PRINCIPLES OF GENERAL GRAMMAR. PART III. CHAPTER I. OF SYNTAX. Difference between Syntax and Construo tion. It is not enough, in order to speak with propriety, to know the various forms of which a word is susceptible; we must also know what use to make of these various forms in order to connect together the different parts which compose discourse, and in what order to dispose these different parts. The rules which ought to be followed for these two purposes, form what is called Syntax. The first only of these two parts of Grammar is, however, more frequently called Syntax, and the second Coustruction, although these two words, one of which is Greek and the other Latin, properly signify the same thing, the art of disposing and arranging the different parts of discourse. Proper Syntax. All rules of Syntax relate to two things, Agreement and Government. Nouns, as they desig. nate beings by the idea of their nature, are susceptible of various Genders and Numbers: Adjectives, Articles, Pronouns, and Verbs, in some languages admit the same variations of Gender and Number, and as these variations are designed only to denote the relations of these words to ment. Rules of Agree- Nouns, one object of the rules of Agreement is to teach in what cases, Articles, Adjectives, Pronouns, and Verbs ought to take the same Gender and Number as the Nouns to which they are related. In those languages in which Nouns admit Cases, Adjectives also admit them, and here is a new object of rules of Agreement. ernment. Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs often have Nouns or Verbs Rules of Gov- as their Complements. The rules of Government teach in what manner the relation which exists between the Antecedent and Consequent terms should be denoted. They teach also what is the proper form of those words which serve as complements to Propositions. Propositions also have relations of Government to each other; some are principal, others subordinate; some indicative, others subjunctive; some suppositive, others conditional: their relations are expressed by Conjunctions and by Modes of Verbs. The rules which determine the employment of Modes constitute a part of the rules of Government.. None of these rules properly belong to General Grammar, as each language follows, in regard to the rules of Agreement and Government, a course peculiar to itself. CHAPTER II. OF CONSTRUCTION. Ir is with Construction as with Syntax. It follows no general rule common to all languages. We may, however, Natural Con- in all languages bring discourse to a Construction which shall seem conformable to the tions of the mind, if not to the order of our sensations. struction. opera In this construction, the Subject is always presented first, then the Verb, then the Attribute. In the subject and the Attribute, the Article immediately precedes or follows the Noun; the Adjective or Conjunctive Proposition which modifies the Noun comes immediately after it; the Complement of a Noun, Verb, Adjective or Preposition directly follows the word of which it is the Complement, and the Preposition must be placed between the two words which form the terms of the relation of which it is Exponent; lastly, Adverbs, expressing circumstances, must be regarded as Prepositions followed by their Complements. As to the mode of arranging different complements of the same word, it is much more arbitrary. Take an example: 66 By this means you will place yourself in the attitude of quiet expectation that heaven will befriend you, and that it will dissipate the cloud of ill fortune which crosses the happiness of your life and obliges you to conceal your origin." Let us construct this phrase according to the natural order. "You will place yourself, by this means, in the attitude of quiet expectation that heaven will befriend you, and that it will dissipate the cloud of ill fortune which crosses the happiness of the life of you, and which obliges you to conceal the origin of you." The construction of the English language is very near the natural construction. It happens, however, somewhat frequently, especially in poetry, that we place the complement before the Noun or Verb to which it Inversion. belongs. This kind of subversion of the common order of Construction is called Inversion. Of this, several examples may be found in the following lines: A raven, while, with glossy breast, (A fault philosophers might blame, Languages in which the forms of Nouns and Verbs have many more variations, and in which the terminations, which make these variations, are more sonorous, depart still further from the natural construction and more frequently make use of Inversion, without occasioning any obscurity, because the forms of words sufficiently indicate the relations of Agreement or Government which connect them with each other. Whatever may be the propensity of our language to follow the natural construction, it often allows the orator Inversions as great as are authorized by those languages which possess more resources to remedy this derangement of Construction. These Inversions, however, are not found in common language, and the considerations to which they give rise belong rather to the oratorical art than to Grammar. CHAPTER III. OF ELLIPSIS. THE object of language is to communicate to others our knowledge or the judgments of our minds. As thought is very rapid, it is natural that we should endeavor to express it as briefly as possible. To attain this end we often suppress a part of the words which would be necessary to express our thought completely, without depriving discourse of any of its perspicuity, inasmuch as the tone, gesture, or turn of the phrase supplies the suppression. This is what is called Ellipsis or an Elliptical sentence. These lines of Shakspeare present examples of Ellipsis. "Show men dutiful? Why, so didst thou.-Seem they grave and learned? Why, so didst thou-" etc. i. e. do men show themselves dutiful? Why, so didst thou show thyself. Do men seem grave and learned? Why, so didst thou seem-etc. It is the same with the following: "What! looked he frowningly? In sorrow than in anger. Hamlet. Horatio. A countenance more That is-Ham. Did he look frowningly? Hor. He had a countenance more in sorrow than in anger. pale, or red? Hor. Nay! it was very pale. Ham. Was it The Ellipsis is very commonly employed in discourse. To be convinced of this, it is only necessary to call to mind what we said when speaking of Prepositions, that Prepositions were only the Exponents of relations existing between Antecedents and Consequents. Analyze ever so little any common phrase, and you will frequently find Prepositions which have indeed a complement, but which apparently have no antecedent. * Suppose I read on the title page of a book, " London, Longman and Co." These words convey no meaning, unless I call to mind the Antecedent of the relation of which "London," and "Longman and Co." are the Consequents: book is sold in London by Longman and Co." 66 This If I read the word "Paris" upon a letter, I immediately fill up the Ellipsis in my mind thus: "This letter is to be carried to Paris." * See above, Part I. Chap. 9, p. 44. |