cipal sentence to contain an adverb in the comparative degree.

Er. You lie in bed later than is conducive to health. The captain lives more extravagantly than he can afford. The moon shines less brightly than the sun.

LESSON 160.-Write twelve complex sentences, in which an accessory sentence, with an adverb in the comparative degree, is followed by a principal sentence with a similar adverb.

Ex.: The more diligently you labour, the more liberally will you be rewarded.

SECTION XVI.

ADVERBIAL SENTENCES CIRCUMSTANTIAL OF ORIGIN.

Two simple sentences, each asserting its fact absolutely, are often so connected in a co-ordinately combined complex sentence, as that the one fact is represented either as a cause or a consequence of the other. Such complex sentences have been fully considered in Section II. of the present chapter, p. 108; where the simple sentences that are combined together by the conjunctions "for," "therefore," and others, which may be regarded as the equivalents of these two, are treated of. We frequently, however, make assertions dependent on, or having reference to, certain conditional, hypothetical, or wholly imaginary incidents; and then, in order to show the qualified nature of the judgment uttered, we mention the incidental or imaginary circumstance in a sentence, that must be regarded as one accessory of origin; for it expresses the source, more or less remote, of the assertion conveyed by the principal sentence. As accessory sentences of this kind do not assert directly, their verb is very commonly in the Subjunctive Mood.

Accessory sentences of origin may be divided into two classes.

1. Those which express a MOTIVE or END.

2. Those which express a HYPOTHESIS or SUPPOSITION upon which the fact of the principal sentence is contingent.

Adverbial sentences circumstantial of origin, when they express a motive or end, are connected with the principal sentence either by the conjunctions that, lest; or by a relative pronoun: the following sentences contain examples of the conjunctions just named.

Er. Man eats that he may live. The angler broke the ice that the fish might have air. We must spare in youth that we may not want in age.

In expressions like the last, where the impelling motive is the avoidance of an evil, the conjunction lest is substituted for that, and the negative omitted.

Ex.: We must spare in youth lest we want in age. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee.

The following sentence shows an accessory sentence, expressing the motive of the principal action, connected by a relative pronoun to the principal sentence.

Ex. The Romans built a wall across the island, which might prevent the incursions of the Picts and Scots.

This form of expression, an imitation of the Latin, is not very frequent with us, the accessory verb in such cases being commonly rendered by the Infinitive mood, as will be explained in the following section.

In ALL accessory sentences, expressing the motive or end of the principal sentence, the verb does not directly assert action, and is, consequently, in the Subjunctive Mood.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 161.-Write twelve complex sentences, in which an accessory sentence of origin is connected by the conjunction that.

Ex.: The arbitrator stated this circumstance, that the ground of his award might be known. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land.

LESSON 162.-Write twelve similar complex sentences, employing the conjunction lest.

Ex.: Judge not, lest ye be judged. You must shut the cage, lest the bird should escape.

Accessory sentences of origin, that express a hypothesis or condition upon which the principal sentence is contingent, are joined to the principal sentence by the conjunctions except, if, though, unless, and the conjunctive phrase provided that, and some others that may be regarded as the equivalents of "if."

Ex.: If the frost continue, the ice will soon bear. Provided that my own conscience approve, I care little for the animadversions of others. Except ye repent, ye shall surely die. Unless the fine be paid, he will certainly be sent to prison.

Where a hypothesis is double, triple, or even manifold, and the principal assertion will hold good under all the suppositions, the accessory sentence is coupled by the conjunction whether.

Ex.: I shall start to-night whether you accompany me or not. NOTE. The familiar expression "whether or no," I hold to be faulty, though it occurs in our best writers: "not' is the proper word, for with it we can supply the ellipsis "whether you accompany me or (accompany me) not.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 163.· - Write twelve subordinately combined complex sentences, in which the accessory sentences are connected by the conjunctions except, if, unless; of which, should find the task a difficult one, you may find numerous examples in the Scriptures.

you

Ex.: If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.

LESSON 164.-Write twelve similar sentences, employing the conjunctions though, whether, provided that, &c.

Ex.: Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Whether we move or not, we always feel something under us that supports us.

An accessory conditional sentence is very frequently expressed by slightly inverting the order of the words, as in an interrogation; when the inflected verb, whether auxiliary or principal, precedes the subject, and a conjunction is unnecessary. This may be said to be our ordinary method of expressing a hypothesis, and the accessory verb is commonly in the subjunctive mood; unless indeed the speaker would show his own conviction, that the circumstance mentioned in the accessory sentence is a fact.

Ex.: Were I rich I would travel. Answer respectfully should you be questioned. Had his conduct been blameless he would have escaped censure.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 165.-Write twelve complex sentences, in which the hypothetical character of the accessory sentence is shown by the inverted order of the words.

Ex.: My son, should sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Were wishes horses, beggars would ride.

SECTION XVII.

THE INFINITIVE MOOD. VERBAL SUBSTANTIVES, PARTICIPLES, &c.

A verb asserts what its subject does; but we often have occasion to speak of action in a general way, and without direct reference to a specific actor; and there are in every language some peculiar forms of the verb, constituting what is called the INFINITIVE MOOD, that thus serve to name, without predicating action.

-The character of a language is greatly influenced

by its infinitive constructions; and it is to the frequent and unusually bold employment of them, that the English owes at the same time its flexibility and its force. They form so prominent a characteristic of our language as to demand a detailed examination; for we habitually employ them in locutions that require, in other languages, a totally different construction: and therefore an intimate acquaintance with these expressions, and the faculty of promptly rendering them by other equivalent forms, are indispensable to our progress in such languages, both as regards our ready comprehension of those who speak or write them, and the ability to express our own impressions freely and correctly in the foreign idiom. These considerations warrant me in challenging the pupil's earnest attention to the present section, the KEYSTONE of his grammatical labours.

In many instances our substantive, that names the object or fact resulting from an action, is not the same as that which names the operation itself; nor is it always formed analogically from the verb: indeed it would often be difficult (and of little utility if practicable) to determine whether the verb was originally derived from the substantive, or the substantive from the verb; though the latter seems the more probable hypothesis. To the verbs to think, to fight, to cheat, to speak, to laugh, to deceive, &c., we have the substantives a thought, a fight, a speech, a laugh, a deception, &c., that serve to name the fact or result of an individual exercise of the action. But to name the operation itself, we employ a substantive that is always identical in form with the active participle; thinking, fighting, cheating, speaking, laughing, deceiving, &c. In many cases this form names both the doing and the thing done; the operation and its result: as, to paint, painting, a painting (a picture); to build, building, a building (an edifice); to write, writing, a writing (a document); beating, scolding, &c. &c.