Part 136 (1/2)

”Now, _rais'd_ on Tyre's sad ruins, Pharaoh's pride Soar'd high, his legions _threat'ning_ far and wide”--_Dryden_

EXCEPTION FIRST

A participle so _phrase_ or _sentence_, of which it forms no part; as, ”I then quit the society; _to withdraw and leave them to themselves_, APPEARING to round we havecontinued in office_ DEFENDED”--_Professors' Reasons_, p 23 (Better, ”_his continuance_ in office,” or, ”_the continuing of him_ in office” See Obs 18th on Rule 4th)

”But _ever to do ill_ our sole delight, As _being_ the contrary to his high will”--_Milton_

EXCEPTION SECOND

With an infinitive denoting being or action in the abstract, a participle is sometimes also taken _abstractly_; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, pronoun, or other subject;) as, ”To see_ aloud, is plainly i[418] on a hich does not, by itself, produce any idea”--_Murray's Gram_, 8vo, p

323

”To praise hi_, his unquestion'd will”

--_Cowper_, Vol i, p 88

EXCEPTION THIRD

The participle is often used irregularly in English, as a substitute for the infinitive ularity; as, ”I saw hi_”--_Grant's Lat Gra_, or _to try_”--_Ibid_ Exaular: ”Sir, said I, if the case stands thus, 'tis dangerous _drinking_:” ie, to drink--_Collier's Tablet of Cebes_ ”It will be but ill _venturing_ thy soul upon that:” ie, to venture--_Bunyan's Law and Grace_, p 27 ”_Describing_ a past event as present, has a fine effect in language:” ie, to describe--_Kalish likewise it deserves _re_:” ie, to be remarked--_Harris's Her particularly mentioned_:” ie, to be particularly mentioned--_Blair's Rhet_, p 291

”This, however, is in effect no _ the sweet that predominates:” ie, to enjoy--_Campbell's Rhet_, p 43

”Habits are soon assu _flay'd_ alive”--_Cowper_, Vol i, p 44

EXCEPTION FOURTH

An other frequent irregularity in the construction of participles, is the practice of treating thei been well educated will be_ a great recommendation”--_W Allen's Gram_, p 171

(Better: ”_Your excellent education_”--or, ”_That you have been well educated_, will be,” &c) ”It arises froree”--_Blair's Rhet_, p 29 ”Concerning _the separating_ by a circumstance, _words_ intimately connected”--_Ka as there is any hope of _their keeping pace_ with them”--_Literary Convention_, p 114 ”Which could only arise fro the secrets_ of all hearts”--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p 180 ”But this again is _talking_ quite at rando here_ it is, that holds thee hence”--_Shak_

”Such, but by foils, the clearest lustre see, And deee, to Walpole_

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XX

OBS 1--To this rule, I incline to think, there are _properly_ no other exceptions than the first two above; or, at least, that we ought to avoid, e can, any additional ano positiveness what others receive for good English, I have subjoined two iteularities now very common, that, when examples of a like form occur, the reader may _parse them as exceptions_, if he does not choose _to censure them as errors_ The overn the possessive case, has already been largely considered in the observations on Rule 4th

Murray, Allen, Churchill, and reat and small, admit that participles may be made the subjects or the objects of verbs, while they retain the nature, govern_ to this rule, is the cause of a very common error”--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p 200; _Comly's Gram_, 188; _Weld's Gra _highly civilized_'”--_Blair's Rhet_, p 219 ”One abhors _being_ in debt”--_Ib_, p 98; _Jamieson's Rhet_, 71; _Murray's Graentleman so un attached_ to the project, prolonged their debate”--_Nixon's Parser_, p 78 ”It finds [ie, _the ratify one passion; _not acting_, or _acting otherwise_, would gratify another”--_Ca_ and _objecting_ upon any subject _is_up_ difficulties”--_Bp Butler's Charge to the Clergy of Durham_, 1751

OBS 2--W Allen observes, ”The use of the participle as a noe”--_Eleht have added, that the use of the participle as an objective governed by a verb, as a no the possessive, is also one of the peculiarities of our language, or at least an idiom adopted by no few of its recent writers But whether any one of these four ht to be countenanced by us, as an idioeous, I very much doubt They are all however sufficiently common in the style of reputable authors; and, however questionable their character, sohtily attached to them all It becomes ular constructions of the participle, ought, in enerally_ condemned as false syntax; and for this sienerally_, if not always, be expressed y that is in no respect anomalous Thus, for the examples above: ”_Inattention_ to this rule, is the cause of a very coree of civilization_;”

or, ”_that they are_ highly civilized”--”One abhors _debt_”--”Who affected _the_ fine gentleman so unmercifully”--”The ed their debate”--”It finds [ie, _the ratify one passion; _and that not to act_, or _to act otherwise_, would gratify another”--”But further, _to cavil and object_, upon any subject, is much easier than _to clear up_ difficulties” Are not these expressionsquotations? And if so, have we not reason to conclude that the adoption of participles in such instances is erroneous and ungraested, that in English the participle, without governing the possessive case, is turned to a greater nue This re_ Whether it is expedient to make so much of one sort of derivative, and endeavour to justify every possible use of it which can be plausibly defended, is a question orthy of consideration We have already converted this participle to such a multiplicity of purposes, and into so h write a chapter in it, without any other words This practiceto the copiousness and flexibility of the language, but it certainly has a tendency to ith and clearness Not every use of participles is good, for which there reat excess in the adoption of such derivatives, without beco any rule of our corammars For exara ey to be a show of extraordinary erudition, was displaying, in spite of ridicule, a very boastful turgid argu the correction of false syntax, and about the detection of false logic in debate” Now, in what other language than ours, can a string of words anything like the following, co sentence? ”This exceeding trifling witling, considering ranting criticising concerning adopting fitting wording being exhibiting transcending learning, was displaying, notwithstanding ridiculing, surpassing boasting swelling reasoning, respecting correcting erring writing, and touching detecting deceiving arguing during debating” Here are _not all_ the uses to which our writers apply the participle in _ing_, but there would see others that are less proper

OBS 4--The active participles, _ad_, and the like, are frequently used in discourse so independently, that they either relate to nothing, or to the pronoun _I_ or _we_ understood; as, ”_Granting_ this to be true, what is to be inferred from it?”--_Murray's Gra this to be true, _ask_ what is to be inferred fro asexa as chance”--_W Allen's Graurative sense of a word is derived from its proper sense”--_Ka_ that two or three of these offend less in their s, must poverty rammarians suppose such participles to be put absolute in themselves, so as to have no reference to any noun or pronoun; others, a whom are L Murray and Dr

James P Wilson, suppose them to be put absolute with a pronoun understood

On the for rule; on the latter, they do not: the participle relates to the pronoun, though both be independent of the rest of the sentence If we supply the ellipsis as above, there is nothing put absolute

OBS 5--Participles are almost always placed after the words on which their construction depends, and are distinguished from adjectives by this position; but when other words depend on the participle, or when several participles have the same construction, the whole phrase _ ure to myself the miseries of confinement”--_Sterne_

”_Immured_ in cypress shades, a _sorcerer_ dwells”--_Milton_