275. [Observe that two or more Simple sentences, even though joined together by a conjunction, do not constitute a Complex sentence, unless they are also connected in meaning. Such an expression as: "Birds fly, fishes swim, and reptiles creep," consists merely of three Simple sentences joined by a copulative conjunction, but the sense of each is complete in itself, and is no way connected in meaning with either of the other two sentences. It is different in the example given above: "Whenever I approached a peasant's house, I played one of my merry tunes." Here there are two Simple sentences, viz.--(1.) "I played one of my merry tunes ;" and (2.) " Whenever I approached a peasant's house;" but it is plain that the meaning of the second sentence would be incomplete unless it was connected with the first. In like manner, in the example: "The evil that men do lives after them," there are two Simple sentences: (1.) "The evil lives after them," and (2.) "That (i.e. which) men do," and the meaning of each would be incomplete if it were not taken in connexion with the other. It is the same with the other example: "Who steals my purse, steals trash," in which the two Simple sentences are (1.) "He steals trash," and (2.) "Who steals my purse." The meaning of the second sentence is incomplete unless connected with the first.] 276. In every Complex Sentence there is one Simple sentence containing the principal assertion, and this sentence is therefore called the Principal sentence, or the Leading sentence. The other Simple sentence or sentences merely serve to help out the meaning of the Principal sentence, and are therefore called Subordinate sentences, or Subordinate clauses. Thus, in the first example given above, the Principal sentence is :-" I played one of my merry tunes," and the other sentence:- "Whenever I approached a peasant's house," is a Subordinate one. 277. When two or more Simple sentences of equal importance are joined together by a conjunction, they make up what is commonly called a Compound Sentence. Thus, Birds fly, fishes swim, and reptiles creep, is called a Compound sentence, to distinguish it from a Complex sentence. [In such Compound sentences, the Simple sentences are all of equal importance; there is no Principal sentence ainongst them. They are therefore called Co-ordinate clauses. But the distinction is of little value, as in analysis and parsing they may be regarded as separate Simple sentences.] LESSON XXIX. 278. Syntax contains Rules for constructing and analysing sentences, and these Rules are of two kinds, viz., Rules of Concord, and Rules of Government. 279. Concord is the agreement of words in the same sentence in Person, Number, Gender, or Case. 280. There are four principal Concords : (1.) Of a Verb with its Subject or Nominative case. (2.) Of a Noun or Pronoun with another Noun or Pronoun in the sentence. (3.) Of a Relative Pronoun with its Antecedent. (4.) Of an Adjective with the Noun which it qualifies. 281. [In English the relation of the Adjective to its Noun cannot in strictness be called a Concord, because as the Adjective does not vary its form for person, number, gender, or case, it cannot be said to agree with its Noun in any of these respects. The Pronominal Adjectives This and That, which agree with their nouns in number, are the only exceptions.] 282. Government is the power which some words have of obliging a noun or pronoun in the sentence to be in the Possessive or Objective case or a verb to be in the Infinitive mood. 283. There are four principal Governments :(1.) Of a Transitive Verb over its Object; (2.) Of a Transitive Verb over another Verb in the sentence; (3.) Of a Noun over another Noun or Pronoun; (4.) Of a Preposition over a Noun, Pronoun, or Verb. 284. There are therefore eight principal Rules of Syntax-four of Concord, and four of Govern ment. 285. The four principal Rules of Concord are the following: I. A verb agrees with its Subject or Nominative case in number and person; As, I write; Thou writest; He writes; The boys write. II. Two or more Nouns or Pronouns occurring in the same simple sentence, and referring to the same person or thing, agree in case; As, St. PAUL the APOSTLE was a NATIVE of III. A Relative Pronoun agrees with its IV. Every Adjective must refer to some Noun 286. The four principal Rules of Government are the following: I. Transitive Verbs govern nouns and pronouns in the Objective Case; As, John struck the table. II. A Transitive Verb governs a verb that depends upon it, in the Infinitive Mood; As, Cease to do evil. III. When two Nouns, or a Pronoun and Noun, referring to different persons or things, come together in the same Simple sentence, the first is in the Possessive case, and is said to be governed by the other; As, My father's property; My sister's husband; IV. Prepositions govern nouns and pronouns in the Objective case, and verbs in the Infinitive mood or Present participle ; As, To me; With whom; For John. LESSON XXX. First Rule of Syntax. (FIRST RULE OF Concord.) 287. A Verb agrees with its Subject or Nominative Case in Number and Person. As, I write; Thou writest; He writes; The boys write. 288. The Subject of a verb may be (1.) The Nominative case of a noun or pro- be too fond of conversation is a mark 289. [Whenever there is any doubt as to the Subject or Nominative case to a verb, it may be found by placing the Interrogative pronoun, Who or What, before the verb, and the answer to the question thus formed will be the Subject. Thus as regards the sentence:"That you have wronged me doth appear from this," ask the question, "What doth appear from this?" and the answer is, "That you have wronged me," and this sentence, therefore, is the Subject of the verb "doth appear."] 290. When the Subject of a verb consists of two or more singular Nominatives, or two or more Infinitives, connected by a copulative conjunction, the verb must be plural; as, John and |