of timber-ships, we could not imagine the definitive timber changing its number and becoming plural. In the term breeches-maker "breeches" is a plural noun of the neuter gender, and cannot therefore agree with "maker,” a singular noun of either the masculine or feminine gender. Did our adjective vary in form to agree in number with its noun, we should at once recognize the substantive character of this kind of definitive, and the necessity for connecting the two terms by a hyphen; as the pupil will quickly do, who is sufficiently advanced in the study of another language to attempt their translation. By regarding such expressions as compound substantives, we shall avoid the two grammatical solecisms, of adjectives not according with their substantives; and of substantives without case, and consequently neither governing nor governed.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 50.-Try to recollect fifty compound substantives in which the definitive might be made the complement of a verb predicating of the other substantive; and take care to connect the two by a hyphen.

Ex.: A cherry-orchard. A coal-brig. A flower-garden. A stone-cart. A vinegar-cruet. A paper-knife.

Here we might say, the orchard produces cherries, the brig carries coal, &c.

LESSON 51.-Write fifty appellative substantives formed from verbs, and each defined by a substantive that may be regarded as the complement of the verb; and connect them by a hyphen as before.

When the action is predicated as affecting the speaker, the person spoken to, or a person or thing already spoken of, the complement of the verb is ex

pressed by the appropriate personal pronoun. But the personal pronouns differ from substantives, in this, that they have, with two exceptions, a distinct form for the accusative case; the exceptions are, the second person plural and the third person singular of the neuter gender.

The accusative cases of the personal pronouns are as follow :

These forms are used whether the pronoun be governed by a verb or by a preposition.

Ex.: The shoe pinches me. Thy master praises thee. A man calls him. The dog sees her. The cat eats it. These books please us. The lady expects you. The horse fears them. A coach waits for me. The boy stares at thee. The kitten goes to him. The bee flies from her. The mouse runs under it. The beggar comes after us. They speak to you. I feel for them.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 52.-Write twenty sentences with transitive verbs in the Perfect Indefinite Tense, having for direct complement the accusative cases of the respective personal pronouns in both numbers.

Ex.: John struck me.

LESSON 53.-Write twenty sentences having, as indirect complement to the verbs, the accusative case, preceded by a preposition, of the respective personal pronouns.

Ex.: The colonel will speak for me.

SECTION VI.

REFLECTED ACTION.

It sometimes happens that action is asserted as affecting the subject from which it proceeds; or, in other

words, that we speak of a thing as acting upon itself. As the subject must be either the speaker, the person addressed, or some other person or thing spoken of, the complement of the verb is, in such cases, formed by combining the possessive pronouns of the first and second persons, and the accusative case of the personal pronouns of the third person, with the word "self," which, in the plural, changes into " selves.”

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Ex.: I hurt myself. Thou flatterest thyself. The coward betrays himself. The girl adorns herself. The badger defends itself. We arm ourselves. You deceive yourselves. The boys amuse themselves.

I answer for myself. Thou thinkest of thyself. He quarrels with himself. The bride looks at herself. Sorrow feeds upon itself. We confide in ourselves. You differ among yourselves. His actions speak for themselves.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 54.-Write twenty-four sentences, employing, as complements to the verbs, the above reflected form of the pronouns, in all the three persons, and in both numbers.

Ex.: I flatter myself.

This form of the pronoun is frequently used emphatically; it is then of the same case as the word to which it is joined.

Ex.: I saw it myself; or, I myself saw it. Thou art thyself culpable. The general himself commanded. You yourselves promised. We saw the master himself.

We sometimes speak of several objects as engaged in mutual or reciprocal action, so that a thing is the subject of its own action, and the object of that of its companion or antagonist. In this case the actors are represented by putting the subject, where it can be done, in the plural number (the verb, of necessity, being in the plural), and the idea of them, as objects of the action, is expressed by using, as complement of the verb, the words "each other,' 99.66 one another."

Ex.: Friends assist each other. Dogs worry one another.

In a simple sentence containing a transitive verb, the complement commonly follows the verb, except it be that either the subject or complement, or both, are expressed by a personal pronoun, when this order is frequently inverted, especially in an animated style, or in poetry; the complement preceding the verb, and even the subject. This peculiarity of construction arises from our pronouns having distinct forms for the nominative and accusative cases, so that a hearer instantly feels whether the objects indicated by them are spoken of as acting beings or as things acted upon.

Ex.: Him has she chosen. Us they reject. Me you blame.
Flattery I detest.
These terms we accept.
This he denies.

When both subject and complement are expressed by substantives this arrangement of the words is not often adopted, except it be in sentences whose meaning is incapable of perversion, as in "The dog the beggar bit;" or, Fairy Mab the junkets ate,” where mistake is impossible. But when each object is competent to the action expressed by the verb, our substantive having no distinctive form for the accusative case, this arrangement of the words leads at once to uncertainty; as is the case also with the pronoun of the second person plural, which has the nominative and accusative cases alike. Thus, were I to say "You your parents love," either party might be subject or complement; but, take the pronoun of the first person, and the meaning cannot be mistaken, We our parents love," or, “Us our parents love." Here the form of the pronoun prevents all ambiguity.

The often-quoted verse

"And thus the son the fervent sire addressed,"

is a notable instance of the uncertainty produced by this order of the words; for it is quite impossible to decide, from the line itself, whether the father or the son is the speaker. In the Latin, where the accusative case is marked by a peculiar termination, the complement generally precedes the verb.

SECTION VII.

DOUBLE COMPLEMENT OF VERBS.

We frequently carry the judgment which we assert of the subject beyond the object forming the direct complement of the verb to some other object, to whose loss or gain, detriment or advantage, we affirm that the action tends; and then it is necessary that the verb be followed by two substantives (or pronouns standing for substantives) indicating these two objects.

Ex.: The lady gave the beggar a penny. The postman has brought me a letter. The master is teaching the boys geography. The farmer will send his landlord a hare The groom will lend you a bridle. The mother has made the children a pudding. Her brother will buy her a doll. The stranger told us a laughable story. The wine did the patient good.

In sentences like these the verb is said to govern two accusatives: one of the PERSON, another of the THING; the acquiring object, even though an irrational thing, or an abstraction, being here considered grammatically as a person.

This faculty of giving a douɔ e complement to verbs has a much wider range in English than in other languages, and is indeed sometimes pushed by us beyond reasonable limits. It will be observed that, in the examples just given, the accusative of the person precedes the direct accusative, that of the thing. If this order be inverted, we see at once that the accusative of the thing is the direct complement of the verb, while the accusative of the person, as an indirect complement, then requires that its relation be shown by a preposition: as, the lady gave a penny to the beggar; the mother has made a pudding for the children. We sometimes find a verb followed by two direct complements, where it would be better if the complement of the person were connected indirectly by a preposition. From such an expression as I wrote her a note," it cannot he determined whether the note was written to her or for her. The familiar expression, presenting with, as, "She presented him with a nosegay," is a Latinism, for the verb to present is essentially transitive, governing its complement