SYNTAX.

43. INTRODUCTION

SYNTAX means arrangement, or setting together in right order.

In Greek syn (ovv) means together, and taxis (ráĝis) means arrange

ment.

Syntax, as a part of Grammar, treats in the first place of the right placing of words, phrases, clauses, and principal sentences, and secondly defines the right uses of inflexions.

A sentence is formed when words or expanded elements are so placed together that something is told. A sentence consisting of only two words may name an agent, and may tell or assert that an act takes place. The noun names the agent, and the verb expresses the act. The meaning of the noun may be made clearer by means of an adjective, and the use of the verb may be made more definite by means of an adverb. A transitive verb must be followed by an object, and the use of a vague verb must be made clear by some appended word or phrase. These are the chief elements of speech.

In all languages words serve to express these general notions-that persons and things, seen and unseen, exist; that they differ one from another in their qualities and their relations; that acts, proceeding from agents, seen and unseen, take place; that acts differ from one another with respect to their own nature, with respect to interests, motives, and relations called subjective, and with respect to various relations of place, time, degree, causality, manner, and circumstances; lastly, that certain acts are transitive and pass on from agents to objects, either so as to produce alterations in objects already existing, or so as to create objects. All these general notions are expressed by means of the parts of speech called nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. The noun

may name either the agent or the object. The verb, connected with a subject, asserts that an act takes place, and that it proceeds from a certain agent. The noun, or name, is made more special by appending an adjective, and the verb is defined by an adverb.

The elements of sentences may be expanded. Several words may be used instead of a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. These are changes of forms; but all the chief or essential parts of sentences have been named. Particles called prepositions serve mostly as parts of expanded adverbs, and sometimes as parts of expanded adjectives. Conjunctions serve, in many places, to connect one sentence with another; in other places, to link together the parts belonging to one sentence. Setting aside, for the present, the uses of these particles, the true elements of sentences are these:-nouns denoting subjects, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and nouns denoting objects. The union of the verb with the agent-like the union of the transitive verb with its object-is close or immediate. But the adjective is connected with the noun, and the adverb, in its principal use, is connected with the verb. All the parts of the sentence are therefore united, and the centre of the union is the verb.

This introductory analysis is a result of abstraction, which consists mostly in setting aside many differences and treating mainly of likenesses. This process is allowed in grammar to an extent not known in any other science. For example, nouns are here divided into two classes, called 'concrete' and 'abstract.' With regard to certain nouns in the latter class, disputations of great importance have been continued from the days of the schoolmen down to the present time. In certain uses of adjectives we ascribe to things properties or qualities that have been defined by physical science; but there are many other uses that have their origin only in the mind. A distinction of the same kind may be made with respect to many uses of adverbs. Again, the general notion of causality-constantly assumed in the uses of transitive verbs and in those of some adverbial clauses -has been called in question and has been made the starting-point of a long series of disputes. All these questions, and others pertaining to the study of language, may be noticed briefly by a grammarian, but only for the purpose of setting them aside. His subordinate task is, not to examine the sources of general or abstract and permanent notions, but to classify the forms in which these notions are expressed. With regard to their validity, he can do nothing more than point to the fact that, in language, they have been constantly assumed. In language we constantly express such notions of substance, transition, and union as have no reference to any evidence afforded by inductive science.

THE ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES.

ANALYSIS, in Grammar, means the division of a sentence into the parts belonging to it. The intention is to make clear its elements and their relations.

In the compound word ' analysis' the Greek noun Auris is strengthened in meaning by the prefix àvá, which generally means up, but here is, in force, equivalent to the prefix thorough.

The outlines of Analysis are given here, and special observations are appended to Rules of Syntax given in §§ 53-64. Tabular Forms for the Analysis of Sentences are given in § 60.

THE ELEMENTS OF SENTENCES.

The elements of sentences, when each element has for its form of expression a single word, have mostly the names already noticed-nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. But their forms of expression may be expanded, while their uses remain unaltered. Accordingly, when their several uses rather than their forms are studied, the elements of sentences have the following more comprehensive names:-subjects, attributes, verbs, complements, adverbials, and objects.

In writing of Syntax it is generally convenient to give examples in the affirmative form of the Indicative Mood.

A sentence must contain a subject and a verb. 'He writes.'

Ex.:

In this place, and in all the parts of Syntax, the verbal forms of the Infinitive Mood are not called verbs. They cannot assert or tell, and therefore cannot give union to other parts in a sentence. The verbal forms of the Infinitive Mood serve respectively as nouns and as adjectives.

A SIMPLE SENTENCE contains only one verb, and, when the verb is concrete and intransitive, or is used intransitively, the sentence may consist of only two words; but a transitive verb is followed by an object. When the verb is in the Passive Voice, the subject denotes that which receives or endures the effect of an act. Ex.: Myron sleeps.' Myron made a statue.' The statue was placed there.'

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The subject answers the question asked by placing who or what before

the verb. The object answers the question asked by placing whom or what after a transitive verb.

Ex.: Who sleeps here?' Myron. Who made the statue?' Myron. 'He made-what?'

A statue.

The adjunct belonging to the subject, to the object, or to any noun or substantive word, is called an Attribute, and the adjunct defining a verb is called an Adverbial. Ex.: Young Myron made a beautiful statue.' 'He placed there the statue.'

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RELATIONS.

The relations existing between the several parts of a sentence are of four kinds :-attributive, predicative, adverbial, and objective. The first exists between the attribute and any form serving as a noun, the second between the verb and the subject; the third exists chiefly between the adverbial and the verb; the fourth exists between the transitive verb and its object.

This fourfold division of relations is practical, and may be readily understood. In accordance with a less analytical view of sentences, their relations of parts may be reduced to a threefold division. This may be made by taking together the verb and the adverbial, as making one definite assertion, but a threefold division should not be made by mingling with an adverbial an objective relation. The next example may suffice to make clear a fourfold division.

'Young Myron placed there a beautiful statue.'
The relation of young to Myron is attributive.
The relation of beautiful to statue is attributive.
The relation of placed to Myron is predicative.
The relation of there to placed is adverbial.
The relation of statue to placed is objective.

APPOSITION, CONCORD, AND GOVERNMENT.

In writing of Syntax these three words are often employed:-apposition, concord, and government. In apposition two names, or two forms of speech, are used instead of one, and the intention is to give clearness or emphasis to one part of a sentence, as in the following lines:

'The Eagle, he was lord above,

And Rob was lord below.'

Concord is a word denoting strictly a likeness or formal connexion of two words placed together in attributive or in predicative relation to each other. Thus, in the sentence vir bõnus ēst, the adjective bõnés, like the

noun vir, is masculine, and has the nominative form of the singular, while the verb has the form of the third person singular. The adjective, therefore, is here placed in concord with the noun, with respect to gender, number, and case, while in number and person the verb agrees with the noun. Thus concords are shown in the forms of highly inflected languages; but in English our so-called 'concords' of gender, number, person, and case are mostly understood, or are merely implied. These are the 'concords' spoken of as existing in numerous instances where the relations of words are not indicated by inflexions. Of the sentence Junius wrote letters' it may be said, 'the verb here agrees in number and person with the subject,' though the same form of the verb might follow any one of the five pronouns 'I,'he,' 'we,' you,' and 'they.'

In government the exact meaning or use of a word is made dependent on another word which, in English, mostly precedes, but, with regard to the possessive case, follows the governed word. Ex.: Cæsar defended them, for they were the soldier's friends.' Here the verb governs the object them, and the possessive form soldier's is governed by the following noun. In English, governed nouns are made distinct merely by their meanings and their positions, in all instances, excepting the use of the possessive inflexion. The general meaning of government may be thus briefly given:—let any word, a, require that another word, b, shall have a certain use in a sentence; then it is said that a governs b.'

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These observations have reference to uses or meanings. The names 'genitive,'' ablative,' etc., are properly names of forms that do not exist in English. Their names are not clear enough to define uses. Respecting the use of a Greek or a Latin noun, placed in a sentence, nothing clear is told when it is said, 'this noun has the form of the genitive case singular.'

WORDS, PHRASES, AND CLAUSES.

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Each of the elements in a sentence may be represented by a word; the subject by a noun or a pronoun; the attribute by an adjective; the verb, when concrete, by a word like writes;' the adverbial by an adverb, and the object by a noun or a pronoun. But these elements may be expanded, and a phrase or a clause may be used instead of a single word. The form is changed, but the use remains the same.

In some instances the substitution of a phrase or a clause, instead of a word, is a mere matter of choice. Thus, in translating the Latin ablative cāsu, we may either write accidentally' or make use of the phrase 'by chance.' So, instead of speaking of an honourable man,' we may say 'a man of honour,' and we may substitute a clause to take the places of both the adverb and the preposition in the sentence 'He contended successfully for the prize. The expanded sentence will then be this: He contended so that he won the prize?' But in numerous instances the substitution of a phrase or a clause is a great improvement with respect to clearness, and in many cases no single word can be found to represent fairly the meaning of a phrase or a clause. In making translations, phrases and clauses must