participle stands alone, either simply agreeing with a noun, or with a gerundial force; e. g.,

1. He produced an argument against Moses being the author of the Pentateuch.

2. Madam, what do you mean by holding up your train?

Participles sometimes occur as simple participles, when in truth they have the force and should have the construction of nouns, as in the following sentence:

Wrong. "Cyrus did not wait for the Babylonians coming to attack him."-(Rollin)

Right. Cyrus did not wait for the Babylonians' coming to attack him.

Compound or adverbial subjects require the verb in the singular number. Respecting pronouns considered as subjects, a few details are necessary. Pronouns that denote one person or object must have their verb in the singular number. Pronouns that denote more than one person or object must have their verb in the plural number. When two or more pronouns occur in one sentence, and refer to the same person or thing, they must be in the same gender, number, and person; e. g.,

I saw my dog bite the man.

She came to show me her bonnet.

But if different persons or things are intended, the proper pronouns must be employed; e. g.,

I saw his dog bite the man.

She came to show me your hat.

The distributive pronouns each, every, whoever, &c., being singular in form, should have a verb in the singular number; they should also have corresponding pronouns in the singular number; e. g.,

Each man is coming for his wages.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh* down from above." (James i. 17.)

Whoever comes, let him enter.

Inaccurate speakers are wont to put the second pronoun in the plural, saying,

Whoever comes, let them enter.

The error is the more to be guarded against, because every one &c., implies a number, and is nearly equivalent to all.

POSITION OF THE SUBJECT AND ITS AGREEMENT WITH THE VERB.

as,

Position of the Subject.

The ordinary place of the subject is immediately before the verb,

The sick man drinks.

An instance of two nouns combining to form one thought, and so putting the verb in the singular.

P

One word or more may intervene between the subject.
The subject, however, comes after the verb in questions, as,

Does the sick man drink wine?

2. With the imperative mood, as,

Go thou; come ye.

3. On the expression of a strong wish, as,

May they learn wisdom by what they suffer.

4. When the conjunction if is dropped :

Were my father alive, for "if my father were," &c.

5. With the conjunction nor, as,

Nor can your turpitude be denied.

6. In cases of emphasis:

Rich is the reward of the righteous.

7. After an adverb or adverbial phrase; as,

After the infantry marched the grenadiers, then followed the horse. 8. With an interposed verb; as,

"My children," replied the dying father, "I entreat you."

The imperative mood of the first and third person singular and plural, is formed with the assistance of let; as,

Let him go; let them eat,

Here it will be observed the pronouns are in the objective case. The reason is that let is really an independent verb, and as such governs the objects him and them in the objective case, go and eat being infinitives depending on let. This is the true analysis of such sentences.

An adverb, when it begins a sentence, puts the subject after its verb; as,

"There will I plead with you face to face."-(Ezek. xx. 35.) Yet by no means universally, as,

"There they buried Abraham and Sarah."-(Gen. xlix. 31.) When, however, there is used as an expletive, the subject follows the verb; as,

"There shall be no night there."-(Rev. xxi. 25.)

"An expletive" is a word which according, to its derivation, signifies a word which fills up or is redundant. A regard to idiom may sometimes require the retention of expletives.

Adverbial phrases have great force in causing the subject to take place after the verb,

AGREEMENT OF THE SUBJECT AND VERB.

While the subject of a proposition may agree with a qualifying adjective and a limiting or defining article, it specially agrees with the verb. The agreement is of two kinds, one of form, another of substance; one flexional, another logical.

We may express these facts differently, by saying that if the verb is in the plural number, its subject must be in the plural number; and if the subject is in the plural number, in the plural number must the verb be. In other words, both subject and verb take the same condition; and this is what I mean by stating that the subject and the verb must agree. Avoid, therefore, the error common with uneducated people, of joining together subjects and verbs of different numbers. This error most commonly consists in omitting the s where it should be placed, namely, in the third person singular, and putting the s where it should not be placed, namely, in the third person plural. I subjoin the present tense in its

In the third person singular and plural, nouns may take the

place of pronouns; thus, we say,

they drink

Pronouns: he drinks they drink
Nouns : the man drinks the men drink the women drink

The subject and the verb then must be in the same person. Now the only person that ends in s is the third person; consequently, an s put to the verb in any other person is an ungrammatical addition.

In general, then, the rule is this :--

The subject and the verb must be in the same number and person; or, to state the same fact differently, the subjects and their verb must agree in number and person.

Nouns of multitude, i. e., nouns signifying many, take their verbs in the plural.

When, however, the idea of one predominates, that is, when you regard the object spoken of as a whole, and not as consisting of parts, then a collective noun requires its verb to be in the singular number; as,

The Parliament was dissolved; but

The People were admitted to the Queen's presence;

for the word people gives the idea of many persons.

Nouns are of the third person. But some grammarians har

ascribed all the three persons to nouns. In only one form of construction, however, namely, the form that bears the name of apposition, can nouns have a first, a second, as well as a third person; e. g.,

Let me distinctly state that two or more nouns, or a noun and a pronoun, are said to be in apposition, when, being in the same number, person, and case, they refer to the same person or thing, and when the second is put in order to explain or add something in meaning to the first.

The essence of apposition is in the fact that a word or words are apposed (ad, to, and pono, I put), with a view to explain, enlarge, or qualify a foregoing noun or pronoun.

Observe that in every case of apposition there are two parts, the apposed part, and the part to which the apposition is made. Thus, in the sentence, "Richard, the king, lost his crown," the king is the apposed part, and Richard is the part to which the apposition is made.

You will now readily see that the added part will partake of the person as well as the number of the part to which the addition is made. Call the latter the principal part; call the former the subordinate. Then the rule may stand thus :

In apposition, the subordinate part agrees with the principal part.

And this agreement will in general be not only in person and number, but also in gender and in case; so that if the principal part is of the feminine gender, in the feminine gender will the subordinate part be; and whether the principal part stand to the verb of the proposition in the relation of subject or object, in the same relation will the subordinate part stand.

In the sentences, "It is I; it is the Lord; the Lord sitteth king for ever, ," and others in which the second noun or pronoun aids to make up the intended idea, the second must of course have the same grammatical relations as the first which it aids. Thus, king has the same grammatical relations as the Lord. In other words, the rule may be stated thus:

The verb TO BE, and other verbs which in themselves do not express a complete idea, take the same case after as before them. Consequently, to say "It is me," in answer to the question "who is that?" is ungrammatical.

Remark, however, that it, used generally, is an exception so far as gender and number are concerned, for it is idiomatic to say

It is she, it is he, it is they, it is we.

Apposition may be regarded as a case of a compound sentence, and so might have been reserved until we treat of that part of our subject. Thus, in the instance

"But he, our gracious master, kind as just.”—Barbauld.

He who is our gracious master and who is kind and just.

CORRECT THE FOLLOWING INACCURACIES.

The master and mistress is going to town. I loves to see boys at play. The consequence of your follies are that you will be miserable. To die and to be no more is not the same thing. You gives the children too many sweetmeats. Let thou and I serve the Almighty.

"Do not think such a man as me contemptible for my garb."Addison.

"His wealth and him bid adieu to each other."-Priestley.
"The Jesuits had more interest at court than him.-Smollett.

"We sorrow not as them that have no hope."-Matarin.

"A stone is heavy and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both."-(Prov. xxvii. 3.)

"Better leave undone, than by our deeds acquire

Too high a fame, when him we serve 's away."-Shakspeare. "Now therefore come, let us make a covenant, I and thou."—(Gen. xxxi. 44.)

"Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.-(Philipp. ii. 25.)

"Amid the tumult of the routed train,

The sons of false Antimachus were slain;

He, who for bribes his faithless counsels sold,

And voted Helen's stay for Paris' gold."-Pope's Iliad. "The first, the court baron, is the freeholders' or freemen's court."Coke.

"The angels adoring of Adam is also mentioned in the Talmud."Sale.

"It was necessary to have both the physician and the surgeon's advice."-Cooper.

"And love's and friendship's finely-pointed dart

Falls blunted from each indurated heart."-Goldsmith.

ADVERBS.

SYNTAX OF THE PREDICATE COMPLETED.

The sick man drinks copiously.

Copiously is the adverb of the proposition.

Instead of an

adverb we may have in the proposition an adverbial phrase; as,

The sick man drinks with freedom.

Whatever affects the affirmation of a sentence performs the office, and may be said to hold the place, of an adverb. Phrases which in some way affect the affirmation are numerous, as they vary with the variations of time, place, and manner: e.g.,