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QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUBJECT-NOMINATIVE.

4. The subject-nominative may be qualified by an attribute, that is, by an adjective, or by any word or phrase having the force of an adjective: as,

1. By an adjective:

A merry

heart goes all the day.

2. By a demonstrative pronoun:

These things are true.

3. By the definite article:

The die is cast.

But,

Obs.—Some grammarians consider the article so closely connected with the noun as to form one notion. strictly speaking, the definite article is a qualification; indeed, in Greek and German, as well as in English, the definite article is a modified form of the demonstrative pronoun.

4. By a noun standing in apposition with the subjectnominative: as,

Cicero, the orator, made a speech;

where the additional words, 'the orator,' inform us that it was Marcus Cicero, and not brother Quintus, or any other Cicero.

5. A substantive in the possessive case has the force of an adjective: thus the royal army means the 'King's army,' or the 'Queen's army.' Hence a noun or pronoun in the possessive case may be used to qualify the subject-nominative: as,

Buckingham's end was unfortunate.

His work was done.

6. The English possessive may be otherwise expressed
by means of the preposi ion of: 'the King's army
is 'the army of the King;' and both forms are equi-
valent to a genitive case in Latin. Hence the pre-
positional phrase of the King may be employed to
qualify a subject-nominative: as,

The army of the King was defeated.
A man of virtue is respected.

The point of honour is debated.

Other prepositions are used in the same way: as,
The desire for fame is natural.

7. Passive participles are equivalent to adjectives, and may qualify a subject-nominative: as,

Born to command, he ruled with firmness.

Adorned with amiable qualities, she was an agreeable woman.

But the case of active participles is not so clear. In the sentence William, having conquered Harold, ascended the throne,' Dr. Morell considers the phrase 'having conquered Harold' as an 'enlargement of the subject,' or, as we term it, a 'qualification of the subject-nominative.' It would seem, however, that the phrase in question qualifies the predicate rather than the subject: for the meaning is that William ascended the throne when he had conquered Harold,' or, after having conquered Harold.' In fact, we might turn the participle into a verb, coupled with the conjunction and, thus throwing the phrase into the predicate: 'William conquered Harold, and ascended the throne.' On the other hand, if we expressed the sentence thus, 'William, the conqueror of Harold, ascended the throne,' the phrase the conqueror of Harold' would be a manifest qualification of the subject-nominative.

THE PREDICATE-NOMINATIVE.

5. The predicate-nominative answers the question, of what kind? Of what nature? or, Of what class?

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Obs. This form in -ing is called by some grammarians the

gerund.

An apparent difficulty occurs where an adverb, or a prepositional phrase, occupies the place of the predicate: as, Thomas is here.

He is of sound mind.

Three explanations of this construction might be offered:

1. That these sentences are elliptical; in other words, that the predicate-ncminative is omitted. For, it is argued, we might supply its place in the following way:

Thomas is (present) here.

He is (a man) of sound mind.

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In some instances we are obliged to supply a word. For example, we cannot say 'He is of great ability,' but 'He is a man of great ability.' So also, 'It is a matter of difficulty: ' 'That was an affair of honour;' where the words man, matter, and affair are the predicate-nominatives of the sentences; while the prepositional phrases, of great ability,' ' of difficulty,' ' of honour,' are used to qualify the predicate-nominatives. We learn what sort of a man he is, what kind of an affair it was, and so forth. According to this view, in the sentence 'Thomas is here,' the predicate-nominative is understood, and the adverb here qualifies the predicate-nominative understood. But this artifice of understanding' and 'supplying' is always open to suspicion.

2. That the verb is, here employed to assert 'existence' or 'presence,' stands as a predicate-verb; and that the adverb here, or the adverbial phrase of sound mind, is a qualification of the predicate-verb 'is.'

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3. That the adverb or adverbial phrase is used as a predicate-nominative, or in the place of a predicate-nominative. Professor Key is guarded in dealing with this construction. He says (Latin Grammar, § 876, 1), although a noun substantive or adjective with es-be, usually constitutes the predicate, the place may be supplied by a descriptive word or phrase of a different form as (a) a genitive or ablative of quality; (b) dative of the light in which a thing is regarded; (c) a prepositional phrase; or (d) an adverb.' And again, § 1401: 'Adverbs are used in some phrases with the verb ĕs-be, when an adjective or participle might have been expected.'

6. The truth is, that in practical composition, the distinction between the parts of speech is not so absolute as etymology would lead us to suppose. The function, or power in a sentence, seems to determine the character of the word; and on this principle, perhaps, we may venture to call the adverb a predicate. If so, of course we may extend the same principle to the adverbial phrase.

In Fraedersdorf's translation of Becker (German Grammar,

§ 195), we read: 'The predicate is expressed, in German as in English, by

a. A verb.

b. An adjective (not inflected).

c. A substantive in the nominative case.

d. A substantive in the genitive case.

e. A substantive with a preposition.

f. An adverb.'

Here Becker says distinctly that the predicate may be expressed by an adverb.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PREDICATE-NOMINATIVE.

7. Of course, these qualifications will depend upon ture of the predicate-nominative itself. Hence,

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I. An adjective used as a predicate-nominative may be qualified,

1. By an adverb: as,

Heaven is very high.

Charles is exceedingly foolish.

2. By an adverbial phrase: as,

Harry is praiseworthy in some respects.

II. A noun used as a predicate-nominative may be qualified, 1. By an adjective: as,

Arthur is a good king:

and this, in turn, may be further qualified by an adverb, as,

Arthur is a very good king.

2. By a noun or pronoun in the possessive case: as, Bolingbroke was the poet's friend.

That was his fault.

3. By a prepositional phrase: as,

Buckingham was the servant of the king.
He is a man of ability.

4. By a noun used in apposition: as,

The greatest Roman orator was Cicero, the consul.

In this sentence, analysed grammatically, the subject-nominative is 'orator;' the adjectives 'greatest' and 'Roman' are

qualifications of the subject-nominative; the predicate-nominative is 'Cicero;' and the consul (used in apposition with Cicero,' and therefore in the nominative case) is a qualification of the predicate-nominative.

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III. An infinitive mood in -ing, otherwise termed the gerund, used substantively as a predicate-nomina

tive, may be qualified by an adjective: as,

That was good hearing:

And this may be further qualified by an adverb,
That was very good hearing.

THE PREDICATE-VERB.

8. The older grammarians divided verbs into active, passive, and neuter; but this arrangement sometimes led to perplexity. It was easy to understand that 'to kill' was an active verb, and that 'to sleep' was neuter. But the verb 'to run,' which implies lively action, in the sense of bodily motion, was termed a neuter verb, because the action does not pass over to any other person or thing, but remains with the agent.

To meet this objection, later grammarians proposed a new classification. They termed Transitives (from the Latin transire, 'to go over') all those verbs in which the action could be supposed to pass over' to any object; while those to which such a supposition could not apply were called Intransitives. In this view, to kill was considered Active and Transitive; whereas to run was Active but Intransitive.

But we should beware of confounding the meaning of the verb as a word, with its grammatical power in a sentence. We should keep to one principle; and if any verbs possess a certain grammatical power in a sentence, while others do not, this alone seems to be a fair basis of classification. Now some verbs can govern an objective case, while others cannot; practically the former correspond to Transitives, and the latter to Intransitives; nor is there any necessity to alter these terms; but we must modify their signification, and we propose a definition which refers exclusively to the power of verbs in a

sentence.

Transitives:-Those verbs which can govern an objective case; as, love, hate, kill, flatter, &c.

Intransitives:-Those verbs which can not govern an objective case; as, run, walk, sit, sleep, &c.

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