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English Grammar

English:Syntax
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Parts of speech: Nouns - Verbs - Pronouns - Adjectives - Adverbs - Conjunctions - Prepositions - Interjections
Other English topics: Gerunds and participles - Orthography - Punctuation - Syntax - Appositives - Figures of Syntax

Syntax treats of the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of words in sentences. The relation of words is their reference to other words, or their dependence according to the sense.

The agreement of words is their similarity in person, number, gender, case, mood, tense, or form.

The government of words is that power which one word has over an other, to cause it to assume some particular modification.

The arrangement of words is their collocation, or relative position, in a sentence.

A Sentence is an assemblage of words, making complete sense, and always containing a nominative and a verb; as,

"Reward sweetens labour."

The principal parts of a sentence are usually three; namely, the SUBJECT, or nominative,--the attribute, or finite VERB,--and the case put after, or the OBJECT governed by the verb: as,

"Crimes deserve punishment."

The other or subordinate parts depend upon these, either as primary or as secondary adjuncts; as,

"High crimes justly deserve very severe punishments."

Sentences are usually said to be of two kinds, simple and compound.

A simple sentence is a sentence which consists of one single assertion, supposition, command, question, or exclamation; as,

"David and Jonathan loved each other."

"If thine enemy hunger."

"Do violence to no man."

"Am I not an apostle?"--1 Cor., ix, 1.

"What immortal glory shall I have acquired!"--HOOKE: Mur. Seq., p. 71.

A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more simple ones either expressly or tacitly connected; as,

"Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."--Acts, xi, 13.

"The more the works of Cowper are read, the more his readers will find reason to admire the variety and the extent, the graces and the energy, of his literary talents."--HAYLEY: Mur. Seq., p. 250.

A clause, or member, is a subdivision of a compound sentence; and is itself a sentence, either simple or compound: as,

"If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; if he be thirsty, give him water to drink."--Prov., xxv, 21.

A phrase is two or more words which express some relation of different ideas, but no entire proposition; as,

"By the means appointed."

"To be plain with you."

"Having loved his own."

Words that are omitted by ellipsis, and that are necessarily understood in order to complete the construction, (and only such,) must be supplied in parsing.

The leading principles to be observed in the construction of sentences, are embraced in the following twenty-four rules, which are arranged, as nearly as possible, in the order of the parts of speech.

Articles relate to the nouns which they limit.
Articles relate to the nouns which they limit: as,

"At a little distance from the ruins of the abbey, stands an aged elm."

"See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, The sot a hero, lunatic a king."--Pope's Essay, Ep. ii, l. 268.

Exception.--The definite article used intensively.
The definite article used intensively, may relate to an adjective or adverb of the comparative or the superlative degree; as,

"A land which was the mightiest."--Byron.

"The farther they proceeded, the greater appeared their alacrity."--Dr. Johnson.

"He chooses it the rather"--Cowper.

Exception.--The indefinite article used to give a collective meaning.
The indefinite article is sometimes used to give a collective meaning to what seems a plural adjective of number; as,

"Thou hast a few names even in Sardis."--Rev., iii, 4.

"There are a thousand things which crowd into my memory."--Spectator, No. 468.

"The centurion commanded a hundred men."--Webster.

A noun which is the subject of a finite verb.
A Noun or a Pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case: as,

"The Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided him."--Luke, xvi, 14.

"But where the meekness of self-knowledge veileth the front of self-respect, there look thou for the man whom none can know but they will honour."--Book of Thoughts, p. 66.

"Dost thou mourn Philander's fate? I know thou sayst it: says thy life the same?"--Young, N. ii, l. 22.

The subject, or nominative, is generally placed before the verb; as,

"Peace dawned upon his mind."--Johnson.

"What is written in the law?"--Bible.

But, in the following nine cases, the subject of the verb is usually placed after it, or after the first auxiliary:

Exception.--A question without an interrogative pronoun in the nominative case.
When a question is asked without an interrogative pronoun in the nominative case; as,

"Shall mortals be implacable?"--Hooke.

"What art thou doing?"--Id.

"How many loaves have ye?"--Bible.

"Are they Israelites? so am I."--Ib.

Exception.--A verb in the imperative mood.
When the verb is in the imperative mood; as,

"Go thou"

"Come ye"

But, with this mood, the pronoun is very often omitted and understood; as,

"Philip saith unto him, Come and see"--John, i, 46.

"And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted."--Mark, xvi, 5.

Exception.--An earnest wish, or other strong feeling.
When an earnest wish, or other strong feeling, is expressed; as,

"May she be happy!"

"How were we struck!"--Young.

"Not as the world giveth, give I unto you."--Bible.

Exception.--A supposition made without the conjunction if.
When a supposition is made without the conjunction if; as,

"Had they known it;" for, "If they had known it."

"Were it true;" for, "If it were true."

"Could we draw by the covering of the grave;" for, "If we could draw," &c.

Exception.--Neither or nor precedes the verb.
When neither or nor, signifying and not, precedes the verb; as,

"This was his fear; nor was his apprehension groundless."

"Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it."--Gen., iii, 3.

Exception.--Some word or words placed before the verb.
When, for the sake of emphasis, some word or words are placed before the verb, which more naturally come after it; as,

"Here am I."

"Narrow is the way."--

"Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, give I thee."--Bible.

Exception.--A verb which has no regimen.
When the verb has no regimen, and is itself emphatical; as,

"Echo the mountains round."--Thomson.

"After the Light Infantry marched the Grenadiers, then followed the Horse."--Buchanan's Syntax, p. 71.

Exception.--The verbs which introduce the parts of a dialogue.
When the verbs, say, answer, reply, and the like, introduce the parts of a dialogue; as,

"'Son of affliction,' said Omar, 'who art thou?' 'My name,' replied the stranger, 'is Hassan.'"--Dr. Johnson.

Exception.--An adverb which precedes the verb.
When the adverb there precedes the verb; as,

"There lived a man."--Montgomery.

"In all worldly joys, there is a secret wound."--Owen.

This use of there, the general introductory adverb of place, is idiomatic, and somewhat different from the use of the same word in reference to a particular locality; as,

"Because there was not much water there."--John, iii, 23.

A noun used to explain a preceding noun.
A Noun or a personal Pronoun used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case: as,

"But it is really I, your old friend and neighbour., Piso, late a dweller upon the Coelian hill, who am now basking in the warm skies of Palmyra."--Zenobia.

"But he, our gracious Master, kind as just, Knowing our frame, remembers we are dust."--Barbauld.