THE ELEMENTS
OF LANGUAGE
P. H. CHAMBERS
f BERKELEY
L^ARY
UNIvRplTY OF
CALlfORNJA
li
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
Microsoft Corporation
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THE ELEMENTS
OF LANGUAGE
BY
F. H. CHAMBERS, M.A.,
Headmaster of the Lincoln Grammar School.
LINCOLN :
J. W. Ruddock & Sons, 287 High Street.
Printed for the Author by
J. W. Ruddock & Sons, High Street,
Lincoln, from whom any required
number of copies may be obtained,
price 1/6 nett
(postage extra, single copy 3d.).
PIS'!
C45
PREFACE.
The following pages are quite unconventional and no
doubt differ considerably from the accepted type of
grammatical text book.
They put forward, nevertheless, no new theory.
They deal with a method rather than with a theory,
and their aim is simple and definite — to meet certain
practical difficulties which exist in the teaching of
language, more especially of Latin, in certain kinds of
school.
The present writer has been responsible for a school
of moderate size for the last nine years. He has been
subject during most of that time to the restrictions
of the Board of Education, and has had to deal with
perhaps a larger proportion than usual of boys whose
school life has been short — nearer three years than four,
and who began it without any previous preparation
in any language but their own.
He has no desire to dogmatise about other schools
and about other people's experience ; but, as far as
his own goes, there is no question in his mind but that
the problem of teaching Latin, and indeed language
generally, in the modern State-controlled Secondary
School is an utterly different one from what it was when
time tables were roughly divided between Classics
and Mathematics, and when school-life extended to
seventeen or eighteen.
IV. THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
There was time then to get through those initial
stages when the forms were learnt by heart, and used
with painful unintelligence. After a period of this,
the light dawned gradually, and, given time, a fair
proportion of boys passed on to a real appreciation of
language and its uses.
Under present conditions there is no time. A lesson
a day is all that most schools can afford. The study
of Latin often ends altogether at sixteen ; and there
are, in point of fact, dozens of boys who never get past
the initial stages at all.
These boys never really know what a Case is or a
Mood ; their experience of Latin is the useless and
barren one of learning forms by heart, of putting certain
Cases after certain Verbs because the master or the
text book tell them to, or of going through certain
tricks with " ut " and a Subjunctive Mood ; their sole
stimulus is that of the organ-grinder's monkey, stripes
when they fail, sugar when they succeed.
If Latin is to form a real part of the machinery of
education, it seems to the writer essential that the
early stages should become something very different
from what convention at present makes them ; above
all that they should be logical instead of being as at
present, an arsenal of unintelligent rules.
Commonsense surely points to this. In Mathematics,
to use a formula unintelligently is a crime. Tricks
with symbols, unsupported by a knowledge of principles,
are not tolerated for a moment by any teacher who
knows his business.
Yet in Grammar the unintelligent formula is rampant .
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE V.
There is no book on earth that dogmatises as a Latin
Grammar does.
To take examples at random :
" Copulative Verbs take the same case after them as
before them."
" Verbs which govern the Dative in the Active are
only used impersonally in the Passive."
" Historic Tenses in the principal sentence are always
followed by Historic Tenses in the Subordinate Clause."
" The Imperfect Subjunctive in Conditional Sentences
becomes Imperfect Subjunctive when thrown into the
Oblique form."
These are formulae pure and simple ; each and all of
them and the dozens like them, which any work on
syntax will reveal, need boldly challenging.
If they are true, why are they true ? The writer asks,
as a schoolmaster, whose business it is to stuff these things
down young throats ? Are there no reasons to be found
for all these rules ? Are there no first principles at the
back of the formulas ? Has language really developed
on lines of arbitrary and purposeless disorder ? Is it
all that scholars can do for us, to tell us that these
things are so, that they are idioms, that they have
grown with use ? " Learning the alphabet is a dull
business," they say, " nevertheless he who desires to
read must do it."
If the parallel holds, Latin ceases to be a right and
proper instrument of education for certain Schools.
To show that it does not hold, at any rate for a part of
the field, is the object the writer has set before himself.
The following chapters are the record of an attempt
VI. THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
to eliminate from the elements of language rules and
formulae of any sort, and to teach from first principles
only.
The chapters grew in the schoolroom, coping with
the muddle that mechanical rules always have produced
and always will. They are left designedly exactly as
they grew. Their value, if they have any, lies in the
method they exemplify, and there is only one way to
make a method clear, namely, to show it in operation.
For this reason the writer apologises neither for collo-
quialisms nor for homely illustration nor for omissions.
They all had their purpose, and they are left as they
were used.
He has sometimes been asked whether the book is
intended for the teacher or the boy. The answer is,
for both. The boy is addressed as the quickest way of
demonstrating to the teacher the practicability or
otherwise of the method. Many teachers believe
grammar from first principles to be an impossible ideal.
The opinion has been expressed to the writer again and
again. The only way to meet the objection is to put
the actual lesson on paper.
On the other hand, boys do not read text book
explanations ; nor do teachers adopt bodily other
teachers' methods ; nor is most of the matter dealt with
in this book such as can be taught otherwise than by
word of mouth. The practical use of the book will
rather be this ; there is a logical argument running
through it, which will need grasping and conserving ;
when the teacher has adapted it to his own methods
and his own pupils, the book will serve the same purpose
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE VU.
to the grammar lesson that the geometrical text book
does to the geometry lesson.
A further reason for leaving the lessons as they stand
is that they have a certain natural order, which in most
cases is not the writer's at all, but the direct product of
the boys' difficulties.
" Please, sir, what is it for ? " was the question put
by a little boy of twelve, who was struggling with a Case.
It was impossible to tell him what it was for without
previously familiarising him with the idea of an in-
flection.
To define an inflection, as any experienced teacher
knows, is of no use. The boy has to examine, in his
own language, inflections of his own inflecting till the
use of the form dawns on him.
Even then he has practically no Cases in English.
Yet for that very reason he has the forms that do the
work Case once did — the equivalents of Case : — Order
and Prepositions. They are both forms he uses in his
own speech with perfect readiness and precision. How,
except by examining these under careful guidance, can
he form an intelligent idea of what Case is ?
Such considerations as these often leave no choice
either of the matter to be treated, or of the order of
its presentation.
There are similar questions which may be asked with
equal reason. What is a Voice for ? What is a Sub-
junctive Mood for ? What is an Infinitive Mood for ?
What are the separate Subjunctive Tenses for ? The
answer which the boy mostly gets is " They are to
follow another form." It is no answer at all. After
VU1. THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
x comes y. What profit to know it, if they are both
unknowns ?
The same line of reasoning suggests other queries.
Why is a Preposition enshrined among the parts of
speech when a Case inflection, which is its parallel,
is left out in the cold ?
Why in grammar after grammar and declension after
declension is the Nominative Case installed in the place
of honour without a word of reference to the English
tool for doing the same work, — the principle of order.
Again, why is the Conjunction allowed to monopolise
the whole idea of connection in the way that it does ?
Ninety-nine boys out of a hundred never dream that
there is any means in language of expressing a connection
other than a Conjunction. The forms that are under
their noses, — proximity, order, inflections, stops,
prepositions, — are so familiar that they are utterly
neglected. The consequence is, the neglected forms,
when used, are used mechanically. A formula and not
commonsense becomes the guide.
It is not the boy's fault, it is the fault of the con-
ventional manner in which the subject is presented
to his mind. Hence the prominence given in this book
to connection. It is only reasonable. Analysis is a
recognised form of grammatical exercise : why not
synthesis ? Connection of various kinds is the very
breath of life to language. It is only in the study of the
work they have to do that some of the connectives,
e.g., the Subjunctive Mood, can be properly under-
stood.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE IX.
Teachers using this book will probably find it neces-
sary to deal very slowly and thoroughly with the in-
troductory part, that concerned with the recognition
of the fundamental ideas.
Until this foundation is properly laid, it is useless
to go on.
It is not sufficient, moreover, for a boy to be able
to recognise the Subject, Verb and Object in such a
sentence as " The carpenter made the box."
He must also be able to deal thoughtfully with such
a sentence as " It is not a very good light."
Such sentences, as a very short experience will show,
abound in his own speech.
What is the Verb in this sentence ? What is the
Subject ? What are the non-essentials ?
There may be several answers to these questions.
If so, all the better. To train the boy to judge be-
tween them is the business in hand. Do it, and he will
say when he comes to put it into French :
Cette lumiere n'est pas bien bonne.
Fail to do it and he will give you the bald trans-
cription :
II n'est pas une tres bonne lumi&re.
On the other hand, once this part of the work is done,
the latter parts are very quickly assimilated. The
conditions, in the writer's experience, are exactly
similar to those of geometrical teaching. Lay the
foundations deep and firm, and progress in the next
stage is rapid and sure. If they are not so laid, to go
to the next stage at all is waste of time.
Some teachers may disagree with certain terms that
Xll THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The rule which one sentence suggests, the next one con-
tradicts, and the boy is constantly forced back from
the form to what lies behind it. The teacher systemati-
cally using " live " sentences will have many questions
put to him which are difficult to answer, but his pupils
will not be able to help but think.
Again, there may seem, towards the end of the book,
overmuch abstract thinking.
Abstractions no doubt, are hard for boys ; but in
some cases, in that of the Subjunctive, for example, the
alternative to risking a more or less abstract explanation
is the mischievous and dangerous course of letting the
boy use the Mood without knowing what it means.
The writer's experience goes to show that the difficulty,
so far as these lessons go, is by no means formidable.
Theory, as always, must be administered in not too
large doses, and followed by an immediate instalment of
practice ; for example, the theory of the Subjunctive
would be followed by the analysis of the Subjunctives
in a page or two of familiar Latin. Given, however,
these and such other precautions as will suggest them-
selves to an experienced teacher, no confusion need be
apprehended — none at least in any way comparable
with what is inevitable, if theory is left untouched and
practice unintelligent.
Lastly. The writer desires to acknowledge his in-
debtedness to Heyse's "Deutsche Grammatik," for the
main part of the chapter on the developments of the
cases ; and to his friends and colleagues in his own
school for invaluable help and criticism.
F. H. C.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I. i7
The Sentence and its essential components. Nouns.
Verbs. Subjects. Objects.
The Substitution of the Pronoun for the Noun -
Elementary Classification of Verbs.
The Servant Words of the Sentence. The Ad-
jective. The Adverb.
Replacing Phrases and Sentences.
The Connectives of the Sentence. Prepositions.
Conjunctions.
CHAPTER II. 41
Inflection, and its purpose. The alternative
method of expression.
Elementary Case Inflections in Latin and their
use. The English and French alternatives.
Order and Prepositions.
Elementary Tense Inflections in Latin. English
and French parallel forms.
The Mood Inflections. The Infinitive " and Par-
ticipial forms ; their meaning and the principles
which govern their use.
The Active and Passive Voice. The construction
of the forms they employ.
CHAPTER III. 85
Adjectives and Adverbs. The Servant words.
The necessity of proper attachment. The
necessity of proper subordination. The means
used to secure these two ends in Latin, French
CHAPTER IV. 92
The principles of Classification. Their application
to the various parts of speech, more especially
to Pronouns. Examination of the Reflexive,
the Demonstrative, the Relative Pronouns, etc.
xiii.
XIV. CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER V. no
Agreement ; in connection with the adjective ; in
cases of apposition ; in the Subject Verb com-
bination.
The government of nouns, wrongly so called.
CHAPTER VI. n8
Parsing. What it is. What it is not. Where
its difficulties lie.
CHAPTER VII. 124
Analysis. First approximation, i.e. the formal
identification of the parts of speech, of little
practical value. Second approximation ; the
distinction between the essentials and the
luxuries of a sentence. Recognition of the real
essentials. The necessity of their predominance.
Precautions against the encroachment of the
subordinate elements. The mending of faulty
sentences, and the application of the principles
to composition generally.
Suggestions for more complex analysis.
Third approximation ; the relative values of
different words to the central idea, as shown
in English by order.
CHAPTER VIII. 152
Synthesis : as important as analysis. Basis of
connection between words or sentences the
already existing connections between the things
or ideas they represent. Examination of this
connection for the case of two sentences. In-
dependent and dependent relationships. The
tools for their expression The Conjunctions.
Other connections examined. Subject-Verb,
Adjective-Noun, etc. The tools for their ex-
pression. Case. Order. Prepositions.
CHAPTER IX. 159
The connection of replacing sentences. The Ad-
verb sentence. Various forms of Adjective
sentence. The Noun sentence. The distinc-
tion between the independent and the depen-
CONTENTS. XV.
PAGE
dent connections. The expression of a depen-
dent connection and the use of the Subjunctive
mood involved. The expression of an indepen-
dent connection. The Mood used in indepen-
dent connection. The analysis of compound
relative combinations and the principles of their
connection.
CHAPTER X. 172
The Subjunctive Mood and its definition. In what
sense does it possess Tenses ? General Analysis
of Tense. Grouping of the Tense Forms. The
relationships of the Groups. The relations of
the Subjunctive Tenses with the Future In-
dicatives— and with the Infinitives. The
Sequence of Tenses.
CHAPTER XL 187
A further analysis of the steps of connection ;
and of the exact function of the different
connectives, proximity, case, order, preposi-
tions, and more especially of the co-ordinate and
subordinate conjunctions. (This may be deferred
till the second reading of the subject, if desired).
CHAPTER XII. 199
Practical applications of the foregoing principles.
CHAPTER XIII. 207
A general analysis of the ideas expressed by Case.
CHAPTER XIV. 215
Appendix. Some definitions. Notes on Oratio
Obliqua.
CHAPTER I.
THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS.
Words are tools — tools of expression.
Tools are made to be used — not to be hung up in
shining rows and classified.
If you want to be a carpenter you do not begin
by wandering round the workshop naming every tool,
you can see, large and small.
On the contrary, you are given some simple tool,
you watch it being used, you use it yourself, first on
simple and then on more difficult work. By using it
you soon discover the laws of the tool, what it is for,
what it will do, what it will not do. Then you go on
to a second, and so on.
The name of the tool does not matter much. Of
course it has a name, but it is knowledge of the thing,
not of its name, that matters.
Similarly with word tools, not the names but the
work they do, and the way they do it are the important
things.
To gain this knowledge you must watch the words
being used. Where ?
In your own speech and in that of your friends.
You start with this great advantage over the budding
carpenter, that you can and do use a very large number
of these tools correctly and effectively.
You can express by words most things that you want
to say, and you generally use the words perfectly rightly.
b ; -17
Sentence
l8 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
You do it, however, not because you understand the
tools that you are using, or anything about them, but
because of long habit.
You have been expressing thoughts by words, ever
since you could speak, never troubling about how it
was done, but still doing it correctly.
You have now to look more closely at the words, the
tools you have been unconsciously using.
You have to watch them at work, and use them again
yourself (intelligently this time), till you discover the
laws which govern them.
§1 To begin with you do not talk in single words.
IhA _ Anything you say with any sense in it is practically
always made of two or more words.
For example, if I say Kitten, it is not exactly
nonsense but it is not sense. If I say The kitten
furred it is sense.
If you do not believe it, try for some single word
conversation yourselves.
Here is an example :
A. Go.
B. What ?
A. Go.
B. Go?
A. Yes.
B. Shan't.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 19
How long can you keep this up ? It gets a little
tiring, doesn't it ? Does it make sense ? Yes. Only
on one condition though — That you supply out of your
own head a lot of words which are not spoken. That is
wha,t makes it tiring. The sentences are not really
one-word sentences at all. There are some more words
there, which you mean and don't say.
It does not always follow that every time two or three
words are put together it is sense. I might say for
example Kitten ran tail, which is not sense.
A collection of sense-making words is called a
sentence. You use hundreds of such sentences
daily.
The next thing you have to do is to examine some §2
sentences. As those you use have sometimes (though Nouns
you probably do not know it) rather complicated verbs
parts to them, it will be better to begin with
some simple ones ; for example, say something simple
about a cat.
" The cat scratched the baby."
Look at this sentence. It is made of words Cat
Scratched. Baby. These are not all alike. Which
are alike ? Cat. Baby.
Draw a picture of them both.
What are they ? Names, — the name of an animal—
the name of a person.
20 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Scratched. Draw a picture of " scratched." You
cannot. It does not describe a thing, but an action.
Scratched is the word that tells you what was
happening.
Say something about a lion.
"The lion ate the donkey."
Which of these words are alike ? Lion and donkey.
They are like cat and baby in the previous sentence,
Names, — the names of two animals.
Ate again is like scratched—it tells you what
was happening.
Say something about the sun.
"The sun shone,"
Sun is like cat, baby, lion, donkey, a name, the
name of a thing.
Shone tells you what was happening.
Say something about your brother.
My brother is stupid.
Brother is like cat, baby, lion, donkey, a Name,
the name of a person.
Is stupid tells you what is happening.
In these sentences, therefore, we get two main sets
of words, first Names, names of persons — like brother,
or of things— like sun, or of animals— like cat, donkey,
These words are called NOUNS: the names of any-
thing or anybody.
The other sort is the kind that tells you what is
happening. Scratching, eating, shining, being stupid.
Such words are called YERBS
Now Verbs are very important words — kings of the
sentence in fact. You must learn to recognise them.
No sentence can stand up without a Verb ; it is like
a boy without a backbone.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 21
Try. Willy — the lamppost.
What does that mean ? Put a verb in, and another.
Try again. Father — boots.
What does this mean ? Put a verb in.
In the same way make sense of :—
The tiger — the elephant.
The ship — the flag.
The horse — the corn.
Make a list of the words you have inserted in all
these sentences.
Rewrite the sentences, putting in other similar words.
Again, make sense of :
The tiger -
The ship - -
The horse - -
by putting something in.
Make a list of the words you put in.
Now examine your lists. You will hnd the words
in them are all like Scratched, ate, was stupid, the words
we had above.
All these words are verbs.
What do they tell you ? What is happening.
If you look at them closely you see two sorts of
things and only two happen. Verbs
i. People do things.
-».,,. 1. Actions
2. People are things. 2. States
We might say, therefore, Verbs describe actions or
states.
There are several parts to them sometimes.
The cat has been scratching the baby.
My brother was stupid.
describe
22 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The whole collection constitutes the Verb.
We see then that the Verb is that part of the sentence
which tells you what is happening. It is indispensable.
There is no sense in a sentence without it.
§3 Indispensable as the Verb is, however, there is another
The thing in the sentence which is equally indispensable.
Subject Supposing I say Shone, that tells something about the
action, but it does not tell you — What ? Was it the
sun that shone, — or the kettle — or your boots ? You
do not really know about the action until you know
who did it.
Supposing I say :
Drowned the cat,
there is something missing besides pussy. What is it ?
Information about the murderer.
Again, supposing I say :
Was stupid,
there is something missing. What is it ? Information
about who was stupid.
If the sentence, therefore, is to tell us anything
properly, besides having a verb to tell us about an
action, we must also have a word to tell us who did it ;
besides having a word to tell us about a state, we must
also have a word to tell us who or what was in it. The
word or words that do this work are called the Subject
words, or for shortness the Subject. (The word Subject
means " subject of the sentence," i.e., the person or
the thing the sentence is about).
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 23
We have now had three great ideas : Nouns, which Recapitu-
are a particular sort of word ; Verbs, which are another jjJJJJJJlaJf
sort ; Subjects, which are a part of the sentence.
It is essential before you go further that you should
be able to recognise these without a mistake. Practise
them therefore one at a time, thus : —
Nouns. Take a page of your reading book ; note Ex. i.
every noun you see. Write them in a list. Nouns
Take any verb you like ; attach one or sometimes
two nouns to it to make sense. Repeat this half-a-
dozen times with new verbs and new nouns.
You may find some doubtful words in the reading
book ; you will not be quite sure if they are nouns or
not. Ask yourself whether they are the names of any-
thing or anybody. If you cannot settle it yourself,
ask somebody who knows. You will not find Nouns
on the whole at all hard to recognise.
Verbs. Collect and write out a number of short
sentences of three or four words. Do not invent them
for the purpose — you will probably invent them all
alike if you do — but catch them alive, i.e., take sen-
tences that you actually say to other people, or that
other people say to you. For example, " I had not got
time," " My bicycle broke." Mind and take little
ones.
24 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
In these sentences, first of all notice all the verbs :
convince yourself that you use one in every sentence.
Then write them all down in a column.
What does a verb tell you ? What happens.
What does happen ? Actions or states.
Go to each verb separately and ask yourself whether
it is describing an action or a state, i.e., is somebody
doing something or is somebody being something ?
Write action or state by the side of the word accordingly
Next write half-a-dozen sentences about a ship.
Pick out the verbs you use. Put action or state at the
side of them as before.
Ex. 4. Repeat this half-a-dozen times, with any other noun
Terbs yon like.
Do not be afraid to reckon as the verb all the words
that tell you about the action or the state. For
example :
I am going to see him to-morrow,
" am going to see " is the verb.
He looked ill,
" looked ill," not " looked " is the verb.
You will find some words that seem to you doubtful.
Ought they to be state verbs or action verbs ? If you
cannot settle it for yourself, leave them and ask some-
body who knows.
E%. 5 Subjects. Write in a column the following sentences
Subject 1. Jones lent him his bicycle.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
25
2. I have been very ill.
3. The house was burnt down.
4. My uncle gave me sixpence.
5. He will be fourteen next week.
6. That will hurt you.
7. Your exercise is nonsense.
8. I have not a penny.
9. The dentist pulled out six teeth.
10. This is not yours.
Examine the verb in each of these sentences. Make
up your mind whether it is an action verb or a state
verb.
Write " action " or " state " accordingly in a parallel
column by the side of the sentence.
Then go to each sentence with one or the other of
the following questions : —
1. Is it an action verb ? If so, somebody did
the action. Who ?
2. Is it a state verb ? If so somebody was in
the state. Who ?
The answer gives you the Subject. Write it in another
parallel column opposite the sentence.
Again, make a collection of a dozen live sentences Ex^ 6
as before. Do the same for each sentence in the col- subject
lection.
Note. — You will do well to keep the various collections of live
sentences you make. Flowers are best studied growing, not in a
picture book ; and words are best studied in their natural place,
namely, in your own speech and that of those around you.
Such collections will be needed for almost every form or word
you study.
26 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Never allow in them anything you do not actually hear ; also
reject, at any rate at first, any sentences that are not fairly
straightforward. They might cause you difficulty. Afterwards
it will not matter. Questions especially are puzzling.
Such collections are most useful when they are roughly classi-
fied, e.g.,
A collection of action sentences,
A collection of state sentences,
A collection of double sentences, and so on.
You will perhaps find among the sentences you have
just treated, some in which the Subjects are not easy
to see at first. For example :
" Let us go home."
What is the verb ? "let us go."
What sort ? Action.
Who was to do the going ? We.
u We " therefore is the subject of " let us go."
Again,
Go away.
What is the verb ? Go. Action verb as before.
Who was to do it ? You.
" You " is the Subject.
§4 Again, examine the column of Subjects of all the
Pronouns sentences you have treated thus.
What sort of words are they ? Mostly nouns.
Any others ? Probably.
Collect them. " I," " he," " we," " that," " this,"
or other words like them.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 2J
What are these words ? Words which seem to come
in and occupy the noun's place. They clearly mean
the same as the nouns.
What does " he " mean ? " Jones."
What is " Jones " ? Noun.
That is to say " he " means the same as a certain
noun.
Such words are called Pronouns. They are words
which do exactly the same work as nouns and replace
them.
Why do they replace them ? Why cannot nouns do
their own work ? You will see the answer if you try
to say this without Pronouns :
He gave me sixpence, because he was so pleased
with me, and told me not to spend it all at once.
We have spoken of Verb and Subject. Is the sentence §5
now complete, if we know what is done and who did it ? The Objec
Examine some sentences.
"The sun shines."
Is this complete ? Yes.
"The dog barks."
Is this ? Yes.
" My brother is stupid."
Is this ? Yes.
"The boy broke ."
Is this ? If not, what do we want to know ?
28 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Clearly, to whom or to what the action is done. The
word that tells us this is called the Object.
§6 Examine the following Verbs :
Ex. 6. Struck. Shines. Fell down. Weave. Was ill.
Smiled. Grew fat. Built. Overflows. Broke.
Seems long. Annoy. Wrote. Brushed. Was
in a hurry. Flows. Sings, — and as many
more as you like to put in.
Put a Subject to them and see if the sentence is
complete.
If not, complete it as simply as possible.
Make a list of the words you completed it with.
What were they ? Nouns and pronouns.
Make a list of the verbs which needed completion.
Split this list again into two groups, action verbs
or state verbs as the case may be.
Make a list of the verbs which did not need com-
pletion. Label these action or state verbs as the case
may be.
You will find you will have three lists :
i. Action verbs which need no completion.
2. State verbs which need no completion.
3. Action verbs which need completion.
Transitive It is, then, a particular sort of action verb which
transitive neec*s completing, and the completion which it needs
▼erbs is information about the receiver of the action.
The word or words which supply that information
are called the Object words of the action, or more shortly,
the Object.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 20,
The other action verbs, on the other hand need no
receiver.
The two sets of action verbs might be called action
passing verbs and non-action passing verbs, according
as they pass their action on to a receiver or not.
They are usually called Transitive and Intransitive
verbs, which are Latin names meaning " the action
passes," " the action does not pass."
Take twenty live sentences. Pick out the action Em. 7.
sentences.
Arrange the action sentences in two groups, action
passing sentences, non-action passing sentences.
Notice carefully : an Object is not needed in all
sentences.
State verbs do not describe an action at all, so of
course they have no receiver of it.
Some action verbs do not need a receiver, but, when
the action does imply a receiver, then the Object is
indispensable. It is* like the Verb and the Subject in
this.
Again, when actions pass, as has just been explained, §7
they pass to somebody or something.
Often, however, they pass to more than one some-
body or something.
"I gave the lion the baby."
30 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The Two people are interested in this action — the lion
Object anc* ^e DaDv- It concerns them both. They are both
Objects.
It does not concern them, however, in the same way.
It makes a difference whether I gave the lion the baby,
or I gave the baby the lion.
Draw a picture of the first incident.
What have I got in my hand ? The baby.
Draw a picture of the second.
What have I got in my hand ? The lion, (stuffed
presumably) .
What gets given the first time ?
What gets given the second time ?
Each time the action, as it were, hits one of the
Objects first, then glances off and hits the other.
We can very well distinguish these Objects by calling
them Object No. 1 and Object No. 2. They are often
called the Direct Object and the Indirect Object.
It does not follow that every time you have a pair of
Objects, they are No. i and No. 2.
You might have two No. i Objects.
"I saw my brother and his wife,"
or again, No. i Objects and No. 2 Objects mixed.
" I offered the lion the baby and some biscuits.' '
Summary To summarise — for the complete sense of every sen-
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 31
tence we must know about the action or the state,
(the Verb tells us this) :
We must know who does it or is in it, (the Subject
tells us this) :
Sometimes, though not always, we must know to
whom actions are done (the Objects tell us this).
The Subject, Verb and Objects are the kings of the §8
sentence. They contain its main meaning and do its The
real work. ™
Now these kings, like other kings, have servants.
A servant's business is always to do something for
his master which his master does not do for himself.
The Verb has such a servant — the ADVERB.
It is the Adverb's business, not to describe the main The
action itself, (which is the verb's business), but to Adverb
describe something about the action which the verb
does not — how or when or where or why it took place.
Here are some at work.
i. I saw him yesterday.
2. The sun shines brightly.
3. My father is coming soon.
4. Don't speak so loud.
The Subjects and Objects, which are mainly Nouns, The
have also such a servant— the ADJECTIVE. Adjective
32 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The Adjective's business is, not to describe the
things themselves, (that is the Noun's business), but
to tell us something about them which the Noun itself
does not tell us. Here are some at work,
i. Make up a good fire.
2. He had a white rose in his buttonhole.
3. I like a low chair.
4. He would make an excellent policeman.
Note that the Adverb, which is mainly the servant
of the Verb, can also do odd jobs for an Adjective or
another Adverb. Here are some Adverbs at such work.
1. He is not a very nice boy.
2. You have come too soon.
3. His face is quite black.
We have thus as the elements of a full sentence :
1. Subjects, Verbs, and Objects.
2. Their servants.
Now it is of the utnnst importance that you should
be able to recognise all these various elements with
certainty and precision.
Until you are able to do this you have no business
to go further, for you will understand nothing.
Nothing but practice will give you the requisite power.
Practice will always take the same form, an examina-
tion of your own speech.
To recognise Objects, take your various sets of live
sentences. Choose one. Is there any set will serve
your purpose better than another ?
There are at least two sets which cannot contain
Objects. Which are they ?
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 33
i. Having found your set of action passing sentences, Ex. 8.
which is the one you need, go through it, labelling the objects
Objects. Distinguish No. i Object from No. 2.
Make a list of the No. 1 Objects and examine it.
You will find the same mixture of Nouns and Pronouns
that you found among the Subjects.
Do the same for Object No. 2.
2. Label the Objects in any set of live sentences Ex
chosen at random. Objects
It will keep you straight if you label the Verbs before
you touch the Objects, otherwise you may label a word
as Object in a state sentence, which is nonsense.
As you improve, label the Objects without this pre-
caution.
Repeat this exercise till you are perfect.
3. Practise putting some Objects in. %x IO
Take any Verb you please. Add a Subject, then an objects
Object, if it admits one, No. 1 or No. 2, or both.
Of course make sense all the time.
Be careful not to confuse Objects with Adverbs.
Because a word follows a verb it is not therefore an
Object.
Don't call brightly an Object in " The sun shines
brightly."
The form of question to put to yourself is always :
What is the verb ? Shines.
Then, to whom is the shining done ? The answer
will give you the Object when there is one.
C
34 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Ex. ii. To recognise Adjectives and Adverbs.
Adjectives por Adjectives search any set of live sentences for
words that tell you something about a Noun. Make a
list of the words when you have found them. Note
that such words generally stand immediately before the
Noun and are therefore very easily recognised.
Ex. 12. For Adverbs, search similarly for words which tell
Adverbs y0U something about the Verb, i.e., about the action or
the state. Collect them in a list as before. The lists
will be useful later.
Ex. 13. Again, search your sets of sentences for words telling
Adverbs vou something about Adjectives or other Adverbs.
In these searches, you may come across sets of words
doing the work you are concerned with, as well as single
words, e.g.,
" I spent an hour in the garden."
If you understand what the set is doing, label it
accordingly. If not, let it alone till you have got to the
end of the next chapter and go back and label it then.
§9 We have spoken of Sentences. They are made of
Subjects, Verbs and Objects, with their servants.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 35
What have Subjects and Objects mainly been ?
Nouns and Pronouns.
They can be, however, not only single words, but Replacing
« f, i * Phrases
collections of words, e.g., and
What he said surprised me. Sentences
I like to go out for a walk.
Find in the usual way the Subjects and Objects of
these sentences. You will see they are collections of
words. Servants also can be collections of words.
" I shall come to see you, when I am in town."
These collections of words are not all alike.
Compare
" I shall come to see you, when I am in town."
" I shall come to see you at 10 o'clock."
" I shall come to see you soon."
" when I am in town." J are all doing the same work,
" at 10 o'clock." viz. : assisting " shall
" soon." J come to see." Hence
) they are all Adverbs.
" Soon " is a single word Adverb,
"At 10 o'clock " is what is called an Adverb phrase,
that is to say a collection of words without a Verb which
does duty for an Adverb.
" When I am in town " is an Adverb sentence.
Similarly, a collection of words without a Verb, which
does duty for an Adjective, would be an Adjective phrase.
Make some.
Can you have Noun phrases ?
A sentence, as you saw above, can stand for an
Adverb. Can it stand for an Adjective.
Can it stand for a Noun ?
36 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Sentences or phrases standing for different parts of
speech will naturally have just the same importance
or otherwise as the words they replace.
For example, a sentence standing for the Subject
would be one of the kings of the full sentence.
A sentence standing for an Adverb would be one of
the servants of the full sentence.
You must now, in exactly the same way as before,
learn to recognise these replacing sentences and phrases.
Your own speech, as before, will be the place to
search for them. You will find plenty of replacing
phrases in it.
" I am going into the garden."
" It looks like the beginning of winter."
" I was told so by a man in the train."
You will not find so many replacing sentences. You
do not use these so freely.
To study replacing sentences, therefore, catch some
fairly long live sentences, e.g.
Ex. 14. » 1 did not know what he had done, till he told me."
Phrases, Label every replacing sentence or phrase as you come
to it, either Noun, Adjective or Adverb according to
its work.
Catch and go through one set of live sentences after
another till you are as much at home with replacing
sentences or phrases as you are with the single words
which they represent.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 37
It is further highly necessary that you should get a §10
sharp sense of the difference which exists between the Essentials
work of the kings of the sentence and that of their 2nd N°n~
& Essentials
servants. of the
The Subject, Verb and Object are indispensable. Sentence
The sentence can say nothing without them.
The servants add fullness to the sentence but they
are luxuries.
It is easy enough to see the difference between the
kings and their servants when they are single words ;
it is not always so easy when replacing sentences come
in.
It is a difference you ought to be able to tell at a
glance. To gain this power of quick distinction, write
a considerable number of your live sentences, especially
the longer ones, with the servant parts in red ink.
Do not confuse the sentences that replace Subjects Ex. 15.
or Objects with those that replace Adjectives or Adverbs. Replacing
Subject or Object replacing sentences are not servants, Sentence
but kings. Write them in black, like the verb.
1. I am going home to-morrow.
2. I lost the knife you gave me (Adj. sentence).
3. We buried the puppy in the garden. (Adv.
phrase).
(Subject 4. He who takes what isn't his'n, when he's
Sentence) cotched will go to prison.
(Adv. sentence).
5. Come and see me next time you are here.
(Adv. sentence).
(Subject 6. What you say does not interest me.
Sentence) at all. (Adv. phrase).
junctions
38 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
You will find occurring in sentences which you
examine two other sorts of words which have not yet
been noticed.
§11 The first sort are words you use freely — CONJUNC-
Con- TIONS. Here are some at work.
1. Mr. Jones and his friends made a great noise.
2. • It is expensive but good.
3. I took my umbrella because I thought it would rain.
4. They cost two or three shillings apiece.
5. He did it, though I told him not to.
6. We thought that it would make no difference.
Such words as these are used for joining things to-
gether, words or sentences. There are two kinds. The
first kind joins only like things together, such as two
principal sentences, two Objects, two Adjectives which
are helping the same Noun, and so on. Here are some
at work.
1. Mr. Jones and his friends made a great noise.
2. It is expensive but good.
3. They cost two or three shillings apiece.
The second kind do joining work too, but of a some-
what different kind. They join some of the replacing
sentences mentioned above on to the main sentences.
Why some only, you will learn later on. You can
always tell them ; they stand right at the beginning
of the replacing sentences. See sentences 3, 5, and 6.
§12 The second kind of word is called a PREPOSITION.
Pre- Here are some at work.
positions ^ We sat under the tree>
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 39
1 am going to London.
There is no water in the well.
The clock stands between the door and the fireplace.
The field is full of turnips.
I said nothing whatever to him.
It has nothing to do with him.
Search for similar words in any of your sets of live
sentences. Make a list of the words you find.
What are they doing ? Notice in the first place they
are always before a Noun or a Pronoun ; they are, in a
sense, servants of this word ; they express its connection
with some other word in the sentence.
You will see this more easily when you grasp the fact
that, with the Noun, they always make an Adjective
or Adverb phrase.
To do this pick out and label the phrases in the above
group of sentences, thus —
" We sat under the tree."
" Under the tree " is a phrase describing where sitting
went on. It helps the Verb. It is therefore an Adverb,
and the word " under " brings ° tree " into connection
with the sitting.
When you have learnt more about the Preposition a
chapter or two on, come back and trace the connections
in a similar way for the other sentences, also for any
Prepositions you find at work in your own sets of live
sentences. For the present, however, it is too soon
to speak of the $xact work of either Prepositions or
Conjunctions.
Learn to recognise the two tools when you see them
in use.
40 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
You can generally tell them both by their position.
We shall discuss by and by what we do with them.
Summary The main summary of the work of the parts of speech
therefore is* as follows : —
The VERB does the central work, describing the state
or the action.
The NOUNS do the other important work, describing
the SUBJECTS and the OBJECTS.
The PRONOUNS take their places sometimes.
The SERVANT work for the Verb is done by the
ADVERB, that for the Nouns by the ADJECTIVE.
Collections of words — that is to say phrases or whole
sentences — can do duty for Adjectives or Adverbs or
Nouns. It is in these collections that the PREPOSI-
TIONS are wanted.
CONJUNCTIONS do not do the real business of the
sentence, but help to stick together the words, or sets
of words, that do.
So much for the work that words have to do. The
next thing will be to examine the way they do it.
Note. — The Verb will often be spoken of in the future as ex-
pressing action. This is for shortness only. The word "action "
in this connection will mean where necessary "Action or
State."
CHAPTER II.
INFLECTION.
You yourself in your everyday speech are constantly §1
changing the form of words; e.g., you turn "pig" to Changes in
"pigs," "speak" to "spoke," and so on. Find t^e°frds and
twenty or thirty words which change in this way. Meaning
Notice that some of them change twice. Man, men,
men's. Say, said, saidst. Find some such words.
Some words again do not change at all. Find some.
The change is sometimes done in the middle, like
man, men, but oftenest by addition, like pig, pigs.
What we have now to discover is what these changes
are for. The kind of answer you feel inclined to give
give is " Feminine," " Plural." Avoid any such
answer : it means nothing.
What does " pigs " mean that " pig " does not ? That
there is more than one pig. The " more than one "
idea is therefore due to the — s ; that is to say — s
adds on to "pig" a new idea. What is it ?
Speak. Spoke.
What does " spoke " mean that " speak " does not ?
That the action is finished ; it has occurred in past time.
The idea of past time is therefore due to the "o,"
that is to say " o " adds a new idea to " speak." What
is it ?
Hero. Heroine.
What does " heroine " mean that " hero " does not ?
That we are talking of a lady, i.e., — " ine " adds
a new idea to " hero." What is it ?
4i
42 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Here then are three words which have been changed
or added to. Dozens more might be found.
What has the change done each time ? It has added
a new idea.
What were the three ideas added ? " More than
one," " past time," and that " it is a lady."
Changes are made therefore always for the same
general purpose, — to add some extra thought. As you
see above, the thought added may be of various kinds.
Such changes are called INFLECTIONS.
We may define them thus :— An INFLECTION is a
change in or an addition to the stem of a word to add
to the original idea of the word an additional idea.
Note. — When words are altered or added to in this
way there is a part of the word which changes and a
part which on the whole does not.
The part which on the whole does not change is
called the stem.
e.g., Laugh-s. Laugh-ed. Laugh-ing.
§2 Examine now the different sorts of words.
The Words Which of them change, and what for ?
££., N0™s-
and why Do these change ? Yes.
How ? i. Pig. Pigs.
What for ? More than one.
Any more changes ? 2. Pig's tail.
What for ? Possession.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 43
Any more ? 3. Actor. Actress.
What for ? To show it is a lady.
There are then at least three separate sorts of changes
in Nouns.
ADJECTIVES.
Yes. Nice. Nicer.
What for ? To show a comparison with
something else.
Any more ? No.
PRONOUNS.
He. Him.
What for ?
Investigate this for yourselves. What does " him "
mean that " he " does not ? What does " he " mean
that " him " does not ? Look at some sentences, e.g.,
He broke the window.
His mother whipped him.
VERBS.
Speak. Spoke.
What for ? To show the time of the action.
Speak. Speaks.
What for ? To show the person of the
action.
There are therefore two changes at least for Verbs.
There are others besides.
ADVERBS.
Soon. Sooner.
What for ? Like the Adjective, to show
comparison.
PREPOSITIONS do not change.
CONJUNCTIONS do not change.
44 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Ex. 1 6. Make a list of the parts of speech.
Divide it into three lists.
i. Those which change most.
2. Those which change less.
3. Those which do not change at all.
Compare these lists with the summary of the work
of the different parts of speech at the end of Chapter I.
§3 Again, it is essential for you to get firmly fixed in
your mind this great principle.
No word is ever altered for nothing.
Every alteration means something.
Examine some of the words in your own speech which
you yourselves alter, thus —
Take a set of live sentences.
Ex. 17. Make a list of every altered word you can find.
Analysis Opposite each word write all the separate meanings
Inflections there are in it : thus —
" Boys' boots are smaller than men's boots."
Boys. How many ideas ?
1. Boy. (The original one).
2. More than one.
3. Possession.
Boots. How many ideas ?
1. Boot.
2. More than one.
Are. How many ideas ?
1. Being.
2. Being now.
3. That more than one person or
thing is " being."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 45
Smaller. How many ideas.
1. Small.
2. Comparison.
and so on.
Repeat this till you can see at a glance the different
meanings that have been added to the original meaning
of any word.
You will no doubt find some words which will puzzle
you, e.g., "going."
Think them out if you can. Do not worry, however,
if you are unable to do this, but put them on one side,
to go back to later, or to ask about.
You should do this, whenever you come across any
form in your own speech which you cannot understand.
Remember, such forms are your own forms : you should
take the same interest in finding out what they really
are, that you would in a strange beast in the back
garden. Lock him up to study at your leisure, or get
someone to come in and identify him.
We have seen that inflections are additions to or §4
alterations in words, which add to the original meaning The Al-
of the word an extra meaning. ternative
This is not, however, the only way of doing this work, inflection
" The pig's tail."
Can you say this differently ?
"The tail of the pig."
What is the difference ?
There is no difference in meaning.
The two sets of words say the same thing, but the
extra idea, possession, has been added in a different way
46
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
How ? By a different word, not by an inflection.
This is a new principle which is directly opposite to
the old one.
Can you find examples in your own language where
this principle is used ; i.e., where the original word is not
changed or added to but a new idea is added by a
separate word or words ?
VERBS.
I shall speak. -
New way.
I spoke. -
Old way.
NOUNS.
The boy's book. -
Old way.
The book of the boy.
New way.
Duke. Duchess. -
Old or new ?
Doctor. Lady doctor.
Old or new ?
He-goat. She-goat. -
Old or new ?
Man. Men.
Is this old or
new ? Old.
What would be the new ? Two man.
We have
not got to
it yet.
ADJECTIVES.
— Nice. Nicer.
—Old.
— Beautiful. More beautiful. — New.
These two methods of expression represent two great
lines along which language has gone.
Some languages express themselves almost entirely
in what we have called the old way — i.e., by alterations
in or additions to the words.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 47
Greek and Latin, especially Greek, are prominent
among such languages.
All modern languages tend to the new way — that of
separate words ; but, inasmuch as the new languages
have grown out of the old ones, there is always some
mixture of the two methods. Some have more of the
inflections and fewer of the separate words ; others
vice versa.
The free use of separate words is especially char-
acteristic of English.
It is now possible to examine a language other than §5
our own. We will begin with Latin. Some
Look at these forms :- {*£*£
i. Naut - a.
2. Naut-a-m.
3. Naut-a-e.
What is all this ? A Latin noun with inflections on
it, each for a purpose, like " The pig's tail." It means
various things about a sailor.
Naut-a is the portion which means " sailor." Each
of the inflections is to add on an extra idea. What
idea is the whole point ?
Naut — is like a brace, the other things like a set of bits
What particular work are they each for ?
No. 1, which is as it were the original form, unchanged
denotes this idea, — that the Naut-a (i.e., the sailor)
is the doer of the action, or, if the verb happens to be a
state verb, the person or thing who is in the state, i.e.,
the Naut-a is the Subject of the sentence.
48 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Do English nouns, when subjects, have a special
termination like this ? No.
gher . Yet we constantly have to express the idea that a
Alterna- certain person is the doer of an action.
tives How is it done ?
Examine this sentence : —
Jones Brown kicked.
Who kicked whom ?
Rearrange the sentence to indicate that Jones did the
kicking ; or again to indicate that Brown did the kicking.
Can you see by what means we indicate the Subject ?
Order, i.e., the work that Latin does in this case by
the help of that -a we do by arranging our words in a
certain order.
Though we do not change Nouns to indicate the
Subject, do we change them at all ? Yes.
What for ? To add the idea of possession, or the
idea of number, i.e., we do similar things but not this
particular thing. This particular idea we express by
means of order.
Now No. 2. Naut-a-m.
What is this for ? Something like Naut — a, but to
show a different thing.
Naut-a unchanged showed that the Naut- a was doing
something.
Naut-a-m shows that the Naut-a is having something
done to him.
Do you remember anything like this ? "he,"
" him," showed the same thing.
No. 3. Naut-a-e.
What does this show ? That the Naut-a possesses
something.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 49
What is this like ? Pig's tail.
We see therefore, so far three inflections in Nouns,
each adding a special idea.
Recapitulate the ideas they add.
There are other similar ones to come.
The general name of this kind of Noun inflection is
CASE.
We have special cases to denote the addition of
special ideas, and of course each special case has a
special name.
Thus No. 1, which gave the idea of the noun being
the Subject we might appropriately call the Subject
Case. It is usually called the Nominative Case.
No. 2, which added the idea of the Noun being the
Object, we might appropriately call the Object Case.
English does sometimes call it the Objective Case. In
Latin it is generally called the Accusative Case.
No. 3, which added the idea of the noun being the
possessor of something, we might appropriately call
the Possessive Case. English nouns have this case and
this onlv. In Latin it is called the Genitive Case.
You have now had put into your hands a tool — the
Case tool — that is new and rather strange to you.
It is a Greek or Roman tool rather than a modern
English one. *
D
50 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
It is not the slightest good owning or learning about
such a tool, unless you use it. This is the next thing
you have to do.
You cannot use it on any ambitious work yet, but you
can use it thus : — Collect a few more simple nouns like
Naut - a,
Ros - a, a rose, Mens - a, a table, Penn - a,
a feather, Agricol - a, a farmer, are such nouns.
Then practise thus : —
I saw a sailor. - - Naut - What ? naut - am
I broke the leg of the table, mens - What ?
Ex. 1 8. Similarly, The sailor is merry.
The sailor sings.
He tore the sailor's trousers.
The farmer loves the sailor but the sailor does
not love the farmer.
A hen has feathers.
A rose grows in the garden.
Write for yourselves some sentences about sailors
and farmers and feathers, and see how far the tools yotJ
have will enable you to express yourself in Latin. Never
mind if you cannot always do it. It only means you
want a few more tools. You will get them later on.
§6 Again, we have been talking about nouns and their
changes, but, as you have already learnt, you cannot
say sentences without verbs.
Latin Verb Let us look at a Latin one. Have is a useful one.
Inflections Hab - e - o.
Present TT ,
Time Hab - e - s.
Hab - e - 1.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 51
What is this ? A verb with inflections.
It is like
I hav-e.
Thou hav-e -st. (hast).
He hav-e-s. (has).
What do we put the inflections on the English verbs
for ?
So far, two things. To show : —
1. Time of the action.
2. The person acting.
Now examine Hab - e - o.
What does hab - e mean ? Having now.
What does — o mean ? That I am doing it.
Similarly hab-e-s equals " having now," "that
you are doing it."
Similarly hab - e - t equals " having now," " that he
is doing it."
Here is another tool put into your hands, a tense
tool.
It is not such a strange one to you as the case tool,
for you use tense tools in your own language. Can you
think of any ?
Practise with it and notice that with the two tools
you can now make sense.
Practise thus : —
Say in Latin : — The sailor has a table. E*. 19.
— I have a feather.
— I have a rose.
— The farmer has a table.
You are short of some verbs. Collect a few more like
hab - e - o and say some things with them and the nouns
vou collected before.
52
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Plural
Inflection
You will find in the course of saying things that you
will want to say not only sentences like " I have a rose,"
but sentences like " They have some roses."
You have not yet got the tools either for saying " they
have," or for saying " more than one rose." There
are such tools. They are just like the rest.
The inflections for saying " more than one rose,"
or " sailor," or whatever it may be, you will find two
pages on.
Here are the verb tools you need. They are just like
the first three.
Hab - e - mus Having now. We are doing it.
Hab-e-tis You „
Hab-e-nt They „
We have, then, a set of half-a-dozen forms, all alike
in adding to the verb the idea of " doing it now " but
adding the ideas of different persons.
This " doing it now " set is called the PRESENT
TENSE.
Perfect
Tense
Inflection
Again, not all actions are done now : some have been
done in the past, some are going to be done in the
future. Therefore to speak of them at least two more
such sets will be needed.
Here they are for the " have " Verb.
Hab-u-i - Having in past time. I did it.
Hab-u-isti - „ „ Thou didst it.
Hab-u-it - „ etc. He
Hab-u-imus- ,, . We
Hab-u-Jtis - "1,?»$ You
Hab - u - erunt They
This set is called the PERFECT TENSE.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 53
Hab - eb - o - Having in future time. I shall have. Future
Hab-eb-is - Te°se
Inflection
Hab-eb-it - etc.
Hab - eb - imus
Hab-eb-itis -
Hab - eb - unt -
This set is called the FUTURE TENSE.
Now practise with these tense tools, as you did with
the Present tense tool. Combine them with the nouns
you collected before, to make simple sentences.
If you are not going to learn any Latin, do it all the
more. What you are learning is not Latin, but how
a tense tool and a case tool between them can say things.
You can learn this from what has gone before, even if
you never learn another word of Latin.
We will now return to our Latin noun. §7
We spoke of three Cases. What are they for ?
The Nominative (the Subject case) is the inflection
which shows the noun is doing something.
The Accusative (the Object case) is the inflection which
shows the noun is the receiver of an action.
The Genitive (the Possessive case) is the inflection
which shows the noun possesses something.
Often, however, we want to show other things about
54 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
nouns as well as these, e.g., that there is more than one
and that they are doing something.
Plural For example :
Case
Inflection Tne sailors sing.
We can say already :
The sailor sings.
How ? Naut - a.
We clearly want another change to add the " more
than one " idea.
Here is the change. Naut-ae.
Naut -a - one nauta - doing something.
Naut- a- e - more than one nauta - doing
something.
Both these inflections are called Nominative Cases.
One is called the Nominative Singular, and the other
the Nominative Plural. They pair.
In exactly the same way we often want to say that
sailors have something done to them.
Here is the pair of corresponding forms,
Naut - am Naut - as.
Or again that they own something.
Here are the corresponding forms.
Naut - ae. Naut - arum.
There are therefore two sets of Cases, the first set for
one only, the second for more than one.
These are called — The Singular Set.
—The Plural Set.
We have examples of the same thing in English.
Find some.
Singular. Plural.
Subject Case - The man fights. Men fight.
Possessive Case. The man's boots. Men's boots.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 55
As was said above, the three Cases we spoke of are §8
not all the Case inflections that nouns possess. There
is one very important one, which might be called the
Indirect Object Case, and which in Latin is called the
Dative Case. This is put on to show that the noun
suffers the action indirectly.
If the action were suffered directly, the Accusative
case would of course be needed.
You will remember learning about Object No. 2. Furt}!er
What was it ? Case
Just as the Accusative case is put on to show that the InHec"ons
Noun has something done to it directly, i.e., is the Dative
Object, so the Dative is put on to show that the noun
has something done to it indirectly, i.e., is the Second
or Indirect Object.
In the case of the Nauta the change is Naut - ae
(like the Genitive).
If there is more than one, the change is Naut - is.
There are two other Cases you will learn more about
later, but which you need merely notice now.
One is called the Vocative (the addressing Case), vocative
which adds on to the noun the idea of address.
O Sailor.
You will not often need to use this Case.
The other is called the Ablative and adds on any one
of two or three ideas, those roughly represented by the
words " by," " with," or " from."
Thus if you want to say :
The child was rescued by a sailor. Ablative
I went for a walk with a sailor.
I had a letter from a sailor.
56 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
the Ablative case, Naut -a expresses, (or at least helps
to express) any one of these thoughts.
In other words, the Ablative case has two or three
tasks to fulfil. It is a tool which has several different
uses.
You will find it not at all uncommon in all languages,
to use a word tool, whether a separate word or an in-
flection to mean two or three different things.
For example — the word " this " has several uses in
the English. Look at the sentences :
Whose is this book ?
This does not please me at all.
The word " this " has two different pieces of work
to do in these two sentences : it is first an adjective,
then a pronoun.
In the same way the Ablative inflection means at
one time one thing and at another, another. The
second will probably be related to the first, but still some-
what different.
You need not, however, worry about this. What
is meant in any particular sentence will generally be
pretty clear.
The main thing to remember is that the Case ending
means something. A noun with it on is not the same
as a noun without it.
Just as the first three Cases had plural counterparts,
so have these three.
You should note, too, that though j ust now for clear-
ness we spoke of the cases as adding a single idea (posses-
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 57
sion, object, etc.), yet the real account is that, except
the Nominative, they add groups of ideas, of which
the single idea you have had is the main one. This
too is a refinement you need not worry about at present.
As we have seen, Tense is that inflection of the verb §9
which adds the idea of the time of the action. Further
As there are three possible times for an action, there J-ffleetions.
will be three groups of tenses.
If we never wanted to speak of anything but a plain
Present, Past or Future action (or state) there would be
three plain tenses only.
We often, however, want to say more than this.
We may want to say, for example, that an action
started in the past may be going on still — may be in fact
unfinished.
We express this by a Tense which we may call the IM- Imperfect
PERFECT OR UNFINISHED TENSE.
Here is such a Tense :
Latin. Ama-ba-m } , . ;. «
lovmg — past time but
unfinished. I was doing it.
French. J'aim-ais
Eng. I was loving
Or we may want to say that it started in the past, and
is over and done with now — is in fact finished.
58 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
We express this by a tense which we may call the
PERFECT or FINISHED TENSE.
Here is such a Tense :
Latin Ama - v - i . . A. ,
_ , T, . . loving — past time but
French. Taim-a-i * > *_ j t t, -±
„ i . , finished. I did it.
Eng. I have loved. /
Or we may want to say that the action started in the
past, and was over and done with a long time ago —
is more than finished in fact.
We express this by a Tense we may call the PLUPER-
FECT TENSE or the MORE THAN PERFECT TENSE.
Here is such a tense :
Latin. Ama- vera -m. ) , . .. ~ . . ,
_ . , loving — past time finished
French. J avais aime. \ . ■,,■,■,
_ i , . . , long ago. I had done it.
Eng. I had loved. J
To understand the difference between these Tenses,
write an Imperfect, Perfect, and Pluperfect sentence.
Imperfect. I was killing the cat. How long has the
cat been dead ?
Perfect. I have killed the cat. How long has the
cat been dead ?
Pluperfect. I had killed the cat. How long has the
cat been dead ?
Similarly in the Future group, we have the plain
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 59
FUTURE TENSE.
Latin. Ama - b - o. \
French. J'aimerai - [ loving — future time — I.
Eng. I shall love. J
Or again, we may want to say that the action will
take place and be finished in the future.
We express this by a Tense which we may call the Future
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE. Per,eCt
Latin. Ama - ver - o.
French. J 'aurai aime - loving — a perfect action in the
future. I.
Eng. I shall have loved.
To summarise, we have dealt so far with Nouns and
Verbs.
Cases are additions which, up to the present, have
been put onty on to Nouns, and which carry some
additional meaning. There have been six.
i. The Case which gave the idea that the Noun
was the Subject. We might call it the Subject
Case. The usual name is the Nominative. •
2. The one which added the idea that the Noun was
the Object. We might call it the Object Case.
English calls it the Objective Case. The usual
name is the Accusative.
3. The one that added the idea that the Noun was
the Indirect Object. We might call it the In-
direct Object Case. The usual name is the
Dative.
These three Cases are of the utmost importance,
60 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
because they deal with and describe three of the main
parts of a sentence, the Subject and the two Objects.
Of the other three Cases :
4. The Genitive adds the idea of possession and is
called in English the Possessive Case. It is not
a tool that is needed nearly so often as the Nomin-
ative. It is nevertheless a useful Case and is the
only one our own Nouns have got.
5. The Vocative, the addressing case.
6. The Ablative, which adds " by," " with," " or,"
" from " ideas.
Also — the whole set of six cases is duplicated. The
further set shows exactly the same ideas as the old set,
with the addition of the idea of " more than one."
Verbs so far have inflections which add :
1. The idea of the time of the action.
2. The idea of the persons and the number of them
who do it.
As there can be three sets of persons doing it, " the
speaker," "■ the person spoken to," or " the person
spoken of," there will be three inflections, one for each.
Each set, like a Noun's set of cases, will be dupli-
cated to add the plural idea.
As there can be only three times in which an action
takes place, Present, Past and Future, there will be
three groups of Tenses corresponding to these times.
Among the Past Tenses we have Tenses to distinguish
between :
Actions begun in the past and not yet finished.
Actions begun in the past but finished now.
Actions begun in the past but finished a long time ago.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 6l
Among the Future Tenses we have Tenses to dis-
tinguish between :
Actions to be begun in the future.
Actions to be begun and finished in the future.
There are further distinctions still to come.
Now make yourself familiar with all these Tense tools.
(i) By searching for them and labelling them in your
live sentences. They will be mainly done by separate
words and not by inflections.
(2) By using them in Latin or French to make sense
with nouns. In Latin use the Subject and Object Tense and
and Indirect Object Cases. Case
You have now between the Tenses and the Cases
quite enough tools to talk with.
Always remember that it is useless to possess a tool
or to learn about it unless you use it.
The corresponding forms for the verb hab - e - o with
which you began are :
Hab - eba - m (Imperfect).
Hab - uera - m (Pluperfect) .
Hab-uer-o (Future Perfect).
The other three tenses you have had already.
We have dealt so far with Case as an inflection of a §10
noun to add an extra idea. Cases in
Latin possesses half-a-dozen cases and uses them j[nd
extensively. English
English possesses one only for its Nouns. (Boy, Boy 's) .
62 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
French has none at all.
Both French and English express themselves, when,
necessary by separate words.
i.e., They use the principle shown in :
" The hat of the boy." " Le chapeau du gar con."
rather than that shown in :
" The boy's hat."
It therefore comes to this, that Latin is the only one
of the three languages that uses Cases as a serious
means of expression.
It is therefore, only in the study of Latin, among the
three, that you will properly understand the use fo
the Case tool.
Note that Greek use's cases much as Latin does, while
of modern languages German uses cases extensively,
though not so extensively as Latin,
English used to have them. If you would like to
see some, buy Chaucer's Prologue (you can get it for
fourpence) and try and read it for yourself. You will
see some of these Cases on the nouns and other in-
flections on the verbs, which have now disappeared.
If you have not got fourpence, ask some one to read it
to you.
§11 Have any other words Cases besides nouns ? Cer-
ses o
her
Words
Cases of tainly.
other
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 63
Pronouns do the work of Nouns. It is natural there-
fore that we should need to add the same ideas to them
that we do to Nouns, for example, that the Pronoun
is the doer or the receiver of the action.
Pronouns will therefore need Cases as much as nouns.
In English pronouns have cases — the Subject Case
and the Object Case.
Find some. Norn. He. We. Pronoun
Cases
Ace. Him. Us.
" Him " and similar pronouns are the only Accusa-
tive or Object cases in English.
In French the pronoun has the Subject Case, the
Object Case, and the Indirect Object Case, i.e., Nomin-
ative, Accusative and Dative, e.g. :
Nom.
11.
Nom. Je.
Ace.
Le
• or again
Ace. Me.
Dat.
Lui.
Dat. Me.
Latin Pronouns have all the Cases.
Do Adjectives have Cases ? Adjective
No Adjective has a Case in English or French.
In Latin an Adjective always has a Case. The mean-
ing of the Case of the Adjective, however, is not the same
as the meaning of the Case of the Noun (though it is
put on for the same general purpose).
The Nominative Case of the Noun implies that
the Noun is the Subject of the Sentence.
The Adjective which belongs to the Noun has a Nom-
inative Case ending too, but it is not to show that the
Adjective is the subject of the . sentence. That would
64 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
be nonsense. It is to show that the Adjective belongs
to a Noun which is the Subject of the sentence. In
other words, the Adjective wears the livery of its
master, the Noun.
Summary The general idea which a Case adds to a word is this :
A Case is that change in or addition to the stem of a
word which adds to the original idea of the word the
additional idea of the word's particular connection with
some other word in the sentence.
For example :
The Nominative adds the idea
of the Noun's particular con-
nection with - - The Verb (Subj.)
The Accusative adds the idea
of the Noun's particular con-
nection with - - The Verb (Obj.)
The Dative adds the idea of the
Noun's particular connection
with - The Verb (Ind. Obj.)
The Genitive adds the idea of
the Noun's particular con-
nection with - - Another Noun.
The Ablative adds the idea of
the Noun's particular con-
nection with - - The Verb
An Ablative Case is like an Adverb. It
makes an Adverb phrase.
An Adjective's Case adds the idea of its particular
connection with the Noun it belongs to.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 65
Since some languages have Cases and some have not, §12
there must be some other way of doing the work that The Al-
fav, Hn ternatives
teases do. to Cases
The Nominative, for example, says the Noun does
an action.
The Accusative says the Noun receives an action.
The Dative says the Noun indirectly receives an action.
How do we say these things in English, for say them
we often must ?
We say many of them by means of ORDER.
Thus a Noun standing in a certain place before the Order
Verb is equivalent to a Noun with a Nominative in-
flection on it.
Similarly for the Accusative Case, and often for the
Dative Case.
The Latin case tool, therefore (in the Nominative, Ac-
cusative, and sometimes in the Dative cases) is replaced
in English by the order tool.
In the other cases, English, (except for the use of
the possessive case) and French always replace the case
tool by a separate word.
Here are three parallel sets of expressions :
Latin. French. English.
Fratris. (Gen.) de mon frere. The son of my brother.
Fratri. (Dat.) a mon frere. I gave it to my brother.
(cum) Fratre. (Abl.) aveo mon frere. I went with my brother.
(a) Fratre. (Abl.) par mon frere. It was built by my brother.
Examine some of the separate words in the English
column : of, by, with, to.
Can you find any more ? in, under, on, above, from,
etc.
E
66 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
§13 All these words are of the same kind.
Preposi- They are PREPOSITIONS : the words we noticed
and postponed.
What are they doing ? Clearly the same sort of work
as Cases.
What is that ? To show the particular connection
between the word they belong to and some other word
in the sentence.
Here then is the work of Prepositions. It is connect-
ing work, like the work of Case.
Do they replace all Cases ? No.
Which ?
What in the nature of things must a Preposition have
after it ? A Noun or a Pronoun.
A Preposition without a Noun would be like a Case
ending without a Noun.
Remember therefore that a Preposition belongs to
the Noun or Pronoun it is attached to, in precisely the
same way that the Case ending does, nor can any word
without a Noun or a Pronoun following (or at any rate
understood) be a Preposition.
Notice, too, the way in which these Prepositions
come into sentences :
" The tail of the bird was visible."
" The turnip grows in the field"
" The tree in the playground was struck by light-
ning."
What is in the field? Adverb phrase.
What is in the playground ? Adjective phrase.
What is by lightning? Adverb phrase.
What is of the bird? Adjective phrase.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 67
The work of the Preposition, therefore, lies among
the subordinate parts of the sentence.
It makes Adjective or Adverb phrases, which do the
servant work of the sentences.
Now study Prepositions at work.
Search your live sentences for them and collect as
usual twenty or thirty examples.
They will all be helping to make a phrase, sometimes
an Adjective phrase, sometimes an Adverb phrase.
He got under the table."
Label the phrase. This one is an Adverb helping got. E
What therefore is the Preposition doing ? Con- Preposi-
necting table with got. *ions
" The man in the train told me so."
Label the phrase. It is an Adjective helping man,
therefore in connects train with man.
Examine :
11 The man told me so in the train,"
and as many more live sentences as are necessary to
give you mastery over the tool and an understanding
of its work.
If you are learning French and Latin, extract from §14
the respective Grammars the Present Tenses of any
Verb you like.
Place the English Tense with them, thus : — Tense
1. Finio. Inflections
T r • llltne
2. Je finis. Three
3. I finish. Languages
68 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Are there any more English Tenses showing a present
action ?
"1 am finishing." Put it with the rest.
Finio.
Je finis.
I finish.
I am finishing.
Examine these : —
How much inflection is there in the first ?
in the second ?
in the third ?
Take any Tense you please and repeat the process.
You will always find inflections strongest in Latin,
and the separate word principle strongest in English.
Note how the separate word principle sometimes
results in three or four tense tools for the same thing,
often almost indistinguishable, and undeniably clumsy.
Compare :
Finiam.
Je finirai.
I shall finish.
I will finish.
I am going to finish.
I am about to finish.
I shall be finishing.
Again, do you notice anytihng about a Tense such as
J'aimerai ?
What difference is there between this and " amabo " ?
The person work is done twice on it, one by Je, a
separate word, once by " — ai," the person part of the
inflection.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 69
Can you think of any example of work done twice like
this in your own language ?
" Thou lovedst."
" He loves," or again " Two men." (*' Two man " is xhedoubl
the logical form). forms
It is the middle stage of transition from the old
method to the new. The first stage is inflection to show
everything. The main part of Latin is in this stage.
The second stage is inflection and a separate word.
This is present in all three languages in some degree ;
in Latin least.
The third stage is the separate word without the
inflection : the inflection becomes needless and drops off.
You can almost see the dst dropping off
" lovedst. " It is seldom used. It will be gone by and by.
What will the Present Tense of " love " be some day ?
I love.
Thou love.
He love.
We love.
You love.
They love.
It has travelled a long way towards it already.
Again, over the door of a Norfolk public-house hangs
the sign of a gate with this legend : —
" This gate hang high, but hinder none,
Refresh and pay, and travel on."
Is Norfolk behind the times or before them ?
70 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
We have already added two extra ideas to the Verb —
Time and Person.
We did it by adding two inflections to the stem.
It is necessary to add still another, that of the mode
or manner of the action. (Mood means mode).
We should call it nowadays the kind of the action.
Just as we have to have different tense forms for
adding the ideas of different kinds of time, so we need
different mood forms for adding the ideas of different
kinds of action.
i. The usual kind of- action, the one we most com-
monly want to talk about, is the one which actually
has happened or is happening or will happen.
We might call such actions " fact actions," and the
form which expresses them we might call the " fact "
mood. It is usually called the Indicative Mood.
2. All actions however that we talk about do not
actually happen.
For example :
" If I were to go I should see him."
The going does not actually take place nor is there
any certainty that it will : (though of course it may).
The going is not expressed as an action which happens
at all. It may or may not happen in the end, but we
are not talking about that. It is an action which some-
body has thought about, or figured in his mind.
Such actions we might call " thought-of actions."
The mood which expresses them we might call the
" thought mood."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE JI
The usual name is the Subjunctive Mood, a name
given to it owing to one of the particular uses of this
mood tool which you will learn more about later.
3. Actions again may need to have attached to them
the idea of command.
" Go."
" Let him come."
Such actions might be called " command " actions, imperative
and the mood which expresses them we might call the Command
-, „ A Actions
command mood.
The usual name is the Imperative Mood.
It is clear that a great many ideas might be added
to the Verb in this way.
For example, we might express the action as a wish.
" I wish to see my brother."
Such actions might be called " wish " actions and
the Mood the Wish Mood.
Greek actually has a Wish Mood — the Optative.
Or again, we might have " Question " actions and a
" Question " Mood.
Or again, "repeated" actions and "repeated" Mood,
and so on.
It is not done, because the ideas can be expressed
more simply in other ways. We can find simpler tools
than such forms.
Infinitive
72 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
4. There are two other important forms of the verb
which we generally class with the Mood forms.
They are called the Infinitive Mood and the Par-
ticiples.
They are like Verbs, because they express action,
but they are quite unlike Verbs in the work they do.
The Verb describes the main action, and, as such,
occupies the centre of the sentence.
Because, however, there is a main action in every
a Noun sentence, it does not follow that there cannot there-
fore be other actions there too.
For example :
" To eat too fast will give you a pain."
What is the Verb ? " Will give."
Nevertheless, " To eat too fast " certainly describes an
action.
It is just as certainly not the Verb.
What is it ? It is the name of an action.
Actions themselves are often the Subjects or Objects
of sentences, and, as such, they have to be named,
and the names, like all other names, are nouns.
Such Nouns might be called action nouns.
The form of the action word, (i.e., of the Verb) that
expresses them, might be called the noun mood of the
Verb.
" I should like to see you to-morrow."
" To read at night will spoil your eyes."
" To take exercise is a necessity."
These are all action nouns, Subjects or Objects of
the sentences they belong to.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 73
Again, examine the sentence : "To read at night
will spoil your eyes."
Can you express this in any other way ?
" Reading at night will spoil your eyes," Gerund
And similarly : " Eating too fast will give you a pain."
Again : To walk is good for you,
and Walking is good for you,
clearly mean the same thing.
This new form is called the Gerund — sometimes the
Verb Noun.
There are then two tools for expressing noun actions.
First, the Noun Mood or the Infinitive Mood.
Secondly, the Gerund.
Investigate for youselves the difference between
them. They are not quite alike in their use. Write
sentences with them both till you discover.
If you are learning Latin look at the forms called
the Supines. Find out in what relation they stand
to the Infinitive Mood and what work they do.
The name " Infinitive Mood " which is the usual
name for this Mood, really means the indefinite mood.
The name is given because noun actions are often
indefinite ones, i.e., actions which do not refer to any
particular Subject or Object.
Such actions may fairly be called indefinite actions
and the Mood which expresses them the Indefinite Mood.
All noun actions, however, are not entirely indefinite :
some want a definite receiver of the action mentioned to
complete the sense in the same way as ordinary Verbs.
For example :
" To see his suffering caused me great pain."
The
74 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Again, some want a definite doer of the action
mentioned.
For example :
" For Caesar to die unavenged would be a shame.
The Noun Mood is therefore the better way to think
of it, at first.
5. Again, just as action describing words may
occur in a sentence as Nouns, so they may also occur
as Adjectives.
For example :
" Our exhausting labours had their reward."
Participles Exhausting is certainly not the Verb. It just as
(adjectives) certainly refers to an action.
Again :
" I shall always remember this terrifying spectacle."
The work of these words is clearly to act as servants
to labours and spectacle, i.e., it is adjectival work.
Participles therefore, like infinitive moods, are words
which express actions other than the main one of the
sentence.
As Infinitives are action nouns, so participles are
action adjectives.
Participles, like any other action expressing word,
may need an Object to complete their sense.
What about the doer of an action expressed by the
participle ? How is that indicated ?
To summarise :
Fact actions require a Fact Mood — Indicative.
Actions which are thought of or figured require a
Thought Mood — Subjunctive.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 75
Command actions require a Command Mood — Im-
perative.
Action nouns require a Noun Mood — the Infinitive.
Action Adjectives require an Adjective Mood — the
Participle.
So far we have been speaking simply of the different §16
aspects of the action that need expression by Moods.
We shall need tools for each. It remains to see what
these tools are.
These different ideas could be of course added by Mood
inflection. Inflections
On the other hand many Verbs, especially in Latin,
have already added two ideas by inflection — person and
time — an inflection for each.
To add a third would make the word a very clumsy
tool. Three inflections on one stem are getting too
much. The word would be all inflections, the dog
all tail.
Mood inflection when it is added is done, not by a
separate inflection, but by a changed inflection, that is,
by a separate time or person inflection for each mood.
Thus hab - e - o which we had before, really means
not only having, " present time " and / but having t
" action is really happening in present time," and i";
on the other hand hab - e - am means having, somebody
has thought in present time about the action, and /.
In English, however, the mood ideas are added by
separate words.
For the mood work, Latin, as you would expect,
76
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
makes free use of inflections ; French has some, English
none at all.
Note the following forms :
I love. \
I loved.
I have loved.
I had loved.
I shall love.
I shall have loved.
All these express fact
\ actions which actually
come to pass.
I may love.
I might love.
I may have loved.
I might have loved.
All these express the
thought of an action.
" Let us love " expresses. a command action.
The action must happen in the future. There is
no choice of tenses.
To love.
To have loved.
To be about to love.
All these are
Action Nouns.
Loving.
Having loved.
Being about to love.
All these are Action
Adjectives.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 77
We have seen so far that Verbs express two great §17
ideas — Actions — and States. Analysis of
Actions always imply someone to do them, and often state
one or more people to receive them.
Associated with the Verb there is always a Subject
and often a direct or indirect Object.
It is now necessary to look a little closer at the
State Verbs.
You made some time ago various lists of live sentences
in which you marked the State Verbs. If you have them
turn them up. If not, catch twenty more sentences
and mark them as before.
Sift out the action sentences. We are not con- Ex 22
cerned with those for the moment. Look at those that
remain.
The first thing that will strike you is the constant
recurrence of is or was or one or other of the parts of the
verb to be.
" The boy is dirty."
" This pudding is very nice."
Nine out of ten state verbs are made out of the verb
to be.
The use of the verb is to give the idea of a state. That
is all it does, however.
If we say :
The boy is,
The pudding is,
we get no sense.
All we know is that the description of some state or
other has been begun. The Verb is incomplete.
It is completed by another word which follows, des-
cribing the state.
78 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The other state verbs which do not use the verb
to be, are nevertheless built on exactly the same principle
as the above.
They have a word first which gives the idea of state
and carries the inflection, followed by another word
which describes the state.
" He seemed cheerful."
" Caesar became a General."
" He got too fat."
The words Seemed, became, got, are the words which
probably gave you difficulty when you first tried to
separate action verbs from state verbs. You can
generally solve such difficulties by asking " Is somebody
doing something?" or "Is somebody being some-
thing ? "
Again, you can always tell state verbs by their always
needing a describing word to follow :
He seemed,
Ccesar became,
He got,
mean nothing.
They need, if they are to make sense the words which
follow them, i.e., Cheerful, General, Fat.
All state verbs are like this both in English and French.
Since they are in two or more parts they are called
Compound Verbs.
The work that these second parts of the verb do is
to describe the state.
As it is necessarily the state of the subject, it follows
that in describing it they must also describe the subject,
i.e., that they do adjectival work for the Subject.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 79
The word General cannot describe became, without
also describing Ccesar.
It makes not the slightest difference that the words
are not always Adjectives. Many of them are : some
are originally nouns : some are originally adverbs :
but they are one and all doing adjectival work.
A steel tool which by turns puts in screws and opens
packing cases may easily be called a screw-driver at one
time and a lever at another. It is not necessary to
quarrel about which it is.
It is sensible however, if you find it opening packing-
cases to call it a lever, if putting in screws, a screw-
driver. Similarly if you find a word doing adjectival
work, you are justified in treating it as an adjective.
Standing between actions and states and the ways §18
of expressing them, is an alternative way of expressing Two
certain sorts of action which is of great importance. t^S?*®**
In the ordinary way we say that A does an action
. t-, . i * n© ACtlVO
to B, the receiver. and the
We may equally well say B suffers the action at the *!*?sive
hands of A.
We may regard the action as done or as suffered and
we can describe it equally well in either way.
Since then we desire sometimes to describe the action
as a done action, we have as usual an inflection, or a
So THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
special form, of the verb to denote this. The particular
form which does it is called the Active Voice.
Similarly the form which denotes that the action is
a suffered action we call the Passive Voice.
Voice is thus somewhat akin to mood.
Mood adds the idea of the kind of the action.
Voice adds the idea that the action is presented
in one of two alternative ways.
It is clear that if the action is suffered, someone or
something must suffer it.
This someone or something, as before, becomes the
subject of the sentence.
It is also clear that the sufferer is no other than
the person of whom we spoke as the receiver when we
were speaking of the action in the active way, i.e., the
person who is the Object in the active sentence will
become the Subject of the Passive sentence.
Moreover since the sufferer of the action is the receiver
of the action, if there is no receiver there can be no
sufferer, i.e., only verbs which describe actions that
pass to a receiver can be put into this passive form, i.e.,
only transitive verbs have a passive voice.
To choose a passive form for describing an action brings
the receiver rather than the doer into the position of the
Subject and so into prominence.
This is the great value of the passive form.
For example, The Emperor of the French after 1870,
might have said : — " My country has been devastated,
my armies have been vanquished, my provinces taken
from me."
If he had had no passive voice he would have to have
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 8l
said : — " The Germans have devastated my country,
they hckve vanquished my armies, they have taken
from me my provinces." The Germans in such circum-
stances were the very last people he would have desired
to talk about.
In the same way, search your live sentences for half-a-
dozen instances in which nothing but the passive form
will say what you want to say, e.g., " That window was
broken last term."
Such a language as Latin will add the idea of the active §19
or passive aspect of the action through inflection,
having one set of moods, tenses, persons, etc., all de-
noting done actions, another different set all denoting
suffered actions.
French and English make no attempt at inflection for Passive
this purpose. They both do it by the method described In*lections
above for state verbs, i.e., by a word expressing state,
(the verb to be) which carries the inflections, (mood,
tense, and so on) followed by a word describing the state.
This describing word is one of the participles, and,
as before, will be doing adjectival work for the subject
of the passive sentence.
A Verb in the passive voice is thus a sort of state
verb.
Compare :
Amor, a typical Latin Passive Tense.
. . , f The French and English
Je suis aime , _ . °
T . , 1 forms — both on the state
I am loved . . . ,
* verb principle.
82 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
§20 We saw when investigating state verbs that they
Compound consisted of two parts, of which the first denoted that the
Verbs;11 description of some state had been begun : the second
described the state and incidentally the person in it.
Something similar happens sometimes among action
verbs. The description of an action is begun, but the
verb is not complete in itself, and requires another word.
e.g., Find the verb in the following sentences : —
" They pulled the house down."
" He called his dog Nebuchadnezzar."
" He shot the beast dead."
" I offered the shares for sale."
" Pulled down," " called Nebuchadnezzar," " shot
dead," " offered for sale," — are the verbs.
The main work that these second parts of the verb
do is unquestionably to complete the verb.
Incidentally they are adjectival to the Object when
one is present ; exactly as the second parts of the state
verb were to the Subject.
There is this general difference between such verbs
and the ordinary state verb — the first part of them
means more and carries more of the central idea than the
first part of the state verb.
Compare : "He hung the picture up,"
and : " The picture is charming."
As to the adjectival character of the second parts
consider :
" Caesar me certiorem fecit, se Gallos vicisse."
The main work of certiorem is adverbial — to amplify
fecit — the two between them constitute the full verb —
but it also describes me.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 83
" He knocked the policeman down "
Down amplifies knocked, but it also describes the police-
man.
" He called his dog Nebuchadnezzar."
Nebuchadnezzar is a necessary complement of called, but
it also describes the dog.
A development of this is to be seen in some of the
compound tenses of the Active Voice.
" I have seen my friend/'
Seen completes the verb, but it is also incidentally
adjectival to friend.
This adjectival function often gets overshadowed by
the adverbial one, but it is there all the same.
" I have done my work " is only a variation of
" I have my work done."
" I have my work ready."
" I have my work complete."
Such participles are always adjectival to the object,
when one is present.
This principle is a complete guide to the use of the §21
French Past Participle in combination with avoir.
The verb in such cases is an Action Verb ; and the
participle is adjectival to the object.
It is accordingly attached to it by the usual agree-
ment.
In the case, however, in which the object follows the
participle, a conflict of duties arises :
" J'ai ecrites mes lettres," is logically correct :
84 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
'* Ecrites " as a part of the verb has to stand in close
combination with " ai."
As an adjective it has no business in front of " lettres."
Hence the least important side of its work (the ad-
jectival side) gives way — the agreement drops, and the
sentence becomes " J'ai ecrit mes lettres."
Compare :
" I have cornered the enemy." (The verb character
of the participle is prominent, as shown by position.)
" I have the enemy cornered." (The adjective
character is prominent, shown the same way.
CHAPTER III.
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS.
We have seen that the sentence consists of Subjects,
Verbs, Objects, and their servants.
We have dealt so far with the kings. We are now
coming to the servants.
Two principles emerge :
(i) It is necessary for the sense that it should be §1
quite plain to which masters the respective servants
belong.
Consider :
" The baron killed the soldier, brave, bold, bad." Attach-
ment
Did it serve him right ?
What does it mean ? That there was butchery of
some sort : — very little else till the adjectives have been
properly placed.
Servants have to be attached to their masters ; these
Adjectives are not so attached ; that is the trouble.
Make the sentence into sense and watch what you do.
You put the adjective next door to the noun it be-
longs to.
What for ? To show that it belongs to that noun.
What principle do we use ? That of ORDER.
When did you use it before ? To mark the Subjects
and Objects.
Latin following the inflection principle, makes case
endings do this work.
Not only does a Latin adjective wear the same case
as its master, but also the same gender.
85
86 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Each adjective, therefore, has three inflections in
each case, one for use with the masculine noun, one
with the feminine, one with the neuter.
Similarly it wears the number of the noun.
Look at its declension in your Grammar.
This imitation of the noun is called AGREEMENT.
Bon - us dominus, means bon - (attached to) domin -
(who is doing something).
In French we find a similar correspondence but less
of it : nouns in French have no cases, hence the ad-
jectives which follow them have no cases.
Nouns in French have genders however, hence the
adjectives which belong to them have genders inflec-
tions to match.
The nouns have numbers, and the adjectives which
belong to them have accordingly number inflections to
match.
In English, though nouns have gender inflections and
number inflections, adjectives do not follow the noun
by wearing corresponding inflections, but are attached
to the noun solely by their position.
In all the languages the necessary thing for the sense
is to connect the adjective with its master.
In the same way the Adverb has to be connected with
the word it works for, generally a verb.
This connection is a great deal more easily made
than the last.
There are often two or three words in a sentence
that may be a loose adjective's masters. There is doubt.
It has to be guarded against.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 8j
There is only one verb in a sentence, however, and
it is generally plain from the meaning that the Adverb
is working for that, and not for some stray adjective
or adverb.
No agreement is necessary because there is practically
no doubt.
No amount of alteration of the position of the Adverb
can spoil the sense of :
" He will arrive soon,"
although it may alter the sentence in other ways ; on
the other hand alter the place of the adjectives in :
" The brave baron killed the bold, bad soldier,"
and see what happens.
Similarly neither Latin nor French adverbs need any
agreement.
While, however, adverbs do not need such rigorous
attachment to their masters as adjectives, they naturally
need some, and the attachment is done in all languages
by their place.
Adverbs working for a verb are generally in close
proximity to it in a sentence.
Adverbs working for an adjective or other adverb
are always next door to it.
2. The second principle is that adjectives and adverbs §2
are servants. Subordina-
tion
88 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
As such they are required to take a back seat in the
sentence.
Their business is to introduce their masters, to assist
their masters, not to draw attention off their masters,
nor to usurp the place of honour in the sentence, nor
to claim from the listener or reader the attention that
belongs to kings of the sentence.
What is the matter with the German Emperor's
remark ?
" My late, never-to-be-forgotten, always
wise and far-seeing grandfather used to
say. ....;."
Poor old grandfather, staggering under the weight of
his adjectives.
Or again :
14 I yesterday in the mud down fell."
The adverbs have got the middle of the stage, which
properly belongs to the verb.
This principle appears in various ways,
(i). Nouns in any language may not be overloaded
with adjectives.
My dear old, fat, white-haired, benevolent
friend came to see me this morning."
If for any reason it is necessary to attach so many
adjectives, some of them must be taken away from the
front.
" My dear old friend, who is both fat, white-haired
and benevolent, came to see me this morning."
Or better still :
" My dear old friend came to see me this
morning ; he is as fat, white-haired, and
benevolent as ever."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 89
Note how only the smallest and most unobtrusive
adjectives are left, dear, old.
The field must be left clear for the noun.
(2). French dislikes adjectives before the noun at all.
It allows a few short ones, such as bon, mauvais, jeune,
vieux, petit, grand. It is partly, because they, as it
were, coalesce with the noun. Compare I often see
him, in English, where often see is really the verb.
French also allows, if they are not long, a few intro-
ductory ones, i.e., adjectives which suggest the Noun
and do not distract attention by carrying a meaning
foreign to that suggested by the noun, e.g., Sur le penchant
de quelque agreable colline faurai une petite maison.
Why can you say : une verte prairie,
but not : un vert pre ?
or again : une flatteuse esperance,
but not : un flatteur espoir ?
(3). There are certain parts of the sentence which
are practically forbidden ground for the adverb.
They are those parts where the Subject, Verb and
Object are at work.
The stage must be left clear when these three words
come on it.
They do the work of expressing the main idea of the
sentence.
When once that work is begun, subordinate words of
any kind are better out of the way until it is finished.
90 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Adverbs have no business, for example, at the critical
point of the whole sentence, between the Subject and the
Verb.
" I yesterday saw him."
" He at 10 o'clock arrived."
A few odd ones are allowed in.
" I often see him."
14 He never came."
The real reason is they are not doing the usual sub-
ordinate adverb work, but form essential parts of the
verbs.
Often see, — Never came,
are the real assertions.
French never allows an adverb of any sort in this
position.
Note this and take care. The few English exceptions
there are will mislead you.
Adverbs can go in front of everything if you desire
to emphasise the idea they express, or they can go in
various places after the verb, according to circumstances.
These placing principles are naturally more impor-
tant in English and French, which depend so largely
on the placing of the words to give intelligibility to the
sentence, than in Latin, which depends on inflections.
To disturb the place of a subject in English, strikes
at the sense of the whole sentence.
Nothing can do that in Latin, except to omit inflections
or to put on wrong ones, as people have been known
to do.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 91
Care has especially to be taken with both adjective
and adverb sentences.
If it is dangerous to let adjectives and adverbs get
out of hand, it is far more so to let adjective or adverb
sentences do so, because they are so much bigger and
heavier then single words, and, misplaced, will do so
much more mischief to the clearness of the sentence.
The main difficulty with them is that they suspend
the action of the sentence.
The long adjective sentence, for example, will get
between the Subject and the Verb, where adverbs are
forbidden to go. The subject is mentioned and then
the key of the sentence withheld. You will learn more
about these dangers and the way they are met, later
on.
CHAPTER TV.
CLASSIFICATION.
In the course of an examination of the tools of ex-
pression that we have in daily use, we have seen that
there are certain great sets of words — Verbs, Nouns,
Pronouns, — each of which does a certain well-defined
part of the work of expression.
The first necessity was to distinguish these sets one
from the other.
The words in each set, however, are not always pre-
cisely alike among themselves.
Some verbs, for example, express action, others state ;
that is to say, we have two sorts of verb tools, just as
a carpenter may have two kinds of saw, a tenort saw
and a panel saw. Each kind is for a separate purpose.
We want names for these different kinds.
The names you give do not matter much, so long as
they indicate, as they ought to do, the special work
the tools are for.
We have appropriately called such verbs " state verbs "
and " action verbs."
Again, among the " action verbs " we have " action
done " verbs and " action suffered " verbs.
These are appropriately named active verbs and
passive verbs.
Again, among the active verbs, with some the action
passes to one or more receivers ; with others the action
does not pass.
92
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 93
We needed names for these verbs. We called them
" action passing " verbs, and " non-action passing "
verbs, or again, Transitive and Intransitive Verbs.
Classification of this sort has to go on in nearly every
set of our word tools, and you must learn to do it for
yourself.
The principle is the same everywhere, We have Method of
to watch what work a particular kind of word is doing Ciassiflea-
and to label it accordingly.
For example : NOUNS. Here are twenty Nouns :
Warmth, Hydrogen, Book, Courage, Smith, Elephant,
Cloak, Impulse, Sound, Man, Growth, Length, Blackness,
Speed, Wing, Trifle, Postcard, Wheat, John, Africa.
Arrange them in classes : form as many classes as Ex. 23
seem desirable.
Class No. 1, are names of . . . ?
Class No. 2, are the names of ... ?
Class No. 3, are the names of ... ?
Find names accordingly for the classes.
Compare with the usual names of such classes.
Again, ADVERBS.
Here are a score of Adverbs, Ex. 24
When, to-morrow, nicely, here, fast, how, shortly,
well, soon, by heart, why, at ten, fitly, strenuously,
for a week, at home, out of wantonness, very, too,
somewhat, greatly, quite.
Arrange them as before in classes.
Class No. 1 adds to the verb the idea of ... ?
Class No. 2 adds to the verb the idea of ... ?
and so on.
94 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Find names for the classes accordingly.
Find other members of each class.
Find adverbs which come in none of the above classes.
Classify these.
Verify your work by comparison with the usual
divisions of adverbs.
If any of these adverbs puzzle you, write them in a
sentence and think about them there. Study them alive.
Collect adverbs from your live sentences and classify
them in the same way.
§2 Again, PRONOUNS.
Pronouns need careful classification.
In dealing with them, especially in a foreign language,
the beginner always has this difficulty ; the same
words at one time are pronouns, at another adjectives ;
at one time they are one sort of tool and at another,
another.
Tne For example :
distinction " He lives in this house."
between „., . . ,. .
Pronouns This is an adjective.
and " He has done this."
Adjectives ~7 . •
This is a pronoun.
Again, the word that does at least four different sorts
of work in the following sentences :
i. " Where is that house you spoke of ? "
2. " Why have you done that ? "
3. "I lost the pencil that I bought."
4. "He told me that he could not come."
This use of a word tool for three or four different
purposes is by no means uncommon. It is not to be
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 95
wondered at. Does the owner of a hammer never use
it for anything but knocking in nails ?
It is essential, therefore, that before attempting to
classify pronouns, you understand adjective and
pronoun work.
An adjective's business is to help the noun : the
pronoun's to replace it.
When the adjective is there, the noun is present.
When the pronoun is there, the noun is not.
It is true that when an adjective is at work the
noun is sometimes left out.
(a) " Good people are happy,"
may be expressed as :
(b) " The good are happy."
It is only, however, because the word people is under-
stood without being said. If it were not so, it would
have to be said.
" Good salmon are scarce."
Leave out salmon and see what happens.
Adjectives, therefore, with obvious nouns following,
tend to lose them. The obvious noun gets omitted, and
the adjective has to do the whole work of both words.
Such a word as good therefore in (b) can be des-
cribed perfectly rightly in two ways.
First, as an adjective serving the word people, which
is understood with it.
Second, as a noun. An adjectival noun would be a
good name for it.
You can see from such an example how the same
words may come to do the work of different parts of
speech.
96 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The word good, by a perfectly natural process, here
does, first the work of an adjective, then that of a noun.
It is our old friend the screwdriver acting as a lever.
It would be absurd to dispute about its name.
Remember, however, that any tool which acts as a
lever follows the laws of the lever. Similarly any word
which acts as an adjective or as a pronoun follows the
laws of the adjective or of the pronoun.
§3 We next have to classify pronouns.
The first step in classification is always to make
a collection. Make a list containing every pronoun you
can find.
Personal Split it up into separate classes as before.
Pronouns £ Your first set will probably be the set you have
seen attached to the verb. "I," "he," "we," and
similar words. We call them personal pronouns.
You are familiar with the idea of the different
persons or things who may do the action of the verb.
These pronouns replace the nouns which are the
names of these persons ; the name is therefore a perfectly
natural one.
Ex. 25 1. Write in a column the English Personal Pro-
nouns I. 1. I. 2. Thou. 3. He, she, it. 4. We.
5. You. 6. They.
Write in a parallel column their French equivalents,
and in a third parallel column their Latin equivalents.
Ex. 26 2. Write in parallel columns the English, French
and Latin declensions of " I."
Do the same for the other pronouns, especially for the
third person, which is in common use.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 97
Do not however, attempt this form of exercise till
you are thoroughly familiar with the declensions them-
selves and can use them to express yourself with. The
simple comparison in No. i you can do at an early
stage.
3. Make from your French grammar a list of the EXt 2~
French conjunctive personal pronouns. Catch some
sentences from your French reading book which contain
them. Examine these sentences and discover for your-
selves the use of this particular set of pronoun tools.
Do the same for the disjunctive pronouns. Do not
attempt this exercise too soon.
What is the use of having two sets ?
2. Connected with the personal pronoun is another §4
set which you should also have discovered — Himself,
Myself, Ourselves, etc.
In the course of using the personal pronouns, it may
happen that one of them, besides being the Subject,
may occur again in some other capacity in the sentence,
generally as the direct or indirect Object.
If we had nothing but personal pronouns available
we should have to express such forms as follows :
" I hurt me,"
" We said to us."
" You said to you."
G
98 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Is there any reason why such forms should not be used ?
Not the least. They are quite plain.
French, which never wastes energy in needless forms,
employs them exactly as they stand.
Among them, however, there are some which are not
clear.
" He hurt him."
The Who is " him " ? The original " he " or someone else?
Prtots » is obscure.
" She said to her,"
The sentence is obscure again.
Examine as many such forms as you can think of.
The obscurity always occurs in the third person and
only there.
It is remedied in Latin and French by the use of a
special pronoun for the third personal pronoun the
second time it occurs.
This pronoun is " Se " in both languages and of course
always refers to the Subject.
Find out for yourself why " Se " has no nominative
in Latin or in French : why the Dative and Accusative
cases are the only cases of " Se " in French and the main
cases of " Se " in Latin.
As the same obscurity exists in English, how is it
prevented ?
We, too, have a special group of pronouns, himself,
herself, etc.
In English, however, we not only insert these pronouns
in the third person, where obscurity exists, but in the
first and second, where it does not.
We have thus the set yourself, thyself, myself.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 99
We need a name for these. They are pronouns that
are used to denote the Subject on its second appearance
in the sentence.
As far as the third person is concerned and the original
use of the pronouns—" Doubt stopping Pronouns "
would be a good name.
They do stop doubt in the third person, and are used
•uselessly in the first and second.
The general name is Reflexive Pronouns, i.e., pronouns
which denote that the action is reflected back again
on to the Subject instead of proceeding to a separate
Object.
An action is not always reflected back, however, e.g. :
" He gave me a seat near himself."
There is, as a matter of fact, no name which com-
pletely describes all they do. Second-time-subject
Pronouns would describe them in English, but would
not be appropriate for the other languages.
Note again :
" He will come himself "
" He hurt himself."
The himself in the first sentence is a totally different
pronoun from the one in the second.
Number 2 is one of these of which we have just been
speaking, reflexive or doubt stopping.
The first himself neither denotes that an action is
reflected nor stops doubt. It is doing totally different
work: it emphasises. It is properly therefore called
an emphatic pronoun.
Something might be said for calling it an emphatic
adjective.
100 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Whether regarded as a pronoun or as an adjective, it
is doing adjectival work for he.
§5 Related again to the Personal Pronouns are the two
sets of Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives.
All that is necessary with regard to these words is
to know the adjectives from the pronouns.
Possessive is an excellent name for them.
§,6 Another kind of pronoun tool we use in the Demon-
strative or Pointing Pronoun.
We use it naturally when we want to point.
Akin to these are the Demonstrative or Pointing
Adjectives.
The words this and that are the words most generally
used in both classes.
Can you think of any more ? " The."
The points. It points less vigorously than this or
that, but it points.
" The bird is a crow/'
is not so forcible as :
" That bird is a crow,"
but all the same it directs your attention to a particular
bird, exactly as "that bird " does.
The is therefore a demonstrative or pointing adjective.
It is used so freely however, that it is almost a part
of the noun it belongs to, i.e., the bird may be regarded
as one noun, rather than as a noun served by an adjective.
Again, examine :
" I cannot go, but he can."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 10 1
What is he ? Personal pronoun ?
No. Pointing pronoun.
Don't you see the speaker's finger go out ?
Compare :
" He can't come." Emphasis on can't.
He personal pronoun.
" He can't come." Emphasis on he.
He demonstrative pronoun.
As a further illustration of suitable methods study §7
the following. Classify as Pronouns or Adjectives the
French pointing words.
They are all founded on the word " ce."
i. What does " ce " do ? Pointing Adjective work.
It denotes " this" or "that."
Donnez moi ce livre Give me "this " or "that"
book.
(according to the circum-
stances).
2. Does it do any pronoun work ? Its neuter does —
" that thing " or
" this thing."
C'est dommage. Qu'estc*? que c'est, etc.
Tout ce que je vous ai dit est vrai. All " that thing "
which I have told you is true.
These two uses are all the Pronoun uses of " ce."
The other words now fall into their classes.
Ce - la That thing there. What is ce ?
A pronoun. What is the whole word ?
A pure pointing pronoun.
Don't use it as an adjective.
102 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Ce - ci Similarly.
Ce - lui That - lui. What is ce ?
A pointing adjective. What is lui ?
Disjunctive Personal Pronoun. What is the
whole word ? A pure pointing pronoun.
Similarly Celle Cetteelle- —that lady.
Ceux Ces eux — those persons.
Ce - lui - la That gentleman there.
Ce-lui-ci This gentleman here, i.e., the nearest, i.e.,
in some cases the nearest to my mind, i.e.,
the last spoken of, the latter.
The words seem mostly pronouns. Are there ad-
jectives enough ?
We use ci and la with the adjective ce when we
want them.
Cet homme - ci.
Ce livre - la.
28 Classify the Latin pointing words. Make up your
mind clearly. (1) What Pronoun tools are available
for pointing.
(2) What adjective tools there are ; and more
especially which are pure adjectives and which are pure
pronouns.
§8 In precisely the same way that there are in every
language sets of adjectives and pronouns whose business
it is to point, so there are sets of adjectives and pronouns
whose business it is to ask questions.
Write down twenty questions.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 103
Pick out the sentences with question asking pronouns.
Pick out the sentences with question asking adjectives.
Incidentally study the tools that are used for question
asking.
They will be found to be : Questions
1. Order.
2. Special question asking words, the ad-
jectives and pronouns above, with
certain adverbs.
The main question asking pronouns will be found
to be : who, which, what :
" Who is there ? "
" Which have you chosen ? "
" What did you see ? "
The main question asking adjectives are which, what,
" Which chair did you buy ? "
" To what country do you refer ? "
Take the English question asking pronouns. Ex. 29
1st. Decline them where possible, i.e., make a list
of their cases.
2nd. Place by the side of them the French pronouns
which do the same work.
Take care that the words are really pronouns. We are
not talking about the question asking adjectives.
Set by the side of the scanty English declension the
fuller French declension.
Do the same for the Latin question asking pronouns.
Make a similar table for the three sets of question
asking adjectives.
This exercise, like all other comparative ones, except
104 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
the simplest, is to be done after you have become
familiar with the matter you are comparing : not while
you are learning it for the first time.
§9 What sort of pronouns have we had ?
The Personal — Possessive — Reflexive — Question asking.
Relatives Any more ? Yes Wordg Jike << who „ „ whkh „
" that."
Look at this sentence :
" The soldiers who saw the enemy took cover."
" The book that you gave me was extremely in-
teresting."
" The horse on which I was riding fell down."
Do you notice anything about the italicised sentences ?
They are all replacing sentences.
You would suspect, therefore, that the first character-
istic of this kind of pronoun is that it works in a re-
placing sentence.
What kind ol a replacing sentence ?
Do you remember any other word that works only in
a replacing phrase ?
Make a dozen sentences with who, which, and that as
pronouns.
Examine them.
Label who, which, and that wherever they occur,
according to the work they are doing.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 105
Are there any sentences in which the words are neither
question asking nor pointing pronouns ?
What are such sentences ?
You will find they are always replacing sentences.
Such a replacing sentence always implies a main
sentence before it, and the pronoun clearly refers
to some person or thing mentioned in the main
sentence.
There is more than that, however.
Consider the sentence :
" The soldiers, who had seen the enemy, took cover.' *
The point is, what work is who doing ?
To investigate, try to say the sentence without it.
" The soldiers took cover, for they had seen the enemy."
We have had to take two tools — for and they — to do
the work, a Conjunction and a Personal Pronoun.
" The book that you gave me was useless."
Say this without the pronoun that.
" The book was useless and you gave it me."
We have had again to take two tools and and it, a
Conjunction and a Personal Pronoun.
The conclusion clearly reached is that who does two
words' work, (i) that of a Conjunction, (2) that of a
Personal Pronoun referring to a word in the previous
sentence.
The proper account therefore of who and of other
words like it is this ; they are pronouns which are used
only in replacing sentences ; they refer to some person or
thing spoken of in the principal sentence and at the
same time join the replacing sentence to the principal
sentence.
106 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The name usually given is that of Relative Pronouns,
because they relate, i.e., carry the mind back to the
person or thing which has gone before — the antecedent.
The name does not express their conjunction character
at all.
Such words are wanted in all languages.
Here are a few examples :
" My brother, who sailed for India yesterday,
will not be back for ten years."
" The story that he tells is extraordinary."
" The elephant accepted the bun which I offered
him."
§10 The Relative pronoun clearly has work to do in its
own sentence.
It will be Subject or Object or anything else it is
wanted for.
It is obviously necessary for the sense of its own
sentence that its case should correspond with its work ;
that is to say the ease of a relative pronoun is a matter
which has to do entirely with its own sentence.
Relative It is equally necessary for the sake of the sense of the
Construe- whole that ^ snould be quite clear to wnat tne relative
refers.
It is attached, therefore, to its antecedent in an in-
flected language by a gender and number agreement,
just as an adjective is attached to the noun it belongs to.
It is interesting to observe what happens in English.
The sense of the relative sentence has to be made
clear, also that of the whole just as before.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 107
In the relative sentence when who is the Subject, it can
at the same time mark the Subject by standing first,
and at the same time be near enough to its antecedent
to be properly attached to it by proximity, our English
method of attachment.
" / saw the villain, who slew his grand-
mother."
When the relative is the Object, however, to place it
after the verb, in the usual way, means tearing it from
its antecedent.
To mark the Object by order is therefore impractic-
able ; hence the survival of the case ending whom and the
occurrence of the Object, fortified by the case ending,
in a highly unusual position at the beginning of the
sentence.
" I saw the villain whom the policeman had just
arrested."
It is exactly the same in French.
Work out the application of the principle for your-
self.
The relative's attachment to its antecedent will also
repay study
In Latin the connection is marked by a number and
gender agreement and also by proximity. The two
between them suffice,
In English the number and gender inflection is gone ;
proximity alone has to suffice ; but there is a certain
endeavour to get an agreement (always for the same
purpose, viz. : that of making it plain to which noun
108 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
the relative refers) by the use of three relatives :
who for persons,
which for animals,
that for things.
It is true that the three words, except who and which
are somewhat interchangeable, but the above principle
underlies their use.
In French the same thing happens, except that there
are only two words, qui and lequel, and that lequel carries
number and gender inflections, which make it a certain
tool for making the connection when other means fail.
Ex. 30 Tabulate the Relatives and their declensions in the
three languages.
§11 What. — The word what has a great many characters.
Those of question asking adjective and question ask-
ing pronoun have already been noticed.
Compound Examine :
Relatives " Tell me what will happen."
It is clearly equivalent to :
" Tell me that which will happen."
It is in this case equivalent to a relative and the neuter
demonstrative pronoun, its antecedent.
French uses ce qui for it, showing them both.
It is a double word.
The proper name for it is a compound relative.
Do you know another ?
Whoever, in certain senses equals he who.
When, in certain senses is a double word.
" Tell me when you are coming."
i.e., " Tell me the time at which you are coming."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 109
Similarly where and how.
In other uses these are not double words.
Collect examples of each of these words from your
live sentences.
Classify the uses of when, where, how.
CHAPTER V.
AGREEMENT AND GOVERNMENT.
§1 Certain words are said to agree with certain other
Agreement words, that is to say they carry corresponding inflections.
We have s'een that an adjective's inflections are made
to correspond with the noun's in order to attach the
adjective to that particular noun.
This is necessary for the sense, and the same work
is done in English by order.
It is clearly a misuse of terms to speak of agreement
when inflections are not present.
English adjectives, for example, do not agree with
their nouns.
They belong to them, and the attachment is shewn
by order, not agreement.
In many sentences nouns do adjective work, i.e., they
extend the meaning of another noun, by saying some-
thing for it that it does not say for itself.
" My brother the soldier returned yesterday."
The soldier is doing adjective work.
Compare :
" My soldier brother returned yesterday."
As an adjective the inflections of soldier are made to
agree with those of brother : in Latin two nominative
cases.
Again :
" I saw my brother, the soldier."
Two accusative cases.
no
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE III
Again :
" Caesar was a great General."
As was made plain earlier, a great General describes
the state, and in doing so perforce describes the man
who was in it.
It is adjectival to Caesar, therefore takes the same
inflections.
Similarly :
" Artaxerxes became king"
" My friend was called John"
" He seemed ill."
This agreement of one noun with another to which it is
giving adjectival help is called " Apposition " and might
be called common-sense.
Verbs are sometimes said to agree with their Sub-
jects.
They agree in this way. The inflections of the verb
shew the number and person of the Subject.
So do those of the word expressing the Subject
itself.
Number and Person are shown twice, and as long
as both words are inflected it is impossible that their
inflections should be different. Any difference would
confuse the sense.
To mark them on the Subject and also on the Verb is,
however, unnecessary, at least in most cases.
They are accordingly dropping off the verb.
This agreement or correspondence when it exists is an
112 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
accident, due to the inflection of the verb and the in-
flection of the subject doing the same work.
It is not an instrument of expression like the agree-
ment of the adjective with the noun it serves.
Again : there are certain words which in practice are
always associated with other words bearing particular
inflections.
For example, a Latin transitive verb will always be
associated with some Object in the Accusative case.
The particular action implies a receiver and the
receiver is marked by the accusative inflection.
This association is often described as a government of
the Object by the Verb.
No more pernicious description was ever invented
by grammarians.
Nothing can govern, that is to say dictate, the choice of
any inflection tool except the work that it is wanted for.
The term govern suggests that the presence of the
accusative inflection is due, not to the fact that it is
the appropriate tool for its particular work, but to some
mysterious action of one of its fellow tools — the verb.
A transitive verb implies an accusative case and a
hammer implies a nail.
It is about as sensible to say that the verb governs
the accusative as that the hammer governs the nail.
The verb and the case are fellow tools both chosen
for their fitness and for nothing else.
The proper account of " Gallos " in " Caesar Gallos
vicit," is not " accusative case " governed by the verb
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 113
" vicit," but that is the Object of the action and has the
inflection which says so.
When, therefore, it is said that one word governs
another, what is really meant, and all that is meant is,
that, in practice, when the first word has been used a
particular inflection of the second will be found at its
heels.
The two forms occur together. The first does not
appear without the second, but the first is in no way the
reason of the second.
You will find in most Latin grammars lists of verbs
which govern the dative, or the genitive, or two accusa-
tives.
This means that after those verbs the dative, or the
genitive, or two accusatives occur.
If you have a spark of intelligent curiosity you will
not be content with this information, but -will proceed
to enquire what those datives or genitives are doing
there.
It is the same thing with French constructions.
For example :
" Je lui pardonnai."
What case is " lui " ?
Dative.
Why?
Because pardonner takes a after it, which is the
same thing as saying it takes a dative.
That is no reason. Look again.
What does the dative generally show ? Indirect
object.
H
114 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Make an English sentence with pardon.
" I pardoned him his offence."
What are the words doing ?
Offence — direct object.
Him — indirect object.
What is the proper account of lui ? Indirect object.
Where is the direct ? Understood.
Learn to understand about the word pardonner and
then get rid of all rules about it.
If a following word requires a " dative " choose it
yourself, intelligently. You, not pardonner, are the
master of the tool.
The general account of all so-called governing con-
structions is this : a word — the verb is a typical one —
has a meaning which is not complete in itself and re-
quires, before the whole work of expression is done,
certain other ideas to complete it.
Some verbs, for example, require one Object, others
a direct and an indirect Object, others two direct Ob-
jects; others again will need additional adverbial ideas.
" I broke the window."
" I gave him sixpence."
" I taught the boy Latin."
" I am afraid of lions."
These ideas involve nouns and pronouns in various
cases to express them. In what cases depends entirely
upon the ideas to be expressed.
Hence the train of thought started by a particular
word always ends in the employment of a particular case.
The word implies would be a better word than
governs.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 1 15
To say the word implies the Dative case is not only
a more correct way of stating the facts, but starts some
very pertinent questions as to how it implies that case.
You will no doubt find certain cases in which it is not
clear how a particular word comes to be followed by
another in a particular case.
" Taedet me vitae."
Why " Vitae ? " You may suspect a causal genitive.
" I am weary because of life."
or give some similar explanation. It is theory only,
and may be good or bad. (See p. 211.)
What is true, however, is that there is a reason for
the inflection somewhere. No one ever yet used
meaningless speech or meaningless inflections habitually.
An expression, like a building, may be changed and
altered in the course of centuries till its original form
is almost lost ; nevertheless there was a plan once ;
that it is hard to see now is not a reason against looking
for it.
There is another form of so-called government to §3
which the term is even more inappropriate, namely, the
cases that follow prepositions.
Examine : The Gov
" The boy's hat," ernment of
" The hat of the boy." tiolf81"
Il6 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
It is clear from such forms and from many others
that might be quoted, that the prepositions replace
the case inflections ; that they represent man's tendency
to express himself, not synthetically, as it is called, but
analytically, i.e., not by one word added to and in-
flected, but by separate words.
We have therefore in such forms as "In hortum "
simply a stage in the transition.
" Hortum " was the first stage when the idea of
" motion into " was represented simply by a case ending.
" In hortum," was the second, when the case tools
proved insufficient to do the work of expressing the
dozens of ideas we now represent by prepositions, and
special words for the purpose were fashioned.
" In hort," would be the third and final stage.
It is at this stage that English practice has arrived.
Our only examples of prepositions followed by a case
are among the pronouns.
We still use " to him " "of them," but even here the
case endings, though usual, are quite unnecessary.
Note too that the only noun case ending we have —
the possessive — is not used with a preposition, but is
alternative to it.
We say,
" The man's hat,"
" The hat of the man."
We do not say,
"The hat of the man's."
The correspondence between a certain group of pre-
positions and a certain case is in no way due to any
mysterious action of the preposition. It is accidental.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 117
It tends to disappear. It has practically disappeared
in both French and English.
It is because the group of prepositions and the case
are doing the same work twice over.
The case is needless, but as long as it is there it is
impossible for it to be other than one which originally
added the same general idea as the group of prepositions.
Any difference between the case meaning and the pre-
position meaning would confuse the sense.
It is an exactly similar correspondence to the one we
have in " Je parle " ; the separate word has begun to
supplant the inflection, but the inflection has not yet
gone.
Hence the key to the prepositions and the cases which
occur after them is to be found in the study of the cases.
Given, for example, the main ideas expressed by the
Ablative case, the prepositions which express those ideas
in various forms, will be the ones which, when the Abla-
tive Case broke down, were brought into service, first
with the case and ultimately instead of it : so too for
the other cases.
The proper account of " urbe " in " Evadit ex urbe,"
is not Ablative Case governed by " ex " but Ablative
Case associated with " ex/' a preposition of the same
general signification as the case.
CHAPTER VI.
PARSING.
To parse a word is to give account of the work it is
doing in the sentence, as shown either by inflection, or by
the substitutes of inflection, or by its position, adding
any appropriate information as to its classification and
main inflections.
For example. Parse the words in the sentence, " He
broke the window by throwing stones."
He
broke
the
window
by throw-
ing
stones."
Pronoun, personal, showing by position and
inflection that it is the Subject of the
sentence. It is the third person and de-
notes one only.
A verb. Inflection and meaning show a
perfect action which happened. It is a
verb of action and passes its action on. Its
principal parts are break, broke, broken.
A pointing adjective serving " window," at-
tached to it by position.
A noun. Position shows it to be the Object
of the action.
A combination of preposition and a verbal
noun.
The phrase includes an object " stones "
and is equivalent to an adverb ; it serves
the word broke.
A noun. Its position shows it to be the
Object of the action expressed by "throwing."
Its inflection shows more than one.
118
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE Iig
The word " parsing " is sometimes applied, especially §2
in connection with the more inflected languages, to the
much more mechanical process of cataloguing a word's
inflections.
For example, to parse " militibus " in the sentence
" Rex dedit pecuniam militibus."
we may proceed as follows :
Militibus : Noun, Common, Third Dec, Miles. Militis —
Plural, Masculine, Dative — following " dedit."
Such an exercise will give you familiarity with the
forms and their names (which is desirable enough some-
times), but it will do no more.
It has further this great danger ; that you may learn
the name of the form and stop short of the only thing
that really matters, viz. : the meaning of the form. To
know a name is not necessarily to know the thing. You
have not accounted for " militibus " when you have
said " Dative Case following dedit or governed by
dedit " : you have only named the inflection. You
only really account for " militibus " when you say it
expresses the fact that the " milites " were the in-
direct recipients of the action of " dedit."
In other words it is futile to name a form if you know
nothing of its force ; and still more so to use it.
You can no more talk sense with inflection forms that
are meaningless to you than you can with words that
are meaningless.
You may succeed, with the help of a multitude of
rules (inflection A always follows inflection B, and so
on), in imitating correctly the speech of the original
users of the forms. They, however, used them in-
120 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
telligently. Your success will be simply that of a highly
developed parrot.
It follows that parsing on anything but the catalogue
principle must be restricted at first to the simpler forms
which will be the only ones you really possess.
You cannot, for example, parse a Subjunctive Tense
form properly till you have learnt both what the Mood
is for and what the Tense is for.
Many of the Cases which you will meet with you will
not be able to account for till you have studied Case
carefully. Don't be misled into thinking your work
begins and ends with names.
To understand the uselessness of mere names, consider
the following conversation :
Passenger. Can you tell me what that curious
arrangement of ropes and pulleys is for ?
Boatman. That, Sir ! That's the purchase of the
peak halyard.
Passenger. Ah ! of course. How stupid of me I
And what's the peak halyard ?
Boatman. Peak halyard, Sir ! Why that's what we
always bend on the gaff, Sir.
Passenger has a vague feeling that he ought to know
all about it but somehow doesn't.
The following sentence will give you some idea of
what parts of the work are within your reach, and what
parts require further knowledge :
Helvetii - Noun, Proper, Masc, 2nd Dec. Its in-
flection shows a number of persons
who are the doers of the action ex-
pressed by "dixere."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 121
Ccesari - Noun, Proper, Masc, 3rd Dec. Singular
by nature. Its Dative inflection shows
that Caesar is the indirect receiver of
the action expressed by " dixere."
dixere - Verb, Trans., 3rd Conj. Dico Dixi
Dictum Dicere. Its inflections show
a complete action which actually
happened in past time ; and that there
were more doers than one, viz. : the
Helvetii.
Sibi esse in animo)
iter 'per provinciam [ Object of "dixere."
facere. J
For further parsing in this sentence,
the Object must be subdivided and
after that again the parts of the
Object.
Esse in animo. A verb : expressing a state. Sum Fui
Esse — in animo : or better, Est Fuit
Esse in animo. Infinitive or Noun
Mood denotes a present state (strictly
the thought of a present state). As a
Noun it forms with its complement
" sibi " and its subject " iter per
provinciam facere " the object of the
action expressed by " dixere."
in animo. An indispensable adverbial comple-
ment of esse. Both the preposition
and the ablative case express the idea
" where." (See oh. xiii.)
122 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Sibi. A reflexive pronoun referring to the
same persons as " Helvetii," already
described. Its Dative inflection ex-
presses the fact that these persons are
indirectly interested in the " esse in
animo."
Iter per provinciam facet e. Subject of " esse in animo."
Facere. A verb : expressing an action, which
passes, 3rd Conj. Facio Feci Factum
Facere. Noun Mood denoting an
action (strictly the thought of an
action) in Present time ; with its com-
plements " iter " and " per provinciam V
it is the subject of " esse in animo."
Per provinciam. An adverbial complement of " iter
facere"; the preposition and the accusa-
tive case both express the idea of the
" where to " of the action. Compare :
" He drove the bradawl through the board,"
" He pushed his stick into the sand." (See ch. xiii.)
Iter. Object of " facere " — etc.
These examples are not given you for exact imitation.
You are not meant to imitate but to think.
Scrutinise each word or phrase or replacing sentence :
make up your mind what each is doing ; in the case of
inflected words, what each inflection is saying.
When you have found this out, put it down plainly.
Any form, or any grouping of words is justifiable which
makes for this plainness. Use as few inflection names
as possible.
You will see where the difficulties come above.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 123
" Sibi " "In animo " " Per provinciam " were all
difficult to account for : so will all such forms be till
you have studied the different meanings that the various
forms of Case convey.
Do not in any case slur over the difficulty by such a
description as " Accusative governed by per."
All that this means is that when the Romans said
" per " they said an Accusative directly after it.
So no doubt they did — and so no doubt may you do ;
but if Providence had intended you for a parrot you
would have been furnished with claws and a tail.
In the same way the full account of the Infinitives
" esse in animo " and " facere " needs a further study
of the Infinitive.
CHAPTER VII.
ANALYSIS.
§1 Every sentence of whatever apparent length has a
single framework consisting of Subject, Verb, and in
certain cases Objects.
This part of the sentence is indispensable.
The rest of the sentence consists simply of elements
subordinate to these, either of an adjective nature
assisting the Subjects and Objects, or of an adverb
nature assisting the verb.
This second part of the sentence adds fulness, but is not
indispensable.
In other words, there are in the sentence, at most,
three kings and their servants : nothing more except
the connections needed to link the whole together.
i. Now, if the sentence consisted, as it might, of the
bare framework, and had no luxuries in the shape of
adjectives or adverbs, it would be as simple and clear
as possible, but bare.
" I broke the window."
2. Assuming again that appropriate assisting words
are added in the shape of single word adjectives or
adverbs, fulness is gained but simplicity is sacrificed
a little.
" I broke the classroom window to-day."
It has already been explained how even single word
servants in the wrong places can do mischief to the main
object of the sentence, which is to express something
clearly. For example, in the sentence :
124
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 125
u I to-day broke the classroom window.*'
To-day is out of place.
3. A further stage in the process is to add any or all
of the servant elements by means of phrases instead of
by single words.
Prepositions are used solely in the manufacture of
such phrases.
Completeness grows, but the non-essential part be-
comes larger and needs more care in handling.
Up to now the sentences are such as you use yourself
for everyday purposes.
" I broke the window in the classroom this afternoon.' '
Note how the long adjective in the classroom has been
removed from the front of " window."
4. The next stage of complexity is that in which
auxiliary or replacing sentences are introduced.
Not only the servant elements but parts of the frame-
work may be replaced by such sentences.
The possibilities of obscurity are increased enormously
at this stage, in two ways : —
(a) We have said that parts of the framework (the
Object for example) may consist of a sentence.
This in itself slows, as it were, the main action.
The presentation of the essential part, instead
being quick and crisp, becomes fuller, but at
the same time heavier and more cumbrous.
What it gains in fulness it loses in clearness
and vigour.
(b) There may also be three or four replacing
servant sentences. The full sentence may
then consist of the original framework with
126 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
replacing sentences as integral parts, and
various servants, also expressed by replacing
sentences.
The clearness of the sentence, and so its value as a
tool of expression, suffers both ways. The impression
left on the mind by the central and essential part is
blurred ; on the other hand, the presence of such a
mass of servant sentences impairs its chance of getting
the attention and prominence that are its due.
The penalty of all this is confusion. No one knows
what the sentence is about.
. The remedy is simple. When you write or speak at
such length (which, by the way, it is to be hoped is not
often) : —
i. Take the utmost care of the essential part of
your sentence, i.e., the part embodied in the Subject,
Verb and Objects.
Be cautious how you use replacing sentences for any
of these elements.
It is often necessary to do so. Such a tool as a re-
placing sentence would not be there, unless it were
wanted ; nevertheless bear in mind that every replacing
sentence you use here, takes the point off the main thing
you want to say.
2. ' Watch the arrangement also. The main assertion,
whether embodied in single words, or in single words
and replacing sentences, must get a clear field.
Keep servants, especially servant replacing sen-
tences, as far as possible out of the middle of it. Put
them at the end (as is chiefly done), or at the beginning.
Do not place some at the beginning and some at the end
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 127
If you do this, you begin the impression on the mind with
a servant idea and end with a servant idea. The main
idea will never get properly impressed.
3. Further— Minimise in every possible way the
length, the number, and the weight of your replacing
servant sentences.
They are servants only. If you do not take care, they
will obliterate from your hearer or your reader's mind
the very idea you are striving to implant in it — that of
the main sentence. You will have killed it with ex-
planations.
To minimise the servant elements in length and number,
use phrases rather than sentences, and words rather than
phrases ; when in doubt cut them out altogether.
To minimise them in weight, keep out from among
them weighty or important ideas. Nothing but servant
ideas ought to go in servant sentences. Put anything
other than this into a separate main sentence of its own.
Before we proceed to examine the application of these
principles, note the presence in some sentences of a
refinement of a replacing sentence, namely, sentences
dependent on a replacing sentence.
We spoke of the kings and the servants in a sentence.
A king may have a duke to represent him abroad.
A duke may have a secretary to write his letters : the
secretary may have a boy to run his errands.
In precisely the same way, am' sentence, which itself
depends on the main sentence, may have a sentence de-
pending on it ; and there may be again another depend-
ing on that, and so on.
128 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
As the poet says : —
" And even fleas have little fleas,
Upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas,
And so ad infinitum."
It is clear that as far as the above principles are con-
cerned, a servant sentence with a dependent can do as
much mischief as two servant sentences ; or, again, that
a replacing object sentence with a dependent would
take the point off the main assertion even more than a
simple replacing sentence.
It appears, therefore, that such sentences are rather
dangerous tools to use, and that great skill is needed to
avoid obscurity. " The House that Jack built," you
will remember, was constructed with them.
§2 The next thing that you have to do, is to learn to
recognise with certainty these different parts of the
sentence.
To assist you, analyse first your own speech. You will
find it much simpler than anything we have been talking
about. You have already begun the process when you
learnt about replacing sentences, and it should not take
you long.
To analyse means to sort out, in every sentence you
say, the different elements, the kings and the servants.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 129
Do not invent sentences for this work — if you do, you
will probably write stuff quite unlike your ordinary
speech — bat take matter you actually use. " There is
no mustard in this pot," and so on. Begin now to take
a keen interest in your own speech, and in what it is
made of.
The form in which the necessary distinctions will best
be shown, will depend on the sentences you are analysing.
Whatever the form you adopt, in no case destroy the
order of a sentence. Order means something. To
destroy it is as bad as omitting words.
It will be well to denote some attention, in the first
instance, to comparatively simple sentences and a study
of the framework.
In ordinary short sentences the Subjects, Verbs and
Objects will be quite apparent, and will not need separate
labels. In such sentences the analysis will generally
be perfectly clear, if you write the words composing the
framework in black, and the non-essential parts in red.
Write suitable labels above when there is any doubt.
For example :
Adj. Sent.
" Have you done that exercise he set us yesterday."
Adv. Ph.
" No, I did not have time last night."
" Well, perhaps he won't say anything. He is in a
good temper this morning."
" How do you know ? "
Adv. Ph.
i( You can tell by his eye."
On the other hand, you will sometimes meet with
sentences in which the recognition of the Subject, Verb
I
130 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
and Object demand considerable thought. For example :
" Whose is the next study ? "
"It is not a good light."
" It will soon be time to get up."
" There is a cow in that field."
" What time is it ? "
Such sentences will need re-writing if the distinctions
are to be properly shown.
" Whose is the next study ? " —The next study (Sub-
ject) is whose (Verb),
u It is not a good light ": —The light (Subject)
is not good (Verb),
" It will soon be time to get up " — Getting up time
(Subject), will be
soon (Verb)
or alternatively : — Soon (Subject) will
be getting up time,
and so on.
§3 A further question which will constantly arise is —
Essential what words ought to be included in the Verb ? For
SSfct example> h°w are we to treat not in the sentence : " It
the Verb is not a good light ? " The word taken alone is an
Adverb, and therefore in one sense a servant. As far as
its work is concerned, it is an essential part of the Verb.
The central idea is not is good, but is not good. In other
words, not is tied to the verb so tightly that it cannot be
taken off at all.
Similarly, " I praised him because he did it well."
Did well is the verb : not did.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 131
Find for yourselves other examples of this : almost
any set of live sentences will show them.
It is quite a natural development of the relations
between the Adverb and the Verb, and need present no
real difficulty.
Usually the Verb contains the main thought, and the
Adverb adds something extra, and so completes it.
The Verb does the main work : the Adverb is secondary
and is rightly called a servant. It can at a pinch be
spared.
There are cases, however, when the thought added by
the Adverb is of great importance to the sense, and when
it can not be spared. There are cases too when it even
overshadows the thought conveyed by the Verb. In all
such cases it has become an integral part of the Verb :
it has ceased to be a servant. The combination ought
to be regarded as a whole and never taken apart. «,
Exactly the same thing happens with the Adjective
The Noun, in the ordinary way, contains the main
thought and the Adjective the secondary one. It some
times happens, however, that the thought added by
the Adjective is indispensable ; sometimes it is actually
the main thought, and that conveyed by the Noun the
secondary one. For example : M Industrious boys get
prizes." It is perfectly impossible to dispense with
the word industrious. " The cold winds made my face
numb." The word cold is at least as important as the
word winds, if not more so.
In such cases the Adjective has become an integral
part of the Noun. The combination ought to be re-
garded as a whole and ought never to be taken apart.
132 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Industrious boys and cold winds are simply composite
nouns.
Such combinations want black ink — not red.
The exact point at which any word or set of words
ceases to be subordinate and non-essential, and becomes
essential, is a matter for you to judge : there is no
hard and fast line.
§4 Again, difficulties will sometimes arise about the
analysis of questions. For example, what are the
Subjects and the Verbs in :
" Is it time to get up ? "
" Whose is the next study ? "
ions Such difficulties are best solved by separating alto-
gether the idea of interrogation from the statement.
A question is simply a statement with the idea of in-
terrogation added. This idea is added by various
means. One of the commonest methods is an interroga-
tive word or words in a suitable position.
" You like pudding," is a statement.
" You like pudding, eh ? " is a question.
Again, compare :
" You love your master, eh ? "
Amas ne dominum ?
or again :
" You love your master, don't you ? "
Nonne dominum amas ?
Vous aimez votre maitre, nest ce pas.
Adding the question idea to a statement is exactly
like adding a second idea to a word by inflection. A
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 133
question might be called an inflected form of a statement.
The interrogative idea can be added, not only by the
use of special words, but by means of the principle of
order. It is shown by inverting the Verb and the
Subject.
" He is gone."
" Has he gone ? "
" Said he aught of me?"
" No, he said nothing."
It is this disturbance of the position of the Verb and
the Subject which sometimes makes their recognition
difficult in questions. The sentence, however, cannot
have a different Subject and Verb after the question idea
is added from those it had before.
Hence reduce the question boldly to a statement, and
apply the ordinary principles.
e.g., Whose is the next study ?
Consider instead : The next study is mine.
Subject : The next study. Verb : Is mine.
Hence in the question :
Subject : The next study. Verb : Is whose.
Another form of sentence which will be frequently §5
encountered, is that involving the postponement of the Postpone-
Subject. For example, how are we to analyse " It gJjjSjJl**
is a pity you are not more intelligent " ?
Here the Verb is " is a pity" the Subject is " that you
are not more intelligent."
The peculiarity of the sentence is that the Subject,
instead of standing in its normal place before the Verb,
134 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
has been postponed, and in its place we have the word
it, as a kind of temporary stop-gap.
No such departure from ordinary practice ever
happens without a reason ; it is not hard to find in
this case.
Consider the alternative, " That you are not more
intelligent is a pity."
It appears instantly that the Verb is overweighted
by the size of the Subject.
The central idea " it is a pity " which ought to be
dominant, is driven into comparative obscurity. It is in
the interests of the Verb that the Subject is postponed.
Generally speaking, as often as a stop-gap Subject is
put in and the position of the real Subject changed, it
is done to ensure the attention being where the real
sense lies.
For example : " There is a cow in that field."
The alternative is "A cow is in that field."
The Subject is " a cow," the Verb is " is in that field."
The central idea, however, is the presence of the cow.
An introductory Subject is therefore put in and cow is
transferred to the centre of the sentence. The post-
ponement, in this case, is to heighten the value of the
Subject, which, in its normal place, would not receive
the necessary attention.
You have already seen that in writing English it is
necessary to ensure that the servant parts do not
obscure the essential parts. It is equally necessary to
maintain proper relations between the central word —
the Verb — and the closely allied ideas of the Subject and
Object. Variations in the position of the Subject, such
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 135
as are rendered possible by the use of the introductory
Subject, make it possible to adjust these relations with
nicety. In an analysis, therefore, " it ." is to be regarded
as the introductory Subject merely and in no case must
the study of the real Subject be omitted. The point of
interest is not only what is the real Subject, but where
it is and why.
Note that it is not an introductory Subject in such
expressions as " It rains," " It thunders." " It " in such
cases is the real Subject, and means the unknown power
to whom primitive language-makers ascribed natural
phenomena.
As long as your sentences are short, deal with them §6
by one or other of the foregoing methods. When they The Man-
get long, however, it will not be the relations of the Rgee^ae{n0g
Subject,. Verb and Object of the main sentence which Sentencei
will need attention, so much as the relations of the
servant sentences to the main sentence ; the first step
then necessary will be to separate the essentials of the full
sentence from the non-essentials.
You will find as a rule such sentences fall two ways,
either :
I. A servant part. 2. The main sentence,
or 1. The main sentence. 2. A servant part.
They do not as a rule go :
1. Servant. 2. Main sentence. 3. Servant.
If they do, they ought not to.
I36 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
For a time write the servant parts in red ink and put
a line between them and the essential part.
Here are some sentences so separated :
" What did he tell you | when you saw him this
afternoon ? "
" I shall never believe that he did it, | whatever
people say"
" Three of them | who were badly hurt | succumbed
to their injuries."
" Can you tell me the reason why little children
always say " me " instead of " I " (No non-
essentials).
** I have known that | ever since I was a boy."
" Though he was old | his sight was perfect."
Always in analysis keep the original order as intact as
possible. If you destroy this, you will lose the sense
of the sentence as a whole and will never see where to
mend it, or to improve it, or to point it, as the case may
be. This is the value of red ink. It distinguishes with-
out spoiling the order. You do not as a rule need for
this work to take the framework apart, (the Subject,
Verb, and Object, or, when a state is described, the
Subject and the set of words describing the state ; your
work is rather to make yourself familiar with the different
sorts of ornaments which you habitually hang on this
framework.
Identify them ; label them ; as far as possible collect
them together.
Leave the frame-work clear ; where you can see it,
with the non-essentials on one side or the other.
When you have done this to fifty or sixty of your own
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 137
sentences, you will probably make various discoveries.
1. That your ornaments are not very often sentences
(once in how many times ? ).
2. That you use phrases freely. How many times
in a dozen sentences ?
3. That you prefer to use a couple of principal
sentences connected by some such conjunction as and,
rather than a single sentence carrying a servant sen-
tence. You don't say, " Jones, who was late for school,
had to stay behind " ; you say " Jones was late for
school and had to stay behind."
In a word, you talk with the simpler tools and with the
simpler forms.
Now all these things you do perfectly rightly, not be-
cause you mean to, but because the moment you do
anything else you cease to be intelligible. You have
been taught unconsciously by experience.
There was once a bright and shining saw that Willy
desired to play with. Every time he meddled with it
he cut his fingers. He soon learnt to let it alone. Willy
has now gone back to his own little box of tools.
You are like Willy. Every time you meddled with
that long sentence you cut your fingers ; in other words
you ceased to be understood. You have learnt to take
only tools you can handle.
There is a further moral to this parable. There are
some tools you can use and others you cannot.
The ones you can and do use, when you mean business,
are sentences with not more than one servant sentence ;
up to there you are masters of your tools, beyond there,
as a rule, you are not.
I38 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
See to it therefore, that in writing letters, or essays,
or answers to questions of any sort, you use the tools
you know.
For some time limit yourself deliberately and patiently
to one servant sentence. Only thus will you attain
clearness.
Analyse next one of your old exercises ; for example,
a written historical answer.
How many sentences in that answer contain more than
one servant sentence ?
If there is more than an accidental one here and there,
your habits of writing are almost certainly wrong. You
are endeavouring to use tools that are beyond you.
Mend your habits. It can soon be done with care.
Re-write first every offending sentence in the above
exercise.
Turn the superfluous sentences into separate
principal sentences if necessary.
Leave no sentence with more than one servant
sentence.
It will be found that the effort to mend generally
means reducing the servant part. It can be done in
many ways.
You will see them best by some examples.
Caesar returned to Rome after he had
conquered the Gauls.
Essentials. Non-essentials.
1. Caesar returned - - to Rome
after he had conquered the Gauls.
Cut the sentence down to a phrase.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 139
2. Caesar returned - - to Rome
after his victories in Gaul.
Cut the phrase down to a word.
3. Caesar returned - - to Rome victorious ;
or, if the worst comes to the worst :
4. Caesar returned - - to Rome.
He had conquered the Gauls.
" I shall never forgive him because of what he did
when he was Lord-Lieutenant.
Essentials. Non-essentials.
1. I shall never forgive him - because of what he did
when he was Lord-Lieu-
tenant
The non-essentials here are an adverbial servant
sentence with a sentence dependent on it. To reduce it,
first clear off the dependent part.
2. I shall never forgive him - for what he did as Lord-
Lieutenant.
To reduce further :
3. I shall never forgive him - for his conduct as Lord-
Lieutenant ;
or better again :
4. I shall never forgive him - his conduct as Lord-
Lieutenant.
" What he says, were it not for the fact that he has
held an official position ever since the present
Government came into office, would not be of
importance."
The first change that is clearly needed is to put the
essentials together .
140 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
i. What he says would not be of
importance - '- were it not for the fact
that he has held an
official position ever
since the present
Government came
into office.
The essential part of this sentence contains a replacing
sentence. To point this essential part is the next stage.
2. His words would be unim-
portant - - - were it not for the
fact, etc.
Note the removal of the replacing sentence.
Note also the change from the negative not be to the
positive be : both alterations point the essential part.
Essentials. Non-essentials.
3. His words would be unim-
portant - but for the fact that he
has held an official
position, etc.
4. His words would be unim-
5. His
portant -
-
-
had he not held
an
official position ever
since the present
Government came
into office.
words would
be
unim
L-
portant -
had he not held
official position
so long.
an
for
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE I4I
6. His words would be unim-
portant - - - but for his official
position.
If this process of reduction means sacrificing too much,
and losing elements you really want to say, they must
be taken right out and made into a separate sentence.
For example :
" He has held an official position since the present
Government came into office ; otherwise his
words would be unimportant.
Tt does not, of course, follow that all sentences need
sucli reduction. The above examples are to show you
how to do it when necessary.
A good writer will so order his sentences, that the
servant element never interferes jwith the other ; and
you will find in many examples of English you examine,
that neither by pointing the essential part, nor by re-
ducing the non-essential part, can you effect the least
improvement ; the sentences are balanced as they are ;
they have the right combination of fulness and clearness.
On the other hand, your own long sentences will
probably need ruthless reduction. As was explained
above, they are not the forms you naturally use. If
you have ventured on handling them you have probably
done so unskilfully.
It will sometimes be necessary to analyse passages of §7
greater intricacy than those you have noticed. A sen- Forms
tence, as you have seen, can be made highly complex j™
by stringing sentences on to sentences ; moreover, Complex
Analysis
142 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
when this happens, obscurity is never very far off.
It is a method, however, which is sometimes employed
justifiably. Poets use it ; so do certain prose writers
whose aim approximates to that of the poet. They are
able to do so, because their main object is not so much
clearness of impression, as harmony of impression. To
apply to a poem the analytical methods which are
natural to prose, is rather like dissecting a butterfly ;
it is putting the creature to a use it was never intended
for.
If, in the interests of science, it has to be done, choose
an arrangement which will do as little dismemberment
as possible.
You ought, always, at every stage, to be able to see your
sentence as a whole. Especially keep order intact. To
do otherwise is like taking a complicated machine to
pieces, and mixing up the parts. You can study and
examine any particular part, it is true ; but you have
lost the most valuable element of all, the sense of its
relation to the whole.
Any form of analysis which destroys the life of the
sentence it is applied to, is inadequate ; for it
destroys the connections, (e.g., the order connection),
which are as much a part of the sentence as the words
they connect.
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THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 145
The foregoing forms of analysis have been based, in § 8
the main, on this broad principle.
There are certain parts of the sentence which we must The
have ; there are again certain parts which we may «nial«sis ol
have. The division is two-fold, and analysis consists Values
in the identification and distinction of those parts of
the sentence which fall under one division or the other —
more especially when such parts are embodied in re-
placing sentences.
Such a method is of great value whenever, as in or-
dinary composition, the full sentence involves anything
like the free use of replacing sentences. The danger, in
such cases, is always the disproportion of non-essentials.
To correct it, the first step must always be their
identification.
It is possible however, and often necessary, to look
at the sentence from another point of view.
Instead of considering it as consisting of a framework
of essentials — with various ornaments and amplifications
added — we may regard it as expressing one central
thought, (generally embodied in the verb), with the other
thoughts needed to complete it (Subjects, Objects,
Adjectives, Adverbs,) grouped round it.
We may distinguish these additional ideas, not as
before, by the test of "essential or non-essential," — but
by their greater or less degree of relationship to the
central idea.
Thus we should distinguish a Subject from an ordinary
servant Adverb, not by the fact that one can be spared
and the other cannot, which is a test of unlikeness, but
by their different degrees of likeness. They are both
J
I46 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
assisting to complete the central idea ; but the Subject
does it in the closest possible relationship, the Adverb
at a much greater distance.
This distinction is much more accurate, and much
more delicate than any distinction founded on differ-
ences, and it expresses itself in English, at least, by-
Order.
Consider such a sentence as :
" We cut the tree down yesterday."
Cutting is the central idea. We — the tree — down and
— yesterday each add their respective shares, viz. : —
That we — did the cutting.
That the cutting was done — to the tree.
That the cutting was — down
That the cutting was — yesterday.
As the sentence stands, the degree of importance of
these additions is expressed by their positions. We
is first in importance, standing immediately before
the verb.
The tree is next, standing immediately after.
Down is next — an important completion of the verb.
Yesterday is next — an unimportant completion.
Note that, we cannot say :
" We cut the tree yesterday down."
Again, we can say :
" We cut down the tree yesterday."
It follows that down is of such importance to the
centraridea that it not only is incapable of following
yesterday, but that it can even take precedence of an
object.
We arrive at the same result in another way when
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 147
we make down a part of the verb, and regard it as
cut down rather than cut.
You may learn in this way to estimate the compara-
tive values of words, as well as their functions.
Down is a word of greater value to the central idea
than yesterday, and has a little more or a little less value
than an object, according to the precise shade of meaning
expressed.
Compare :
M He gave away the money."
u He gave the money away."
The first sentence concentrates attention on the
manner of the gift, the second on the fate of the money.
In the first case away outweighs money, in the second
money outweighs away.
Generally speaking, Order is an instrument of the
greatest precision for express:ng exact values.
Consider :
" He obviously knew all about it."
A first rough analysis would give :
Knew the verb.
Obviously an adverb.
No ordinary servant adverb, however can stand in
such a position as obviously does.
We cannot say :
" He to-day knew all about it."
Obviously if a complement of the verb is clearly not
an ordinary subordinate complement.
148 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
We may therefore have recourse to the analysis :
Obviously knew the Verb.
He - - the Subject.
All about it the Object.
Even this, however, is inadequate.
Why must we say :
" He obviously knew all about it " ?
When we may not say :
** He knew obviously all about it " ?
The conclusion is that obviously is the more important
word of the two and carries the main part of the central
idea ; and the analysis we arrive at is that obviously
is the centre of the sentence, closely supported by knew,
with he and all about it third and fourth respectively.
There is clearly a great difference between a result
like this, and the plan of treating obviously as an adverb ;
to do so, while in one sense correct, suggests that the
word which really is the key of the sentence is subordi-
nate and of minor importance to the sense.
The same conclusion can be reached from another
side.
" He obviously knew all about it," is equivalent to
" It was obvious that he knew all about it."
Obviously which in the first case was the real though
not the formal centre of the sentence, has become in
was obvious, the formal centre. Neither sentence is
equivalent to " Obviously he knew all about it," where
knew and not obviously is paramount.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE I49
The study of the relation of the adjective to the central §9
idea is highly instructive.
It varies with every adjective.
The adjective is related, in the first instance, not to TheDiffer-
the word which normally embodies the central idea, the ^fa* UM
verb, but to one of the outlying words. Adjective
Hence in the ordinary way its connection is indirect
and distant.
An adjective completing a noun, which itself is only
a distant complement of the central idea, has the least
share of all in building up the general sense of the
sentence,
" The butterfly settled on a large stone."
The word large has practically no connection with the
central idea settled ; stated otherwise, large has no
adverbial character, but is a pure adjective.
But consider :
" A large stone broke the window to atoms."
The largeness has a good deal to do with broke to
atoms." A stone the size of a pea would not have done
it. Large has begun to bear on the verb, and has some
adverbial character.
Again :
" A large stone (a diamond) would cost hundreds
of pounds."
Large here is not only bearing on the verb, but is
doing the main part of the work of the subject. It is
a more important word than stone. Its relation to the
Verb is more than Adverbial. It is tending towards a
subject relation.
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THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 151
of the different weights of the non-essential words.
The most accurate distinction, therefore, is the one
which estimates the value of the different services
rendered by each of the components of the sentence to
the central idea.
Such an analysis may be called quantitative rather
than qualitative; it is made by means of the study of
the order of a sentence, and of the possible and impossible
variations of it.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CONNECTION OF IDEAS.
SYNTHESIS.
You learnt in the last chapter how to analyse, that is,
how to take to pieces sentences containing a great many
parts.
Now if a word is a tool, a sentence is a tool composed
of several parts, and a complicated sentence, such as those
we have been examining, may be fitly compared to a
machine.
A machine is pulled to pieces for two reasons — there
may be something the matter with it ; in this case it
wants mending, like sentences in some of your exercises ;
or on the other hand its owner may want to see how it
works, in which case the putting together is as important
as the pulling to pieces.
It is time this process began.
To begin with, why do you put ideas together
at all ?
You do, as a matter of fact, put together in your own
speech, not only sentences, but words of all sorts, Nouns,
Verbs, Adjectives, and so on.
For example, put a pair of nouns together in any
sense making sentence.
" The gardener planted the shrub."
Or a noun and a verb :
" Jones is going skating."
152
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 153
Or a pair of sentences :
" He went out and bought a pair of boots,"
" He could not run, because he had no legs."
Or a pair of adjectives :
" Give me two or three shillings."
Can you join up in this way any two things you like ?
Any two nouns for example
Join in any sense making sentence a whale and an
inflection.
If you cannot manage it, why cannot you ?
Join again a whale and an oak tree, or again a hairpin
and an isosceles triangle.
Again, join these up in any way you like :
" The mutton was high,"
" The fish whisked his tail."
If you cannot do it, why not ? If you can, why ?
Join again :
*• The mutton was tough,"
" The rain fell in torrents."
You will have probably found out, in your efforts, that
some ideas are a great deal easier to join up than others.
You can join a whale to a ship a great deal more
easily than you can attach him to an inflection, or to an
oak tree.
Do it and convince yourself.
Find a better friend for The mutton was high, than the
fish sentence.
Why is connection of this sort sometimes easy and
sometimes difficult ? The answer is simple. The
words and sentences cannot be connected, because the
ideas that they represent are not connected.
tions
154 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
On the other hand, the more closely things or ideas
are connected, the more closely will the words or
sentences be connected.
Now, pairs or sets of ideas are connected with each
other in all sorts of ways, ranging from a very distant
connection indeed to a very close one.
We ought, therefore, to be able to tie together the
words or sentences that express them by various kinds
of connection, ranging from a way which gives a very
distant connection, to a way which gives a very close
one.
«nn!UnC* S° we can ! Now you can see something of what
Conjunctions are for.
§2 Conjunctions are words which express the different
kinds of connection, not between any two ideas, but
between two ideas of a similar kind.
You should note carefully — Conjunctions do not do
anything like the whole work of connection, but only
that between similar ideas.
The connection between dissimilar ideas is done by
different tools, as you will learn later on.
The main importance of Conjunctions lies in the fact
that, among the similar ideas they connect, are the ideas
we express by sentences.
A sentence is only a verb on a large scale, and the
connection between two sentences is simply the con-
nection between a couple of verb ideas, which of course
are similar.
§3 As there are many degrees of connection between two
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 155
pairs of Verb ideas, there will naturally be Conjunctions
to correspond.
As two sentences stand side by side they may be
connected by a very loose bond indeed, and be practically
independent of each other.
As connection between them grows, however, there
comes a time when the ideas become not two, but one.
Exactly where this point comes is sometimes hard to
define ; but it does come ; and connection between the
two sentences, after that point, is of a different nature
from what it was before.
Before that point, the second sentence had an inde-
pendent existence, as a member of the main train of
thought of which both sentences formed a part. After
that point, it has given up its independent existence.
It exists, not for the larger world, but solely for the
sentence which precedes it.
It is now properly called a dependent or subordinate
sentence.
The Conjunctions that made the connection before
that point was reached are usually called Co-ordinate
Conjunctions ; those that make it after that point are
usually called Subordinate Conjunctions.
Apply this to any particular train of related ideas.
A traveller, we will say, is attacked by brigands. We
might say, " They caught him and cut his throat."
These are simply two steps in the main story.
Two things were done, two actions expressed ; first
the catching, then the throat-cutting.
Their connection is the very slight one of their happen-
ing successively, close together, in a given portion of
time.
156 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
It is expressed by placing the two sentences together,
in the order of the events, and by placing between them
the conjunction and.
We may, however, express it " After they had caught
him they cut his throat."
One thing only is expressed here — throat-cutting with
attendant circumstances. The sentence After they had
caught him, has given up its work in the main story.
If you do not believe it, write the main story on
both sides of the two sentences. Take out After they
had caught him. The story will be less full, but its sense
will not be broken. Take out They cut his throat, the
sense will be wrecked.
The first way, therefore, expresses "catching" and
" throat-cutting", the second, " throat-cutting with
attendant circumstances."
Hence, if you desire to concentrate your hearer's
attention on throat-cutting choose the latter method.
If you are concerned rather with the two actions than
the one, choose the first.
These two methods of connecting a pair of sentences
may fitly be called Equi-connection and Sub-connection.
The choice between them is exactly like the choice
between the active and the passive forms of the verb.
It depends entirely on where you desire to concentrate
attention.
It is clear, too, that when sub-connection is chosen,
the true spirit of its use will be for the main idea to be
in prominence and the other in the shade. A subordinate
connection where this is not so is approximating to an
equi-connection, and the other method of connection
is becoming preferable.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 157
You should note that, in your own speech, you habitu-
ally choose equi-connection rather than sub-connection.
Note also that the English language chooses equi-
connection rather than sub-connection, but that Latin
makes free use of sub-connection.
Note also that though equi-connection and sub-
connection are often matters of choice, they are not
entirely so. A succession of incidents often happens
which is by far most appropriately expressed by equi-
connection.
If Caesar had said : —
" Cum venissem, et cum vidissem, vici,'"
instead of " Veni, vidi, vici," he would not have been
Caesar, but a rather long-winded old woman.
Sometimes the only possible connection is equi-
connection. For instance :
What happened on Tuesday ?
The cow died and the House of Lords was abolished.
Two such events must be independently expressed.
As was noted above, connection by Conjunctions of §4
any sort is only a small part of the connection that is connection
going on between ideas, wherever language is used. generally
Subjects and Objects are connected with verbs,
Adjectives are connected with Nouns, and so on.
Connection of different kinds is the very breath of life
to a sentence.
I58 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Take any collection of words ; strip from them the
inflections and the particular positions which connect
them, and there is nothing left but dry bones.
" The ship was dashed against the rocks by the
force of the waves."
Take away the connectives and it becomes :
The rocks, the waves, dash, the force, the ship.
The conjunction is only one of a number of connect-
ing tools that we use.
What are the others ? Case, which connects noun
ideas to verb ideas, adjective ideas to noun ideas.
Preposition, which connects' the noun idea to the verb
idea, or the noun used adjectivally to the noun.
In a more subtle way, some inflections of the verb do
the same work.
Last, but not least, Order is freely used ; it connects
our own subjects and objects to the verb.
What is the difference between such connectives
as these, and the conjunction connecting tools ?
Examine the connections which they make, until you
see.
Case, Order, and Prepositions define the connections
between dissimilar ideas, Conjunctions define the con-
nections between similar ideas.
Hence we see the real parts of speech are Nouns, Pro-
nouns, which replace them, and Verbs, with Adjectives
and Adverbs.
Most of the inflections, more especially Case, with the
Conjunction, the Preposition, and Order simply connect
them.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CONNECTION OF REPLACING
SENTENCES.
It is clear that for one sentence to merge its identity
in another as has been described in what we called
sub-connection, the second sentence must be of an
adverbial nature to the first. The first sentence is a
step in the main story. It must be of the nature of a
verb. Any sentence which extends it, or explains it,
must therefore be adverbial to it.
We consequently have the principle ; no sentence
which is not of an adverbial nature, is capable of sub-
connection with another.
If this is so, what is the connection of an adjective
sentence with a main sentence ?
Precisely the same considerations apply that became
evident when we were investigating the relation of an
ordinary adjective to the central idea.
i. An adjective may be a mere adjunct of the nouns §1
furnishing additional or interesting information about The
the noun, but with little or no bearing on the verb. sentence6
e.g., " A newly-built cottage occupied the
foreground."
Newly-built has no bearing on occupied. It is a pure
adjective.
Similarly, replacing adjective sentences may be of
this nature ; if they bear entirely, or even mainly on the
noun they are attached to, their function is purely ad-
159
l60 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
jectival. They cannot enter into sub-connection, i.e.,
into adverbial relations with the main sentence. Their
connection is equi-connection, for they are independent
of the verb, in spite of their dependence on their own
noun. They need nothing but expression (usually by
an indicative) and an order attachment to their noun.
" Mr. Smith, who had lately returned from
India, made an excellent speech."
2. Again, adjectives may have a distinct bearing on
the verb, i.e., a distinct adverbial character.
e.g., " A faithful few followed him through all his
misfortunes."
In exactly the same way replacing adjective sentences
may bear very distinctly on the central idea of the
sentence, and not only on the noun they are nominally
attached to.
In such a case, like the single word adjectives con-
sidered above, they have gained an adverbial character ;
they enter into sub-connection precisely as the formal
adverb sentence does ; the connecting tool is the
Subjunctive. (See § 2 of this Chapter.)
" Caesar misit legatos, qui pacem peterent."
Qui pacem peterent, shows a Subjunctive in sub-
connection, because it bears on misit.
Caesar misit legatos, qui pacem petierunt.
Qui pacem petierunt shows an Indicative in equi-
connection, because it does not bear on misit.
Caesar sent certain messengers ; these men afterwards
did so and so.
! !The exact point at which the bearing of the replacing
adjective sentence on the Verb becomes sufficiently
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE l6l
pronounced to justify sub-connection, and the Sub-
junctive (i.e., the subjoining mood), is a matter for
you to judge. You will have at and near that point
the option of using a Subjunctive or an Indicative,
(sub-connection or equi-connection), according as you
desire the sense of the replacing sentence to lean towards,
or away from the verb.
Note that a replacing adjective sentence has certain
limitations of its own, from which a single word adjective
is free.
Owing to its length, an adjective Sentence can never
precede its noun as a single word adjective does.
Hence when an adjective sentence is attached to
the Subject, it has of necessity to occupy the highly
important position between the Subject and the Verb.
Now this is the vital spot of the sentence, and nothing
can stand in it without making havoc of the Subject
and Verb connection, except an idea which is in close
relation both to the Subject and the Verb.
Compare the French refusal to allow adverbs there.
Hence we find the adjective sentence following the
subject constantly containing introductory matter to
the Verb, and at its best when doing so.
" The sailor, who had been watching us curiously,
now accosted us."
K
l62 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
" Their leader, who was as strong as a bull,
hurled his assailants backwards."
The adjective sentence in both these examples
directly paves the way for the verb.
When the matter is not introductory it must not go
there.
" The soldier, whose name was Thomas Atkins,
reloaded his rifle."
Note the instinct that you have against such a form.
Note again the effort to soften it by parenthesis.
14 The soldier (his name was Thomas Atkins) re-
loaded his rifle."
In other words the Adjective Sentence in some cases
not only may be, but must be strongly adverbial ; and
it may then be used with great effect, not to interfere
with, but to point and to reinforce the highly important
connection between Subject and Verb.
The same necessity for an adverbial character is not
present in adjective sentences attached to the Object ;
for in such cases the main work of the sentence is done
before the adjective sentence is reached.
At the same time such sentences often are adverbial.
" I punished the boy, who had committed the
offence,"
is quite a different combination to :
" I punished the boy, who went home directly
afterwards."
3. Again, while adjectives can, and often do acquire
an adverbial character, this extension of their functions
does not stop there.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 163
They can become in practice essential parts of the
Subject or Object ideas.
Consider :
" Industrious boys get prizes."
The Subject really is The industrious. Of the two
components of the full Subject Industrious boys, we can
spare boys far better than industrious. Industrious
predominates, and is morally, though not formally, the
noun.
It may be said that industrious bears strongly on the
verb — a fact in favour of its adverbial character. This
is perfectly true, but does not go far enough. The
assistance that industrious renders to the verb is more
than adverbial ; it has become identified with the
Subject. Its connection with the verb is not a subordin-
ate one, but the reverse.
Hence, when such a single word adjective is replaced
by a sentence : — " Those who are industrious get prizes "
— the replacing sentence is governed by exactly the
same principles. It is not subordinate to the verb. Its
relation to it is that of a sutject, not of an adverb.
Hence the term Sub-connection does not apply.
Sub-connection denotes the connection of one complete
verb (a sentence) , in an adverbial function, with another
complete verb. But we are dealing here not with the
connection of a verb with a verb, but of a subject with
a verb ; the replacing sentence requires exactly what a
subject requires ; (i) to be expressed : (ii) to be placed
in its right position in the sentence.
164 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The principles which apply to the adjective sentence
when essential to a Subject and not merely supplement-
ing it, apply to it equally when it forms an essential
part of an Object.
In " Those who are industrious thrive," the adjective
sentence is practically part of the Subject. It must be
treated as such, and not subordinated.
In " The hospitals received those who were hurt,"
the adjective sentence is practically part of the Object ;
it must be treated as such, and not subordinated.
The same principles apply again to the Noun Sentence
pure and simple :
" I wish you would come oftener."
In none of these cases is there any question whatever
of subordination.
§ 2 As a result of the foregoing reasoning we have :
A. Dependent on the Verb and capable of Sub-connection.
(1) The pure Adverb Sentence.
(2). The Adjective Sentence which bears too much
on the Verb to be regarded as a mere adjunct of
the noun ; but which does not bear enough on the
noun to be indispensable to it.
B. Independent of the Verb, and entering therefore only
into independent connection with it.
(1). The Adjective Sentence, which is the mere
adjunct of a noun.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 165
(2). The Adjective Sentence, which has become an
essential part of the non-subordinate Subject
or Object.
(3). The Noun Sentences, which stand for the Subject
or Object.
You express the Sub-connection by the Subjunctive, The
in the first set of sentences. You do it, however, not aJf-jSj?!
because the Subjunctive in itself expresses Sub-connec- Sentences
tion : it does not ; it expresses the thought or mental
figure of an action, as opposed to the record of its
happening, which is the Indicative idea.
You do it because you present, when you express
sub-connection, not two blunt records of events (as
you do in Equi-connection), but the first event only,
and then thoughts about the second, viz. : your views
about its relations to the first : these require a Sub-
junctive to express them.
Sub-connection leads to the employment of a Sub-
junctive, but one is the work and the other is the tool.
It does not follow that the tool cannot do other work.
The Subjunctive is used (always to express the same
thing, the thought or figure of an action) in many
sentences which are not in Sub-connection.
Nor does it follow that the same work cannot be done
with other tools.
English constantly forsakes Sub-connection for Equi-
connection, e.g., " He will never do it, strong though he
may be," gets discarded for, " He will never do it, strong
as he is."
l66 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The relationships of the independent replacing sen-
tences to the main sentence are expressed solely by
position.
Of the sentences enumerated under the heading B.,
position alone attaches No. i to its noun, No. 2 to the
Subject or Object of which it is an essential part, and
No. 3 to the Verb of which it is the Subject or Object.
The In- In other words, position does for these sentences
Re^ptecing wnat tne Subjunctive Inflection and the conjunction
Sentences between them do for the Sub-connected sentences, viz. :
defines their relationship to the main sentence.
Compare the parallel uses of position and the Case
ending to define the relationships of nouns to a verb.
These sentences need merely what the words they
replace needed, viz. : saying and placing : by " saying "
is meant independent expression which has no reference
to any external relationship of the sentence, but takes
account solely of the ideas it is desired to convey.
The Moods used for such expression may be any that
fit the sense.
You will use the Indicative or Subjunctive according
as you require to speak of an action or the mental picture
of one. The Indicative is the normal mood, but you will
sometimes require the Subjunctive for the following
reasons :
The main verb of your sentence will sometimes deal
not with the actual world, but with the thought world ;
and when that is so the complementary ideas of it (i.e.,
the Subject or Object or Adverbial ideas) will some-
times need to be thought too, i.e., not real actions or
states but thoughts, or figures, or mental pictures of
those actions or states.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 167
You cannot tell a real action. A real action can only
be done You can only tell your thought of or the story
of a real action.
You cannot know a real action ; you cannot ask a
real action ; you cannot wish or think a real action.
Again, a real action cannot be the subject of such a verb
as is impossible, would be a shame, is necessary, and so on.
In other words, the nouns you are dealing with are
not the names of actions or states, but the names or
descriptions of thoughts of actions or states.
Hence such nouns are to be expressed by the Sub-
junctive.
M Die mini quid feceris."
'* I wish you would tell me."
The Infinitive will express such figures of actions
when the doers of them are either obvious or un-
important. "I wish to know."
Replacing sentences are sometimes constructed with §3
one or other of the compound relatives " what " " where " Compound
u how," etc. Such sentences are apt to lead to con- combina-
fusion. tions
To guard against this, analyse the connection of the
compound relative combinations.
The compound relative does away with the separation
between the relative and its antecedent. They are no
longer two, but one.
l68 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Hence its use turns the antecedent and the following
relative sentence into one whole.
This whole is not, as it is often mistakenly called, a
sentence, but a noun. It is not a sentence at all : it is
simply the antecedent, magnified ; and as a noun, with
which an adjective sentence has coalesced, it is no more a
sentence than any other combination of a noun and an
adjective. Call it if you choose a noun combination,
but do not call it a noun sentence : it denotes a thing,
not a happening, as a sentence does.
Its functions in the sentence are precisely those of
any other noun : thus it may act as the subject.
What happened, was most interesting : i.e., a certain
thing was most interesting.
It may act as Object.
Tell me how to do it, i.e., Tell me a certain thing.
It may help to form an adverbial phrase.
I found it where you left it, i.e., I found it in a certain
spot.
I honoured him for what he did, i.e., I honoured him
for a certain thing.
He came exactly when I told him, i.e., He came at
a certain time.
It may do verbal and adjectival work.
He is not what he seems, i.e., He is not a certain thing.
The Noun Combination in all these functions is con- .
nected with the verb of the sentence it works in, precisely
as any other noun is : viz., by position.
To express it, use whatever mood fits the sense. If
for example, the combination is the Object of a verb
of mentality, the Thought Mood will be needed. You
may need the same mood for Subjects sometimes.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 169
Take care not to confuse such adverbial phrases as
those shown above, with adverbial sentences in sub-
connection. There is no question of sub-connection
here. Sub-connection is a relation between one happen-
ing and another happening. This is a relation between
a thing and a happening.
Note that the moment you cease to use the Compound
Relative the noun combination spoken of above, splits
up into its original components. What was one sen-
tence, becomes two, and the original principles apply.
e.g., " Tell me what you did " is one sentence : " What
you did " is a noun combination. " Tell " is a verb
of mentality. The combination really means " the
tale of your action." " Die mihi quid feceris." Quid
being the Latin compound relative.
On the other hand you may say if you choose, " Tell
me that, which you did." You have now two sentences.
" Which you did " is an adjective sentence essential
to the object and independent of the verb. Nothing
but an Indicative is required.
" Die mihi id, quod fecisti."
Besides the Adverb sentence and the Adjective sen- §4
tence in its various forms, we may also have Noun
sentences pure and simple.
M I do not believe — that he has done it."
They stand for Subjects and Objects. As has already Noun
been explained, we have nothing to do but express them,
and place them in their proper positions in the sentences.
There is no question of subordination to the verb idea —
quite the reverse.
170 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
A simple tool for their expression is the noun form of
the verb — the Infinitive.
It cannot always be used, however, owing to the
necessity which occurs sometimes of emphasising the
actors as well as the action. The Infinitive will express
the action, but it is not a good tool for the actors.
As the name or description of an action or a state it
is a noun ; it bears therefore a different relation to the
accessories or complementary ideas of that action or
state (i.e., the Subject or the Object) from that which
the ordinary verb bears to an ordinary subject or object.
The Subject and Object of an Infinitive are really
adjectival to it — and subordinate.
" Jubet me ire." He orders my going.
The Subject and Object of an ordinary Verb are not
adjectival. The relation is much more one of equality.
Otherwise stated, an expressed or plainly appearing
Subject is a necessity to an ordinary verb. It is a
luxury to an Infinitive — mere supplementary informa-
tion about the action noun. Hence the Infinitive is an
appropriate tool to express a noun sentence in which
the actors are of secondary importance only.
If, as sometimes happens, they make so little difference
to the sense that they can be left unexpressed, the In-
finitive is the only appropriate tool ; it is a pure noun,
without an adjective. " Nolo episcopari."
If they bear enough on the sense to need expression,
but still are of only secondary importance, the infinitive
is still the right tool ; it is a noun with adjective comple-
ments in the shape of its subject or object.
This is the usual Accusative with the Infinitive con-
struction. " Dixit Caesarem Gallos vicisse."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 1J1
As the importance of the Infinitive Subject to the main
sense increases, it ceases to be able to stand as an
adjectival complement to the Infinitive noun. The
Infinitive tool is abandoned and the Subjunctive sentence
adopted. At and near this point either tool can be
used.
" Jubet me ire." He orders my going.
Going is the thing which has got to be done ; that /
have got to do it is secondary, but only just so.
" Imperavit mihi ut irem."
That / have got to go is just primary.
The exact point at which the subject of the Infinitive
ceases to be of secondary importance, and demands a
sentence of its own, differs in different languages.
English practice differs from Latin considerably. In
French the two forms are often actually alternative :
" II faut m'en aller." " II faut que je m'en aille."
" Avant d'aller." " Avant que j'aille." But the
principle is the same in all three languages. Whenever
the Infinitive is used the action is prominent; the
actors are in the background, sometimes more, some-
times less, sometimes unexpressed altogether.
CHAPTER X.
THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.
§1 We have been speaking of the connection between
ideas and the methods of its expression.
We saw that the connections between sentences, i.e.,
between two similar verb ideas, are made by Conjunc-
tions.
It has become plain moreover that Latin possesses
in addition a very beautiful and delicate tool for making
a certain kind of these connections, viz., the Subjunctive
Mood.
English and French have it too; but, as usual, it is
most freely used in Latin, less freely in French, and
hardly at all in English.
We defined the Indicative Mood as that inflection of
the verb which expressed an action or a state which
actually happened, or existed.
We defined the Subjunctive as expressing an action
which some one had thought about or figured. The
definitions need some amplification.
They do not mean that an action expressed by the
Subjunctive never gets done. Because an action is
thought about, that is no reason why it should not be
done in due course ; nor again does it mean that, once
it has been done, it cannot be thought about afterwards,
and so in due course expressed by the Subjunctive.
The distinction between what we call " fact " actions
and " thought-of " actions often tends to be interpreted
T72
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 173
as the distinction between " fact "■ actions and " non-
fact " actions. This is not correct.
Actions get thought about at three times :
1. Before they are done.
2. While they are being done.
3. After they have been done.
At all these times they are expressed by the Sub-
junctive.
It is quite easy to see that they are " thought -of "
actions, when they are thought about before they are
done ; this is because they have not yet been done ;
they are not yet facts.
e.g., " I hope he may succeed.' "
It is not so easy to recognise them as " thought-of "
actions when they are thought about after they have
been done. In this case you know the action has
happened. This knowledge bulks large in your mind
and leads you to lose sight of the fact that it is being
thought about as well.
e.g., '■ I am sorry that he did it."
The question to ask yourself is not " Is it a thought or
is it a fact ? " but " Is the speaker thinking about this ? "
If so the Subjunctive expresses his thought picture
of the action.
" I am sorry that he should have done it."
174 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
§2 Since the Subjunctive describes not an action, but the
Subjunc- thought or mental image of an action, the question
live Tenses arjses • Tn what sense does a Subjunctive Mood possess
Tenses.
To answer this question, Tense generally must be
studied more closely.
Its primary use, as you have already learnt, is to add
to the idea of an action the idea of its time.
This can be done with perfect clearness as long as it
is desired to speak of nothing further than the action
and its time. I write. I wrote.
Often, however, other elements have to be incorpo-
rated in the Tense. For example, we need sometimes,
to speak of an action and also of its degree of complete-
ness : and confusion arises because both the action and
the completeness of it take the idea of time
There is the question not only of when the action was
done, but of when it was complete.
For example :
" I have written the letter " expresses a past action
now complete.
The difficulty of naming such a form is this. If we
call it the Past Complete, we ignore the time of the
completeness. If we call it the Present Complete, we
ignore the time of the action. No name will really
describe it, except the full one : " Past action now
complete."
Difficulties become greater still when, besides speaking
of the action and its degree of completeness, we need to
speak of the thought of it : the thought takes the idea
of time, too : it may have been either past thought or
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 175
present thought : and we may have accordingly in
the one form, ideas of when the action was thought
about, of when it was done, and of when it was complete :
and these times need not be all the same.
Single names, e.g., Present, or Perfect, are out of the
question to describe such combinations accurately.
Fortunately, you can use tools without so much
naming. You can use names which are merely dis-
tinctive : e.g., you can call your tools the X tool, and
the Y tool, and the Z tool, and it will not make the least
difference so long as you know the tools apart, and what
each will do. This knowledge is a necessity. An
accurately descriptive name, though desirable, is not
a necessity. Proceed, therefore, first, not to name but
to analyse the Tense forms you use ; let the names take
care of themselves for a while.
1. I write the letter, implies A present action
2. I am writing the letter - A present action Now Incomplete
3. I wrote the letter - A past action <jhe
4. I have written the letter A past action Now Complete Present
5. I was writing the letter - A past action Then Incomplete and Pait
6. I had written the letter A past action Then Complete Forms
Note that (1) and (3) are the only single element
forms : and that in all the rest both the action and the
completeness have the idea of time.
With the Future Tenses a new element enters, viz. :
thought ; any action which has not yet happened, if it
is to be expressed at all, must be figured or pictured ;
nothing else is possible : and such a mental figure implies
the passage from the record of an action to the intelligent
thought of an action. A phonograph can record past
sounds — only intelligence can figure future ones.
176 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
In the Indicative, only actions are figured which are
going to happen, either certainly or probably.
In the Subjunctive they are figured irrespective of
whether they happen or not.
We need the term Non-Complete rather than Incom-
plete to characterise figured actions. " Incomplete "
implies they have been begun, which implies they are
happening. This is too large an assumption.
The difference between " happening " actions and
" figured " actions is exactly like that between things
and pictures. Pictures may be pictures of real things ;
or again, of things which have no existence outside the
artist's mind. Figured actions may have real ones to
correspond (as the Future Indicatives"*^)), or they
may be simply mental pictures.
7. I will write the letter, expresses Present Thought of a Future
Action, which is certain.
3. I would (i.e., willed to) write the letter, expresses Past
The Future Thought of a then Future Action ; also reasonably
Forms certain.
Non-Completeness is logically implied in the two
" Futures " but is not directly expressed.
9. I will have written the letter, expresses Present Thought
of the Future Completion of an Action, which is certain.
10. I would have written the letter, Past Thought of the then
Future Completion of an Action, which was also certain.
There are other forms you should analyse for your-
selves, e.g., " I have been writing," " I am about to
write," and so on. Those given above are the main ones.
Again, nothing but an action which happens, has time,
i.e., no merely figured action has time, any more than a
picture has time ; the figuring of it has time, just as a
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
177
picture has a time of painting ; and if the action
materialises, as it may do, then the action has time ;
but in the Subjunctive such materialisation is of secon-
dary importance. Hence we find as we should expect
in the Subjunctive forms that the thought of the action
and its completeness are the main things expressed,
and that the time of the happening, if it happens, is
secondary.
:. I may write the letter, Present Thought of
a Non-Complete Action (which, if it The Sub-
happens, must be Future). junctive
:. I may have written ihe letter, Present Forms
Thought of a Complete Action (which, if
it happened, must have been in the Past).
It is possible
It was suggested
*3-
14.
I might write the letter, Past Thought of
a Non-Complete Action (which, if it
happened, must have been then in the
Future).
I might have written, Past Thought of a
Complete Action (which, if it happened,
must have been then in the Future).
A working distinction can be obtained among these
forms by classifying the groups rather than naming the
individual forms.
The first and broadest distinction is clearly between
" happening " actions and u figured " actions.
Nos. 1 to 6, express actions which happen.
Nos. 7 to 10, express actions which are figured and
are going to happen.
Nos. 11 to 14, express actions which are simply
figured.
L
§3
I78 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
There are other forms besides those given, but they
will all fall in one or other of the three classes
Nos. 1 to 6. When actions happen the time of their
happening is a weightier idea than the time of their
completeness. Hence we may classify :
Nos. 1 and 2 as Present forms,
Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, as Past forms,
the words Present and Past referring to the time of the
action.
If however in No. 4, " I have written the letter,"
it is desired to emphasise the present completeness,
No. 4 must be classed as a Present form. The form
does double work.
Nos. 7 to 10 When actions -are figured, the time
of their figuring cannot be neglected ; nor when they
happen, as these do, can the time of their happening-be
neglected.
Hence Nos. 7 and 9, may be classified as the Present
Future group ; Nos. 8 and 10, as Past Future group,
the first word referring to the time of the thought, the
second to the time of the happening.
Nos. 11 to 14. Again, when actions are figured only,
they have no time : only the figuring has time.
Hence Nos. n and 12 may be classified as Present
Thought forms ; and Nos. 13 and 14, as Past Thought
forms.
To summarise, we have to speak of :
Happening Actions
and Figured Actions.
Happening Actions can happen at three times,
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 179
Present, Past and Future ; but if they happen in
the future they have to be figured, to be expressed.
Figuring is sometimes done in the present, sometimes
in the past.
Actions which have happened or are happening are
reconstructed by the mind and recorded, mechanically
so to speak, by the Past and Present forms of the
Indicative.
Actions which are going to happen are constructed
by the mind, and figured intelligently by the Future
Indicative group of forms.
The figured actions of the Subjunctive (also intelli-
gently constructed) may or may not have real counter-
parts. They differ from those of the Future Indicative
group as pictures differ from photographs.
The figure of an action expressed by the Subjunctive
has no time except the time of the figuring ; but in the
background there is the time of the possible happening
which the Subjunctive neither asserts nor excludes.
It is now possible to examine more closely the Sub- §*
junctive Tense forms.
In dealing with " thought of or figured actions " we
need to express four main things : —
1. Present thought of an action still to be completed
(which in the nature of things is now in the
present or the future).
2. Present thought of a completed action (which in
the nature of things is now in the past).
3. Past thought of an action which was then still to be
completed (which in the nature of things was then
in the present or the future).
l8o THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
4. Past thought of a complete action (which in the
nature of things might then have been in the
past or the future.
Thus :
" I fear we may arrive too late,"
"It is possible he may succeed,"
" Whether it be so or no, I know not,"
represent Present Thoughts of Actions or States still
to be completed.
But:
" I fear he arrived too late,"
" It is possible he has succeeded," -
" Whether it has happened or no, I know not,"
all represent Present Thought of a Complete Action,
now past.
Again :
" I warned him I should do it,"
0 We hoped he might come,"
" He insisted it would be sufficient,"
all denote Past Thought of an Action or State still to be
completed — and then in the future ;
Whereas :
" I told him I had done it,"
" It was impossible that it should have been
otherwise,"
" We thought it might have sufficed,"
all represent Past Thought of Complete Actions or States
in the Past or in the Future at the time of thinking.
These four are expressed by the Tenses usually labelled
Present, Perfect, Imperfect, and Pluperfect.
The labels are inadequate for any purpose but that
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
181
of distinction. They are taken from the Indicative
and are no real guide to the use of the Tenses.
If you re-label them at all you must have double
labels such as :
Present Non-Complete (Present)
Present Complete (Perfect)
Past Non-Complete (Imperfect)
Past Complete (Pluperfect)
Whether you use the Subjunctive in Subconnection, §5
or in one of the connections independent of the Verb The'P f gj
(e.g., in a noun object sentence) you are always connect- ffijff^
ing a figured or pictured action which is secondary, to
a main or primary one.
It is quite natural therefore that the time of picturing
the second should correspond to the time of the first.
What do we mean by the time of the first ?
If the first is a happening action we mean the time
of its happening.
If the first is a pictured action, (which it may be — as
in the Futures), the natural time for the second picture
is the time of the first picture.
This principle is much easier than it looks. It may
be stated thus.
The time of the first event, (if it is a happening one),
determines the time of your thought about the second.
1 82 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
The time of the thought of the first event (if it is a
pictured one) determines the time of your thought about
the second.
Apply the principle as follows :
Caesar mittit legatos, qui pacem- ? Caesar's sending
is present. Your thought is present. Present thought
of a non-complete action. Present Subjunctive.
Petant.
Caesar misit legatos, qui pacem - s Caesar's sending
is past. Your thought is past. Past thought
of a non-complete action. Imperfect Subj. Peterent.
Caesar mittet legatos, qui pacem - Caesar's sending
is figured. The figure is present. Your thought is
present. Present thought of a non-complete action.
Petant.
Or again :
Caesar misit legatos — may mean : Caesar's sending is
now complete. The ambassadors are on the way.
The form is present. Your thought is present.
Present thought of a non-complete action ; Qui pacem
petant.
Again :
Caesar asked what the ambassadors had done. Caesar's
asking was past. Your thought (which is the Object
complement of " asked ") is past. Past thought of a
complete action. Pluperfect — Subjunctive. Quid
legati fecissent.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 183
Note how the Future Indicative Forms and the Sub- §6
junctive Forms are related.
Both sets express figures of actions ; and broadly Relations
speaking of the same actions ; but the Indicative implies Future
that the figures will materialise ; the Subjunctive says ^°rmshand
nothing one way or the other. junctive
It is manifest that where the chance of an action Forms
happening is very strong, it will tend to push the method
of expression towards the Indicative, though the Sub-
junctive may still be strictly correct ; in other words
the Indicative will be used to express not only actions
which will certainly happen, but which will|probably
happen.
Hence when JEnglishT]or any other language says,
'* I hope he will come," rather than " I hope he may
come " no laws are violated, and there is no sudden change
of practice ; all that happens is that the more accurate
and delicate tool, the Present Subjunctive, is laid down,
and the next in the range, the Future Indicative, is taken
up. The word does nearly as well. It is less subtle but
more direct. The emphasis shifts from the thought
side of the action to its fact side.
More than this, English methods of expression
habitually incline to the fact side of actions rather than
to the thought side.|
e.g., " Whether it is so or not, I do not know,"
would probably be preferred to the formally correct form.
" Whether it be so or not, I do not know."
The first sentence means. Either it is so ; or it is not
so ; I do not know which. It deals with facts only.
It is by such steps as these that in English the Indica-
tive has come to supplant the Subjunctive.
184 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Compare :
r< I wish he were here," (a true Subjunctive),
" I wish he was here."
The first sentence is good English, the second is not ;
and the reason is because " the wishing " implies that
" his being here " is not a_fact ; hence the use of the
Fact Mood jars on the ear.
Compare again :
• I thought he was here,"
as opposed to "I thought he were here."
Precisely the opposite is the case in this example ;
the word thought (which is equivalent to believed) ex-
presses a presumption in favour of his being here being
a fact, and makes the fact side an appropriate one to
dwell on.
In French, far less freedom is taken, and in Latin none
at all.
" Je croyais qu'il fut ici "
" Credidi eum adesse."
The Tense usually called the Conditional in the French
Indicative is interesting.
It bears exactly the same relation to the Tense usually
called the Imperfect Subjunctive that the Future In-
dicative bears to the Present Subjunctive.
Just as :
" I will go " denotes a present thought of an action
still to be completed, with the
idea of its happening pre-
dominant.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 185
and :
" I may go " denotes a present thought of an action
still to be completed, with the
idea of " thought " predomi-
nant.
So:
" I would go " denote a past thought of an action
" I should go " still to be completed, with the
idea of its happening pre-
dominant,
and :
" I might go " denotes a past thought of an action
still to be completed, with the
idea of thought predominant.
Note finally, the connection between the Infinitive §7
and the Subjunctive.
The Infinitive freely expresses the thought of an Relations
action ; in fact it is usually wanted for this rather than J^infjni-
to express the action itself. tiveandthe
The limitation of the Infinitive, as was previously ?."^unc"
explained, is that its Subject and Object (being adjectival
to the verb noun) are very secondary in the main
sentence — and the sense does not always permit of
their being thus lowered in value.
But when English says :
" He sent messengers to beg for peace,"
and Latin says :
" Misit legatos, ut pacem peterent,"
there is no radical difference of practice. The two
1 86 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
forms adjoin. " The seekers " are expressed in the
Subjunctive, they are taken for granted in the In-
finitive.
The real choice is not between two dissimilar tools, the
Subjunctive and the Infinitive ; they are not dissimilar,
it is rather between the full Adverbial Sentence which
defines its subject, and the condensed Adverbial Phrase
which omits it.
For further examples of the use of the Subjunctive
Tenses, see Chapter XII.
CHAPTER XL
THE BASIS OF CONNECTION.
We saw, when investigating connection, that certain §1
words can only be connected with great difficulty,
because the things or ideas they represent are only
connected at a great distance.
Again, other words are quite easy to connect, because
the things they represent are quite closely connected.
This is true not only of the similar ideas, i.e., of the
similar noun ideas or adjective ideas or verb ideas
(sentences) which we habitually connect by Conjunctions,
but of all ideas that we ever link by any means whatever,
e.g., by Case, by Order or by anything else.
Subject- Verb, Adjective-Noun are examples of such
connections, and you cannot make them as you will.
e.g., Self-sacrificing is an inappropriate adjective
for a cabbage.
Butterfly is an impossible subject for shouted.
On the other hand toothsome will connect with cabbage,
without difficulty.
Find for yourself a suitable verb for butterfly.
You can see from this that ideas must have some
common ground before you connect them. That there
was so little was the reason of your difficulty in connect-
ing whale and inflection.
Now the way connection is made is always the same ;
the common ground is found and then expressed.
You will find that the tools by which this expression
187
l88 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
is done are of various sorts. The amount of common
ground varies ; some pairs of ideas have a bare inch of
it, other pairs have a foot, others an acre, others are
almost all common ground.
The Tools Now you connect with great ease, so much so, that you
similar are Per^ectly unconscious of the process, those pairs of
Connec- ideas that have much common ground. Such pairs are
Verb and Subject, Verb and Adverb, Verb and Objects,
Nouns and Adjectives.
Examine such a connection. Take the words :
Dog the shot keeper my.
They are now disconnected. Watch the steps of
connection.
What is the first ? Put them in order.
Very well, write them in any order you please. You
say :
" My keeper shot the dog."
Is that all ? Yes.
Very well, write my on one sheet of paper, write
keeper on another, and so on.
Arrange the sheets of paper one above another as the
words come. They are still in order.
Are they properly connected ? No.
What is necessary ? We must have all the words in
order on the same sheet of paper.
Two things have to be done. First, they have to be
collected together ; Second, they have to be placed in
order.
Two tools have to be used, (i) Proximity. (2) Order.
Proximity has been used to denote that the words are
connected, order has been used to say exactly how.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 189
Both these tools were wanted for the connection. The
order tool as you saw, was not of the slightest use with-
out the other.
If it were Latin, we should use the Case and Person
tools instead of the Order tool.
Should we use the proximity tool ?
Is Puer amat dominum any use on separate sheets of
paper ?
Work out for yourselves the tools for connecting
adjective and noun, verb and adverb.
We shall see finally that these pairs of ideas require to
connect them first, the use of the proximity tool, secondly
the use of one or other of these tools, Order, Case or
Preposition.
You will remember how Case in one language was
replaced by Order in another, or again, how sometimes
Cases are replaced by Prepositions.
It is another sign that these tools are all doing the
same work.
To sum up, proximity connects, the other tool ex-
presses the exact connection.
Now all these connections are made between ideas, §2
which, though of a different nature, have a great deal
in common. They are like the connections which exist
between the different members of a family, father,
mother, daughters, and so on.
You make hundreds of such connections daily.
They are not, however, the only connections which
exist and have to be expressed. The father of a family
190 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
is not only connected with his daughter, who is close to
him, but unlike himself, but he may also have business
relations with the father of another family like himself,
but not in the least closely related.
In precisely the same way connections have to be
made between pairs of ideas which are alike but which
have a good deal less in common than the pairs
above.
The commonest of such cases is the connection which
has to be made between sentences, i.e., between pairs
of verb ideas.
You make hundreds of these connections also every-
day. You can no more tell a story, or describe an
incident, or carry on a conversation by means of one
single sentence followed by no others, than you can
say a sentence with one single word. If you do not
believe it, try the effect of allowing yourself a conversa-
tion of one sentence only with each member of your
family during next dinner-time. See how much news
you can tell them.
Before we examine the tools by which such connections
are made, it is well to look for a moment at the reason
we make them.
The Basis By what right do we connect two sentences, i.e., two
connec- ver^ ^eas at a^ ? As we saw above, because the two
tion ideas have some common ground.
What is it ? It depends on what the two sentences
mean. Some states or events (which are the ideas all
sentences express) have more in common than others.
There is, however, one bit of common ground by which
any pair of verb ideas, i.e., any two sentences may be
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 191
connected, viz. : that they happen in the same portion
of time, i.e., that they are contemporaneous.
What happened on Tuesday ? Contempor-
„%, ,. , ,, aneousness
The cow died,
'- The House of Lords was abolished."
" I caught a four pound bream."
These ideas are quite different. They have hardly
any common ground.
The one and only scrap that they have is that they
all happened in one particular period.
We use the proximity tool to express this.
When we place such sentences close to one another
in a story, or a conversation, or anywhere else, we mean
something.
We mean to say the events they express are contem-
poraneous.
Contemporaneousness is a word that may frighten
you. It means that they are enclosed in a particular
period of time. We will express it in future by£saying
proximity of sentences denotes that the events are in
a time box. f\
(1). They may need a very big time box. ^ The Work
" Queen Anne died. England adopted Free Trade." oIdinateC°~
These have almost no connection at all. Conjunc-
(2). Some will hardly go into a time box at all. tions
" Noah built an Ark. I bought a new umbrella."
(3). Some are in the time box at opposite ends.
" I caught a four pound bream. The House of
Lords was abolished."
The time box is shown by proximity, and the separation
of the ideas by the separation of the sentences, i.e., by
the full stop.
192 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
(4). Some are in the time box, a good way apart,
in order.
" Veni. Vidi. Vici."
The tools we use to express this connection are
proximity for the time box, full stops for the separation,
Order of the sentences for the order of the events.
(5). Some are in the time box close together.
" He is good and he is kind."
The tools are proximity for the time box, " and " to
express the closeness.
(6). Some are in the time box, close, and in order.
" He gave me sixpence and told me not to
spend it all at once."
The tools are proximity, " and ", and order.
(7). Some are in the time box, in order, and mutually
opposite.
" I went but I did not see him."
The tools are proximity, order, and " but."
(8). Some are in the time box very close and in
order.
" It was raining, so I took an umbrella."
The tools are proximity, "so," and order.
(9). Some are in the time box, and simultaneous.
" I saw him as I was leaving."
The tools are proximity and "as." The only order
here is that of importance of ideas.
Similar tools are " for " (Simultaneous with one
event of major importance) ; " though " (Simultaneous
but incompatible) ; " or " (One or other in the time
box, but not both).
You can now see what the words and, but, or, etc., which
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 1 93
are usually called Co-ordinate Conjunctions, do. They
help two other tools, viz. : proximity and order, to
make a certain kind of connection between two verb
ideas. The connections are all contemporaneous con-
nections— time box connections.
The words are doing exactly the same work when they
stand between nouns.
" I bought a horse and a sheep," only means :
" I bought a horse and I bought a sheep."
The common ground is time box, closeness, order of
events.
The tools for its expression are Proximity, " and,"
and order of sentences.
All events that have ever happened have some time
connections with one another, and consequently can
be described by sentences connected on the time
box principle ; but just as a pair of distant events are
not connected directly, but by a series of intermediate
events, so the sentences which express them will need
intermediate sentences to connect them. A story is the
description of such a set of events.
" Noah built an ark,"
" I bought a new umbrella,"
might be the first and last sentences of such a story.
They are in the time box after all. It is not for nothing
that the tale begins with " Once upon a time."
As you have seen, time box connections can be very §3
slight indeed, almost nothing but the time box some-
times. On the other hand they can be very much
M
194 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
closer. Two events can have a good deal in common
besides the time box.
Suppose that two such events happen close together
with a good deal more common ground than their mere
time connection, e.g., " rain jailing " and " Mr. Smith
taking his umbrella." There is the common ground of
time ; there is also the common ground that they are
both component parts of one main incident.
We have to express these events. To do this we must
do one or other of two things.
i. We may take the connection which is there, ready
made, between the two events — the time box connection.
In this case we simply record the events as they happen,
with any further common ground there may be of order,
or of closeness, or of anything else.
We use proximity, order, and the co-ordinate con-
junctions as our tools. The three between them ex-
press the connection.
" It was raining heavily and Mr. Smith took
his umbrella."
Time box, order, closeness.
" It was raining heavily, so Mr. Smith took
his umbrella/ '
Time box, order, very close.
This connection is the only one possible for some
events, viz. : those with very little common ground.
It is our old friend equi-connection in another dress.
^ne . 2. When there is plenty of common ground we may,
of Sub- if we choose, forsake the time box connection altogether
connection an(j connect on the other part of the common ground,
which is that the two events are both part of one large
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 1 95
event, just as two words are part of one sentence.
This is our old friend sub-connection and involves,
what the time box connection does not, a deliberate
choice on your part.
The first time you record the events and leave them
as they happened. You express them of course the
second time, but also you take them out of the time box
altogether and give them another connection. This
involves thought. The first time you were a phono-
graph ; the second time you are a composer.
As long as you are recording you use the recording
tool — the Indicative Mood; the moment you compose,
i.e., think of an event rather than record it, you use the
tool which expresses the thought of action — the Sub-
junctive.
" Mr. Smith took his umbrella. (I will tell you why ;
it was) because it was raining."
Hence in Sub-connection the main event is recorded —
(Indicative) — the other is thought about as its adjunct —
(Subjunctive) — and connected with it.
i. By proximity. The Tools
2. By suitable order (which is not the time order), connection
3. By the subordinate conjunctions.
Note that the time idea has dropped out of sight.
You cannot interchange.
" They caught him and cut his throat,"
because the events only happened one way, and you have
to record them that wa}'.
You can interchange :
" After they had caught him they cut his throat."
You are no longer bound to time.
I96 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
§4 Note the place where equi-connection merges into
sub-connection.
When events in the time box become simultaneous,
as they may, it is clear they are likely to have consider-
able common ground, and that sub-connection is possible
and natural.
"It was raining, so Mr. Smith took his umbrella."
So means very close in the time box. This is a true
equi-connection and cannot be reversed, but examine :
" Mr. Smith took his umbrella, as it was raining."
" It was raining. Mr. Smith took his umbrella."
" Mr. Smith took his umbrella. It was raining."
"It was raining as Mr. Smith took his umbrella."
These are all time box connections, records of events
merely. The reversals are only due to the fact that the
events are simultaneous and so have no order.
You have a kind of choice, however ; you have to
choose which event you will record first, i.e., which you
regard as the most important. Though they are still
records, it is the beginning of the mental process which
ends in your taking them out of the time box and saying :
" Mr. Smith took his umbrella because it was raining."
The two conjunctions which are nearest the border
line are for and though.
They both express the time box connections between
two events of which one is of major importance.
" Mr. Smith left his umbrella at home — though
it was raining."
" Mr. Smith took his umbrella — for it was raining."
The step from such forms as these (which say that one
event is of greater importance than the other) to sub-
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE I97
connection (which say the second is a part of the first)
is almost imperceptible.
Hence in Latin, quamquam, an equi-connecting
conjunction with the Indicative, means practically the
same as quant vis a sub-connecting one with the Sub-
junctive. Similarly in German denn, on the one side of
the line touches weil on the other, and so on.
It follows, therefore, that if two events adjoin, you §5
have various forms of expression open to you.
1. You may record them in equi-connection. Provi-
dence connects them in time, all you have to do is to
render that connection faithfully.
2. You may connect them yourself, (always assuming
there is sufficient common ground for this). You
record the main event and express your idea of the con-
nection (i.e., your thought about the second event) by
means of the appropriate tools — a Subordinate con-
junction and the Subjunctive Mood ; in this case you
have chosen the adverbial form for the second event.
Or, again, you may do the same thing, choosing not
an adverbial form but an adjectival one, i.e., you may
hang your second event not directly on to the main
one but to one of the actors in the main one. The
Subjunctive will still be used and there will still be a
subordinate conjunction contained in the relative
pronoun.
3. The second event may not be a real adjunct of the
first, but a mere adjunct only of an actor in the first.
There is no serious connection in this case between the
10,8 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
first and the second. All that is required is to express
the second with the Indicative as your normal tool,
and place it in connection with the actor.
4. The second event or state may be such that it is
not a mere adjunct of the actor only, but in practice the
description of the actor himself. It has become the
actor. In such a case, all you have to do is to express
it as before, and place it in its proper connection with
the verb.
The connection is made entirely by placing and has
nothing to do with (1) and (2), which are connections of
a sentence with a sentence ; this is a connection of a
word with a verb — inside a sentence.
CHAPTER XII.
The following illustrations will make clear the appli- Some
cation of the principles laid clown in the preceding Applied-
chapters, tions
Remember that the analysis is not an analysis of the
words and forms, but of the thoughts which underlie
them.
Do not say : This speaker uses an Indicative or a
Subjunctive Mood — therefore the form is in a mysterious
relationship called Equi-connection or Sub-connection
as the case may be : therefore use Indicative or Sub-
junctive in all languages.
Say rather : This speaker wishes to express two events
independently of each other. Hence he connects them
on equal terms. He uses appropriate tools to do it, —
very often a pair of Indicative forms. The Subjunctive
is not in the least excluded, if it is wanted.
Or again : This speaker wishes to express one event
with a second as an adjunct. Hence he connects them,
with the second event subordinate. He uses the ap-
propriate tools again : usually a Subjunctive form for
the second.
It does not follow that because one man habitually
uses a tool for a certain purpose, another will use the
same one. Latin regularly uses the Subjunctive in the
course of making Sub -connections. English makes
many of them by the Indicative, without the least loss
of clearness. " He will not succeed, however strong
he is."
199
200 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Hence in this as in many other instances, the two
languages say the same thing by means of different
forms. Study the thing — and not the English form : in
the study of the thing, you will find the key to both
sets of forms ; and the differences of practice which you
will discover, will be, as they should be, so many revela-
tions of the working of the English or the Roman mind.
On the other hand, if you do not go behind the words,
to the sense, but merely transfer the words, or the com-
binations from one language to another, your work is
mechanical and unintelligent — and every difference in
practice between the two languages becomes a pitfall.
It is true you may fence the worst pitfalls round with
cautions and rules. For example : " Purpose " in Latin
is not expressed by an Infinitive as in English, but by
ut or qui with a Subjunctive. Nevertheless, the truth is,
you ought not to be on the road at all. If you took such
sentences to pieces, you would discover that both English
and Latin are saying the same thing — English by the
use of an Adverbial Phrase (made out of the Verb noun,
the Infinitive), Latin by the use of a sub-connected
Adverbial Sentence. Such a fact ought not to be a
trap, but a highly interesting discovery,
i. He waited so long, that he lost his train.
The second sentence is adverbial. It bears on
the " waited long," which is the real assertion of
the first sentence. Sub-connection. In strictness
Subjunctive. Past thought of a complete action.
Perfect Tense.
2. The poor child was weeping, as he ran.
An instance of Equi-connection tending towards
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 201
Sub-connection. He ran along and cried. He cried
and ran. Not sufficient predominance of either
idea for Sub-connection : two indicatives.
3. Tell him to come and speak to me.
A replacing phrase. Object of " tell." You
cannot tell a real action — only the " tale " of
one. The object is the thought of an action ;
expressed by Infinitives in English. In French
" Dites lui qu'il vienneme trouver." A Subjunctive
sentence.
4. We ran till we were dead heat.
If it is desired to say : " We ran till the point,
at which we were dead beat." The second sen-
tence is adjectival — and describes " point." It is
in Equi-connection and needs an Indicative.
But if the sentence means " We ran so fast and
so far that we were dead beat," i.e., if the " dead
beat " is to be connected with " the running," the
second sentence is in Adverbial Sub-connection
and requires in strictness a Subjunctive. A past
thought of a complete state is indicated — hence
Pluperfect.
5. Clever as he is he is not always right.
The first sentence limits the verb of the second
and is adverbial to it. Sub-connection. Sub-
junctive. M Clever as he may be." " Quelle
que soit son adresse . . " Present thought of
a non-complete state. Present Subjunctive.
6. He could see well, althotigh he was old.
The second sentence like all " although " sen-
tences is on the margin between adverbial sub-
202 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
connection and equi-connection. The two types
are : He could see well in spite of his age — and
He could see well ; yet he was old.
Both forms are possible, according to the shade
of meaning desired. Latin quamquam and In-
dicative. Equi-connection, Quamvis and Sub-
junctive, Sub-connection. French prefers Sub-
connection, to which on the whole the sense leans.
"Quoique" and "bien que" both with Subjunctives.
English has both. " I can see well, old as I am,"
or " I can see well, old though I may be."
7. He failed because he took no precautions.
A similar combination to the last one. " Be-
cause " sentences are on the margin like " although"
sentences.
Equi-connection says, He failed. He took
no precautions. Two blunt records of fact are
presented. The work of interpreting their re-
lation is left to the listener.
Sub-connection says : He failed, and in my
opinion it was because .... The speaker is
responsible for the interpretation of the relation-
ship.
8. It will dry if it is exposed to the air.
As it stands in English with its two indicatives
it expresses a time sequence. Expose it. It will
dry. An example of equi-connection. The
listener is to draw the inference. But when the
speaker draws the inference : It would dry, if it
were exposed to the air. Sub-connection and the
Subjunctive ; or keeping the time unchanged :
It will dry, if it be exposed to the air.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 203
9. They little knew what he had done.
Main verb one of mentality. Object a noun
combination, (not a noun sentence), expressing
the figure of an action. Subjunctive strictly. Past
thought of a complete action. Pluperfect.
10. They little knew the mischief, which he had caused.
In this case the second sentence is not the
object, but adjectival to the object. It is in
Equi-connection and needs an Indicative.
11. Men stop work if they don't get paid.
The second sentence is really an adjective
sentence dominating the Subject. " Non-paid
men stop work." Compare : " Men, who are
industrious, thrive." The sentence is more than
an adverb — it is a part of the subject. It merely
needs expression. There is nothing in the verb
" stop M to call for the thought of an action as its
Subject5 Complement. Hence an Indicative.
The same result can be reached from another
point of view. Men don't get paid (this happens)
and they stop work (this happens too). It is
a pure time sequence. Equi-connection and two
indicatives. " He broke his leg, and was carried
home on a stretcher." is an exactly similar
sequence.
12. Men would stop work if they didn't get paid.
Adverbial Sub-connection. Subjunctive. Past
thought of a complete action. \
Tense in the first sentence to denote past thought
of a non-complete action, with the idea of its
happening predominating.
204 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
13. All that glitters is not gold.
An adjective sentence which is part of the Subject
Sentence. No mentality in "is not gold." In-
dicative only needed.
14. I am not surprised at what you tell me.
i.e., at something. " What you tell me" is a
magnified noun. " At what you tell me" is
an Adverb Phrase. Its connection is that of a
single word Adverb, not of an Adverb Sentence.
Order and expression needed. Indicative.
15. Who steals my purse, steals trash.
" Who " is a compound relative. " Who steals
my purse," a noun combination, and the subject.
There is nothing in " steals " to demand a thought
subject. Indicative, " Bis dat qui cito dat "
is a similar case.
But compare the alternative method of ex-
pressing the same thing :
" If a man steal my purse, he steals trash." Which
is a Subjunctive in Sub-connection.
The two methods are very easily confused.
The secret of the compound relative form is that
the relative sentence merges in the antecedent,
and not in the verb as in Sub-connection.
16. The depth was greater than I expected.
" Greater than I expected " is an adjective
combination, in exactly the same way that the
compound relative combination is a noun. Express
it and place it. Do not separate " than I ex-
pected " and infer Sub-connection.
" The depth is greater than you may think."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 205
The same thing : with the Subjunctive used to
express a figured standard, not an actually formu-
lated one.
17. Order him to get the carnage ready.
An Object, The thought or figure of an action.
Expressed by an Infinitive Phrase : or alternatively
by a Subjunctive Sentence. Note the time con-
nections in the latter case between " order " and
" get ready." " Order " is an Imperative — and,
like the Future and Subjunctive forms, a figure
of an action. The time of the first figure is
present — so must the time of the second figure be.
Present thought of a Non-complete action.
Note the relationship that the Analysis of the
Imperative shows between it and the other forms
which express figures of actions.
Indicative Futures —
Present and Past figures of actions which will
happen.
Imperative —
Present figures of actions which it is desired shall
happen.
Subjunctive —
Present and Past figures of actions irrespective of
their happening.
18. Buy a new hat, before you come back.
Adverbial Sub-connection. The analysis of the
replacing sentence is instructive. Beginners are
often puzzled by the word " before." What is it ?
The most obvious answer is "A preposition."
" Buy a new hat before your return." " You
206 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
come back," or as it is sometimes written, " that
you come back " is a noun sentence. The whole
thing is a noun sentence in an adverbial function ;
just as "In the garden " is adverbial in " I spent
the afternoon in the garden," or as the Ablative
is adverbial in " Vulneratur telo."
You may feel inclined to call " before " a sub-
ordinate conjunction. It is open to you to do so.
What you need to recognise is that prepositions
and conjunctions belong to the same order of word
tools, viz. : the connectives. The preposition,
(alternatively with certain cases) is the normal
connector of a noun in a subordinate function with
a verb or otjier word. It is used here perfectly
naturally to connect a noun replacing sentence
with a verb.
On the other hand you may say, Conjunctions
are the normal connectors of sentences. Here are
two sentences — the connective ought to be classed
as a conjunction.
It does not matter two straws which method
you adopt. " Before " does the work either way.
It defines the relationship between the two sen-
tences and so connects them ; if you regard the
second sentence as a noun, you will call " before " a
preposition ; if you regard it as a sentence, you
will call " before " a conjunction.
You must not in any case call '* before " an
adverb. It is not an adverb but a connective
which is quite a different sort of word ; the whole
combination is the adverb.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE CASES.
You were told earlier that the Cases added to the Noun §1
not one idea only but groups of ideas.
A rough analysis of the work these Case tools did will
help you in the study of prepositions and also of many
constructions which involve cases.
Nouns, apart from the Subject, come into the sentence
as one or other of the complementary ideas of the action.
" I sat on the bridge,"
" I talked to a friend,"
" I came from London to-day,"
and so on.
Now the main body of such complementary ideas which
had to be expressed in the early stages of language
were concrete ; they were those dealing with place and
time — the whens and wheres of the action. Such abstract
ideas as :
M He lived in a state of savagery,"
would belong to a later stage, whereas, such expressions
as :
14 He lived in a hut,"
would be in everyday use quite early.
There are three broad groups of such ideas :
The where from of the action,
The where of the action,
The where to of the action.
207
208 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Related to them were corresponding time ideas :
The from when of the action,
The when of the action,
And the to when of the action.
To express these three broad groups of ideas various
Case tools came into use.
The where from and when from ideas found expression
mainly in the Genitive.
The where and when ideas used mainly the Dative.
The where to and when to ideas expressed themselves
by the Accusative.
The original use of all Cases was thus to mark place
and time.
As language developed and became more metaphorical,
the Case tools were used not only to express the original
physical circumstances of the actions, but other more
abstract ones which grew out of them, i.e., Cases were
not only used to say things like in the garden, but also
such things as in a hurry, secure in the knowledge that.
At a later stage still the main cases fell into disuse
for the physical work (their earliest work of all) ; that
is, they ceased, generally speaking, to say in the garden,
and things like it, and were left with the vaguer and
more metaphorical work. The physical work was done
by prepositions, and sometimes by other special Case
tools.
You can see the process, not indeed by studying the
Cases, for the Cases themselves are gone — at any rate
in English — but by studying the Prepositions which
they have left behind them all along their track.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 209
THE GENITIVE CASE.
The following table shows the general ideas which §2
ultimately developed from the original where from idea.
No one Case, as such a mass of related ideas developed,
could possibly cope with the work of expressing them
and distinguishing between them. Hence the develop-
ment first of other cases, then of prepositions.
Where from
(Subsequent Ablative).
Separation. Partition. Origin.
(Subsequent Ablative) |
Material.
Possession. Cause.
Prevailing Quality.
I
Attribute.
Complement.
Where from (of place and time) included such ideas as :
" They went from home,"
" He jumped out of the window."
" He started from Paris."
All this work was subsequently done by the Ablative.
You may recognise, generally speaking, the traces of
the Ablative by the occurrence of the preposition
" from." and those of the Genitive by the occurrence of
the preposition " of."
N
210 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
From the idea " Where from " developed ideas of :
i. Separation.
2. Partition.
3. Origin.
1. Separation included such ideas as :
" Away from " "To alter from " M Different from "
" Far from " " To take from " " Dismissed from M
or again :
" Bereft of " ''To rob a man of "
'* To deprive of."
Most of this work was subsequently done by the
Ablative.
2. Partition, included such ideas as :
" He shall take of mine."
" Shall taste of my dinner."
" J'en ai."
" Many of us."
" A bottle of wine."
From it was directly derived the idea of Material.
" We be of one flesh."
" Horns of iron."
" Made of wood."
From this came the idea of the pervading Quality.
" The God of all grace."
" A man of intellect."
" A man of his word," of sense, etc.
From this again came the idea of any Attribute, and
so of any Complement of a noun.
" A lover of good."
" The architect of the building."
" The housing of the poor."
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 211
These are all the object complements of nouns express-
ing action.
3. Origin included such ideas as :
" Shakespeare's works."
11 Zebedee's children."
" My brother's doings."
From it developed two other ideas :
(a) Possession.
(b) Cause.
(a) Possession is shown in our usual Possessive Case :
"The things that are Caesar's."
(b) Cause is shown in such expressions as :
" To die of grief."
" The pangs of hunger."
" The thought of friends."
" Tired of work."
" The enjoyment of life."
" To be afraid of."
Together with dozens of French words followed
by de.
" II riait de . . . . "
"II se fachait de . . . . " etc.
The above represents something of our own past
dealings only, with the Genitive Case. It does not
follow that whenever we say of Latin will use a Genitive.
The Latin mind may and sometimes does take some
other aspect of an action and express it by a different
Case. On the other hand, the broad lines of thought
expressed by the Case are the same for all three
languages.
212
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
THE DATIVE.
The original idea is " where " (in space and time). The
general line of development is a good deal simpler.
From the idea of where grew the idea of the persons
and the things who constituted, as it were, the circum-
stances and accessories of the action. It took place,
so to speak, in the middle of them.
They fell into two groups :
(i). The persons connected with it, and
(2). The things connected with it.
In Latin, the Ablative, which is only a kind of second
Dative, took the work of expressing the second group —
the things — and also the physical ideas of where and
when.
The Dative became the special case for the person
(other than the Subject or direct Object) who was in
any way connected with the action.
(1) Where. (Subsequent Ablative).
(2) Persons connected.
1
1
(3) Things connected.
(Subsequent Ablative)
" 1
Indirect Object.
Or any
1
and Adverbial
Agency.
interest
relations of the
Possession.
in the
action generally
action,
e.g., price, in-
defined
strument, cause,
or not.
agency.
(Subsequent Ablative)
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 213
Different languages vary in the use they make of the
Dative (or the Dative replacing prepositions) to express
(i) and (3), but they are alike in using the Dative
as the person case.
THE ACCUSATIVE.
The Accusative is simpler still. §4
Where to
Time (till when) Direct Object.
Distance (to where)
Measurements.
Just as there were only Present, Past and Future
groups of Tenses, so there were only originally :
Where from, Where, Where to Cases.
Other Cases are developments of these.
Study the Ablative. Note its relation to the Genitive
and Dative. Note its main idea — the thing acces-
sories of the action, and how the Genitive ideas, which
have been absorbed, can be regarded in this light.
" He dismissed him from his office,"
may be regarded as an instance of separation — originally
a Genitive idea. " Office " may also be regarded as one
214 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
of the thing accessories of dismissed ; and so come to be
finally an Ablative idea.
Again, the idea of cause may be associated with
the idea of origin; and so of " where from "
Taedet me vitae.
Or it can be regarded as one of the thing accessories
of the action and expressed by an Ablative.
Ablatives, broadly speaking, make Nouns into
Adverb Phrases, but not into Adjective ones.
For an analysis of Case to be of any use to you, you
must have in front of you as you study it, examples
of the Cases at work. Your Latin reading book will be
the readiest source of such. For example, to study the
Dative, proceed thus :
Take a couple of pages of familiar Latin. Collect all
the Datives. Write down the particular idea each one
conveys : and place it in the subdivision of the general
Dative idea, to which it belongs.
You cannot get the sense of the Dative from having
the Dative described to you. You can only get it by
observing Datives. Use the foregoing analysis there-
fore to guide your observations, not to replace them.
CHAPTER XIV.
Speech is sometimes reported indirectly, or as it is
called obliquely.
Instead of the speaker's exact words being given, e.g., JJ™ti0
He said " / have done it," the substance may be given,
e.g., " He said he had done it."
The practical effect is to destroy the independent
existence which the sentence had when its exact words
were quoted, and to turn it into the object of some such
word as " He says," " He said," " He asked," " He
commanded," all of which verbs are verbs of mentality.
The usual principles apply. The cases arising are :
i. Statements. " He said he had done it," the
object is the figure of an action ; Infinitive or
Subjunctive ; the Infinitive is Latin practice.
2. Commands. " Make haste. Get your weapons
ready," becomes " He commanded them to make
haste ; to get their weapons ready." The objects
are Figures of Actions. The Subjunctive or
the Infinitive needed. The Subjunctive is Latin
practice.
3. Questions. A question addressed to one person
about another person or thing approximates to
a statement. " I ask you, am I to wait all day,"
is practically equivalent to, " I am to wait all
day I suppose." Such questions are treated as
statements. " Is the building finished yet."
He supposed the building was finished. Was
it so ? The Accusative with the Infinitive de-
215
2l6 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
notes the thought of the action. A special word
adds the idea of the question.
When, however, the question concerns the
person it is addressed to, this person matters
much more to the general sense.
" I ask you, am I to wait all day," " You " is
unimportant ; it might just as well have been
14 I ask these gentlemen, am I .... "
But in " I ask you if you will do it," 44 You "
is a word of quite different weight.
Hence in such questions the full Subjunctive
Sentence is adopted to express the thought of
the action. " Are you going ? " "I asked
whether he were going."
The Tenses depend entirely on the Tense of the re-
port. If the report is present — He says or asks so and
so , the figures of the following Subjunctives will
all be present figures — and the Tenses Present or Perfect
Subjunctives.
If the report is past. — He said so and so — the figures
following will be past figures, and the Tenses Imperfects
or Pluperfects.
The Indicatives of replacing sentences are affected
also. " The fireman, who rescued the child, was unhurt,"
becomes when reported — The newspaper asserted, that
the fireman, who, it ivas informed, had rescued the child,
was unhurt. The rescue is no longer recorded,
but thought about. The Subjunctive replaces the
Indicative.
THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE 217
An Indicative appearing in reported speech denotes
that the fact expressed is not part of that body of state-
ment for which the speaker makes himself responsible.
A few definitions are collected for convenience of
reference :
A Noun is the name of anybody or anything ; and
an Adjective adds supplementary information about
this person or thing. This information is usually of
secondary importance, but need not be so.
A Verb is the word or set of words which describe the
state or the action which constitutes the central idea
of every sentence. An Adverb adds supplementary
information about this state or action. This information
is usually of secondary importance, but need not be so.
A Pronoun is a short substitute for a noun, used
when the actual mention or repetition of the noun is
unnecessary for the sense. Shortness is an essential
characteristic of it. Its work is precisely that of
the noun.
To make sense these words have to be connected, i.e.,
their relationships have to be defined.
The connectives are as follows :
Proximity which denotes a relationship without
defining it.
Case Inflections, Number and Person Inflections,
Order and Prepositions, all of which define the internal
relationships of the words in a sentence.
Conjunctions, Tense Inflections, and Mood Inflections
define the external relationships of the sentence, i.e.,
not the relationships between the component parts of
the sentence, but those of the whole sentence to other
sentences or ideas, expressed or implied.
21 8 THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE
Inflection is a change in or addition to the stem of a
word, which adds a further idea to the original idea of
the word.
The different Case Inflections in Latin define the
different relationships of the noun to other words in
the sentence. Those of the Adjective define the re-
lation of the Adjective to the Noun.
Order in English expresses the relation of the Subject
and the Objects with the Verb, i.e., it defines the in-
dependent or semi-independent relationships of the
noun. The Nominative, Accusative, and Dative Cases
in Latin do similar work. Order also connects the
Adjective with the Noun, and the Adverb with the Verb.
Prepositions in English define the subordinate re-
lationships of the Noun to other words in the sentence.
The Person and Number Inflections define the relation-
ship of the Verb to the Subject.
A Replacing Sentence is a sentence which replaces any
part of speech. It is not necessarily subordinate. Its
character is exactly that of the word it replaces.
Equi-connection and Sub-connection are relationships
between two sentences. Equi-connection is a relation
implying mutual independence. Sub-connection implies
the absorption of one sentence by the other.
" There was a young lady of Riga
Who went for a ride on a tiger."
So far, Equi-connection.
" They returned from the ride,
With the lady inside,
And a smile on the face of the tiger."
Absorption and Sub-connection.
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