IV.—SYNTAX OF THE VERB.

1.—CONCORD OF VERBS.

We cannot say I writes, or He or The man write. We always say I write, He writes, and The man writes. In other words, certain pronouns and nouns require a certain form of a verb to go with them. If the pronoun is of the first person, then the verb will have a certain form; if it is of the third person, it will have a different form. If the noun or pronoun is singular, the verb will have one form; if it is plural, it may have another form. In these circumstances, the verb is said to agree with its subject.

All these facts are usually embodied in a general statement, which may also serve as a rule.

RULE XXVI.—A Finite Verb must agree with its subject

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in Number and Person. Thus we say: “He calls,” “They walk.”

(i) The subject answers to the question Who? or What?

(ii) The subject of a finite verb is always in the nominative case.

Or and nor are conjunctions which do not add the things mentioned to each other, but allow the mind to take them separately—the one excluding the other. We may therefore say:—

RULE XXVII.— Two or more singular nouns that are subjects, connected by or or nor, require their verb to be in the singular. Thus we say: “Either Tom or John is going.” “It was either a roe-deer or a large goat!”

On the other hand, when two or more singular nouns are connected by and, they are added to each other; and, just as one and one make two, so two singular nouns are equal to one plural. We may therefore lay down the following rule:—

RULE XXVIII.—Two or more singular nouns that are subjects, connected by and, require their verb to be in the plural. We say: “Tom and John are going.” “There were a roe-deer and a goat in the field.”

Cautions.— (i) The compound conjunction as well as does not require a plural verb, because it allows the mind to take each subject separately. Thus we say, “Justice, as well as mercy, allows it.” We can see the truth of this remark by transposing the clauses of the sentence, and saying, “Justice allows it, as well as mercy [allows it].”

(ii) The preposition with cannot make two singular subjects into one plural. We must say, “The Mayor, with his attendants, was there.” Transposition will show the force of this remark also: “The Mayor was there with his attendants.”

RULE XXIX.—Collective Nouns take a singular verb or a plural verb, as the notion of unity or of plurality is uppermost in the mind of the speaker. Thus we say: “Parliament was dissolved.” “The committee are divided in opinion.”

(i) When two or more nouns represent one idea, the verb is singular. Thus, in Milton’s “Lycidas,” we find—

“Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear
Compels me to disturb your season due.

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And, in Shakespeare’s “Tempest” (v.104), we read—

“All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement
Inhabits here.”

In this case we may look upon the statement as = “A condition which embraces all torment,” etc.

(ii) When the verb precedes a number of different nominatives, it is often singular. The speaker seems not to have yet made up his mind what nominatives he is going to use. Thus, in the well-known passage in Byron’s “Childe Harold” we have—

“Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress.”

And so Shakespeare, in “Julius Cæsar,” makes Brutus say, “There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honour for his valour, and death for his ambition.” And, in the same way, people say, “Where is my hat and stick?”

RULE XXX.—The verb to be is often attracted into the same number as the nominative that follows it, instead of agreeing with the nominative that is its true subject. Thus we find: “The wages of sin is death.” “To love and to admire has been the joy of his existence.” “A high look and a proud heart is sin.”

2.—GOVERNMENT OF VERBS.

RULE XXXI.—A Transitive Verb in the active voice governs its direct object in the objective case. Thus we say: “I like him;” “they dislike her.”

The following sub-rules are of some importance:—

(i) The participle, which is an adjective, has the same governing power as the verb of which it is a part—as, “Seeing the rain, I remained at home”—where seeing agrees with I as an adjective, and governs rain as a verb.

(ii) The gerund, which is a noun, has the same governing power as the verb to which it belongs. Thus we say: “Hating one’s neighbour is forbidden by the Gospel,” where hating is a noun, the nominative to is forbidden, and a gerund governing neighbour in the objective.

RULE XXXII.—Active-transitive Verbs of giving, promising, offering, and suchlike, govern the Direct Object in the

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objective case, and the Indirect Object in the dative. “I gave him an apple.” “He promises me a book.”

(i) In turning these active verbs into passive, it is the direct object that should be turned into the subject of the passive verb; and we ought to say, “An apple was given me.” But custom allows of either mode of change; and we also say, “I was given an apple;” “I was promised a book.” Dr Abbott calls the objectives apple and book retained objects, because they are retained in the sentence, even although we know that no passive verb can govern an objective case.

RULE XXXIII.—Such verbs as make, create, appoint, think, believe, etc., govern two objects—the one direct, the other factitive. Thus we say: “They made him king;” “the king appointed him governor;” “we thought her a clever woman.”

(i) The second of these objectives remains with the passive verb, when the form of the sentence has been changed; and we say, “He was made king;” “he was appointed governor.” Here the nouns king and governor are retained objects.

RULE XXXIV.—One verb governs another in the Infinitive. Or,
        The Infinitive Mood of a verb, being a pure noun, may be the object of another verb, if that verb is active-transitive. Thus we say: “I saw him go;” “we saw the ship sink;” “I ordered him to write.”

(i) In the first two sentences, him and ship are the subjects of go and sink. But the subject of an infinitive is always in the objective case. The infinitives go and sink have a double face. They are verbs in relation to their subjects him and go; they are nouns in relation to the verbs that govern them.

(ii) In the sentence, “I ordered him to write,” him is in the dative case; and the sentence is = “I ordered writing to him.” To write is the direct object of ordered.

(iii) Conclusion from the above: An Infinitive is always a noun, whether it be a subject or an object. It is (a) a subject in the sentence, “To play football is pleasant.” It is (b) an object in the sentence, “I like to play football.”

RULE XXXV.—Some Intransitive Verbs govern the Dative

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Case. Thus we have “Methought,” “meseems,” “Woe worth the day!” “Woe is me!” “If you please!”

(i) Worth is the imperative of an old English verb, weorthan, to become. (The German form of this verb is werden.)

(ii) Shakespeare even construes the verb look with a dative. In “Cymbeline,” iii. 5, 32, he has—

                             She looks us like
A thing more made of malice, than of duty.

3.—MOODS OF VERBS.

1. The Indicative Mood is the mood of direct assertion or statement, and it speaks of actual facts. The Subjunctive Mood is the mood of assertion also, but with a modification given to the assertion by the mind through which it passes. If we use the term óbjective as describing what actually exists independently of our minds, and súbjective as describing that which exists in the mind of the speaker,—whether it really exists outside or not,—we can then say that—

(i) The Indicative Mood is the mood of óbjective assertion.

(ii) The Subjunctive Mood is the mood of súbjective assertion.

The Indicative Mood may be compared to a ray of light coming straight through the air; the Subjunctive Mood to the effect produced by the water on the same ray—the water deflects it, makes it form a quite different angle, and hence a stick in the water looks broken or crooked.

2. The Imperative Mood is the mood of command or of request.

3. The Infinitive Mood is the substantive mood or noun of the verb. It is always equal to a noun; it is always either a subject or an object; and hence it is incapable of making any assertion.

4. The Subjunctive Mood has for some years been gradually dying out. Few writers, and still fewer speakers, use it. Good writers are even found to say, “If he was here, I should tell him.” But a knowledge of the uses of the subjunctive mood is necessary to enable us to understand English prose and verse anterior to the present generation. Even so late as the year 1817, Jane Austen, one of the best prose-writers of this century, used the subjunctive mood in almost every dependant clause. Not only does she use it after if and though, but after such conjunctions as till, until, because, and others.

RULE XXXVI.—The Subjunctive Mood was used—and ought to be used—to express doubt, possibility, supposition, consequence (which may not happen), or wish, all as moods of the mind of the speaker.

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(i) “If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live.” (Doubt.)

(ii) “If he come, I will speak to him.” (Possibility.)

(iii) “Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway,
       The wizard note has not been touched in vain.” (Supposition.)

(iv) “Get on your night-gown, lest occasion call us
       And show us to be watchers.” (Consequence.)

(v) “I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!” (Wish.)

In all of the above sentences, the clauses with subjunctives do not state facts, but feelings or notions of what may or might be.

RULE XXXVII.—The Subjunctive Mood, being a subjoined mood, is always dependant on some other clause antecedent in thought, and generally also in expression. The antecedent clause, which contains the condition, is called the conditional clause; and the clause which contains the consequence of the supposition is called the consequent clause.

(i) If it were so, it was a grievous fault.

Condition.        Consequence.

(ii) If it were done when ‘tis done,

                 Condition.

Then ‘twere well it were done quickly.

Consequence.             

Remarks on Exceptions.

1. Sometimes the conditional clause is suppressed. Thus we can say, “I would not endure such language” [if it were addressed to me = conditional clause].

2. The conjunction is often omitted. Thus, in Shakespeare’s play of “Julius Caesar,” we find—

                                  “Were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits.”

RULE XXXVIII.—The Simple Infinitive—without the sign to—is used with auxiliary verbs, such as may, do, shall, will, etc.; and with such verbs as let, bid, can, must, see, hear, make, feel, observe, have, know, etc.

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(i) Let darkness keep her raven gloss.

(ii) Bid the porter come.

(iii) I saw him run after a gilded butterfly.

(iv) We heard him cry.

(v) They made him go, etc., etc.

It was the Danes who introduced a preposition before the infinitive. Their sign was at, which was largely used with the infinitive in the Northern dialect.

RULE XXXIX.—The Gerund is both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it is governed by a verb or preposition; as a verb, it governs other nouns or pronouns.

There are two gerunds—(i) one with to; and (ii) one that ends in ing.

(i) The first is to be carefully distinguished from the ordinary infinitive. Now the ordinary infinitive never expresses a purpose; the gerund with to almost always does. Thus we find—

“And fools who came to scoff remained to pray.”

This gerund is often called the gerundial infinitive.

(ii) The second is to be distinguished from the present participle in ing, and very carefully from the abstract noun of the same form. The present participle in ing, as loving, hating, walking, etc., is always an adjective, agreeing with a noun or pronoun. The gerund in ing is always a noun, and governs an object. “He was very fond of playing cricket.” Here playing is a noun in relation to of, and a verb governing cricket in the objective. In the words walking-stick, frying-pan, etc., walking and frying are nouns, and therefore gerunds. If they were adjectives and participles, the compounds would mean the stick that walks, the pan that fries.

(iii) The gerund in ing must also be distinguished from the verbal noun in ing, which is a descendant of the verbal noun in ung. “He went a hunting” (where a = the old an or on); “Forty and six  years was this temple in building;” “He was very impatient during the reading of the will.” In these sentences hunting, building, and reading are all verbal nouns, derived from the old verbal noun in ung, and are called abstract nouns. But if we say, “He is fond of hunting deer;” “He is engaged in building a hotel;” “He likes reading poetry,”—then the three words are gerunds, for they act as verbs, and govern the three objectives, deer, hotel, and poetry.

RULE XL.—The Gerundial Infinitive is frequently construed with nouns and adjectives. Thus we say: “A house

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to sell or let;” “Wood to burn;” “Deadly to hear, and deadly to tell;” “Good to eat.”

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