CHAP. I. Of Numbers. Singular, Plural, and Dual Numbers. CHAP. II. Of Genders. Masculine, Feminine, Neuter and Com- - CHAP. IV. Augmentatives and Diminutives CHAP. VI. Of Tenses. Indefinite and Definite Tenses; Present, CHAP. VII. Of the persons of Verbs CHAP. IX. Of the Voices of Verbs. Subjective, Objective, and Neuter Voices. Absolute, Relative, and doubly Relative Verbs. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs. Reflexive Verbs. Derived CHAP. I. Of Syntax. Difference between Syntax and Construc- CHAP. IV. Of Analysis. Logical and Grammatical Subject. Logi CHAP. V. Continuation of the same subject. PRINCIPLES OF GENERAL GRAMMAR. PART I. CHAPTER I. OF THE PROPOSITION. It is necessarily composed of a Subject, an Attribute, and a Verb, and always accompanied by a Compellative expressed or understood. We speak only to make known our thoughts to others. Suppose a dumb man, wishing to inform us that he has been bitten by a mad dog, presents us a picture, in which he himself is represented to the life, followed by a dog whose tail hanging between his legs, haggard eye, and bristling hair, point out the malady with which he is attacked; and that this dog is represented as holding between his teeth the unfortunate man's leg;-at the sight of this picture, we should immediately understand that he who presented it to us had been bitten by a mad dog, and we should feel ourselves inclined to procure for him the assistance he needed. Could this man, enjoying the use of speech, approach us and say, "I have been bitten by a mad dog" these words would inform us of his misfortune as fully as the painting which he might have shown us. Words, then, are the picture of our thoughts, and serve to give other men a knowledge of the objects which are present to our minds, and of the judgment which we form concerning them. Attribute. Whenever we form a judgment of any thing, we can distinSubject and guish the thing of which we are thinking, from the quality which we perceive connected with that thing. The thing of which we are thinking, is called the Subject; the quality which we perceive connected with it, is called the Attribute. If I say, "Victor is little," "Victor" is the Subject, for it is that about which I am thinking; "little" is the Attribute, for it is the quality which I perceive connected with "Victor." In saying "Victor is little," I inform those who hear me, that I judge the quality of "little" to belong to "Victor." In this phrase "Victor's father is too good," the Subject is expressed by the words "Victor's father," and "too good" is the Attribute. In this expression, "Children who will not learn are like the brutes," the Subject is expressed by the words " Children who will not learn," and the Attribute by "like the brutes." Verb. Besides the idea of a thing and the idea of a quality, every judgment of our minds includes also the idea of the union of the thing with the quality. When I form the judgment that "Victor is little," I have present to my mind the idea of a thing, "Victor," and the idea of a quality," littleness;" but this is not all. I have also the idea of the union of this thing with this quality. I believe that the Subject really exists. with this Attribute; and it is in this that the judgment of my mind properly consists. Since language is the picture of our thoughts, it is not enough, in order to represent the judgments which we form, that words should express merely the Subject and the Attribute they must also express their union, the existence of the Subject with the Attribute. This is, in fact, the case in the examples given above. In "Victor is little," the word "Victor" expresses the thing of which I think, i. e. the Subject; the word "little" expresses the quality which I perceive connected with that thing, i. e. the Attribute; the word "is" expresses the connection of the thing with the quality, the existence of the Subject with the Attribute. This word, which serves to express the connection of the Subject with the Attribute, is called the Verb. It is this which gives life to language, which without it would be weak and unintelligible. If I should say simply, "Victor little," I should expose myself to be imperfectly understood by those whom I addressed, because I should not have expressed, with sufficient clearness, the connection which I perceived between the Subject and the Attribute; but when I add the word "is," and say "Victor is little," it is immediately comprehended that I judge that Victor exists with the quality expressed by the word "little." Every collection of words, composed of a Subject, an Attribute, and a Verb, is called a Proposition, and there can be no * Proposition, unless there is an union of a Subject, a Verb, and an Attribute. [There are some languages in which the Verb can be suppressed, but its place is supplied by certain forms which the Subject and Attribute then assume, and which express 'the idea of the existence of the Subject with the Attribute as perfectly as the Verb itself could do it. Even in English, although regularly the Verb must be expressed; yet, if you suppress it, as children and foreigners often do, the thought may be made intelligible, either by the arrangement of the words which compose the proposition, by means of gesture, or the tone with which it is pronounced. If Stephen, for instance, speaking of his little brother, should say, "My brother little; me larger than he; we should easily understand that he meant to say "My brother is little, and I am larger than he."] We make use of speech, only to communicate our thoughts to others, and consequently our lan- Compellative. guage is always addressed to some one. That those to whom we speak may know that we are addressing them, we call upon them, either by name, or some equivalent expression, proper to fix their attention. Thus, I say, "Victor, you are not attentive;""Lord! I am thy creature;" "Sir, are you my friend?" These words, "Victor," These words, "Victor," "Lord," "Sir," make no part of the Proposition. I shall call this part of speech a Compellative, from a Latin word which signifies "to address, to accost." All discourse supposes a Compellative, but it frequently happens that the Compellative is left understood, inasmuch as the circumstances, the gesture, the attitude of him who speaks, or the situation of those who listen, readily supply it. CHAPTER II. OF THE VERB. Ir is the Verb, as we have already remarked, which gives life to discourse; for it is this which connects the Subject and Attribute, and upon this connection the whole sense of the Proposition depends. It is therefore necessary, first of all, to endeavor thoroughly to understand the nature of the Verb. The only Verb to be found in the Propositions which we have heretofore given as examples, is the Verb "To be." This might suffice for the expression of all the judgments of our minds. There is however a large number of other Verbs, which serve to vary and abridge discourse. The Verb "to be" expresses simply the existence of the Subject and its con nection with the Attribute, but it does not determine that Attribute, and another word must be employed to express it. If, for example, I say, "The soup is salt," "The candle is extinguished," the Attribute is not expressed by the Verb "is," but by the words "salt" and "extinguished." Every other Verb than the Verb "to be" comprises in itself this Verb |