PART V. THE RULES OF SYNTAX. ARTICLE. Article. (1.) The Indefinite Article is used only be- Syntax. fore a noun in the singular number; as, a table, an army, a dozen, a host. "For besides that he's a fool, he's a great quarreller." Twelfth Night. "A dancing shape, an image gay."-WORDSWORTH. "A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod; An honest man's the noblest work of God."-POPE. Note.-A is used before a word beginning with a consonant; as, a man, a boy, etc. An is used before a word beginning with a vowel or silent h; as, an apple, an hour; except before words beginning with u, pronounced as yu; as, a unit, a uniform, a university, a use, a Utopian idea, etc. (2.) The Definite Article is used before nouns of both numbers; as, The fields, the heavens, the hours, the arm. "Consult the genius of the place in all, That tells the waters or to rise or fall; Or helps th' ambitious hill the heavens to scale, (3.) The article is omitted before abstract and other nouns used in a general sense; as, Virtue is opposite to vice; Man is mortal; Lead is heavier than iron; Wheat is dearer than barley. Syntax. Noun. "But garlands wither-festal shows depart "Man wants but little here below."-Cowper. "He who finds pleasure in vice and pain in virtue is a novice in both."-Chinese Proverb. "Virtue alone is happiness below."-POPE. (4.) The Definite Article is not repeated when two nouns, referring to the same person or thing, are connected by the copulative conjunction and; as, Gladstone was the leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor of the Exchequer. I have seen the secretary and treasurer, Mr. Brown. "Grant that the powerful still the weak control: NOUN. (1.) Two or more nouns in the singular number, used as the subjects of a sentence, and connected by the copulative conjunction and, expressed or understood, require a verb in the plural; as, Age and infirmity are yoke-fellows. Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus were triumvirs. Health, youth, beauty, are all gifts of nature. 66 "And faith and hope are in their prime In great Eliza's golden time."-WORDSWORTH. 'Strong love and proud ambition have no bounds." DRYDEN. "Honour and shame from no condition rise."-POPE. "Fortune and Antony part here." Antony and Cleopatra. "The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, Midsummer Night's Dream. Noun. Except when they convey the same idea, when Syntax. they may take a verb in the singular; as, "Reproach and everlasting shame sits mocking on our plumes."-SHAKESPEARE. 66 66 Myself and what is mine to you and yours Is now converted,-Merchant of Venice. "Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear Compels me to disturb your season due."-MILTON. "The ancient saying is no heresy: Hanging and wiving goes by destiny." Merchant of Venice. My lord and master loves you."-Twelfth Night. "Renown and grace is dead."—Macbeth.' "Time and the hour runs through the roughest day." "Let it be noised, Macbeth. That through our intercession this revokement "The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise."-POPE. (2.) Two or more nouns in the singular number, used as subjects of a sentence and connected by the disjunctive conjunctions or or nor, require a verb in the singular; as, Neither danger nor death deters a fanatic. Either merit or influence is requisite. "Nor shout nor whistle strikes his ear."-WORDSWORTH. "But neither breath of morn; nor rising sun On this delightful land; nor fragrance after showers; MILTON. (3.) A collective noun, as subject, requires a verb in the plural, if the idea of plurality is Syntax. prominent; as, The crew were all drowned; The people imagine a vain thing. "Our old race of deer-stealers are hardly extinct yet."WHITE'S Natural History of Selbourne. "The people of Ireland have been uniformly plundered and oppressed.” – JUNIUS. "No other sheep were near, the lamb was all alone." WORDSWORTH. "She said: the pitying audience melt in tears."—POPE. A collective noun also, if the idea of plurality is prominent, may be used with a pronoun or a possessive adjective of the plural number; as, "Next these a youthful train their vows expressed.” POPE. "A troop next came, who crowns and armour wore, And proud defiance in their looks they bore."-POPE. (4.) When two nouns come together, the one denoting possession, or origin in relation to the other, the former is put in the possessive case; as, the Queen's sceptre; Burke's eloquence; Macaulay's history; Virtue's reward. "The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence, All, all alike, find reason on their side. "-POPE. "Then shall man's pride and dulness comprehend (5.) When two or more nouns in the possessive come together, the last only is inflected, when they are co-partners; as, The tenant and landlord's rights were both sacrificed; The king and queen's marriage was approved of. "I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow Until her husband and my lord's return." Merchant of Venice. (6.) When two or more nouns come together, both referring to the same person or thing, they are said to be in apposition, and are placed in the same case; as, Julian, the apostate, was a Roman Emperor; The despatch was written by Canning, the Foreign Secretary. "Michael Cassio, Lieutenant to the warlike Moor, Othello, "How dost thou, Benedick, the married man.” Much Ado about Nothing. "Shake off this drowsy sleep, death's counterfeit." Syntax. Noun. 66 Among the hills Macbeth. He gazed upon that mighty orb of song, "I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy, The sleepless soul that perished in his pride.' WORDSWORTH. But when two nouns in the possessive case are in apposition, only one of them is inflected; as, This is Milton the poet's bust. "It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant general."-Othello. (7.) When a noun and pronoun come together, both referring to the same person or thing, the noun is in apposition with the pronoun, and in the same case; as, It is I, your king; They punished him, the cause of all |