The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1862-10-22


grammarians, we quote the following nom
''Coyell's Digest Of Eaglish Grsnmsr,s page
low ,a.-D uof .zgiYuoD in2sa5q 81
"lGrass Is grsen--is 4 ssntence, stc;. srass
II the subject: is is the predicate. limited By,
the adjective GREEN'S green is the complex
predicate: WIZ ~ y
.'ln the opinion of Wells, g. Brown, No.
bic Butler, and many others, this method o.
analysis is correct. Mr.. Wells thinks iiE
ferent method would destroy al once ell dis.
tinction between the logical and grammatical
pred'cate.' It has been adopted in this
grammar because it IS mors, simple; but. In
the opinion of the author, i. is not quite
philosophical; and with him, probably, coin.
eide majority Of fgrammarians. II green, d
he predicate; Of which Is is the copuls {isY.
--l0 and green J., the attribute. ,gorsah {
"t - Green, in parsing. rsla.ss %
grass Of which it is tho attribute: - Rule s."
In writing the foregoing. Mr.. Covell has
made the following, ,blunders, st lesst:--ss
/. He has discarded his own honest opin.
ion to embrace one he deems less phiiosphie.
al, and for SO doing, his only plea is greater
simplicity. This is an unfortunate blunder
for an author to be guilty Of; Tor IL can hard
ly fail to impress the student Of grammar
with belief that the whole science 10, in
fact, hunabub; and that any disposition Of q,
sentence will answer, provided il can have
the sanction OF one or two great names.
q He has virtually sacrificed truth upon
the altar OF falsehood; for, being grounded Id
his own opinion by en- honest consicaion, 10
was truth to him, and he had no right to-
barter it for the opinion Of other men, no
matter how popular the same may hays
been. ss tEf If@ttISt
3. He has destroyed much OF the harmony
that should exist between analysis and pare. !
ing; for, by analysis, "g'esa" is made depends
ent upon 'is," while 1t is parsed as being
dependent upon "grass." ..g l..4 ..
4. Mr.. Covell's discarded opinion is much
less objec ion,ble than the one be has adopted
for it rega rds the sentence in question, as bes
ipg composed Of three parts--subject copula. o
and attribute--in their simplest. form. Thus
far our author is fully sustained blythe con-.
structive principles Of the English language
as we attempted to demonstrate in a preyis
Gus article; but when he considers that the
ccpula and attribute hold positions 10 the
sentence, inferior to the subject, he. is wrong,
and can be longer sustained. not even By his,
own previous teaching, as the following foot
note, page 81 will show:
"Ke,b is from the Latin ve,5xn,, which sic.
nifes soord. The verb is so called because
it is the most important word in the sem
tence." .4 H.s.ril{ Jg-yJ
If this is true principle, Mr.. Covell has
violated 1t in both his methods OF analysis,
for, '7
L. "Grass Is sreea"-'.grass Is gvowins,".
are Sentences exactly similar. Hence, If
green" limits "is' in the first, "q,o,oing''1
limits IS" in the second. h Now 1t will BE-
readily seen that Mr. C's teaching can not q
hang together, unless the aux ilary alone is
alluded to in the foot note; but this is incon~
sistent with his definition Of verb.
2. Since the sentences are similar, II as"
is the eopula and '.greca" the attribute, then
must "is' be the copula and "gro,oiagn the .
attribute; but this reduces the verb to seeon. q!
Diary importance. Now, let us dispose Of
these sentences according to the constructive
principles Of the Eaglish Language. ''' 40
Analys's-"Grass is green" is simpis
declarstiye senteace, of which 'y,ass" 10 the
simple subject, or that Of which something
is affirmed, "ts' is the simple predicate, or
that which affirms something Of "erass:"
green" is the simple attribute, or that which
is affirmed OF 'srass9 by "is.o Analysis
grass is growing in the same .manper. ssqq
Synthesis--T Grass isgro,0iag,p is a sentence
in which "grotofng' denotes an attribute Of
activity, 'is'' declares its connection With .
singular subject, at the present time, and
grass names the subject, concerning which,
such declaration is made Since syyesv;ncs
denotes an action unfinished but progressing.
since "is' declares in present time; and since
''grass" denotes an object whose quantity IL
that ofmagnitude, and whose Limitation IL
therefore indefinite, we understand that some
indefinite portion 0ess than the whols) oi
grass is at present progressing in Its growth.
| Parsins-- Gsass'' ia common noun-.~
neuter gender--third person--singular num-,
ber--nominative case. "Is'' is an auxiliary
declares actaality--iudicatiye mode
present tense--agreesin form 10 the person
and number of tgrass." "Gt,toiags is an
irregular yerb---intransitive- progressive
style--is the attribute Of "srass" Tho ads
vantages gained by the above method is---
l. Every sentence may be reduced to its
most simple elements, which viii give us an
idea ef its true construction. y y !Ngu@
2. We can better determine tho true sir-
nifcation OF zach word, and the inHasncs 10
exerts ON other words in the sentence. ,..,
3. 1t will enable US to dstsct readily any
inappropriate or redundant word that may
be used. a'@ w 3sf1al y 1s d9iflailAs9oH
AT win enable us 70 parse every wosd
separately, and to give 10 ID an the proper
ties that naturally or granmatiaally belong
to it. Il ,,i sa;st. .. n.t. ass.,a ~
| O.. It establishes harmony between al the /,
operations Of the science.
| ~ sN HOE gl B3 BfssHgs39 sgRH 4yt1Ah,
At some future time we.wili demonslrsss
fully the above propositions. IN the mssn
time, II any teacher has reason u object u
any thing | have said, i would bs slad 10 hs1rs
from him; ior, II we are IN The wrong. we