certainly assume a transitive form, and may not, in these cases be improperly denominated transitive verbs.

Exercises in False Syntax.―They who opulence has made proud, and who luxury has corrupted, cannot relish the simpl pleasures of nature. You have reason to dread his wrath which will one day consume ye both. Who have I reason to love so much as this friend of my youth? Ye who were dead, hath he quickened. Who did they entertain so freely? The man, who he raised from obscurity, is dead. Ye only have I known of all the families of the earth. He and they we know, but who are you? She, that is idle and mischievous, reprove sharply. Who did they send to him on so important an errand? This is the friend, who you must receive cordially, and who you cannot esteem too highly. He invited my brother and I to see and examine his library. He, who committed the offence, you should correct, not I, who am innocent. We should fear and obey the Author of our being, even He, who has power to reward or punish us forever. They who he has most injured he had the greatest reason to love.

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NOTE 1.-Some writers, however, use certain intransitive verbs as if they were transitive, putting after them the objective case, agreeably to the French construction of reciprocal verbs; but this custom is so foreign to the idiom of the English tongue, that it ought not to be adopted or imitated. The following are some instances of this practice, Repenting him of his design. The king soon found reason to repent him of his provoking such dangerous enemies. The popular lords did not fail to enlarge themselves on the subject. The nearer his successes approached him to the throne. Go flee thee away into the land of Judah. I think it by no means a fit and decent thing to vie charities,' &c. They have spent their whole time and pains to agree the sacred with the profane chronology.'

Exercises in False Syntax.-Though he now takes pleasure in them, he will one day repent him of indulgences so unwarrantable. The nearer his virtues approached him to the great example before him the humbler he grew. It will be very difficult to agree his conduct with the principles he professes.

NOTE 2.-Transitive verbs are sometimes as improperly used as intransitive; as, 'I must premise with three circumstances. Those that think to ingratiate with him by calumniating me.' They should be, 'I must premise three circumstances; Ingratiate themselves with him,' &c.

Exercises in False Syntax.-To ingratiate with some by traducing others, marks a base and despicable mind. I shall premise with two or three general observations.

Remarks. Part of a sentence, as well as a noun or pronoun, may be said to be in the objective case, or to be put objectively, governed by the active transitive verb; as, 'We sometimes see virtue in distress, but we should consider how great will be her ultimate reward.' Sentences or phrases, under this circumstance, may be termed objective sentences, or phrases.

Some of our verbs appear to govern two words in the objective case; as, 'The author of my being formed me man, and made me accountable to him. They desired me to call them brethren. He seems to have made him what he was.'

RULE XIX.-The infinitive mood may be governed by a verb, noun, or adjective; as, " Cease to do evil; Endeavoring to pursuade; He is eager to learn; They have a desire to improve."

Remarks. The participle, as a part of the verb, is included under this rule; as in the second of the above examples.

The preposition to, though generally used before verbs in the infinitive mood, is properly omitted after bid, dare, feel, hear, let, need, see, and perhaps a few others; as, I bade him do it; Ye dare not do it; We felt the earth tremble; You heard him relate the story; Let us go; We cannot make him understand; He needs not be afraid; I saw him do it.'

This irregularity extends only to active and neuter verbs; for all the above mentioned verbs when made passive, require the sign to, before the follow

ing verb; as, 'He was seen to go; He was heard to speak in his own defence; they were bidden to be upon their guard,' &c. In the past and future tenses of the active voice also, these verbs generally require the sign to, to be prefixed to the following verbs; as, You have dared to proceed without authority; They will not dare to attack you.'

Dare, signifying to defy or challenge, and see, signifying to take care, require the usual prefix before the following verbs; as, 'He dares me to enter the list; I will see to have it done.'

In the following passages, the word to, the sign of the infinitive mood, where it is distinguished by Italic characters, is superfluous and improper. I have observed some satirists to use,' &c. To see so many to make so little conscience of so great a sin. It cannot but be a delightful spectacle to God and angels, to see a young person beseiged by powerful temptations on every side, to acquit himself gloriously, and resolutely to hold out against the most violent assaults; to behold one in the prime and flower of his age, that is courted by pleasures and honors by the devil, and all the bewitching vanities of the world, to reject all these, and to cleave steadfastly unto God.'

This mood has also been improperly used in the following places; 'I am not like other men, to envy the talents I cannot reach. Grammarians have denied, or at least doubted them to be genuine. That all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always what is righteous in thy sight.'

Exercises in False Syntaz.-It is better to live on a little, than outlive a great deal. You ought not walk too hastily.-I wish him not wrestle with his happiness. I need not to solicit him to do a kind action. I dare not to proceed so hastily, lest I should give offence. I have seen some young persons to conduct themselves very discreetly. It is a great support to virtue when we see a good mind to maintain its patience and tranquillity, under injuries and afflictions and to cordially forgive its oppressors. It is the difference of their conduct which makes us to approve the one and to reject the other. To see young persons, who are courted by health and pleasure, to resist all the allurements of vice and to steadily pursue virtue and knowledge, is cheering and delightful to every good mind. They acted with so much reserve, that some persons

doubted them to be sincere.

Remarks.-The infinitive mood sometimes follows the word as: thus, 'An object so high as to be invisible; A question so obscure as to perplex the understanding.' It also occasionally follows than, after a comparison; as, 'He desired nothing more than to know his own imperfection.'

The word for, signifying in order, was anciently used before verbs in the infinitive mood; as, 'What went ye out for to see?' But this usage is now nearly obsolete.

The infinitive mood has much of the nature of a noun, expressing the action itself which the verb signifies, as the participle has the nature of an adjective. Thus the infinitive mood does the office of a noun in the different cases; in the nominative; as, 'To play is pleasant;' in the objective; as, Boys love to play; For to will is present with me; but to perform that which is good, I find not.'

RULE XX. The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on the rest of the sentence; as, To confess the truth, I was in fault; To begin with the first; To proceed; To conclude,' &c.

Remarks. The infinitive, in such instances, appears to supply the place of the conjunction that, with the potential mood; as, That I may confess,' &c.

RULE XXII.-Neuter and active intransitive verbs have the same case after as before them; as, 'I am he whom ye seek; They at first took him to be her; Hortensius died a martyr ; He went out captain.'

Remarks. - It is evident that the verb to be, through all its variations, requires the same case after it as that which next precedes it;‘I am he whom they invited; It may be (or might have been,) he, but it cannot be (or could not have been) I; It is impossible to be they; It seems to have been he who conducted himself so wisely; It appeared to be she that transacted the business; I understood it to be him; I believe it to have been them; We at first took it to be her; but were afterwards convinced that it was not she. He is not the person, who it seemed he was. He is really the person, who he appeared to be. She is not now the woman, whom they represented her to have been. Whom do you fancy him to be?' By these examples, it appears that this substantive verb has no government of case, but serves in all its forms, as a conductor to the cases; so that the two cases, which, in the construction of the sentence, are the next before and after it, must always be alike. Perhaps the subject will be more intelligible to the learner, by observing that the words in the cases preceding and fol lowing the verb to be, may be said to be in apposition to each other. Thus, in the sentence, 'I understood it to be him,' the words it and him are in apposition; that is, they refer to the same thing, and are in the same case.

The following sentences contain deviations from the rule, and exhibit the pronoun in a wrong case; 'It might have been him, but there is no proof of it; Though I was blamed, it could not have been me; I saw one whom I took to be she; She is the person who I understood it to have been; Who do you think me to be? Whom do men say that I am; And whom think you that I am?'

*

In the last examples the natural arrangement is, Ye think that I am whom?' where, contrary to the rule, the nominative, I, precedes, and the objective case, whom, follows the verb. The best method of discovering the proper case of the pronoun, in such phrases as the preceding, is to turn them into declarative expressions, and to substitute the antecedent for the pronoun, as the pronoun must be in the same case as the antecedent would be, if substituted for it. Thus the question, Whom do men say that I am?' if turned into a declarative sentence, with the antecedent, would be, Men do say that I am he;' consequently the relative must be in the same case as he; that is, the nominative who, and not whom. In the same manner, in the phrase, Who should I see but my old friend?' if we turn it into a declarative one; as, 'I should see him, my old friend,' we shall perceive that the relative is governed by the verb; as, him and my friend are in the objective case, and that the relative ought to be in the same case; that is, whom and not who.

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When the verb to be, is understood, it has the same case before and after it, as when it is expressed; as, He seems the leader of his party; He shall continue steward; They appointed me executor; I supposed him a man of learning; that is, 'He seems to be the leader of his party,' &c.

Exercises in False Syntax. Well may you be afraid; it is him indeed. I would not act the same part, if I were him, or in his situation. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are them which testify of me. Be composed; it is me; you have no cause for fear. I cannot tell who has befriended me, unless it is him, from whom I have received many benefits. I know not whether it were them, who conducted the business; but I am certain it was not him. He so much resembled my brother, that at first sight, I took it to be he. After all their professions, is it possible to be them? It could not have been her, for she always behaves discreetly. If it was not him, who do you imagine it to have been? Who do you think him to be? Whom do the people say that we are?

Remarks. -It is evident, that certain other neuter verbs, besides the verb to be, require the same case, whether it be the nominative, or objective, before and after them; as, Hortensius died a martyr; The gentle Sidney lived the shepherd's friend; and Swift expires a driv'ler and a show; This conduct made him appear an encourager of every virtue.'

It is likewise evident, that active-intransitive verbs sometimes require the same construction. The verbs, to become, to wander, to go, to return, to roam, to grow, and several others, are of this nature; as, After this event, he became physician to the king; She wanders an outcast; He forced her to wander an outcast; He went out mate but he returned captain.'

"Tom struts a soldier, open, bold and brave;

"Will sneaks a scriv'ner, an exceeding knave.”

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All the examples under this rule, and all others of a similar construction, may be explained on the principle, that nouns and pronouns are in the same case, when they signify the same thing, the one merely describing or elucidating the other.

NOTE I. The intransitive verb is varied like the transitive; but, having in some degree the nature of the passive, it admits, in many instances, of the passive form, retaining still the intransitive signification, chiefly in such verbs as signify some sort of motion, or change of place or condition; as, I am come; I was gone; I am grown; I was fallen.' The following examples, however, appear to be erroneous, in giving the intransitive verbs a passive form, instead of an active one. The rule of our holy religion, from which we are infinitely swerved. The whole .obligation of that law and covenant was also ceased. Whose number was now amounted to three hundred. This mareschal, upon some discontent, was entered into a conspiracy against his master. At the end of a campaign, when half the men are deserted or killed.' It should be, have swerved, had ceased,' &c.

Exercises in False Syntux. —The mighty rivals are now at length agreed. The influence of his corrupt example was then entirely ceased. He was entered into the connexion, before the consequences were considered.

"He

RULE XXIV. Passive verbs, which signify naming, and others of a similar nature, have the same case after, as before them; as, was named John; He has been appointed tutor."

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Remarks. This rule is founded on the same principle as Rule XXII.— Both the noun, which precedes, and the noun which follows the passive verb, refer to the same person or thing; as, He was called Cæsar. Homer is styled the prince of poets; He caused himself to be proclaimed king.' We sometimes meet with such expressions as these ;- He was asked a question; They were offered a pardon; He had been left a great estate by his father.' In these phrases, passive verbs are made to govern the objective case. This license is not to be approved. The expressions should be, A question was put to him; A pardon was offered to them; His father left him a great estate.'

SECTION 3.-Syntax of the moods.

Indicative Mood.-The indicative must be used after conjunctions, that are of a positive and absolute nature; as, 'He is healthy, because he is temperate; As virtue advances, so vice recedes.'

Subjunctive Mood.-After conjunctions, implying doubt or contingency, the subjunctive mood, either in the indicative or in the varied form, must be used; as, Though he is learned, he is not pedantic; He will not be pardoned, unless he repent; He will be punished, if he transgress the law.'

The conjunctions, if, though, unless, &c. are generally followed by the conjunctive, or varied form; as, 'If thou be afflicted, repine not; Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him; He cannot be clear, unless he wash himself.' But even these conjunctions frequently admit of the indicative termination; as, 'If he is poor, he is contented; Though he excels her in knowledge, she far exceeds him in virtue.'

1.-Lest and that, annexed to a command, preceding, necessarily require the varied form of the subjunctive mood; as, 'Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob.'

If with but following it, when futurity is denoted, requires the same form; as, If he do but touch the hills, they shall smoke; If he be but discreet, he will succeed.' But the indicative termination ought to be used, on this occasion when future time is not signified; as, 'If, in this expression, he does but jest, no offence should be taken; If she is but sincere, I am happy.' The same distinction applies to the following forms of expression;—' If he do submit, it will be from necessity; Though he does submit, he is not convinced; If thou do not reward this service, he will be discouraged; If thou dost heartily forgive him, endeavor to forget the offence.'

Exercises in False Syntax.—Despise not any condition lest it happens to be your own. Let him, that is sanguine, take heed lest he miscarries. Take care that thou breakest not any of the established rules. If he does but intimate his desire, it will be sufficient to produce obedience. At the time of his return, if he is but expert in the business, he will find employment. If he do but speak to display his abilities, he is 'unworthy of attention. If he be but in health, I am content. If he does promise, he will certainly perform. Though he do praise her, it is only for her beauty. If thou dost not forgive, perhaps thou wilt not be forgiven. If thou do sincerely believe the truths of religion, act accordingly.

2.-In the following instances, the conjunction that, expressed or understood, seems to be improperly accompanied with the varied termination of the subjunctive mood. So much she dreaded his tyranny, that the fate of her friend she dare not lament.' 'He reasoned so artfully, that his friends would listen, and think (that) he were not wrong.'

Exercises in False Syntax.-His confused behaviour made it reasonable to suppose, that he were guilty. He is so conscious of deserving the rebuke, that he dare not make any reply. His apology was so plausible, that many befriended him, and thought he were innocent.

3.-But the same conjunction governing both the indicative and the conjunctive terminations of the subjunctive mood, in the same sentence, and in the same circumstances, seems to be a great impropriety; as in these instances. If there be but one body of legislators, it is no better than a tyranny; if there are only two, there will want a casting voice. If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them is gone astray,' &c.

Exercises in False Syntax. If one man prefer a life of industry it is because he has an idea of comfort in wealth; if another prefers a life of gaiety, it is from a like idea of pleasure. No one engages in that business, unless he aim at reputation, or hopes for some singular advantage. Though the design be laudable and is favourable to our interest, it will involve much anxiety and labor.

4.-Almost all the irregularities in the construction of any language, have arisen from the ellipses of some words which were originally inserted in the sentence, and made it regular; and it is probable that this has been generally the case with respect to the conjunctive form of verbs, now in use; which will appear from the following examples. We shall overtake him, though he run; that is, though he should run ;'' unless he act prudently, he will not accomplish his purpose; that is, 'unless he shall act prudently.' 'If he succeed and obtain his end, he will not be the happier for it; that is, if he should succeed, and should obtain his end.'

From the preceding remarks and examples, it appears, that the varied form, or what grammarians call the present tense of the subjunctive mood, has a future signification; and that we may deduce therefrom the following Rule. That it is proper to adopt the conjunctive or varied form of the subjunctive mood, when these two circumstances concur:-1st, When the subject is of a dubious and contingent nature; and 2d, When the Verb has a reference to future time.