Of the connectives employed in combining the sentences in a discourse.

of connecting words and members, whilst others are employed indiscriminately for the connection of words, members, or sentences. When one of each kind meets in the beginning of a sentence, the intention of the first is generally to express the relation which the sentence bears to that immediately preceding; and the intention of the second, to express the dependance of the one clause on the other, in the sentence so introduced. Take the following passage of scripture for an example: "I go to prepare a place for you. AND "if if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, " and receive you to myself *." The copulative AND connects the two sentences. The hypothetical conjunction if serves only to mark the first member of the last sentence, as the condition or limitation of the promise contained in the second member. The reader will observe, that I have distinguished the different applications of the two conjunctions in this example by a difference in the character in which they are printed. I intend, for the sake of perspicuity, to adopt the same method in the other examples which are to be produced. But it is not copulatives only that may be thus combined with conditional particles, The causal, illative, and adversative, may all be employed in the same way. The first of these is exemplified in the following quotation: "Let us not say, "we keep the commandments of the one, when we "break the commandments of the other. For unless

* John xiv. 2, 3.

Sect. II. Observations on the use of connectives in combining sentences.

"we observe both, we obey neither +." The above instances will serve to illustrate the observation in all other combinations with connectives of the same order. For an example of the like construction in the conjunction that, these words of the poet will suffice;

If there's a power above us;

AND that there is, all Nature cries aloud

Thro' all her works; he must delight in virtue ‡.

It is not material that the whole is here comprised in one sentence. The first conjunction serves to unite the member that precedes with that which follows; the second, to exhibit the connection that subsists between the succeeding clauses. And what relation two connected complex sentences bear to the members of each, that relation bear the members of a complicated sentence to the clauses of which they consist. It was said, that the first of two conjunctions so placed is generally the connexive of the sentences, and that the second marks the relation subsisting between the members of the sentence which ensues. This holds generally, but not always. If the connective of the sentences be one of those particles, which, agreeably to the third. observation, the idiom of the language permits us to transpose, it may properly possess the second place, and the other the first, as in the example following: "It is of the utmost importance to us, that we as❝sociate principally with the wise and virtuous. When,

Of the connectives employed in combining the sentences in a discourse.

THEREFORE, We choose our companions, we ought to "be extremely careful in regard to the choice we "make." The second conjunction THEREFORE is that which connects the sentences The first conjunction when hath no relation to any thing beyond the second sentence. The only examples I have yet produced, are those wherein one of the conjunctions is by its nature always appropriated to the subordinate use of connecting the parts of a sentence. But even where the two connectives are alike susceptible of both uses, the structure of the expression may sufficiently evince, that the one is employed solely to connect the sentence to what precedes in the discourse, and the other solely to conjoin the members, as in the following example: "Such is the probable consequence of the measure I now recommend. BUT, "however this may succeed, our duty is the same." Of the different applications of the two conjunctions in this passage, there cannot be the smallest doubt. Sometimes a decompound sentence may be ushered by no fewer than three successive conjunctions; the first being the connexive of the sentences; the second that which ascertains the relation of the members of the sentence thus introduced; the third that which indicates the connection of the clauses of the first member of that sentence, as in the subsequent example, "To those who do not love God, the enjoyment "of him is unattainable. NOW AS that we may love God, it is necessary to know him; so that we

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may know God, || it is necessary to study his works." The conjunction NOW connects this period with the

Sect. II.

Observations on the use of connectives in combining sentences.

preceding sentence; As is expressive of the relation which the first member bears to the second, beginning with so; that indicates the dependence of the first clause of the first member, "we may love God," on the second clause, " it is necessary to know him ;" and corresponds to the conjunction that, which follows the so, in the beginning of the second member, and which, in like manner, indicates the dependence of the first clause of the second member, "we may "know God," on the last clause, "it is necessary "to study his works." But though the introduction of two conjunctions having different references in the manner above explained, is perfectly compatible with the rules of good writing, and often inevitable; I cannot say so much for the admission of three, whose various applications must distract the attention, and so create a confusion and difficulty alike inconsistent with the principles of perspicuity, of vivacity, or of elegance.

SECONDLY, as to those cases wherein we cannot say propriety requires, but the idiom of the language permits the use of more than one connexive, they are either when the connexives are of the same order; for instance, in the copulatives, and further, and in like manner; in the adversatives, but however; in the exceptives, yet nevertheless, yet notwithstanding. With regard to such combinations we may safely pronounce, that if the use of synonymas even in the more significant parts of speech are for the most part incompatible with vivacity and strength, the like use in the

Of the connectives employed in combining the sentences in a discourse.

more insignificant, and consequently weaker parts, must be still more exceptionable. Again, when the connectives are of different, but not opposite orders, idiom often permits the concurrence of two, though the reference of both is the same; that is, though both are intended merely to connect the sentence with that which preceded. Thus the copulative is often combined with the illative, and therefore, or with a particle expressive of order, and thirdly; the causal with a particle expressing opposition, for else, for otherwise; a disjunctive with such a particle or phrase, or on the contrary; an adversative with an exceptive, but yet; a comparative with a copulative, as also. It were endless to enumerate all that idiom permits us in this manner to conjoin. It is only by attending to the practice of good authors, that it can perfectly be learned. It is not to be questioned, that in some instances, the use of two connectives, though not absolutely necessary, may be expedient both for rounding the period, and for expressing more perfectly the relation of the sentences. But they are much

more commonly the effect either of negligence or of a vitiated taste in what concerns composition, and are often to be met with in the middling class of writers. The following will serve as an example of this manner: "Although he was close taken up with the af"fairs of the nation, nevertheless he did not neglect "the concerns of his friends." Either of the conjunctions would have done better than both. An author of this stamp will begin a sentence thus: "Whereas,