The Grammar of English Grammars

by Goold Brown

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Adverbs briefly express what would otherwise require several words: as Now, for at this time;—Here, for in this place;—Very, for in a high degree;—Diligently, for in an industrious manner. Thus the meaning of almost any adverb, may be explained by some phrase beginning with a preposition and ending with a noun.

OBS. 2.—There are several customary combinations of short words, which are used adverbially, and which some grammarians do not analyze in parsing; as, not at all, at length, in fine, in full, at least, at present, at once, this once, in vain, no doubt, on board. But all words that convey distinct ideas, and rightly retain their individuality, ought to be taken separately in parsing. With the liberty of supposing a few ellipses, an ingenious parser will seldom find occasion to speak of "adverbial phrases." In these instances, length, doubt, fine, and board, are unquestionably nouns; once, too, is used as a noun; full and all may be parsed either as nouns, or as adjectives whose nouns are understood; at least, is, at the least measure; at present, is, at the present time; and in vain, is, in a vain course, or manner.

OBS. 3.—A phrase is a combination of two or more separable parts of speech, the parsing of which of course implies their separation. And though the division of our language into words, and the division of its words into parts of speech, have never yet been made exactly to correspond, it is certainly desirable to bring them as near together as possible. Hence such terms as everywhere, anywhere, nowadays, forever, everso, to-day, to-morrow, by-and-by, inside-out, upside-down, if they are to be parsed simply as adverbs, ought to be compounded, and not written as phrases.

OBS. 4—Under nearly all the different classes of words, some particular instances may be quoted, in which other parts of speech seem to take the nature of adverbs, so as either to become such, or to be apparently used for them. (1.) ARTICLES: "This may appear incredible, but it is not the less true."—Dr. Murray's Hist., i, 337. "The other party was a little coy."—D. Webster. (2.) NOUNS: "And scrutiny became stone[306] blind."—Cowper. "He will come home to-morrow."—Clark. "They were travelling post when he met them."—Murray's Gram., p. 69. "And with a vengeance sent from Media post to Egypt."—Milton, P. L., B. iv, l. 170. "That I should care a groat whether he likes the work or not."—Kirkham. "It has snowed terribly all night, and is vengeance cold."—Swift. (3.) ADJECTIVES: "Drink deep, or taste not."—Pope. "A place wondrous deep."—Webster's Dict. "That fools should be so deep contemplative."—Shak. "A man may speak louder or softer in the same key; when he speaks higher or lower, he changes his key."—Sheridan's Elocution, p. 116. (4.) PRONOUNS: "What am I eased?"—Job. "What have I offended thee?"—Gen., xx, 9. "He is somewhat arrogant."—Dryden. (5.) VERBS: "Smack went the whip, round went the wheels."—Cowper. "For then the farmers came jog, jog, along the miry road."—Id. "Crack! went something on deck."—Robinson Crusoe. "Then straight went the yard slap over their noddle."—Arbuthnot. (6.) PARTICIPLES: "Like medicines given scalding hot."—Dodd. "My clothes are almost dripping wet."—"In came Squire South, stark, staring mad."—Arbuthnot. "An exceeding high mountain."—Matt., iv, 8. "How sweet, how passing sweet, the hour to me!"—Ch. Observer. "When we act according to our duty."—Dr. Johnson. "A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees."—Psal., lxxiv, 5. (7.) CONJUNCTIONS: "Look, as I blow this feather from my face."—Shak. "Not at all, or but very gently."—Locke. "He was but born to try the lot of man."—Pope. (8.) PREPOSITIONS: "They shall go in and out."—Bible. "From going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it."—Ib. These are actually adverbs, and not prepositions, because they govern nothing. (9.) INTERJECTIONS are never used as adverbs, though the Greek grammarians refer them nearly all to this class. The using of other words for adverbs, (i. e., the adverbial use of any words that we do not actually call adverbs,) may be referred to the figure enallage:[307] as,

"Tramp, tramp, across the land they speed, Splash, splash, across the sea."—Burger.

OBS. 5.—As other parts of speech seem sometimes to take the nature of adverbs, so adverbs sometimes, either really or apparently, assume the nature of other parts of speech. (1.) Of NOUNS: as, "A committee is not needed merely to say Yes or No; that will do very little good; the yes or the no must be accompanied and supported by reasons."—Dr. M'Cartee. "Shall I tell you why? Ay, sir, and wherefore; for, they say, every why hath a wherefore."—Shak. (2.) Of ADJECTIVES: as, "Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, and reduced it to an almost desert."—Wood's Dict., w. Moab. "The then bishop of London, Dr. Laud, attended on his Majesty."—Clarendon. "With upward speed his agile wings he spread."—Prior. "She lights the downward heaven, and rises there."—Dryden. (3.) Of PRONOUNS: as, "He liked the ground whereon she trod."—Milton. "Wherein have you been galled by the king?"—Shak. "O how unlike the place from whence they fell!"—Par. Lost, B. i, l. 75. Here whereon is exactly equivalent in sense to on which; wherein, to in what; and whence, to which: but none of them are actually reckoned pronouns. (4.) Of VERBS: as, "If he be hungry, more than wanton, bread alone will down."—Locke. "To down proud hearts that would not willing die."—Sidney. "She never could away with me."—Shak. "Away, and glister like the god of war."—Id. "Up, get ye out of this place."—Gen., xix, 14. (5.) Of CONJUNCTIONS: as, "I, even I, am he."—Isaiah, xliii, 25. "If I will that he tarry till I come."—John, xxi, 22. "I will go and see him before I die."—Gen., xlv, 28. "Before I go whence I shall not return."—Job, x, 21. (6) Of PREPOSITIONS: as, "Superior to any that are dug out the ground."—Eames's Lect., p. 28. "Who act so counter heavenly mercy's plan."—Burns. Better perhaps, "out of" and "counter to." (7.) Of INTERJECTIONS: as, "Up, up, Glentarkin! rouse thee, ho!"—Scott. "Down, down, cried Mar, your lances down!"—Id. "Off! or I fly for ever from thy sight."—Smith.

OBS. 6.—In these last examples, up, and down, and off, have perhaps as much resemblance to imperative verbs, as to interjections; but they need not be referred to either of these classes, because by supplying a verb we may easily parse them as adverbs. I neither adopt the notion of Horne Tooke, that the same word cannot belong to different parts of speech, nor refer every word to that class to which it may at first sight appear to belong; for both of these methods are impracticable and absurd. The essential nature of each part of speech, and every important peculiarity of its individual terms, it is hoped, will be sufficiently explained in some part or other of this work; but, as the classification of words often depends upon their construction, some explanations that go to determine the parts of speech, must be looked for under the head of Syntax.

OBS. 7.—The proper classification, or subdivision, of adverbs, though it does not appear to have been discovered by any of our earlier grammarians, is certainly very clearly indicated by the meaning and nature of the words themselves. The four important circumstances of any event or assertion, are the when, the where, the how-much, and the how; or the time, the place, the degree, and the manner. These four are the things which we usually express by adverbs. And seldom, if ever, do we find any adverb the notion of which does not correspond to that of sometime, somewhere, somewhat, or somehow. Hence, the general classes of this sort of words ought to be formed under these four heads. The classification heretofore most commonly adopted in English grammar, has every fault which the spirit of awkwardness could possibly give it. The head of it is this: "Adverbs, though very numerous, may be reduced to certain classes, the chief of which are those of Number, Order, Place, Time, Quantity, Manner or Quality, Doubt, Affirmation, Negation, Interrogation, and Comparison."—Murray's Gram., p. 115; Comly's, 66; Kirkham's, 86; R. C. Smith's, 34; Hall's, 26; and others.