Principles of English Grammar

38. Contractions.-Certain universally recognized contractions are to be met with in books. The following are of most frequent application:

1. e. g. for exempli gratia = for example's sake, to illustrate. 2. i. e. for id est that is to say, to explain.

3. viz. for videlicet = to wit, to give an instance, or to enumerate the parts before referred to generally.

4. &c. for et cetera = and the rest, and so on, and so forth. This is used when it would be considered waste of time to enumerate further or quote at greater length.

5. A for insert. It is called a caret. COBBETT calls it the blundermark.

6. The apostrophe ['] is not only used before the possessive s, but also to mark contractions or elisions. This latter use is principally confined to poetry and to dialect in novels.

CHAPTER III.

VERSIFICATION.

1. Versification is the art of constructing verse.

2. All verse is written with or without rhyme.

3. Rhyme is a correspondence of sound in the last syllables of two or more lines succeeding each other im mediately or at no great distance; as,

"How sleep the brave who sink to rest,

By all their country's wishes best!".. COLLINS.

4. Rhymes are:

Single; as, wall, fall.

Double; as, weary, dreary.
Triple; as, readily, steadily.

5. Rhymes are perfect or allowable.

6. A perfect rhyme is subject to the following con ditions:

(1) The vowel sounds should be exactly the same; as, whole, soul.

(2) The rhyming syllables should be accented; as, appears, her tears.

(3) The consonants preceding the vowel sounds should be different; as,

"Honor and shame from no condition rise,

Act well your part, there all the honor lies."-POPE.

7. An allowable rhyme is one in which the sounds are nearly alike; as,

"Those hearts of ours-how warm! how warm!

Like the sun's bright rays, like the summer's charm."

-ABRAM J. RYAN.

8. Alliteration is the beginning of two or more words with the same letter; as,

But see! 'mid the fast-flashing lightnings of war,

What steed to the desert flies frantic and far ?"-CAMPBELL.

Old English metre was based to a great extent upon alliteration.

9. Verses are classified according to the kind and the number of feet they contain.

10. A foot is the metrical unit by which a line is measured. It is composed of two or three syllables, one of which is generally accented.

II. The kind of feet generally used in English verse are:

(1) The iambus: a short syllable and a long (~ —), as in awake. (2) The trochee: a long syllable and a short (— ~), as in hopeless.

(3) The anapest: two short syllables and a long、
entertain.

(4) The dactyl: one long syllable and two short (—
loneliness.

-), as in

), as in

12. The number of feet varies from one to seven.

(1) A line of one foot is called a monometer.
(2) A line of two feet is called a dimeter.
(3) A line of three feet is called a trimeter.
(4) A line of four feet is called a tetrameter.
(5) A line of five feet is called a pentameter.
(6) A line of six feet is called a hexameter.

(7) A line of seven feet is called a heptameter.

13. Verses are deficient, complete, or redundant.

(1) A verse in which a syllable is wanting, is called catalectic.

(2) A verse in which the measure is complete, is called acata

lectic.

(3) A verse in which there is a syllable too much, is called

hypermetrical.

14. Iambic verse is commonly used in long English poems. It is that metre with which the ear is most familiar. It may be divided as follows:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Trimeter: "Blow, blow, thou winter wind

Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude."-S VESPEARE.

Tetrameter: "The smiles of joy, the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow."-MOORE.

Tennyson's In Memoriam, portions of Moore's Lalla Rookh, and most of Scott's poetry are written in this metre. The tetrameter alternating with the trimeter forms the most common measure o lyric poetry; as,

"With gentle swiftness lead me on,
Dear God! to see Thy face;

And meanwhile in my narrow heart

Oh make Thyself more space!"—FABER.

"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learned to dance."--POPE.

Iambic pentameter is called the heroic metre. In its rhymed form it is the metre in which Chaucer and Dryden and Pope wrote a great deal of their poetry. Pope perfected the iambic pentameter couplet. In its unrhymed form, it is the usual metre of blank verse. Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning have employed it with great power.

"That like a wounded snake drags its slow length along."-POPE. This iambic hexameter is called the Alexandrine measure.

"For right is right, since God is God; and right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, to falter would be sin."-FABER. This metre is generally divided up into four lines, two being iambic tetrameters and two iambic trimeters alternately. Stanzas so formed are known as common metre stanzas.

15. Trochaic verse gives a rapid movement to the line.