is most readily discovered by noticing its equivalent gerund, as illustrated in the following table :— Verbal-nouns, though in varying degrees, all possess certain verbal qualities. Thus the abstract nature of verbal-nouns, by making them expressive of a conception rather than of a fact, causes them to approximate so closely to the conjunctive mood, that clauses with a conjunctive are frequently replaced by an infinitive, e.g. 'I hope that I may go' = I hope to go. Again, verbal-nouns are usually completed with the same objects or complements as the corresponding verb. Again, infinitives are modified by adverbials. And lastly, infinitives, and even gerunds [if we include among them participles used absolutely], have tenses. The nature of the tenses of verbalnouns is identical with that of verbal-adjectives described in § 24, where the student will see that such tenses tell nothing of the Time, but only of the State, of an action, 1 'To' is the usual mark of the infinitive in modern English, but it is only a Preposition when the infinitive is discharging a dative function. In O.E. it never appears before an infinitive which has not the dative inflection, e.g. tó bindan-ne = for to bind. and that any time-colouring which they seem to possess is only reflected upon them from the main verb with which they are associated. The tenses of our verbal-nouns are as follows: It is impossible for us to trace out the origin of the Aryan verbal-nouns, although in passing we may observe that the Latin gerunds obviously originated in the neuter of the participle in '-ndus' used absolutely. Obs. The student must not forget that Anglo-Saxon grammarians have given the name of Gerund to the Inflected [i.e. Dative] Infinitive. Hence it is a question whether we do well to give the same name to our modern English substantivals in '-ing.' As here used, the word Gerund = either a verbal-noun in '-ing,' or a participle in '-ing' used absolutely. Those who prefer to do so can use the longer description, rather than the conveniently short word here adopted. 26. Syntax is the systematic account of the construction of single and connected sentences; or rather, it is the imperfect result of an attempt to classify linguistic usages, which usages, having commenced with a wild luxuriance, that knew no limit save that of intelligibility, gradually settled down into more or less precise forms. Every language has its own peculiar constructions, which do not admit of being literally translated. Hence the syntax, which is common to the Aryan family of speech, is narrow in comparison with the syntax of any one member of that family. Of this common Syntax little can be said except that all the Aryan languages have possessed what is called the Agreement of the Noun with its verb, apposite, and attribute, the use of cases, and at least some modal indication of the distinction between the categorical and hypothetical proposition. Many years ago an eminent professor of Geology told his pupils that they would learn more of the crust of the earth by the thorough examination of a single district than by casual observations in a dozen counties. And on just the same principle we may say that more can be learned of Syntax by a systematic effort at mastering the constructions of our own magnificent language than by any other means within the reach of most of us. The foundation for all sound syntactical knowledge is found in the scientific analysis of a sentence. Such an analysis is as unlike parsing, as the separation of an animal according to the functional divisions of its body by an anatomist, is unlike the chopping of it into pieces by the butcher or the cook. And it is by means of such an Analysis that we arrive at those Functional elements of a spoken Thought which it is our purpose to examine in the following pages. EXAMINATION OF THE FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF AN ENGLISH SENTENCE. GENERAL REMARKS, 27. A Sentence is the categorical or hypothetical1 expression of a complete Thought in words. It may appear in the form of an Assertion, Petition, or Question, and any one of these three may be affirmative or negative: but inasmuch as both petitions and questions may for analytic purposes be cast into the form of an assertion, we shall generally refer to sentences as assertions or statements. 28. Every sentence contains elements which discharge distinctly different grammatical functions in respect of the Thought. The separation or classification of these grammatical elements constitutes the Analysis of a Sentence. 29. "A complete Thought implies a notion of doing or being, in connection with a notion of something which does or is [Dalgleish]. These two separate notions form the two great grammatical divisions of every sentence. That which asserts 1 For the meaning of these terms, see § 20, |