Syntax.
Verbs.

Adverbs.

the second in preference to the third; as, I and he (we) were there; You and he (you) were there. But if they are connected by or or nor, the verb agrees with the latter; as, Neither he nor I am right; Neither you nor he is right.

"On the moss-grown wall

My ancient friend and I together took
Our seats."-WORDSWORTH.

"Nor he, nor you, were guilty of the strife."

DRYDEN.

(9.) If one verb depends on another, a proper sequence of tenses must be observed; the present is followed by the present, the past by the past; as, I think he will succeed; I thought he would not succeed.

ADVERBS.

(1.) Adverbs are placed before the adjectives they qualify, and either before or after verbs; as, A very eloquent orator; Gladstone speaks well; He was very much pleased.

(2.) The Interrogative and Relative adverbs, and the Negative adverb, never, always precede the verb; as, Where are you? I found it where I expected; I never saw anything like it before.

"Why mention other thoughts unmeet ?"

WORDSWORTH.

"Mother, oh! where is that radiant land?"

MRS. HEMANS.

"Now cross where I shall cross; come on."

WORDSWORTH.

"Britons never will be slaves."-THOMSON.

Syntax.

Macbeth.

"The night is long that never finds the day."

PREPOSITIONS.

Prepositions take a noun or

pronoun Preposi

tions.

after them in the objective case; as, The wisdom of Solomon is renowned;

He leaned

against a tree; We walked up the hill.

"Wisdom comes with lack of food."-COLERIDGE.

"I travelled among unknown men,

In lands beyond the sea."-WORDSWORTH. "From mead to mead with gentle wing to stray."

CONJUNCTIONS.

THOMSON.

tions.

Conjunctions expressing contingency and Conjuncfuturity take a verb after them in the subjunctive mood: all the others require the indicative; as, If I were a king, I would do so; You will not be satisfied unless it happen as you wish ; Because the sides are equal, therefore the angles are equal; The heir apparent is the person who, if he survive his ancestor, must certainly be his heir.

"And tell them, there thy fixed foot shall grow, Till thou have audience."-Twelfth Night.

"Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed."-Macbeth.

"Upon the corner of the moon

There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground."-Macbeth.

Syntax. Conjunctions.

Optative.

Interjections.

"The flighty purpose never is o'ertook,
Unless the deed go with it."-Macbeth.

"This deed I'll do before this purpose cool."

Macbeth. "What though no sacred earth allow thee room, Nor hallowed dirge be muttered o'er thy tomb."

POPE.

"How vain are all these glories, all our pains,
Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains!

POPE.

"Oh stretch thy reign, fair Peace, from shore to shore, Till conquest cease, and slavery be no more.'

POPE.

The Subjunctive mood is sometimes used as an optative, and without conjunctions:

"Deny me this,

And an eternal curse fall on you."—Macbeth.

"Infected be the air whereon they ride."-Macbeth.

"Accursed be the tongue that tells me so;

And be these juggling fiends no more believed."

Macbeth.

"Were I king,

I should cut off the nobles from their lands."

Macbeth.

"What wouldst thou do, good my squire, that rid'st
beside my rein,

Wert thou Glencallan's Earl to-day, and I were
Roland Cheyne.”—Ballad.

INTERJECTIONS.

The noun or pronoun which follows the interjection O, is called the nominative of address; as, O ye woods, wave your branches apace; O death! where is thy victory?

"O ye loud waves! and O ye forests high!
And O ye clouds that far above me soar!"

COLERIDGE.

"Father and God! Oh! spare us yet awhile."
COLERIDGE.

All other interjections have neither government nor agreement with any word in the sentence in which they stand, and they are placed indifferently in any part of the sentence.

ABSOLUTE PHRASES.

Syntax. Interjections.

Absolute

(1.) If there is a noun or pronoun, followed phrases. by a participle or adjective, with or without qualifying words, but totally unconnected with the grammatical construction of the sentence in which it stands, the clause is said to be in the Nominative Absolute; as, Darkness coming on, they ceased from pursuit; He being dead, all my hopes were blasted.

"Then let me sink beneath proud Arcite's arms, And, I once dead, let him possess her charms."

DRYDEN.

"God from Mount Sinai, whose grey top
Shall tremble, He descending, will Himself,
In thunder, lightning, and loud tempest's sound,
Ordain their laws."-MILTON.

"Nature well known, no prodigies remain."-POPE.
"Order is heaven's first law; and, this confessed,
Some are and must be greater than the rest."-POPE.

"Such pleasure she reserved,
Adam relating, she sole auditress."-MILTON.

"Those being all my study,

The government I cast upon my brother."-Tempest.

"Here lay Duncan,

His silver skin laced with his golden blood."

Macbeth.

(2.) A verb in the imperative or infinitive

Syntax. Absolute phrases.

Compound expressions:

mood, or a participle followed by other words, but quite independent of the grammatical structure of the rest of the sentence, is called the Imperative, Infinitive, or Participle Absolute; as, There were a good many present, say four hundred; You are very near the mark, judging roughly; To say nothing of writing, he can't even read.

"And, to conclude,

The victory fell on us."-Macbeth.

"He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again."—Hamlet.

COMPOUND EXPRESSIONS.

Such expressions as, The queen of England's navy, The professor of Greek's lectures, etc., are to be considered as compound terms, and therefore are inflected at the end only.