ative adverbs; as, An scribit? Does he write? or, suspensive conjunctions; as, Nescio an scribat, I know not if he writes. Obs. 2. Some conjunctions, according to their natural order, stand first in a sentence; as, Ac, atque, nec, neque, aut, vel, sive, at, sed, verum, nam, quandoquidem, quocirca, quare, sin, siquidem, præterquam, &c.; some stand in the second place; as, Autem, vero, quoque, quidem, enim: and some may indifferently be put either first or second; as, Etiam, equidem, licet, quamvis, quanquam, tamen, attămen, namque, quod, quia, quoniam, quippe, utpote, ut, uti, ergo, ideo, igitur, idcirco, ităque, proinde, propterea, si, ni, nisi, &c. Hence arose the division of them into Prepositive, Subjunctive, and Common. To the subjunctive may be added these three, que, ve, ne, which are always joined to some other word, and are called Enclitics; because, when put after a long syllable, they make the accent incline to that syllable; as in the following verse, Indoctusque pila, discive, trochīve, quiescit. Horat. But when these enclitic conjunctions come after a short vowel, they do not affect its pronunciation; thus, Arbuteos fœtus, montanăque fraga legebant. Ovid. SYNTAX, OR CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS IN SENTENCES. SENTENCES. A SENTENCE is any thought of the mind expressed by two or more words put together; as, I read. Virgil. The boy reads That part of grammar, which teaches to put words rightly together in sentences, is called Syntax or Construction. Words in sentences have a twofold relation to one another; namely, that of Concord or Agreement; and that of Government or Influence. Concord, is when one word agrees with another in some accidents; as, in gender, number, person, or case. Government, is when one word requires another to be put in a certain case, or modę. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SYNTAX. 1. In every sentence there must be a verb and a nominative expressed or understood. 2. Every adjective must have a substantive expressed or understood. 3. All the cases of Latin nouns, except the nominative and vocative, must be governed by some other word. 4. The genitive is governed by a substantive noun expressed or understood: or by a verbal adjective. 5. The dative is governed by adjectives and verbs. 6. The accusative is governed by an active verb, or by a preposition; or is placed before the infinitive. 7. The vocative stands by itself, or has an interjection joined with it. 8. The ablative is governed by a preposition expressed or understood. 9. The infinitive is governed by some verb or adjective. All Sentences are either SIMPLE or COMPOUND. Syntax therefore may be divided into two parts, according to the general division of sentences. SIMPLE SENTENCES. A simple sentence is that which has but one nominative, and one finite verb; that is, a verb in the indicative, subjunctive, or imperative mode. In a simple sentence, there is only one Subject and one Attribute. The SUBJECT is the word which marks the person or thing spoken of. The ATTRIBUTE expresses what we affirm concerning the subject; as, The boy reads his lesson. Here, "the boy," is the Subject of discourse, or the person spoken of: "reads his lesson," is the Attribute, or what we affirm concerning the subject. The diligent boy reads his lesson carefully at home. Here we have still the same subject," the boy," marked by the character of "diligent,” added to it; and the same attribute, "reads his lesson," with the circumstances of manner and place subjoined, " carefully," ," "at home." CONCORD. The following words agree together in sentences. 1. A substantive with a substantive. 2. An adjective with a sub stantive. 3. A verb with a nominative. 1. Agreement of one Substantive with another. RULE I. Substantives signifying the same thing agree in case; as, Cicero orător, Cicero the orator; Ciceronis oratoris, Of Cicero the orator. Urbs Athena, The city Athens; Urbis Athēnārum, Of the city Athens. 2. Agreement of an Adjective with a Substantive. II. An Adjective agrees with a Substantive in gender, number, and case; as, Bonus vir, a good man; ples; Boni viri, good men. Fæminæ casta, chaste women. Dulcia poma, sweet apples. degrees of comparison. adjective pronouns, and to partici as, Meus liber, my book; ager colendus, a field to be tilled; Plur. Mei libri, agri colendi, &c. Obs. 1. The substantive is frequently understood, or its place supplied by an infinitive; and then the adjective is put in the neuter gender; as, triste, sc. negotium, a sad thing. Virg.; Tuum scire, the same with tua scientia, thy knowledge. Pers. We sometimes, however, find the substantive understood in the feminine; as, Non posteriores feram, sup. partes. Ter. Obs. 2. An adjective often supplies the place of a substantive; as, Certus amicus, a sure friend; Bona ferina, good venison; Summum bonum, the chief good: Homo being understood to amicus, caro to ferina, and negotium to bonum. A substantive is sometimes used as an adjective; as, incola turba vocant, the inhabitants. Ovid. Fast. 3, 582. Obs. 3. These adjectives, primus, medius, ultimus, extrēmus, infimus, imus, summus, suprēmus, reliquus, cætera, usually signify the first part, the middle part, &c. of any thing; as, Media nox, the middle part of the night; Summa arbor, the highest part of a tree. Obs. 4. Whether the adjective or substantive ought to be placed first in Latin, no certain rule can be given. Only if the substantive be a monosyllable, and the adjective a polysyllable, the substantive is elegantly put first; as, vir clarissimus, res præstantissima; &c. 3. Agreement of a Verb with a Nominative. III. A Verb agrees with its Nominative in number and person; as, Ego lego, I read ; Nos legimus, We read. Tu scribis, Thou writest or you write; Vos scribitis, Ye or you write. Præceptor docet, The master teaches; Præceptores docent,Masters teach. And so through all the modes, tenses, and numbers. Obs. 1. Ego and nos are of the first person; tu and vos, of the second person; ille and all other words, of the third. The nominative of the first and second person in Latin is seldom expressed, unless for the sake of emphasis or distinction; as, Tu es patronus, tu pater. Ter, Tu legis, ego scribo. Obs. 2. An infinitive, or some part of a sentence, often supplies the place of a nominative; as, Mentiri est turpe, to lie is base; Diu non perlitātum tenuit dictatorem; the sacrifice, not being attended with favourable omens, detained the dictator for a long time. Liv. 7, 8. Sometimes the neuter pronoun id or illud is added, to express the meaning more strongly; as, Facere quæ libet, id est esse regem. Sallust.. Obs. 3. The infinitive mode often supplies the place of the third person of the imperfect of the indicative; as, Milites fugere, the soldiers fled, for fugiebant, or fugere cœperunt. Invidere omnes mihi, for invidebant. Obs. 4. A collective noun may be joined with a verb either of the singular or of the plural number; as, Multitūdo stat, or stant; the multitude stands, or stand. A collective noun, when joined with a verb singular, expresses many considered as one whole; but when joined with a verb plural, signifies many separately, or as individuals. Hence if an adjective or participle be subjoined to the verb, when of the singular number, they will agree both in gender and number with the collective noun; but if the verb be plural, the adjective or participle will be plural also, and of the same gender with the individuals of which the collective noun is composed; as, Pars erant casi Pars obnixa trudunt, sc. formica. Virg. Æn. iv. 406. Magna pars raptæ, sc. virgines. Liv. 1, 9. Sometimes, however, though more rarely, the adjective is thus used in the singular; as, Pars arduus. Virg. Æn. vii. 624. Accusative before the Infinitive. IV. The infinitive mode has an accusative before it; as, Gaudeo te valere, I am glad that you are well. Obs. 1. The particle that in English, is the sign of the accusative before the infinitive in Latin, when it comes between two verbs, without expressing intention or design. Sometimes the particle is omitted; as, Aiunt regem adventāre, They say the king is coming, that being understood. Obs. 2. The accusative before the infinitive always depends upon some other verb, commonly on a neuter or substantive verb; but seldom on a verb taken in an active sense. Obs. 3. The infinitive, with the accusative before it, seems sometimes to supply the place of a nominative; as, Turpe est militem fugère, That a soldier should fly is a shameful thing. Obs. 4. The infinitive esse or fuisse, must frequently be supplied, especially after participles; as, Hostium exercitum cæsum fusumque cognovi. Cic. Sometimes both the accusative and infinitive are understood; as, Pollicitus suscepturum, scil. me esse. Ter. Obs. 5. The infinitive may frequently be otherwise rendered by the conjunctions, quod, ut, ne, or quin; as, Gaudeo te valère, i. e. quod valeas, or propter tuam bonam valetudinem: Jubeo vos bene sperare, or ut bene speretis; Prohibeo eum exire, or ne exeat: Non dubito eum fecisse, or much better, quin fecerit. Scio quod filius amet. Plaut. for filium amāre. Miror, si potuit, for eum potuisse. Cic. Nemo dubitat, ut populus Romānus omnes virtute superârit, for populum Romānum superâsse. Nep. Ex animi sententia juro, ut ego rempublicam non desĕram, for me non desertürum esse. Liv. xxii. 53. The same Case after a Verb as before it. V. Any Verb may have the same Case after it as before it, when both words refer to the same thing; as, Ego sum discipulus, So Redeo iratus, jaceo supplex; I am a scholar. You are named John. She walks as a queen. I know that he is esteemed wise. Evädent digni, they will become wor |