"And all were gone, save him, who now kept guard."
—Ibid., p. 185.
OBS. 4.—The conjunction if is sometimes used in the Bible to express, not a supposition of what follows it, but an emphatic negation: as, "I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest."—Heb., iv, 3. That is, that they shall not enter. The same peculiarity is found in the Greek text, and also in the Latin, and other versions. Or, in the obsolete phrase, "or ever," is not properly a conjunction, but a conjunctive adverb of time, meaning before. It is supposed to be a corruption of ere: as, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was."—Prov., viii, 23. "And we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him."—Acts, xxiii, 15. This term derives no support from the original text.
OBS. 5.—There are some peculiar phrases, or combinations of words, which have the force of conjunctions, and which it is not very easy to analyze satisfactorily in parsing: as, "And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken."—John, xxi, 11. Here for all is equivalent to although, or notwithstanding; either of which words would have been more elegant. Nevertheless is composed of three words, and is usually reckoned a conjunctive adverb; but it might as well be called a disjunctive conjunction, for it is obviously equivalent to yet, but, or notwithstanding; as, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."—Gal., ii, 20. Here, for nevertheless and but, we have in the Greek the same particle [Greek: de]. "Each man's mind has some peculiarity, as well as his face."—Locke. "Relative pronouns, as well as conjunctions, serve to connect sentences."—Murray's Gram., p. 124. Here the first as corresponds to the second, but well not being used in the literal sense of an adverb, some judicious grammarians take the whole phrase as a conjunction. It is, however, susceptible of division: as, "It is adorned with admirable pieces of sculpture, as well modern as ancient."—Addison.
OBS. 6.—So the phrases, for as much as, in as much as, in so much that, if taken collectively, have the nature of conjunctions; yet they contain within themselves correspondent terms and several different parts of speech. The words are sometimes printed separately, and sometimes partly together. Of late years, forasmuch, inasmuch, insomuch, have been usually compounded, and called adverbs. They might as well, perhaps, be called conjunctions, as they were by some of our old grammarians; for two conjunctions sometimes come together: as, "Answering their questions, as if[314] it were a matter that needed it."—Locke. "These should be at first gently treated, as though we expected an imposthumation,"—Sharp. "But there are many things which we must acknowledge to be true, notwithstanding that we cannot comprehend them."—Beattie's Moral Science, p. 211. "There is no difference, except that some are heavier than others."—"We may be playful, and yet innocent; grave, and yet corrupt."—Murray's Key, p. 166.
OBS. 7.—Conjunctions have no grammatical modifications, and are consequently incapable of any formal agreement or disagreement with other words; yet their import as connectives, copulative or disjunctive, must be carefully observed, lest we write or speak them improperly. Example of error: "Prepositions are generally set before nouns and pronouns."—Wilbur's Gram., p. 20. Here and should be or; because, although a preposition usually governs a noun or a pronoun, it seldom governs both at once. And besides, the assertion above seems very naturally to mean, that nouns and pronouns are generally preceded by prepositions—as gross an error as dullness could invent! L. Murray also says of prepositions: "They are, for the most part, put before nouns and pronouns."—Gram., p. 117. So Felton: "They generally stand before nouns and pronouns."—Analytic and Prac. Gram., p. 61. The blunder however came originally from Lowth, and out of the following admirable enigma: "Prepositions, standing by themselves in construction, are put before nouns and pronouns; and sometimes after verbs; but in this sort of composition they are chiefly prefixed to verbs: as, to outgo, to overcome."—Lowth's Gram., p. 66.
OBS. 8.—The opposition suggested by the disjunctive particle or, is sometimes merely nominal, or verbal: as, "That object is a triangle, or figure contained under three right lines."—Harris. "So if we say, that figure is a sphere, or a globe, or a ball."—Id., Hermes, p. 258. In these cases, the disjunction consists in nothing but an alternative of words; for the terms connected describe or name the same thing. For this sense of or, the Latins had a peculiar particle, sive, which they called Subdisjunctiva, a Subdisjunctive: as, "Alexander sive Paris; Mars sive Mavors."—Harris's Hermes, p. 258. In English, the conjunction or is very frequently equivocal: as, "They were both more ancient than Zoroaster or Zerdusht."—Campbell's Rhet., p. 250; Murray's Gram., p. 297. Here, if the reader does not happen to know that Zoroaster and Zerdusht mean the same person, he will be very likely to mistake the sense. To avoid this ambiguity, we substitute, (in judicial proceedings,) the Latin adverb alias, otherwise; using it as a conjunction subdisjunctive, in lieu of or, or the Latin sive: as, "Alexander, alias Ellick."—"Simson, alias Smith, alias Baker."—Johnson's Dict.
EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.
PRAXIS IX.—ETYMOLOGICAL.
In the Ninth Praxis, it is required of the pupil—to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, VERBS, PARTICIPLES, ADVERBS, and CONJUNCTIONS.
The definitions to be given in the Ninth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle, two (and sometimes three) for an adverb, two for a conjunction,—and one for a preposition, or an interjection. Thus:—