The ending -ao, of _igrao_ and _imao_, stands for the Russian _al_, as
in some English dialects a' is used for _all_."

* * * * *

PART V.

SYNTAX.

* * * * *

CHAPTER I.

ON SYNTAX IN GENERAL.

s. 411. The word _syntax_ is derived from the Greek _syn_ (_with_ or
_together_) and _taxis_ (_arrangement_). It relates to the arrangement, or
putting together, of words. Two or more words must be used before there can
be any application of syntax.

_There is to me a father._--Here we have a circumlocution equivalent to _I
have a father_. In the English language the circumlocution is unnatural. In
the Latin it is common. To determine this, is a matter of idiom rather than
of syntax.

s. 412. In the English, as in all other languages, it is convenient to
notice certain so-called figures of speech. They always furnish convenient
modes of expression, and sometimes, as in the case of the one immediately
about to be noticed, _account_ for facts.

s. 413. _Personification._--The ideas of apposition and collectiveness
account for the apparent violations of the concord of number. The idea of
personification applies to the concord of gender. A masculine or feminine
gender, characteristic of persons, may be substituted for the neuter
gender, characteristic of things. In this case the term is said to be
personified.

_The cities who aspired to liberty._--A personification of the idea
expressed by cities is here necessary to justify the expression.

_It_, the sign of the neuter gender, as applied to a male or female
_child_, is the reverse of the process.

s. 414. _Ellipsis_ (from the Greek _elleipein_ = _to fall short_), or a
_falling short_, occurs in sentences like _I sent to the bookseller's_.
Here the word _shop_ or _house_ is understood. Expressions like _to go on
all fours_, and _to eat of the fruit of the tree_, are reducible to
ellipses.

s. 415. _Pleonasm_ (from the Greek _pleoazein_ = _to be in excess_) occurs
in sentences like _the king, he reigns_. Here the word _he_ is
superabundant.

_My banks, they are furnished_,--_the most straitest sect_,--these are
pleonastic expressions. In _the king, he reigns_, the word _king_ is in the
same predicament as in _the king, God bless him_.

The double negative, allowed in Greek and Anglo-Saxon, but not admissible
in English, is pleonastic.

The verb _do_, in _I do speak_, is _not_ pleonastic. In re