The English language Author:Henry Lewis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. SYNTAX. Syntax is that part of grammar which treats of the arrangement of words in sentences, and of the relations existing between them. Unde... more »r this subject we have to consider five relations: Government, Agreement, QuaLification, Limitation, Modification. Government is the relation in which one word stands to another word in the same sentence, so as to induce that word to alter its form or signification. Government is exercised by transitive verbs in the active voice; and by prepositions, over the substantives and pronouns which follow them in the objective case:— He praised me. We stood on the bridge. I have sent for him. Whom did you see ? Agreement is the relation which exists between two or more words in a sentence, so as to assimilate them to each other in one or more respects. 1. The Verb agrees with its Nominative Case in Number and Person:—I am told that you are unwell. We were not present. He is coming. They have been detected. This rule requires to be modified in the following 'ways:— 1. When a collective substantive is the nominative to the verb, the verb is either Angular or plural, according asthe idea of unity or plurality predominates in the substantive :— The whole herd was scattered. The committee has decided the question. The crowd is increasing. The committee have assembled. The College of Cardinals elect the Pope. The youth of a people are its hope. The peasantry lite on oatmeal. 2. When two singular nominatives are joined by a copulative conjunction, the verb is in the plural number:— John and his brother are coming this afternoon. " Aggression and injury never justify retaliation." When, however, the two nominatives denote only one object, the verb is in the singular number:— " Flesh and blood ha...« less