1

Of the Concord between the Substantive and the Verb.

The Noun Subftantive, or name, is the thing, or person, that either is, does, or fuffers; and this, for the most part, is set before the Verb; as for instance, William is fast afleep; "Thomas is awake; I am at work; You are at play; He, or the, is gone to market; We, "ye, or they, are going a fishing," &c.

This rule, however, is inverted in the four several cafes hereunder particularly mentioned; viz. When a question is afked; When any word of command is given; When a fentence is conditional; and when the Particle (there) or (its) precedes the Affirmation.

In the first place, we fay, "Couid ever William be so careless? - Could any fervants ever " be more infolent? Does the tea-kettle boil?-Is supper ready?" &c.

In the second cafe, that is to say, in point of any positive command: As, "Mind your bu"finefs-Read your book-Hoid your tongue," &c.

Where the fentence is conditional, we express ourselves thus: "Had I been apprehensive of "the man's infincerity, I would never have trusted him with a fhilling. - Were I a man of "fortune, I would advance all my poor relations," &c.

In the last place, we fay; "There was a committee of the Bank of England fat yesterday. There was a great debate in the house of parliament this morning. It was the husband, "not the wife, that was found guilty -It was a mare, and not a horse, that won the race." Tho' a Noun or Name is, for the most part, the Nominative Cafe to the Verb; yet this rule is not always observed; for, in the first place, a Verb, or Affirmation, put into the Infinitive Mood, is fometimes substituted instead of a Noun or Name; as for inttance, "To laugh at church is very indecent. To speak disrespectfully of a benefactor, is most shamefully un"grateful-To die for the good of one's country, is a truly heroic action," &c.

Sometimes, again, a whole fentence is made use of as the Nominative Cafe to the Verb; as for instance, "A hearty zeal, and an ardent inclination, to ferve our great Creator, is our best " fence againft all mistakes of importance in points of religion," &c.

Now the general rule for finding out the Nominative Cafe to the Verb, is, to ask the quef tion, who, or what? And the word that answers to who or what is, does, or fuffers, is the Nominative Cafe. As in the preceding questions. What is very indecent?-To whisftle at "church What is most shamefully ungrateful? To speak disrespectfully of a benefactor.

What is our best fence? A hearty zeal, &c.

Again, I fing-You dance. He plays-We, ye, or they work. Here afk the question, -"Who fings, dances, plays, or works"" I, you," &c.

Here it is to be observed, that the Verb mult always agree with the substantive Noun or Name, in number and perfon; as I love, thou lovest, be loveth, or loves; we, je, or they love. -Here, we must not say, I loves, or we loves, &c.

When two fubflantives of the Singular Number precede the Verb, then the Verb must be in the Plural; as for instance, "My brother John and my fifter Mary were at the Play "last night," (not was) "My father and I were at dinner together, at Guild-hali, laft "Lord Mayor's day," (not was). "The Lord Mayor and his Lady were to be at St. Paul's "this morning," (not is) &c.

Note, If a collettive Nuun, that is to say, a Name, which expresses a great number of perfons, though itself be fingular, precedes the Werb, the Verb must be in the Plural Number ; as, "The mob were very outrageous in the streets last night, (not was).-Never mind "what the vulgar fay, or do," (not says, or does). "The English army are now in Ger"many, (not is) &c.

Of the Concord between the Substantive and the Adjective.

In the English Tongue, when we apply an Adjective to a Substantive, we make no diftinction (as Grammarians do in Latin) of Cafe, Gender, or Number; for we say, a modest man; an infolent woman; an affected fop: or, in the plural; modeft men; infolent women; affected fops, &c.

Note. The Pronoun This, in the Singular Number, makes These in the Plural: as "This hat is mine; but these two are yours. This chair is broken, but these are whole and

"found."

Again, the Pronoun That, in the Singular Number, makes Those in the Plural: as, "That pair of gloves in the window are yours, but Those on the table are mine. That filver "tankard is my landlord's, but those silver candlesticks were borrowed," &c.

Note, once more, that the English Adjective, for the most part, indeed, precedes the Substantive; as, a delightful profpect; a new-built house; a pacing borfe, &c. but there are fome exceptions to this general rule.

And, in the first place, the Adjective is frequently parted from the Subftantive, when a Verbintervenes; as, "Truly brave and heroic is the man, who dies in the defence of his country.

"-Very

Very richly and gáily dreft are the ladies when they go to Court. Infallibly true are all the doctrines of the facred fcriptures," &c.

Sometimes, again, the Adiective follows the Substantive, when the Article (the) comes berween; as, George the Third, King of Great Britain, &c. - Lewis the Fifteenth, King of France," sec.

The Adjective follows the Subflantive in the following grammatical expreffion; as, a Verb active; a Veb paffive; a Verb neuter, &ς.

To conclude: Adjectives, as we have hinted before, are often made ufe of as Substantives: as, the general, for the general commander; the fubalterns, for the inferior officers. All, for all men; jame, for some men; and others, for other men. As for inftance; "All were found guilty of high treafon; fome were beheaded, and others hung up at Tyburn."

Of the Concord between the Relative and the Antecedent.

A relative Sentence is one that has in it the relative Adjective who, or which; as, "This is the lady who thone at Bath-That is the happy man who is the lady's bridegroom. This is the unlucky horfe which threw me into the river. That is the ship which brought me home fafe from Holland," &c.

The Relative must always be of the fame number and perfon, as the Antecedent; as, "Thrice happy is he who is beloved by his Maker.-Unipeakably unhappy are they who die in their fins."

Sometimes, indeed, the Relative is fuppreffed; as, "This is the man I am infinitely eliged to; for, to whom I am cbliged-That is the lady I love beyond my life; for, whom Iar," &c.

There are divers figures made use of in some fontences; but, as they rather belong to the Art of Rhetoric, than that of Grammar, we shall purposely decline faying any thing about them; as being, in some measute, foreign to our prefeur purpose.

Of PUNCTUATION.

Of Sentences both fingle and compound are formed Periods, which as they cannot confift of less than two Members, so they should not have more than four; for differtations where the Periods are long, are attended not only with great difficulty to the perfon who delivers them,, but with confufion and reluctance to those who hear them. And for that reason, they feldom meet with favour and applaufe.

As the Members, therefore, of a complete Period are four; so they are diftinguithed by four feveral marks; which are commonly called Points or Stops; that is to fay, the Comma, marked thus (1); the Semicolon, thus (;); the Colon, thus(); and the Period, Full-point or Stup, marked thus) And the reason that those diftinctions are thus made, is this; because no whole period is to be pronounced in one breath, but requires more or less pauses, as the nature of the fubject requires.

The first Mark, or Comma, is used, when we make so small a pause, as whilst only we can tell one; and is made use of, for the most part, in order to ediftinguish particular names and things; as the names of the four most holy Evangelifts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Jabr the four leasons of the year, viz. Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter-the twelve months, as, January, February, March, &c. and the three divisions of virtue; namely, the humar, focial, and divine," &c.

The fecond Mark, or Semicolon, is made use of to denote a pause whilst we can tell two, and is most frequent, next to the Comma. This is affixed to fuch parts of a Period, as have one or more Comanas in them, and contain only a part of the declaration of the fubject; as in the following Period; "If they be tempted, they refift; if moletted, they fuffer it patiently; "if praised, they humble themselves; and attribute it to the Almighty."

The third Mark, or Calon, makes three times the pause of a Comma; and is made use of to fuch parts of a Sentence or Period only, wherein the fenfe, or affertion, is perfectly finished, As for example; "In the beginning, God created the heavens, and the earth: And the earth "was without form, and void And darkness was upon the face of the deep."

And here, the reader may obferve, that the fubject of the Period differs, where the two Colons are regularly placed.

A Full-point, or Stop, is placed no where but at the end of a Period; that is to say, when the whole declaration upon any particular topic, whether long or short, is perfectly finished.

Besides thefe, however, there are divers other notes, charaters, or marks, made use of in the Orthography of most languages, as well as the English; and which frequently occur. And these are;

First, A Note of Interrogation, marked thus (?)

Secondly, A Note of Admiration, marked thus (!)

The former is always made use of when any question is asked. As, "Who is there? "Where are you going? - When will you return? What o'clock is it?" &c.

Ca

The

The latter is made use of indeed, not only in cases of Admiration, but Exclamation like-
wife. As, "O for shame! -Was the like ever feen! Was ever age so corrupt!-O times!
"O manners! - O heaven!" &c.

An Accent, marked thus ('), denotes that fyllable in a word, whereon the stress of the
voice is to be laid:-As to torment (the Veb), to distinguish it from the Substantive, which
is accented on the firit fyllable, thus, torment.

An Apoftrophe, marked thus (1), denotes that there are two words contracted into one; as
I'll, for I will; you mayn'r, for jou may not; be sha'nt, for be shall not, &c.

It is used likewife in the genitive cale of Nouns, by way of contraction; as, God's glory,
for the glory of God; Job's integrity, for the integrity of Job, &s.

An Afterifon, or Afterisk. marked thus (*); and an Obelisk, marked thus (f); are used for
veferences to some note, either in the margin or the foot of the pag:.

A Paragraph marked thus (); and a Section marked thus(); are frequently ufed, but
more particularly in the Sacred Scriptures, when a new fubject or fection is begun.

A Quotation, which is generally marked thus ("); that is, two commas inverted; is used
to denote fome passage extracted from fome author, worthy of the reader's particular novice.
A Hyphen, marked thus (-) is used for the feparation of compound words; as, Christ-mass.
day, Lady-day, Mal-contents, Water-mill, &c.

A Parenthefis, marked thus(); or a Crotchet, marked thus (); is made use of to in-
clude an expreffion in the midst of a fentence, of a different import; as in the following text;
"For to their power (I bear record) they were willing;" where the fenfe of the sentence is
complete without the words so included.

A Dialyfis, marked thus (..), when placed over two Vowels, denotes that they are not a
diphthong, but two distinct fyliables.
An Index, marked thus (1), points to fome particular passage, that is of more impor-
tance, and more remarkable than ordinary.

Befides these, there are divers other characters, or marks, made use of, by way of abbre-
viation, by tradesmen, mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, &c. which are needless here,
we humbly conceive, to be particularly specified.

Having faid thus much concerning Points or Stops, we come now to the use of Capital
Letters, which are to be ufed only, firft, in the beginning of words, and never in the middle.
Secondly. after a period or full-stop, either in Profe or Verfe. Thirdly, at the beginning of
all proper Names; as of Men, Women, Countries, Cities, Rivers, &c. Fourthly, at the begin-
ning of every emphatical Word; fuch as God, Jesus Chrift, the King, the Queen, &c. And
lastly the Pronoun I, and the exclamatory O, must always be Capital Letters.

Note. All books are printed either in Roman Characters or Types, the Black Letter, or
the Italic; but the two last are now very sparingly used.

THE

CONCLUSION.

Of Prafe and Verfe; as also, of the Variety of Styles peculiar to fome
Authors.

WHATEVER we speak, or write, is either naturally in Profe, or artificially in

The former, being the common and general way, is a natural and proper connection of
words thrown into perfect sentences, without being confined by any poetical measures, in
oppofition to Verf.

The latter confifts in a number of words which have a certain cedence, and determined
measure; the like being alfo reiterated in the course of a Poem, in oppofition to Profe. Or,
in other terms, verses are a particular method of delivering our thoughts, either without or
with an harmonious rhime; which rbime confilts in a certain proportion of feet, or fyllables,
in each verse, or line, and a conformity of found at the close of several verfes.

A Style (in any language) is nothing more, than a particular manner of delivering a man's
thoughts in writing, agreeable to the rules of Syntax.

Now Styles are as various as men's faces, or voices; and every one has a Style that is pro-
per and pecuhar to himlelf. However, the Style ought always to be adapted to the Subjects
and be either plain, moderate, or fublime.

The first is that, which is often called, the low or fimple; or, in other terms, the
erdinary and familiar Style; which requires little or no ornament, but that of a natural

or

er common expreffion: and this is proper for any epistolary correspondence, dialogues, and fuch books as are calculated for the instruction of youth in any of the arts and Sciences.

By a moderate Style, or, in other terms, an equable or intermediate Style, I mean that which keeps a medium betwixt the plain and fublime; is that which goes fomething beyond the one, but aims not at the loftiness of the other. And this is properly ufed for narratives, chronicles, hiftories, and annals.

The fublime Style is that which confifts in pompous words and sentences; which, by its noble boldness, attracts, or rather commands the attention of the hearer, and extorts admiration and applaufe, even from fuch as are unwilling to give it. It is adorned with abundance of rhetorical figures, artfully introduced to move the paffions. In a word, it tbanders, as it were, and lightens. For which reason, this is peculiarly used in tragedies, orations, and other perfuafory difcourses on subjects of the highest importance.

There are two other Styles, which, without any impropriety, may be termed the two extremes; namely the Laconic, and Afiatic Styles.

The former (fo called from Laconia, a city of the Lacedemonians, where it was used to an affectation or excess) is a concife style that comprehends a great deal of matter in a narrow compafs.

The latter (fo called from the people of Afia, who affected to rurite and speak in the florid way/is a Style that is very redundant and prolix; or where abundance of words are made use of to exprefs but a little master.

There is another Style, indeed, called the dry, or jejune Style, which is deßitute of all ornament, and spirit; and this I imagine, but few affect, and no one would recommend. Having thus given my young readers a tranfient idea of the various Styles which they will probably meet with in the profecution of their studies; I might here not only naturally, but pertinently enough, lay down fome felect rules for their observance, in their future practice of the Art of Compofition; but as remarks of that kind are of no immediate concern; and as brevity, confiftent with perfpicuity, is professedly aimed at throughout the whole of this prefent undertaking, I shall close this Compendious English Grammar, with a few general instructions for reading and speaking our Mother-tongue jufily; or, in other terms, with elegance, propriety, and a good grace; as being an accomplishment more immediately requifite, and a concern of the last importance.

In order, therefore, that the young reader may attain so laudable a qualification, he must have an adequate idea of, and perfectly understand, the feveral Articles hereunder particularly mentioned.

And, in the first place, he must have a competent notion of the nature and ground-work of accenting his words. As this, however, is a concern of no small importance, so it is not to be attained any otherwise, than by an affiduous care, and daily practice. And for that reafon, the judicious Compiler of the Dictionary annexed has been peculiarly careful in this respect, in order to prevent a vicious pronunciation. And it is further evident, that the very fame word is frequently a noun and a verb likewife; and that the sense of it is to be determined only by the different accent, or stress of the voice that is put upon it; for if it be a noun or name only, the accent must be laid on the first fyllable; but when it is an affirmation, or werb, and fignifies action, the firess of the voice must be placed on the laft: As will more fully appear by the short table hereunder written.

The TABLE.

Sub-ject To fubject

Here we must obferve, that as the above diffyllables have sometimes an accent on the first. and sometimes on the last; so in triffyllables, or words confifting of three fyllables, the accent or ftress of the voice lies fometimes on the first, sometimes on the fecond, and often on the laft; as will appear by the following tables. Tho', in this cafe, it is true, the accent

makes no alteration in the sense, as it does above.

1

In-cor-rèct

TABLE II.

Accent on the fecond Syllable,

La-có-nic

Ma-jél-tic

No-vém-ber

Oc-to-ber

Pre-cép-tor

Re-mém-ber

Sep-tém-ber

To-bác-co.

TABLE III.

Accent on the third Syllable,

Mif-ap-piy'

O-ver-cóme

Per-fe-vère

Re-com-mènd

Su-per-fi'ne
Un be-lief

Vo-lun-teêr

Yef-ter-night.

Note, most Polufyllables, or words of four or more fyllables, have sometimes 1700 and fometimes three Accents; as for instance, in ar-bi-trá-tor, bé-ne-fac'-tor, com'-men-tátor, múl-ti-pli-cá-tion, trán-sub-tan-ti-á-ti-on.

Note, likewife the double Accent, marked thus (1) is used to denote, that a certain letter, in many fyllables, tho' wrote but once, is founded as if it were double, or wrote twice; as in the words a'-ni-mal, él-le-ment, i"-mi-tate, ó/-ra-cle, &c. And unless a reader or speaker be very careful in this particular, his expreffion or delivery will prove not only vicious, but harin and disagreeable to those who listen to his discourse.

And as the business of accenting aright is thus requifite in profes it is much more fo in poetry. It is in this, indeed, that their specific difference principally confifts in the English Tongue: for an English verfe, for the most part, is nothing more than a line of ten fet, each confitting of a short and a long fyllable, alternately throughout, as in the following Diflich:

Immódeft words admit of no defence;
For want of décency is want of fenfe.

This distinction, indeed, of short and long fyllables in Latin Poetry, is called Quantity; but in English Poetry, it is nothing more than what we call Accent in Prefe.

Here, however, it is to be observed, that there is a kind of harmony of notes and founds in Profe as well as Verfe, which depends on the quantity of expreffion, as to long and short, loud and low, grave and acute; in much the fame manner as there is in mufick itself, which is nothing but a just modulation of founds, abstracted from yerbal. And it must be allowed, that a notion of the ground of barmony, and a musical ear, are, in a great meafure, neceffary to enable him that either reads or speaks, to deliver himself with propriety and a good grace.

In the art of reading and Speaking juftly, there is another article of great importance to be well observed; namely, that which grammarians usually call Emphasis, that is to say, the pronunciation of fome particular words with a peculiar energy, and strength of expreffion; for according as this Emphasis is placed on the several words which compose it, the sense may be capable of quite different fignifications.

And from what we have here advanced, we may obferve, how highly requifite it is to avoid, with the utmost precaution, that vicious manner of delivery or utterance, commonly called a Monotony; that is to fay, fuch an even and invariable tone of the voice, which neither rifes nor falls; and confequently wherein no fuch thing as Accent, Quantity, or Empbafis, can poffibly be; by which difagreeable manner of pronunciation, scarce any fenfe can be made of what fuch a miferable Ovator either reads or speaks. In a word. without a proper accent or emphafis the diction is lifeless, unaffecting and infipad; and nothing can poffibly be more irksome to a judicious ear.

To co clude: There is no poffibility of any perfon's reading justly, or speaking with propriety, unless he be a perfect master of the Subject on which he prefumes to harangue: for if the full force and true fenfe of each word and fentence be not thoroughly understood; it cannot, of course, be expre led with a proper emphasis and accent. And, in a word, to defcant upon any topic without having a competent knowledge of it, is prefumption to the last degree, if not folly in the abstract.

OF