may have a word or phrase joined to it attributively; even the verb and every adjective in the sentence may have one or more attributes joined to them objectively. Hence it is evident that every sentence, to whatever extent the relations which it comprehends may be multiplied, consists of only three kinds of combinations,-the Predicative, Attributive, and Objective. The following is an example : Humboldt explored many countries. Baron Humboldt explored many distant countries. The illustrious Baron Humboldt explored many distant foreign countries. The illustrious and enterprising traveller, Baron Humboldt, animated with the love of scientific discovery, explored many countries formerly unknown. The illustrious and enterprising traveller, Baron Humboldt, to whom Natural Science is much indebted, animated with the love of scientific discovery, explored, often at great personal hazard, many distant countries formerly unknown to Europeans. THE NOMINATIVE CASE. The nominative is the actor, or the subject of the action or affirmation; and is, therefore, the leading and controlling word in the sentence. It is of great importance to the learner to be able readily to point out the nominative, as it regulates the number and person of the verb. The nominative may be easily found by making the verb interrogative, as, the tide flows twice a day. What flows twice a-day? The tide. My studies prove an What prove an entertainment to entertainment to me? me? My studies. NOTES ON THE NOMINATIVE CASE. 1. In assertive or declaratory sentences, the nominative usually goes before the verb; as, the master instructs us. 2. The nominative often follows an intransitive verb; as, gradual sinks the breeze. 3. When the verb is preceded by the words here, there, hence, thence, then, thus, yet, so, nor, neither, such, the same, herein, therein, wherein, &c., the nominative follows the verb to be, and usually other verbs; as, “here is a house; there was a time; hence arises the difference ; thence proceed our vicious habits; then came the disciples; thus saith the King; yet heard I nothing; so ended the conference; neither devised he any mischief; such were the circumstances; the same was the fact; consists the excellence of the English Government.” herein 4. In phrases expressing a condition or hypothesis, the sign of the condition may be omitted, and the nominative placed after the auxiliary; as, "did he but hearken to me; had I known the fact sooner." 5. In interrogative sentences, the nominative follows the verb when alone, or after the first auxiliary; as, "comest thou hither? will they continue? has he been censured?" The nominative also follows the imperative mood; as, "abide thou; listen ye;" and after a single verb the nominative is omitted; as, "arise, depart." 6. In poetry the nominative is often omitted in interrogative sentences; as, "lives there who loves his pain ?" that is, lives there a man, &c. In prose such an omission would not be allowable. 7. In the answer to a question, the nominative or name alone which is the principal subject of the inquiry is expressed; as, who has made the greatest discoveries in electricity ?-Faraday. Who wrote the finest epic poem in the English language?-Milton. GENERAL RULE. Verbs must agree with their nominatives in number and person. The principle in this rule is comprehended in all the rules of concord, which regulate the agreement of verbs and their nominatives, and is hence the foundation of an important division of Syntax. EXERCISES.-Contrivance proves design. The world abounds with contrivances. Wool grows on sheep, hair grows on goats. The earth is nearly eight thousand miles in diameter. The building is finished, and the workmen are discharged. A folio sheet consists of four pages. The lighted surface of the moon, as seen through a telescope, appears full of high mountains. The expense of our Government is defrayed by taxes imposed by act of Parliament. A Government receives its denomination from the form of the legislature. Political writers enumerate three principal forms of Government. The custom of wearing broad cloth and fine linen repays the shepherd and flax-grower, feeds the manufacturer, enriches the merchant, gives support and existence to multitudes of families. Happiness does not consist in the pleasures of sense, in whatever profusion or variety they may be enjoyed. The punishment inflicted on the wicked often carries the mark of their crime. Worldly prosperity is as the narrow and slippery summit of a mountain. Recollection of former mercies is the proper antidote against a temptation to despair in the day of calamity. The effects of extreme grief on the human frame are compared to those which fire produceth on fuel. Among the Jews bottles were made of skins. Mercy is the sole fountain of every good gift for which we ask. A single leaf of a tree is a little world inhabited by invisible animals. The Scriptures are wonderful with respect to the matter which they contain, the manner in which they are written, and the effects which they produce. Gratitude is the memory of the heart. The true occasion of my silence has partly arisen from an ill state of health, which, however, is now somewhat mended. Adversity is to friendship what fire is to gold, the only infallible test to discover the genuine from the counterfeit; in all other circumstances they bear the same common signatures. As our conversation turns upon a variety of subjects, I frequently strike out thoughts which are looked upon as not altogether void of spirit or ingenuity. The civilities you shall show him will be extremely agreeable to me; and they will, at the same time, for ever attach to your interest a person of a most obliging and friendly disposition. Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it; it much enhanceth the value of it, and makes it more precious. A taste for the liberal arts is necessary to complete the character of a gentleman. Romeo and Juliet is the only tragedy which Shakspeare has written entirely on a love story. They say in Italy, that deeds are men and words are but women. I am one of them who values not a courtesy that hangs long betwixt the fingers. A thankful heart is like a box of precious ointment, which keeps the smell long after the thing is spent. By all means understand Aristotle in his own language, for it is the language of learning. He is the truly rich man who can make true use of his riches. The first part of wisdom is to give good counsel, the second to take it, and the third to follow it. Law is not only a pickpurse but a purgatory. You know the saying they have in France,-the poor clients are the birds, Westminster Hall the field, the Judge the net, the lawyers the rats, the attorneys the mice of the commonwealth. I believe this saying was spoken by an angry client. What numbers of learned men does modesty conceal, or love of ease withdraw from the notice of the world. I sometimes read, and sometimes I compose, but my reading teaches me, by a mortifying comparison, with what ill success I attempt to be an author myself. At the foot of a little hill, covered with venerable and shady cypress trees, a spring issues out, which, gushing in different and unequal streams, forms itself, after several windings, into a spacious basin. There is a certain pleasure in giving vent to one's grief, especially when we pour out our sorrow into the bosom of a friend. It is a mistaken maxim which is generally advanced that a man's will is a kind of mirror, wherein one may clearly see his genuine character. My studies prove both an entertainment and consolation to me. The highest of all characters, in my estimation, is his who is as ready to pardon the errors of mankind as if he were every day guilty of some himself; and, at the same time, as cautious of committing a fault as if he never forgave one. He loved them in prosperity; he protected them in adversity; he lamented them in death. The expense of a monument is superfluous; my memory will remain, if my actions deserve it. The pilot's skill is by no means equally proved in a calm as in a storm. Whatever is elevated is sure to be observed; but it requires a very nice judgment to distinguish the bounds between true and false grandeur; between a just and an enormous height. The science which treats of animals, their varieties, habits, and modes of life, is called zoology. A hive of bees usually contains about twenty thousand. While through the gloom comes soft perfume. Beyond thy soft blue curtain lie, His stores of hail and sleet. Thence look the thoughtful stars. To the sweet hive went forth the loaded bee. Thus groan the old, till by degrees opprest, They taste a final woe, and then they rest. O! how wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours! Over the corpse in his briny bier; Salt tears around them flow ceaselessly! All in a moment through the gloom were seen With orient colours waving: With them rose We lose the prime, to mark how spring Our tended plants, how blows the citron grove, What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed, &c. RULE II. When the nominative consists of two or more nouns or pronouns of the singular number, connected by the conjunction and, the corresponding verbs, nouns, and pronouns must be in the plural number. The eagle and hawk are birds of prey. Balm and myrrh are products of Arabia. The earliest ideas are the most lasting; the care and tenderness of the mother occupy without rivalry the young mind. Light and heat are diffused by the sunbeams. Solitude and stillness render the night watches a fit season for meditation. Night and darkness invite the wild beasts of the forest and desert from their dens and recesses. The extent of the ocean, the multitude of its waves, and their fury when excited by a storm, render it in that state the most tremendous object in nature. Air and water are of different densities. A mixture of the primary colours produces white; red and yellow form orange; yellow and blue form green. The island of Staffa in the Hebrides, and the Giants' Causeway in the north of Ireland are specimens of basalt. The honey bee and the ant are insects of peculiar interest on account of their habits. To be cold, to be weary, to be benighted, constitute the title to their comfortable shelter, their cheering meal, and their agreeable converse. Mutual defence and interest give rise to society; and society when formed requires distinctions of property, diversity of conditions, subordination of ranks, and a multiplicity of occupations, in order to advance G |