the same kind. In the expressions, "A subject of the emperor's;" "A sentiment of my brother's;" more than one subject and one sentiment, are supposed to belong to the possessor. But when this plurality is neither intimated, nor necessarily supposed, the double genitive, except as before mentioned, should not be used: as, "This house of the governor is very commodious;" "The crown of the king was stolen;" "That privilege of the scholar was never abused." (See page 87.) (See page 87.) But after all that can be said for this double genitive, as it is termed, some grammarians think, that it would be better to avoid the use of it altogether, and to give the sentiment another form of expression. 7. When an entire clause of a sentence, beginning with a participle of the present tense, is used as one name, or to express one idea or circumstance, the noun on which it depends may be put in the genitive case: thus, instead of saying, "What is the reason of this person dismissing his servant so hastily ?" that is, "What is the reason of this person, in dismissing his servant so hastily ?" we may say, and perhaps ought to say, "What is the reason of this person's dismissing of his servant so hastily?" Just as we say, "What is the reason of this person's hasty dismission of his servant?" So also, we say, "I remember it being reckoned a great exploit ;" or more properly, "I remember its being reckoned," &c. lowing sentence is correct and proper: "Much will depend on the pupil's composing, but more on his reading frequently." It would not be accurate to say, "Much will depend on the pupil composing," &c. We also pro The fol perly say; "This will be the effect of the pupil's composing frequently;" instead of, "Of the pupil composing frequently." The participle, in such constructions, does the office of a substantive; and it should therefore have a correspondent regimen. RULE XI. ACTIVE verbs govern the objective case: as, "Truth ennobles her;" "She comforts me;" 66 They support us ;""Virtue rewards her fol lowers." See vol. ii. p. 106. IN English, the nominative case, denoting the subject, usually goes before the verb; and the objective case, denoting the subject, follows the verb active; and it is the order that determines the case in nouns: as, "Alexander conquered the Persians." But the pronoun having a pro per form for each of those cases, is sometimes, when it is in the objective case, placed before the verb; and, when it is in the nominative case, follows the object and verb: as, "Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." This position of the pronoun sometimes occasions its proper case and government to be neglected; as in the following instances: "Who should I esteem more than the wise and good?" "By the character of those who you choose for your friends, your own is likely to be formed." "Those are the persons who he thought true to his interest." "Who should I see the other day but my old friend ?” "Whosoever the court favours." In all these places it ought to be whom, the relative being governed in the objective. case by the verbs "esteem, choose, thought," &c. "He, who under all proper circumstances, has the boldness to speak truth, choose for thy friend;" It should be "him who," &c. Verbs neuter do not act upon, or govern, nouns and pronouns. "He sleeps; they muse," &c. are not transitive. They are, therefore, not followed by an objective case, specifying the object of an action. But when this case, or an object of action, comes after such verbs, though it may carry the appearance of being governed by them, it is generally affected by a preposition or some other word understood: as, "He resided many years [that is, for or during many years] in that street;" "He rode several miles [that is, for or through the space of several miles] on that day;" "He lay an hour [that is during an hour] in great torture." In the phrases, "To dream a dream," "To live a virtuous life," "To run a race," "To walk the horse," "To dance the child;" the verbs certainly assume a transitive form, and may, in these cases, not improperly, be denominated transitive verbs. Part of a sentence, as well as a noun or pronoun, may be said to be in the objective case, or to be put objectively, governed by the active verb: as, "We sometimes see virtue in distress: but we should consider how great will be her ultimate reward." Sentences or phrases under this circumstance, may be termed objective sentences or phrases. 66 1. Some writers, however, use certain neuter verbs as if they were transitive, putting after them the objective case, agreeably to the French construction of reciprocal verbs; but this custom is so foreign to the idiom of the English tongue, that it ought not to be adopted or imitated. The following are some instances of this practice. 'Repenting him of his design." "The king soon found reason to repent him of his provoking such dangerous enemies." "The popular lords did not fail to enlarge themselves on the subject." "The nearer his successes approached him to the throne." "Go flee thee away into the land of Judah." "I think it by no means a fit and decent thing to vie charities," &c. "They have spent their whole time and pains, to agree the sacred with the profane chronology." 2. Active verbs are sometimes as improperly made neuter: as, "I must premise with three circumstances." "Those that think to ingratiate with him by calumniating me." They should be, "premise three circumstances;" "ingratiate themselves with him." 3. The neuter verb is varied like the active; but, having in some degree, the nature of the passive, it admits, in many instances, of the passive form, retaining still the neuter signification, chiefly in such verbs as signify some sort of motion, or change of place or condition : as, "I am come; I was gone; I am grown; I was fallen." The following examples, however, appear to be erroneous, in giving the neuter verbs a passive form, instead of an active one. "The rule of our holy religion, from which we are infinitely swerved." "The whole obligation of that law and covenant was also ceased." "Whose number was now amounted to three hundred." "This mareschal, upon some discontent, was entered into a conspiracy against his master." "At the end of a campaign, when half the men are deserted or killed." They should be, "have swerved, had ceased," &c. 4. The verb to be, through all its variations, has the same case after it, expressed or understood, as that which next precedes it: "I am he whom they invited;" "It may be (or might have been) he, but it cannot be (or could not have been) I;" "It is impossible to be they ;" “It seems to have been he, who conducted himself so wisely;" "It appears to be she that transacted the business;" "I understood it to be him;" "I believe it to have been them," "We at first took it to be her; but were afterwards convinced that it was not she." "He is not the person who it seemed he was." who he appeared to be.” "He is really the person "She is not now the woman her to have been." "Whom do "He desired to be their king;" be their king." By these examples it appears that this substantive verb has no government of case, but serves, in all its forms, as a conductor to the cases; so that the two cases which, in the construction of the sentence, or member of the sentence, are the next before and after it, must always be alike. Perhaps this subject will be more intelligible to the learner, by observing, that the words in the cases preceding and following the verb to be, may be said to be in apposition to each other. Thus, in the sentence, "I understood it to be him," the words it and him are in apposition; that is, they refer to the same thing, and are in the same case."-If this rule be considered as applying to simple sentences, or to the simple members of compound sentences, the difficulties respecting it, will be still farther diminished. 66 The following sentences contain deviations from the rule, and exhibit the pronoun in a wrong case: "It might have been him, but there is no proof of it;" "Though I was blamed, it could not have been me;" "I saw one whom I took to be she;" "She is the person who I understood it to have been;"" Who do you think me to be?" "Whom do men say that I am?" "And whom think ye that I am?" In the last example, the natural arrangement is, "Ye think that I am whom ;" where, contrary to the rule, the nominative I precedes, and the objective case whom follows the verb. The best method of discovering the proper case of the pronoun, in such phrases as the preceding, is, to turn them into declarative expressions, and to substitute the antecedent for the pronoun, as the pronoun must be in the same case as the antecedent would be in, if substituted for it. Thus, the question, "Whom do men say that I am?" if turned into a declarative sentence, with the antecedent, would be, "Men do say that I am he:" consequently the relative must be in the same case as he; that is, the nominative who, and not whom. In the same manner, in the phrase, "Who should I see but my old friend?" if we turn it into a declarative one, as, "I should see him, my old friend," we shall perceive that the relative is governed by the verb; as him and my |