Chapter II: Articles

CORRECTIONS UNDER THE NOTES TO RULE I.

UNDER NOTE I.--AN OR A.

"I have seen _a_ horrible thing in the house of Israel."--_Bible cor._ "There is _a_ harshness in the following sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 152. "Indeed, such _a_ one is not to be looked for."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "If each of you will be disposed to approve himself _a_ useful citizen."--_Id._ "Land with them had acquired almost _a_ European value."--_Webster cor._ "He endeavoured to find out _a_ wholesome remedy."--_Neef cor._ "At no time have we attended _a_ yearly meeting more to our own satisfaction."--_The Friend cor._ "Addison was not _a humorist_ in character."--_Kames cor._ "Ah me! what _a_ one was he!"--_Lily cor._ "He was such _a_ one as I never saw before"--_Id._ "No man can be a good preacher, who is not _a_ useful one."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_A_ usage which is too frequent with Mr. Addison."--_Id._ "Nobody joins the voice of a sheep with the shape of _a_ horse."--_Locke cor._ "_A_ universality seems to be aimed at by the omission of the article."--_Priestley cor._ "Architecture is _a_ useful as well as a fine art."--_Kames cor._ "Because the same individual conjunctions do not preserve _a_ uniform signification."-- _Nutting cor._ "Such a work required the patience and assiduity of _a_ hermit."--_Johnson cor._ "Resentment is _a_ union of sorrow with malignity."--_Id._ "His bravery, we know, was _a_ high courage of blasphemy."--_Pope cor._ "HYSSOP; _an_ herb of bitter taste."--_Pike cor._

"On each enervate string they taught the note
To pant, or tremble through _a eunuch's_ throat."--_Pope cor._

UNDER NOTE II.--AN OR A WITH PLURALS.

"At a _session_ of the court, in March, it was moved," &c.--_Hutchinson cor._ "I shall relate my conversations, of which I kept memoranda."--_D. D'Ab. cor._ "I took _an other_ dictionary, and with a _pair of_ scissors cut out, for instance, the word ABACUS."--_A. B. Johnson cor._ "A person very meet seemed he for the purpose, _and about_ forty-five years old."--_Gardiner cor._ "And it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings."--_Bible cor._ "There were slain of them about three thousand men."--_1 Macc. cor._ "Until I had gained the top of these white mountains, which seemed _other_ Alps of snow."--_Addison cor._ "To make them satisfactory amends for all the losses they had sustained."--_Goldsmith cor._ "As a _first-fruit_ of many that shall be gathered."--_Barclay cor._ "It makes indeed a little _amend_, (or _some amends_,) by inciting us to oblige people."--_Sheffield cor._ "A large and lightsome _back stairway_ (or _flight of backstairs_) leads up to an entry above."--_Id._ "Peace of mind is an _abundant recompense_ for _any_ sacrifices of interest."--_Murray et al. cor._ "With such a spirit, and _such_ sentiments, were hostilities carried on."--_Robertson cor._ "In the midst of a thick _wood_, he had long lived a voluntary recluse."--_G. B_. "The flats look almost like a young _forest_."--_Chronicle cor._ "As we went on, the country for a little _way_ improved, but scantily."--_Freeman cor._ "Whereby the Jews were permitted to return into their own country, after _a captivity of seventy years_ at Babylon."--_Rollin cor._ "He did not go a great _way_ into the country."--_Gilbert cor._

"A large _amend_ by fortune's hand is made,
And the lost Punic blood is well repay'd."--_Rowe cor._

UNDER NOTE III.--NOUNS CONNECTED.

"As where a landscape is conjoined with the music of birds, and _the_ odour of flowers."--_Kames cor._ "The last order resembles the second in the mildness of its accent, and _the_ softness of its pause."--_Id._ "Before the use of the loadstone, or _the_ knowledge of the compass."--_Dryden cor._ "The perfect participle and _the_ imperfect tense ought not to be confounded."--_Murray cor._ "In proportion as the taste of a poet or _an_ orator becomes more refined."--_Blair cor._ "A situation can never be more intricate, _so_ long as there is an angel, _a_ devil, or _a_ musician, to lend a helping hand."--_Kames cor._ "Avoid rude sports: an eye is soon lost, or _a_ bone broken."--_Inst._, p. 262. "Not a word was uttered, nor _a_ sign given."--_Ib._ "I despise not the doer, but _the_ deed."--_Ib._ "For the sake of an easier pronunciation and _a_ more agreeable sound."--_Lowth cor._ "The levity as well as _the_ loquacity of the Greeks made them incapable of keeping up the true standard of history."-- _Bolingbroke cor._

UNDER NOTE IV.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED.

"It is proper that the vowels be a long and _a_ short one."--_Murray cor._ "Whether the person mentioned was seen by the speaker a long or _a_ short time before."--_Id. et al_. "There are three genders; _the_ masculine, _the_ feminine, and _the_ neuter."--_Adam cor._ "The numbers are two; _the_ singular and _the_ plural."--_Id. et al_. "The persons are three; _the_ first, _the_ second, and _the_ third."--_Iidem_. "Nouns and pronouns have three cases; the nominative, _the_ possessive, and _the_ objective."-- _Comly and Ing. cor._ "Verbs have five moods; namely, the infinitive, _the_ indicative, _the_ potential, _the_ subjunctive, and _the_ imperative."-- _Bullions et al. cor._ "How many numbers have pronouns? Two, the singular and _the_ plural."--_Bradley cor._ "To distinguish between an interrogative and _an_ exclamatory sentence."--_Murray et al. cor._ "The first and _the_ last of which are _compound_ members."--_Lowth cor._ "In the last lecture, I treated of the concise and _the_ diffuse, the nervous and _the_ feeble manner."--_Blair cor._ "The passive and _the_ neuter verbs I shall reserve for some future conversation."--_Ingersoll cor._ "There are two voices; the active and _the_ passive."--_Adam et al. cor._ "WHOSE is rather the poetical than _the_ regular genitive of WHICH."--_Johnson cor._ "To feel the force of a compound or _a_ derivative word."--_Town cor._ "To preserve the distinctive uses of the copulative and _the_ disjunctive conjunctions."--_Murray et al. cor._ "E has a long and _a_ short sound in most languages."--_Bicknell cor._ "When the figurative and _the_ literal sense are mixed and jumbled together."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The Hebrew, with which the Canaanitish and _the_ Phoenician stand in connexion."--_Conant_ and _Fowler cor._ "The languages of Scandinavia proper, the Norwegian and _the_ Swedish."--_Fowler cor._

UNDER NOTE V.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED.

"The path of truth is a plain and safe path."--_Murray cor._ "Directions for acquiring a just and happy elocution."--_Kirkham cor._ "Its leading object is, to adopt a correct and easy method."--_Id._ "How can it choose but wither in a long and sharp winter?"--_Cowley cor._ "Into a dark and distant unknown."--_Dr. Chalmers cor._ "When the bold and strong enslaved his fellow man."--_Chazotte cor._ "We now proceed to consider the things most essential to an accurate and perfect sentence."--_Murray cor._ "And hence arises a second and very considerable source of the improvement of taste."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Novelty produces in the mind a vivid and agreeable emotion."--_Id._ "The deepest and bitterest feeling still is _that of_ the separation."--_Dr. M'Rie cor._ "A great and good man looks beyond time."--See _Brown's Inst._, p. 263. "They made but a weak and ineffectual resistance."--_Ib._ "The light and worthless kernels will float."--_Ib._ "I rejoice that there is an other and better world."--_Ib._ "For he is determined to revise his work, and present to the _public an other and better_ edition."--_Kirkham cor._ "He hoped that this title would secure _to_ him an ample and independent authority."--_L. Murray cor. et al_. "There is, however, _an other and more limited sense_."--_J. Q. Adams cor._

UNDER NOTE VI.--ARTICLES OR PLURALS.

"This distinction forms what are called the diffuse _style_ and the concise."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Two different modes of speaking, distinguished at first by the denominations of _the Attic manner_ and _the Asiatic_."--_Adams cor._ "But the great design of uniting the Spanish and French monarchies under the former, was laid."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "In the solemn and poetic styles, it [_do_ or _did_] is often rejected."--_Allen cor._ "They cannot be, at the same time, in _both_ the objective _case_ and the nominative." Or: "They cannot be, at the same time, in _both_ the objective and the nominative _case_." Or: "They cannot be, at the same time, in the nominative _case_, and _also in the_ objective." Or: "They cannot be, at the same time, in the nominative and objective cases."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 148. Or, better: "They cannot be, at the same time, in _both_ cases, the nominative and _the_ objective."--_Murray et al. cor._ "They are named the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees."--_Smart cor._ "Certain adverbs are capable of taking an inflection; namely, that of the comparative and superlative degrees."--_Fowler cor._ "In the subjunctive mood, the present and imperfect tenses often carry with them a future sense."--_Murray et al. cor._ "The imperfect, the perfect, the pluperfect, and the first-future _tense_, of this mood, are conjugated like the same tenses of the indicative."--_Kirkham bettered_. "What rules apply in parsing personal pronouns of the second and third _persons_?"--_Id._ "Nouns are sometimes in the nominative or _the_ objective case after the neuter verb _be_, or after an active-intransitive or _a_ passive verb." "The verb varies its _ending_ in the singular, in order to agree with its nominative, in the first, second, and third _persons_."--_Id._ "They are identical in effect with the radical and the vanishing _stress_."--_Rush cor._ "In a sonnet, the first, _the_ fourth, _the_ fifth, and _the_ eighth line, _usually_ rhyme to _one an_ other: so do the second, third, sixth, and seventh _lines_; the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth _lines_; and the tenth, twelfth, and fourteenth _lines_."--_Churchill cor._ "The iron and golden ages are run; youth and manhood are departed."--_Wright cor._ "If, as you say, the iron and the golden _age_ are past, the youth and the manhood of the world."--_Id._ "An Exposition of the Old and New _Testaments_."--_Henry cor._ "The names and order of the books of the Old and _the_ New Testament."--_Bible cor._ "In the second and third _persons_ of that tense."--_Murray cor._ "And who still unites in himself the human and the divine _nature_."--_Gurney cor._ "Among whom arose the Italian, Spanish, French, and English languages."--_Murray cor._ "Whence arise these two _numbers_, the singular and the plural."--_Burn cor._

UNDER NOTE VII.--CORRESPONDENT TERMS.

"Neither the definitions nor _the_ examples are entirely the same _as_ his."--_Ward cor._ "Because it makes a discordance between the thought and _the_ expression."--_Kames cor._ "Between the adjective and _the_ following substantive."--_Id._ "Thus Athens became both the repository and _the_ nursery of learning."--_Chazotte cor._ "But the French pilfered from both the Greek and _the_ Latin."--_Id._ "He shows that Christ is both the power and _the_ wisdom of God."--_The Friend cor._ "That he might be Lord both of the dead and _of the_ living."--_Bible cor._ "This is neither the obvious nor _the_ grammatical meaning of his words."--_Blair cor._ "Sometimes both the accusative and _the_ infinitive are understood."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "In some cases, we can use either the nominative or _the_ accusative, promiscuously."--_Iidem_. "Both the former and _the_ latter substantive are sometimes to be understood."--_Iidem_. "Many _of_ which have escaped both the commentator and _the_ poet himself."--_Pope cor._ "The verbs MUST and OUGHT, have both a present and _a_ past signification."--_L. Murray cor._ "How shall we distinguish between the friends and _the_ enemies of the government?"--_Dr. Webster cor._ "Both the _ecclesiastical_ and _the_ secular powers concurred in those measures."--_Dr. Campbell cor._ "As the period has a beginning and _an_ end within itself, it implies an _inflection_."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "Such as ought to subsist between a principal and _an_ accessory."--_Ld. Kames cor._

UNDER NOTE VIII.--CORRESPONDENCE PECULIAR.

"When both the upward and the downward _slide_ occur in _the sound of one_ syllable, they are called a CIRCUMFLEX, or WAVE."--_Kirkham cor._ "The word THAT is used both in the nominative and _in the objective case_."--_Sanborn cor._ "But _in_ all the other moods and tenses, both of the active and _of the_ passive _voice_ [the verbs] are conjugated at large."--_Murray cor._ "Some writers on grammar, admitting the second-future _tense into_ the indicative mood, _reject it from the_ subjunctive."--_Id._ "_After_ the same conjunction, _to use_ both the indicative and the subjunctive _mood_ in the same sentence, and _under_ the same circumstances, seems to be a great impropriety."--_Id._ "The true distinction between the subjunctive and the indicative _mood_ in this tense."--_Id._ "I doubt of his capacity to teach either the French or _the_ English _language_."--_Chazotte cor._ "It is as necessary to make a distinction between the active-transitive and the active-intransitive verb, as between the active and _the_ passive."--_Nixon cor._

UNDER NOTE IX.--A SERIES OF TERMS.

"As comprehending the terms uttered by the artist, the mechanic, and _the_ husbandman."--_Chazotte cor._ "They may be divided into four classes; the Humanists, _the_ Philanthropists, _the Pestalozzians_, and the _Productives_."--_Smith cor._ "Verbs have six tenses; the present, the imperfect, the perfect, the pluperfect, the _first-future_, and the _second-future_."--_Murray et al. cor._ "Is it an irregular _neuter_ verb [from _be, was, being, been_; found in] _the_ indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number."--_Murray cor._ "SHOULD GIVE is an irregular _active-transitive_ verb [from _give, gave, given, giving_; found] in the potential mood, imperfect tense, first person, and plural number."--_Id._ "US is a personal pronoun, _of the_ first person, plural number, _masculine gender_, and objective case."--_Id._ "THEM is a personal pronoun, of the third person, plural number, _masculine gender_, and objective case."--_Id._ "It is surprising that the Jewish critics, with all their skill in dots, points, and accents, never had the ingenuity to invent a point of interrogation, _a point_ of admiration, or a parenthesis."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth _verses_." Or: "The fifth, _the_ sixth, _the_ seventh, and the eighth verse."--_O. B. Peirce cor_. "Substitutes have three persons; the First, _the_ Second, and the Third."--_Id._ "JOHN'S is a proper noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and possessive case: and _is_ governed by 'WIFE,' _according to_ Rule" [4th, _which says_, &c.]--_Smith cor_. "Nouns, in the English language, have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and _the_ objective."--_Bar. and Alex. cor._ "The potential mood has four tenses; viz., the present, the imperfect, the perfect, and _the_ pluperfect."--_Ingersoll cor._

"Where Science, Law, and Liberty depend,
And own the patron, patriot, and friend."--_Savage cor._

UNDER NOTE X.--SPECIES AND GENUS.

"_The_ pronoun is a part of speech[532] put for _the_ noun."--_Paul's Ac. cor._ "_The_ verb is a part of speech declined with mood and tense."--_Id._ "_The_ participle is a part of speech derived _from the_ verb."--_Id._ "_The_ adverb is a part of speech joined to verbs, [participles, adjectives, or other adverbs,] to declare their signification."--_Id._ "_The_ conjunction is a part of speech that _joins words or_ sentences together."--_Id._ "_The_ preposition is a part of speech most commonly set before other parts."--_Id._ "_The_ interjection is a part of speech which _betokens_ a sudden _emotion_ or passion of the mind."--_Id._ "_The_ enigma, or riddle, is also a species of allegory."--_Blair and Murray cor._ "We may take from the Scriptures a very fine example of _the_ allegory."--_Iidem_. "And thus have you exhibited a sort of sketch of art."--_Harris cor._ "We may 'imagine a subtle kind of reasoning,' as Mr. Harris acutely observes."--_Churchill cor._ "But, before entering on these, I shall give one instance of _metaphor, very beautiful_, (or, one _very beautiful_ instance of metaphor,) that I may show the figure to full advantage."--_Blair cor._ "Aristotle, in his Poetics, uses _metaphor_ in this extended sense, for any figurative meaning imposed upon a word; as _the_ whole put for _a_ part, or a part for _the_ whole; _a_ species for the genus, or _the_ genus for a species."--_Id._ "It shows what kind of apple it is of which we are speaking."--_Kirkham cor._ "Cleon was _an other_ sort of man."--_Goldsmith cor._ "To keep off his right wing, as a kind of reserved body."--_Id._ "This part of speech is called _the_ verb."--_Mack cor._ "What sort of thing is it?"--_Hiley cor._ "What sort of charm do they possess?"--_Bullions cor._

"Dear Welsted, mark, in dirty hole,
That painful animal, _the_ mole."--_Dunciad cor._

UNDER NOTE XI.--ARTICLES NOT REQUISITE.

"Either thou or the boys were in fault."--_Comly cor._ "It may, at first view, appear to be too general."--_Murray et al. cor._ "When the verb has reference to future time."--_Iidem_. "No; they are the language of imagination, rather than of passion."--_Blair cor._ "The dislike of English Grammar, which has so generally prevailed, can be attributed _only_ to the intricacy of [our] syntax."--_Russell cor._ "Is that ornament in good taste?"--_Kames cor._ "There are not many fountains in good taste." Or: "Not many fountains are [ornamented] in good taste."--_Id._ "And I persecuted this way unto death."--_Bible cor._ "The sense of feeling can, indeed, give us a notion of extension."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 411. "The distributive _adjectives, each, every, either_, agree with nouns, pronouns, _or_ verbs, of the singular number only."--_Murray cor._ "Expressing by one word, what might, by a circumlocution, be resolved into two or more words belonging to other parts of speech."--_Blair cor._ "By certain muscles which operate [in harmony, and] all at the same time."--_Murray cor._ "It is sufficient here to have observed thus much in general concerning them."--_Campbell cor._ "Nothing disgusts us sooner than empty pomp of language."--_Murray cor._

UNDER NOTE XII.--TITLES AND NAMES.

"He is entitled to the appellation of _gentleman_."--_G. Brown_. "Cromwell assumed the title of Protector"--_Id._ "Her father is honoured with the title of _Earl_."--_Id._ "The chief magistrate is styled _President_."-- _Id._ "The highest title in the state is that of _Governor_."--_Id._ "That boy is known by the name of _Idler_."--_Murray cor._ "The one styled _Mufti_, is the head of the ministers of law and religion."--_Balbi cor._ "Ranging all that possessed them under one class, he called that whole class _tree_."--_Blair cor._ "For _oak, pine_, and _ash_, were names of whole classes of objects."--_Id._ "It is of little importance whether we give to some particular mode of expression the name of _trope_, or of _figure_."--_Id._ "The collision of a vowel with itself is the most ungracious of all combinations, and has been doomed to peculiar reprobation under the name of _hiatus_."--_Adams cor._ "We hesitate to determine, whether _Tyrant_ alone is the nominative, or whether the nominative includes the _word Spy_."--_Cobbett cor._ "Hence originated the customary abbreviation of _twelve months_ into _twelvemonth_; of _seven nights_ into _sennight_; of _fourteen nights_ into _fortnight_."--_Webster cor._

UNDER NOTE XIII.--COMPARISONS AND ALTERNATIVES.

"He is a better writer than reader."--_W. Allen_. "He was an abler mathematician than linguist."--_Id._ "I should rather have an orange than _an_ apple."--_G. Brown_. "He was no less able _as_ a negotiator, than courageous _as_ a warrior."--_Smollett cor._ "In an epic poem, we pardon many negligences that would not be permitted in a sonnet or _an_ epigram."--_Kames cor._ "That figure is a sphere, globe, or ball."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 357.

UNDER NOTE XIV.--ANTECEDENTS TO WHO OR WHICH.

"_The_ carriages which were formerly in use, were very clumsy."--_Key to Inst_. "The place is not mentioned by _the_ geographers who wrote at that time."--_Ib._ "Those questions which a person _puts to_ himself in contemplation, ought to be terminated _with_ points of interrogation."-- _Mur. et al. cor._ "The work is designed for the use of _those_ persons who may think it merits a place in their libraries."--_Mur. cor._ "That _those_ who think confusedly, should express themselves obscurely, is not to be wondered at."--_Id._ "_Those_ grammarians who limit the number to two, or three, do not reflect."--_Id._ "_The_ substantives which end in _ian_, are those that signify profession." Or: "_Those_ substantives which end in _ian_, are _such as_ signify profession."--_Id._ "To these may be added _those_ verbs which, among the poets, _usually_ govern the dative."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "_The_ consonants are _those_ letters which cannot be sounded without the aid of a vowel."--_Bucke cor._ "To employ the curiosity of persons _skilled_ in grammar:"--"of _those_ who are skilled in grammar:"--"of persons _that_ are skilled in grammar:"--"of _such_ persons _as_ are skilled in grammar:" or--"of _those_ persons _who_ are skilled in grammar."--_L. Murray cor._ "This rule refers only to _those_ nouns and pronouns which have the same bearing, or relation."--_Id._ "So that _the_ things which are seen, were not made of things _that_ do appear."--_Bible cor._ "Man is an imitative creature; he may utter _again_ the sounds which he has heard."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "But _those_ men whose business is wholly domestic, have little or no use for any language but their own."--_Dr. Webster cor._

UNDER NOTE XV.--PARTICIPIAL NOUNS.

"Great benefit may be reaped from _the_ reading of histories."--_Sewel cor._ "And some attempts were made towards _the_ writing of history."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "It is _an_ invading of the priest's office, for any other to offer it"--_Leslie cor._ "And thus far of _the_ forming of verbs."--_W. Walker cor._ "And without _the_ shedding of blood _there_ is no remission."--_Bible cor._ "For _the_ making of measures, we have the best method here in England."--_Printer's Gram. cor._ "This is really both _an_ admitting and _a_ denying at once."--_Butler cor._ "And hence the origin of _the_ making of parliaments."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Next thou objectest, that _the_ having of saving light and grace presupposes conversion. But that I deny: for, on the contrary, conversion _presupposes the_ having _of_ light and grace."--_Barclay cor._ "They cried down _the_ wearing of rings and other superfluities, as we do."--_Id._ "Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning, of _the_ plaiting _of_ the hair, and of _the_ wearing of gold, or of _the putting-on_ of apparel."--_Bible cor._ "In _the_ spelling of derivative words, the _primitives_ must be kept whole."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan's cor._ "And the princes offered for _the_ dedicating of the altar."--_Numb. cor._ "Boasting is not only _a_ telling of lies, but also _of_ many unseemly truths."--_Sheffield cor._ "We freely confess that _the_ forbearing of prayer in the wicked is sinful."--_Barclay cor._ "For _the_ revealing of a secret, there is no remedy."--_G. Brown_. "He turned all his thoughts to _the_ composing of laws for the good of the State."--_Rollin cor._

UNDER NOTE XVI.--PARTICIPLES, NOT NOUNS.

"It is salvation to be kept from falling into a pit, as truly as to be taken out of it after falling in."--_Barclay cor._ "For in receiving and embracing the testimony of truth, they felt their souls eased."--_Id._ "True regularity does not consist in having but a single rule, and forcing every thing to conform to it."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "To the man of the world, this sound of glad tidings appears only an idle tale, and not worth attending to."--_Say cor._ "To be the deliverer of the captive Jews, by ordering their temple to be rebuilt," &c.--_Rollin cor._ "And for preserving them from being defiled."--_Discip. cor._ "A wise man will _forbear to show_ any excellence in trifles."--_Kames cor._ "Hirsutus had no other reason for valuing a book."--_Johnson, and Wright, cor._ "To being heard with satisfaction, it is necessary that the speaker should deliver himself with ease." Perhaps better: "_To be_ heard, &c." Or: "_In order to be_ heard, &c."--_Sheridan cor._ "And, to the _end of_ being well heard and clearly understood, a good and distinct articulation contributes more, than _can even the greatest_ power of voice."--_Id._

"_Potential_ purports, _having power or will_;
As, If you _would_ improve, you _should_ be still."--_Tobitt cor._

UNDER NOTE XVII.--VARIOUS ERRORS.

"For the same reason, a neuter verb cannot become passive."--_Lowth cor._ "_A_ period is _a_ whole sentence complete in itself."--_Id._ "_A_ colon, or member, is a chief constructive part, or _the greatest_ division, of a sentence."--_Id._ "_A_ semicolon, or half-member, is a _smaller_ constructive part, or _a_ subdivision, of a sentence or _of_ a member."--_Id._ "A sentence or _a_ member is again subdivided into commas, or segments."--_Id._ "The first error that I would mention is, too general _an_ attention to the dead languages, with a neglect of our own _tongue_."--_Webster cor._ "One third of the importations would supply the demands of _the_ people."--_Id._ "And especially in _a_ grave _style_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 178. "By too eager _a_ pursuit, he ran a great risk of being disappointed."--_Murray cor._ "_The_ letters are divided into vowels and consonants."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "_The_ consonants are divided into mutes and semivowels."--_Iidem_. "The first of these forms is _the_ most agreeable to the English idiom."--_Murray cor._ "If they gain, it is _at_ too dear _a_ rate."--_Barclay cor._ "A pronoun is a word used _in stead_ of a noun, to prevent too frequent _a_ repetition of it."--_Maunder cor._ "This vulgar error might perhaps arise from too partial _a_ fondness for the Latin."--_Ash cor._ "The groans which too heavy _a_ load extorts from her."--_Hitchcock cor._ "The numbers of a verb are, of course, _the_ singular and _the_ plural."--_Bucke cor._ "To brook no meanness, and to stoop to no dissimulation, are indications of a great mind."--_Murray cor._ "This mode of expression rather suits _the_ familiar than _the_ grave style."--_Id._ "This use of the word _best_ suits _a_ familiar and low style."--_Priestley cor._ "According to the nature of the composition, the one or _the_ other may be predominant."--_Blair cor._ "Yet the commonness of such sentences prevents in a great measure too early _an_ expectation of the end."--_Campbell cor._ "A eulogy or a philippic may be pronounced by an individual of one nation upon _a_ subject of _an_ other."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "A French sermon is, for _the_ most part, a warm animated exhortation."--_Blair cor._ "I do not envy those who think slavery no very pitiable lot."--_Channing cor._ "The auxiliary and _the_ principal united constitute a tense."--_Murray cor._ "There are some verbs which are defective with respect to _the_ persons."--_Id._ "In youth, habits of industry are _the_ most easily acquired."--_Id._ "_The_ apostrophe (') is used in place of a letter left out."--_Bullions cor._