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In English we may employ this construction in the singular, when a qualifying phrase is added; as, 'Handel was the Homer of music;' and so,

Shakespeare was the Homer or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespeare.

Dryden, Essay on Dramatic Poesy.

It will be remarked, however, that in such instances, the proper name seems to lose its distinctive individuality, and partakes of the construction of a common noun.

In the plural, this construction is very usual: 'the Smiths,' 'the Jenkinsons,' 'the Macgregors,' 'the Macdonalds.' The chief of a Celtic clan is termed "The Macarthy,' 'The O'Donoghue,' 'The Douglas,' 'The Mackenzie;' and the reason is this, that all the members of a clan, however humble they might be, bore the general name of the clan; but the chief was the representative clansman.

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310. With some geographical terms, as before the names of rivers, mountains, and seas, we find the definite article; as, 'the Thames,' the Rhine,' the Alps,' the Baltic.' But observe, that we never employ this construction with names of cities; we never say 'the London,' or 'the Paris.' Compare the difference of construction in the river Thames,' and the city of London,' § 143.

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311. The definite article is used before names which denote a whole class, as, for example, the names of entire nations; often in the plural, as 'the French,' 'the English; ' and sometimes also in the singular, especially in rhetorical composition, as, the Briton, and the Gael.' The same construction with a singular noun is often found in terms used in the Natural Sciences, denoting a whole class of objects; as, 'the lion,' 'the eagle,'' the violet,'' the rose.'

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Similarly, the article is used with a noun denoting a profession, or the members of a profession viewed collectively; as, the bar,' the church,'' the army,' 'the navy.'

Obs.-Man' and 'woman' are already class nouns, and do not admit the article, unless we speak of particular individuals; so,

What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form, and moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an angel!

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in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me, nor woman neither; though, by your smiling, you seem to say so. Hamlet, ii. 2.

312. It is not the custom, in English, to employ the definite article before nouns denoting an abstract notion; we say 'truth,' 'virtue,' 'pride'—not 'the virtue,'' the pride.' This enables us to make a distinction, which is not observed in some other languages; for, with us, 'truth' means 'truth absolutely considered,' truth in the abstract;' but 'the truth' means 'the truth mentioned before,' or some particular aspect of truth, 'mathematical, philosophical, or religious truth.'

The French, on the contrary, use the definite article before abstract nouns; and I suspect that some phrases in older English, which are condemned as ungrammatical, have come down to us from the Norman-French. For example,

And I persecuted this way unto the death.- Acts xxii. 4. where Dr. Lowth remarks, 'the Apostle does not mean any particular sort of death, but death in general; the definite article therefore is improperly used. It ought to be unto death, without any article; agreeably to the original, axp Oavárov. Compare 2 Chron. xxxii. 24, In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death;' and Rev. xii. 11, 'And they loved not their lives unto the death.' The French would be à la mort. See also Prov. xxix. 21, 'He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.'

313. The is often used where we might expect a possessive pronoun; and this too, among others, may be a construction derived from the French: as,

Her corpse was the object of unmanly and dastardly vengeance: the head was severed from the body and set upon a pole.-W. Irving,

I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.—Romans, xi. 4.

314. When two or more objects are distinctly specified, the definite article, or some word equally distinctive, should be used before each: as,

I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,

When in a wood of Crete they bayed the bear

With hounds of Sparta; never did I hear
Such gallant chiding; for, beside the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seemed all one mutual cry; I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.

Midsummer Night's Dream, iv. 1.

Hence in the following sentence we observe an ambiguity: 'The Chancellor informed the Queen of it, and she immediately sent for the secretary and treasurer.' Here, it is not certain whether the secretary and treasurer be not one and the same person; at all events, it is possible to put that meaning upon the words. If we wish to imply that two distinct persons were summoned, we should repeat the article: 'for the secretary and the treasurer.'

315. When two or more nouns are used in opposition, qualifying some other noun, the article is placed before the first alone, of the nouns in opposition :

He sends a letter to Mr. Larkins, the bribe-agent and
broker on this occasion.-Burke.

Similarly, when several adjectives qualify a noun, the definite
article is usually employed before the first alone: as,
If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined,
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.

Pope, Essay on Man, iv.

But if we wish to lay emphasis upon the adjectives, we may repeat the article before each: as,

A name at the sound of which all India turns pale; the most wicked, the most atrocious, the boldest and most dexterous villain that that country ever produced.— Burke.

316. When the adjectives cannot be regarded as describing one and the same thing, the article must be repeated if the noun is in the singular, or it must stand before the first adjective only, if the noun is in the plural: as,

or,

The third and fifth chapters of John.

The third and the fifth chapter of John.

POSITION.

317. When the definite article and an adjective qualify a noun, the usual order is-article, adjective, noun; sometimes,

however, the noun stands first, followed by the article and the adjective; as,

Alonzo the brave, and the fair Imogene.

Lewis.

When the words all and both are used to qualify a noun, the article occupies the middle place; as,

All the contrivances which we are acquainted with are directed to beneficent purposes.-Paley.

He had disobliged both the parties whom he wished to reconcile.-Macaulay.

CHAPTER X.

VERBS.

318. Grammarians have not been very successful in their attempts to define the ‘verb.'

Plato recognised only two parts of speech, the Name (ovoua), and the Saying (μa). And in fact, when we say 'Light shines,' light is the Name of the thing whereof we speak, while shines is our Saying about that thing.

When we are speaking the truth, or what we believe to be true, our Saying is the same as our Thinking. Hence we may conclude, that the Name and the Thought are the two main pillars that support the sentence.

The Name and the Saying are grammatically termed the Noun and the Verb.

But if the term 'Verb' (verbum, 'word') is meant as a translation of the term pua, it is a questionable translation. We might rather expect Dictum ('Saying,' or thing said'), than Verbum ('word').

There appears to be no truth in the common assertion that the Verb is the chief Word in a sentence. There are two principal words in every sentence, and the Name is as important as the Saying; for if there be no Name, there is nothing to speak about.

Neither is it true that there can be no sentence without a Verb; for in Hebrew and in Latin hundreds of sentences can be produced wherein no verb is found. But then, the grammarians maintain that in such instances a Verb is understood; that is, they lay down a definition dogmatically, and then they explain away every passage which does not conform to their definition.

319. Some grammarians have founded their definitions upon the meaning of the Verb as a word. As in the old definition,

'A verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer; or as in the theory wherein 'motion' and 'rest' are considered the distinctive characteristics of verbs.

Others have founded their definitions upon the function of the verb, that is, upon its power in a sentence; as, 'A verb is a part of speech which makes an assertion.'

320. I. Definitions founded upon Signification.

(1). A verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer.' There are three kinds of verbs, Active, Passive, and Neuter verbs.' -Lowth, English Grammar, p. 45.

(2). Theory of Sir Graves C. Haughton."

'In the infancy of language the Verb merely denoted the modes of action peculiar to the simplest objects of nature-as, to fly, to run, to strike, &c.; but in process of time, as language became perfect, the Verb adapted itself to the expression of every want of the human mind, and in this state it is considered as denoting action, being, or suffering. But it is solely by a metaphorical use that language is fitted for describing abstract ideas; and for this purpose the Verb divests itself of its essential attribute, which is motion in a physical sense.

'If a verb denotes any particular kind of motion, depending or conceived to depend on the will of the agent, it is Active, but Intransitive; that is, it implies voluntary motion, which is commonly called Action, "he runs. And when the motion passes on to an object on which it reposes, it is Active and Transitive, as "he strikes the child."

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• Motion is the essential attribute of the Verb; and those who hold it to be a mere connective, have not perhaps sufficiently considered its origin; and have been led to observe its apparent use, which is often metaphorical, rather than its essential quality, which indicates different kinds of motion.'

'After use had first fixed the forms of the Verb, the rest were easily brought into existence, by that love of analogy which is inseparably connected with the nature of the human mind.'-Preface to a Dictionary, Bengáli and Sanskrit, by Sir Graves C. Haughton.

(3) Professor Key gives no general definition of the Verb; but his whole doctrine depends upon the theory of motion' and 'rest.' He says, in his Latin Grammar, §§ 367-385:

An active verb denotes action or movement: as caed, "cut" or "strike;" curr, “run.”

The person (or thing) from whom the action proceeds is called the nominative to the verb.

‘A transitive verb is one which admits an object or accusative after it: as caedit puerum, "he strikes the boy."

• An intransitive verb is one which does not admit an accusative; as, currit, "he runs."

A static verb denotes a state; as es, "be"; dormi, "sleep"; vigila, "be awake"; jace, "lie"; metu, "fear.” '

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