The treasury of knowledge and library of reference / [Samuel Maunder].

  • Maunder, Samuel, 1785-1849
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treasury of knowledge and library of reference / [Samuel Maunder]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/976
    EX. EVERY MAN SHOULD ACT CONFORMABLE TO HIS CHARACTER AND STATION, EX. — THE GREATEST CRITICS DIFFER AMONG ONE ANOTHER. 16 ^ 0u0lt0]^ (Srammar. In some words the superlative is formed by adding the adverb most to the end of them ; as, foremost, hindmost, uttermost. larly ; as, good, better, best; bad, worse, worst; little, less, least; much or many, more, most; near, nearer, nearest or next; late, later, latest or last; old, older or elder, oldest or eldest. Demonstrative or definitive adjectives point out precisely the things to wliich they relate: this and that, with their plurals these and those, fonner and latter, and sometimes the indefinite adjectives one and other, are of this denomination. “ Body and soul must part: This wings its way to heaven; That drops into the grave.” “ Warnings point out our danger ; gno- mons, time: As dtese are useless when the sun is set, So those, but when more glorious reason sliines.” “ Homer was the greater genius, Virgil the better artist: in the one we admire the man ; in the other, the work. Theformer hurries us with a commanding impe- tuosity ; the latter leads us with an at- tractive majesty.” Indefinite adjectives express their sub- jects in a general or indeterminate manner. Of this kind are some, other, any, one, all, such. Of these, only one and ofAer admit being varied j one takes the possessive case, as one, one's; and other is declined thus : — Horn, case. Sing. Other, Flu. Others. Possessive, Other's, Others’. Objective, Other, Others. The plural others represents the adjec- tive end the noun ; thus, ” Charity con- ceals the faults and infirmities of others —other persons. Distributive adjectives denote several persons or things individually : they are each, every, either, and neither. Each and every refer singly to all the persons or things^ of any number; as, “ Each heart despoil’d of every joy, would still on hope rely.” Either implies one or the other of two only; “ We hold, O king I in one hand the sword, an olive brancli in the other j peace and war;—choose either. Neither means not either. “ The prin- cess asserted her resolve to live and die w'ith one to whom she was bound by ho- nour and duty: and whom neither would permit her to abandon.” Numeral ailjcctives are either cardinal, as two, three; or ordinal, as second, third. Pronominal adjectives relate to posses- sion or property : tlicy arc my, thy, her, our, your, their; from the pronouns I, thou, she, it. OF TUB FRONOUN. Tlie pronoun is used instead of a noun, to prevent a too frequent reiictilion oi it; ns, ” Take fast hold of instruction : keep her, for she is tliy life.” ” And Joseph knew his brethren, but tJiey knew not him. “ We take no note of time, but from its loss.” | noun : but we often see the pronouns he I and him, they and them, without any noun | for them to represent; thus, “ Bless^ is hr. ■■ that consideretli the poor and needy.” “ He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.” “ Let him that giveth, do ' it with simplicity ; him that ruleth, with diligence; him that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.” “ Them that honour me, I will honour ; and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed.” The singular pronoun has in such cases gained, as it were by prescription, a right of usage wliich it would be inconvenient to disturb. Not so, theplural pronoun ; and the last preceding example would be perfectly cor- rect, only if expressed tlius : “ Those that honour me ; those that despise me;” the word persons being understood after those. 2. Mr. Bindley Murray says, “We fre- quently meet with those instead of they at the banning of a sentence, and where there is no particular reference to an an- tecedent ; as, ‘ Tlwse that sow in tears, sometimes reap in joy.’ ” Now demon- ^ stratlve adjective pronouns (os Mr. Mur- ray incorrectly calls theml do not always refer to an antecedent; they refer often to something subsequent, as in this very example. ■ In his eighth rule of SjTitax, Mr. Mur- ray says, “ Every adjective, and eveiy ad- jective pronoun, belongs to a substantive expressed or understood: as, ‘ Few are happy,’ that is, ‘ persons.’According to Mr. Murray, “ those ” is an adjective pro- , noun; therefore those ^belongs to substantive expressed or understood,- and , in the example, “ those that sow in tears ” ; belongs indubitably to the sulistantive | persons understood. “ It Ls not, however, i always easy,” adds Mr. Murray, “to say whether a personal pronoun or a demon- strative isjirefcrable in certain construc- tions. ‘ We are not unacquainted with the calumny of them [or tAo.se] who openly ' sliould say, without hesitation, “ the ca- lumny of those ” is preferable. “ They, says Mr. Lcnnie lEng. Gram. p. 45.1, “stands for a noun already intro- : duced, and should never be used till the noun be mentioned. Those, on the con- trary, points out n noun not preWously introduced, but generally understood. It is improper, therefore, to say, ‘ They that are truly good must be happy.’ Weshould say, those that are trul)- good : because wc are pointing out a particular class of per- sons, and not referring to nouns prcnously introduced. A noun, when not cxprcs.-ied after this, that, these, and those, is always understood.” Tlic pronouns arc, I, thou, he, she, it; ire, ye or you, and they. The properties of pronouns are, number, person, gender, and case, I’ronouns hai-e two numlicrs, the siii- giilar and tlie plural; ond tlircc persons in each. key. THE GRE.tTEST CRITICS DIFFER ONE FROM ANOTHER^ KEY. — EVERY MAN SHOIlI.D ACT CONFORMABLY WITH III.S CHARACTER AND STATION