hung the rotting remains of a prince who had made England the dread of the world, who had been the chief founder of her maritime greatness and of her colonial empire, who had conquered Scotland and Ireland, who had humbled Holland and Spain.—Macaulay.

The sentence is complex. The main clause is all London crowded to shout and laugh round the gibbet. The rest of the sentence (where ... Spain) forms one long complex adjective clause, modifying gibbet. In this complex clause, the first clause (where ... prince) has dependent on it a compound adjective clause (modifying prince), made up of four coördinate clauses, each beginning with who. The subordination of this compound clause to that which precedes (where ... prince) produces the long complex subordinate clause where ... Spain.

3. As we cannot at present get Mr. Joseph out of the inn, we shall leave him in it, and carry our reader on after Parson Adams, who, his mind being perfectly at ease, fell into a contemplation on a passage in Æschylus, which entertained him for three miles together, without suffering him once to reflect on his fellow-traveller.—Fielding.

In this complex sentence, two subordinate clauses are separately attached to the main clause: (1) the adverbial clause as ... inn; (2) the adjective clause who ... fellow-traveller. This latter clause is complex, since it contains the adjective clause which ... fellow-traveller, dependent on who ... Æschylus, and modifying passage.

4. As I sit by my window this summer afternoon, hawks are circling about my clearing; the tantivy of wild pigeons, flying by twos and threes athwart my view, or perching restlessly on the white pine boughs behind my house, gives a voice to the air; a fishhawk dimples the glassy surface of the pond and brings up a fish; a mink steals out of the marsh before my door and seizes a frog by the shore; the sedge is bending under the weight of the reed-birds flitting hither and hither; and for the last half hour I have heard the rattle of railroad cars, now dying away and then revving like the beat of a partridge, conveying travellers from Boston to the country.—Thoreau.

This sentence is complex. Its main clause is compound, consisting of a series of six coördinate simple clauses. The whole of this long compound main clause is modified by the adverbial clause with which the sentence begins (as ... afternoon).

5. That they had sprung from obscurity, that they had acquired great wealth, that they exhibited it insolently, that they spent it extravagantly, that they raised the price of everything in their neighborhood, from fresh eggs to rotten boroughs; that their liveries outshone those of dukes, that their coaches were finer than that of the Lord Mayor, that the examples of their large and ill-governed households corrupted half the servants in the country; that some of them, with all their magnificence, could not catch the tone of good society, but in spite of the stud and the crowd of menials, of the plate and the Dresden china, of the venison and the Burgundy, were still low men,—these were things which excited, both in the class from which they had sprung, and in that into which they attempted to force themselves, that bitter aversion which is the effect of mingled envy and contempt.—Macaulay.

This complex sentence, though very long, is perfectly easy to follow. It begins with a long compound noun clause (consisting of nine coördinate that-clauses). This would be the subject of the main predicate verb were, but for the fact that the pronoun these is inserted to act as the subject (referring back to the compound noun clause and summing it up in a single word). To the complement things is attached the adjective clause which excited ... contempt. This clause is complex, for it contains three adjective clauses, (1) from which they had sprung (modifying class), (2) into which ... themselves (modifying that), and (3) which is ... contempt (modifying aversion). All three are separately attached to the clause on which they depend, which excited that bitter aversion. Thus all that portion of the sentence which follows things forms one complex clause, modifying that noun.

6. That I may avoid the imputation of throwing out, even privately, any loose, random imputations against the public conduct of a gentleman for whom I once entertained a very warm affection, and whose abilities I regard with the greatest admiration, I will put down, distinctly and articulately, some of the matters of objection which I feel to his late doctrines and proceedings, trusting that I shall be able to demonstrate to the friends whose good opinion I would still cultivate, that not levity, nor caprice, nor less defensible motives, but that very grave reasons, influence my judgment.—Burke.

This is a fine example of a long, but well-constructed complex sentence. The main clause is I will put down, distinctly and articulately, some of the matters of objection. Upon this simple clause, everything else in the sentence depends in one way or another.

II. IN COMPOUND COMPLEX SENTENCES

526. Any complex sentence, however elaborate, may be used as one of the coördinate complex clauses that make up a compound complex sentence.

1. While the king was treated at this rude rate, Cromwell, with his army, was in Scotland, obstructing the motions that were making in his favor; but on the approach of the Scots, who were much superior in number, he was forced to retire towards Dunbar, where his ships and provisions lay.—Burnet.

In this compound complex sentence, both coördinate clauses are complex. In each, the main clause has two subordinate clauses attached to it separately ([§ 520]).

2. They had seen me cut the cables, and thought my design was only to let the ships run adrift, or fall foul on each other; but when they perceived the whole fleet moving in order, and saw me pulling at the end, they set up such a scream of grief and despair as it is almost impossible to describe or conceive.—Swift.

In this compound complex sentence, both of the two coördinate clauses are complex. The first contains the noun clause [that] my design ... each other, used as the object of thought. The second contains two subordinate clauses, separately attached to the main clause (they set ... despair). For the infinitive cut, see [§ 322]. The infinitive to let is used as a predicate nominative ([§ 491]); it has as its object the infinitive clause the ships ... each other, containing two infinitives, run and fall ([§ 325]).

3. While things went on quietly, while there was no opposition, while everything was given by the favor of a small ruling junto, Fox had a decided advantage over Pitt; but when dangerous times came, when Europe was convulsed with war, when Parliament was broken up into factions, when the public mind was violently excited, the favorite of the people rose to supreme power.—Macaulay.

This compound complex sentence consists of two complex clauses, joined by the coördinate conjunction but. In each of these, the subordinate clause is compound ([§ 521]), consisting of several coördinate adverbial clauses introduced by relative adverbs (while in the first, when in the second).

4. The clear and agreeable language of his despatches had early attracted the notice of his employers; and before the Peace of Breda he had, at the request of Arlington, published a pamphlet on the war, of which nothing is now known, except that it had some vogue at the time, and that Charles, not a contemptible judge, pronounced it to be very well written.—Macaulay.

In this compound complex sentence, the first coördinate clause is simple, the second is complex. In the second, the adjective clause of which nothing is known has dependent on it the group of words except ... well written, consisting of the preposition except and its object (the compound noun clause, that ... time, and that ... well written). This group serves as an adjective modifier of the noun nothing. The whole passage of which ... well written forms a complex adjective clause, modifying pamphlet. It to be very well written is a complement, being an infinitive clause used as the object of pronounced ([§ 325]).

CHAPTER VIII
ELLIPTICAL SENTENCES

527. Good usage does not demand that all sentences shall be absolutely complete. It often allows (and sometimes requires) the omission of words that, though necessary to the construction, are so easily supplied by the mind that it would be mere waste of time to utter them.

528. The omission of a word or words necessary to the grammatical completeness of a clause or sentence is called ellipsis.

A clause or sentence that shows ellipsis is said to be elliptical.

Ellipsis is a Greek word meaning “omission.”

In the following examples the omitted words are supplied in brackets.

529. The examples in [§ 528] show that most cases of ellipsis fall under two heads:

1. To avoid repetition, words are often omitted in one part of the sentence when they occur in another part.

2. Pronouns, the conjunction that, and some forms of the verb is, are often omitted when they are readily supplied.

Under the second head come (1) the ellipsis of the subject (thou or you) in imperative sentences ([§ 268]), (2) that of relative pronouns in the objective case ([§ 151]), (3) that of is, are, etc. (with the subject pronoun) in subordinate clauses introduced by when, though, if, and the like ([§§ 397], [399], [417]).

Note. The so-called “telegraphic style” omits I with any verb or with all verbs. It should be confined to telegrams, where space is money.

530. Adverbs indicating direction (like forward, back) are often used without a verb in imperative sentences.

Note. In older English, the omission of the verb of motion was common, even in sentences not imperative, as in the following examples from Julius Cæsar:—“We’ll along ourselves, and meet them”; “Shall we on, and not depend on you?”

531. The ellipsis of the subordinate conjunction that is very common, especially in indirect discourse ([§§ 388], [433]).

532. Many constructions, originally elliptical, have become established idioms in which no ellipsis is felt. In such cases it is usually better to take the sentence as it stands, and not to supply the omitted words.

Thus, in “He eats as if he were famished” the italicized words are properly treated as a subordinate clause modifying eats and introduced by the compound conjunction as if. Yet in strictness this construction is an ellipsis for “He eats as [he would eat] if he were famished.”

533. Various ellipses are illustrated in the following sentences:—