'believe me' for some other expression, or cancel the former clause and substitute one which contains a verb in the imperative mood.]

'My lawyer is a man whom I know is trustworthy.'

'When Nelson was ill he complained of "the servants letting me lay as if a log, and take no notice."

'Should any one not receive the goods ordered in ten days, kindly write to the advertiser.'

'This is the man whom I perceived was in fault.'

'I think it may assist the reader by placing them before him in chronological order.'

'Mrs Jones presents her compliments to Miss Robinson and will be much obliged if she will prevent her dog from coming into my garden.' 'More than one swimming-prize is to be given for boys of thirteen years old.'

(6) 'Send a written message, not a verbal one.'

(7) 'Important events have transpired.'

[In (1) common should be substituted for mutual, which implies reciprocal relationship. If A likes B and B likes A their friendship is mutual. In (2) 'trustworthy' might take the place of 'reliable.' Just as penetrable means 'what can be penetrated' and eatable 'what can be eaten,' so strictly reliable must mean 'what can be relied,' which is nonsense. 'What can be relied on' would be rely-on-able, as 'what can be got ať' is colloquially said to be get-at-able. The words laughable, available and indispensable are open to a similar somewhat pedantic criticism. (3) Phenomenal is a word misapplied by journalists in the sense remarkable.' Give the true meaning. (4) Help means 'avoid' in this context. One who wishes to do as little as possible does no more than he cannot avoid. (5) Why passive? The expression is always used to signify 'If I do not misunderstand,' not 'If I am not misunderstood.' (6) Verbal means 'in words,' so a written message' is a verbal one.' What adjective signifies 'by word of mouth'? (7) What does transpire mean? Events do not transpire except in journalese.]

6

32. Quote four examples of common errors of speech, and show wherein the faultiness consists.

33. Show that the number of rules of concord and government in any language depends on the variety and extent of its inflexions.

34. Illustrate the different kinds of grammatical concord, and show that the following sentences are faulty:

(a) Neither of these men are patriots at heart.'

() 'This is one of those things that is managed better abroad.' (c) 'The number of failures were very great.'

(d) 'Thou great First Cause, least understood,

Who all my sense confined.'

35. Comment on the construction of the verb in each of the following sentences:

'Is the news true?'

'The people are divided.'

'Every limb and every feature appears with its appropriate grace.' 'Justice as well as benevolence is our rule.'

36. How can you distinguish the objective case from the nominative in English?

State the case and government (if any) of each of the italicised words in the following sentences.

(a) 'Prize me no prizes, for my prize is death.'

(b) 'She let concealment, like a worm i̇' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek.'

(c) For my brethren and companions' sakes.'

(d) That is not for such as you.'

37. Correct the following sentences where necessary:
'Thou lovest, but never knew love's sad satiety.'
'Nothing but grave and serious studies delight him.’
'The ship with all the passengers were lost.'

'He knows not what spleen, langour, or listlessness are.'

'The king with the lords and commons form the legislature.'

'The posture of your blows are yet unknown.'

'There is sometimes more than one auxiliary to a verb.'

'He objects to me having the book.'

'If I were old enough to be married, I am old enough to manage my father's house.'

[See the note to Q. 12, p. 262.]

'And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.'

'The steam-engine as well as the telegraph were at that time undiscovered.'

[Is undiscovered the right word?]

'I have not wept this forty years.'

'It must be confessed that a lampoon or a satire do not carry in them robbery and murder.'

us.'

'He must decide between you and I going to him or him coming to

269

CHAPTER XXVI.

SYNTAX OF ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, AND PREPOSITIONS.

267. THERE are some words which are variously used as Prepositions, as Adverbs, and as Conjunctions. The following sentences illustrate this threefold use of but, before, since.

How are such words to be distinguished?

If the word in question governs a noun or pronoun, it is a Preposition. Bear in mind the fact that the preposition frequently comes after the relative pronoun which it governs: 'I gave the book that he asked for to the man whom I spoke to'; 'This is the place which you told me of.' And this relative pronoun is often dropped out altogether: the words that, whom, and which, would probably be omitted from these sentences in conversation. Nevertheless, for, to, and of are still prepositions, for they govern these pronouns understood.

But to distinguish Adverbs from Conjunctions is often a difficult matter, for there are many adverbs which join sentences and therefore do the work of conjunctions. For identifying an adverb there is a rule-of-thumb which directs us to move the word about and observe whether the grammatical structure of the passage in which it occurs is destroyed by the process: if it is not destroyed, we are to conclude, according to this rule, that the word is an adverb. Thus the sentence 'Meanwhile the mob continued shouting' would retain its grammatical structure unimpaired, if the word meanwhile were placed after mob, or after continued, or after shouting. But though this freedom of movement on the part of adverbs is a feature which deserves notice, it is quite useless as a practical test in precisely those instances in which the student might find a difficulty in deciding whether the word in question is to be called an adverb or a conjunction, for in those instances the word cannot be moved about, and yet it would frequently be rightly described as an adverb. Take the sentences 'I know where he lives,' 'I saw him when he called,' I ascertained how he escaped.' The words where, when, how, cannot be shifted to other places in the sentence without making nonsense of the whole. Hence a student applying this test in his uncertainty would say they were not adverbs. Yet they are adverbs: where qualifies lives, when qualifies called, how qualifies escaped, just as much as the adverbs there, then, and so qualify these verbs when we say 'He lives there,' 'He called then,' 'He escaped so.' It is true that where, when, and how also join the clauses 'I know...he lives,' 'I saw him...he called,' 'I ascertained...he escaped.' But though they join clauses, they do not therefore cease to be adverbs, any more than the relative pronouns cease to be pronouns because they also join clauses. The coordinate clauses 'I know the man...he did it,' are united in one complex sentence by who, when we say 'I know

the man who did it'; still we do not call who a conjunction. 'Conjunctive' or 'connective' pronouns we might indeed call them, and the name would be more appropriate than 'relative' pronouns; and 'conjunctive' or 'connective' adverbs is the proper name for words which, while acting as adverbs, also join clauses.

Ask the question therefore,-Does the word about which I am in doubt not only join two clauses but also qualify some verb or adjective in the clause which it introduces? If it does, it is a conjunctive adverb: if it does not, it is a conjunction. Thus in the sentences 'I will go if you wish,' 'I know that he died,' the words if and that connect two clauses without modifying any word which follows them; but in the sentences 'I will go when you wish,' 'I know where he died,' when and where connect two clauses and also modify the verbs wish and died respectively.

However, the student, who finds this distinction too subtle to serve him as a practical criterion, will commit no serious error if he describes a conjunctive-adverb as an adverbial-conjunction, and writers on grammar can be quoted in his support, whichever term he adopts'.

268. The meaning affected by the position of the Adverb.

Though the grammatical structure of the sentence may be unimpaired by the shifting of the adverb from one place. to another, the meaning will often be affected by the change of position. Consider the difference in the information conveyed when we say 'Only John passed in Latin,' 'John only passed in Latin' and 'John passed only in Latin.' Errors in the position of only are of constant occurrence. At one of the large London Clubs, members are informed

1 Cf. Mason's English Grammar, § 263, and Bain's Higher English Grammar, p. 101.