NOTE III.—­Any phrase, sentence, mere word, or other sign, taken as one whole, and made the subject of an assertion, requires a verb in the third person singular; as, “To lie is base.”—­Adam’s Gram., p. 154.  “When, to read and write, was of itself an honorary distinction.”—­Hazlitt’s Lect., p. 40.  “To admit a God and then refuse to worship him, is a modern and inconsistent practice.”—­Fuller, on the Gospel, p. 30. “We is a personal pronoun.”—­L.  Murray’s Gram., p. 227. “Th has two sounds.”—­Ib., p. 161.  “The ’s is annexed to each.”—­Bucke’s Gram., p. 89. “Ld. stands for lord.”—­Webster’s American Dict., 8vo.

NOTE IV.—­The pronominal adjectives, each, one,[391] either, and neither, are always in the third person singular; and, when they are the leading words in their clauses, they require verbs and pronouns to agree with them accordingly:  as, “Each of you is entitled to his share.”—­“Let no one deceive himself.”

NOTE V.—­A neuter or a passive verb between two nominatives should be made to agree with that which precedes it;[392] as, “Words are wind:”  except when the terms are transposed, and the proper subject is put after the verb by question or hyperbaton; as, “His pavilion were dark waters and thick clouds of the sky.”—­Bible.  “Who art thou?”—­Ib. “The wages of sin is death.”—­Ib.  Murray, Comly, and others.  But, of this last example, Churchill says, “Wages are the subject, of which it is affirmed, that they are death.”—­New Gram., p. 314.  If so, is ought to be are; unless Dr. Webster is right, who imagines wages to be singular, and cites this example to prove it so.  See his Improved Gram., p. 21.

NOTE VI.—­When the verb cannot well be made singular, the nominative should be made plural, that they may agree:  or, if the verb cannot be plural, let the nominative be singular.  Example of error:  “For every one of them know their several duties.”—­Hope of Israel, p. 72.  Say, “For all of them know their several duties.”

NOTE VII.—­When the verb has different forms, that form should be adopted, which is the most consistent with present and reputable usage in the style employed:  thus, to say familiarly, “The clock hath stricken;”—­“Thou laughedst and talkedst, when thou oughtest to have been silent;”—­“He readeth and writeth, but he doth not cipher,” would be no better, than to use don’t, won’t, can’t, shan’t, and didn’t, in preaching.

NOTE VIII.—­Every finite verb not in the imperative mood, should have a separate nominative expressed; as, “I came, I saw, I conquered:”  except when the verb is repeated for the sake of emphasis, or connected to an other in the same construction, or put after but or than; as, “Not an eminent orator has lived but is an example of it.”—­Ware.  “Where more is meant than meets the ear.”—­Milton’s Allegro. (See Obs. 5th and Obs. 18th above.)