The principles of Latin grammar; comprising the ... - Essan.org

——— —218 SYNTAX.—OBSERVATIONS. § 102tion of the verb ;also the nominative of the third person, when it is an indefiniteword, or may be easily supplied from the context ; as, ferunt %" they say ;" (fee.306.— Obs. 2. The subject is also omitted when the verb expressesthe state of the weather, or an operation of nature ; as, fulgurat, " it lightensf pluit, " it rains ;" ningit, a it snows."307. Obs. 3. Impersonal verbs are usually considered as without anominative. Still, they will generally be found to bear a relation to somecircumstance, sentence, clause of a sentence, or infinitive mood, similar tothat between a verb and its nominative; as, delect at me studere, " it delightsme to study," i. e. " to study delights me ;" —miserei me tui, " I pity you,"i. e. conditio, or fortuna tui miseret one, " your condition excites my pity."662.308.— Obs. 4. The verb is sometimes omitted when the nominative isexpressed, and sometimes when it is understood; as, nam ego Polydorus(sc stun), u for I am Polydorus;'' omnia prmcldra vara (sc. sunt), "allexcellent things are rare—turn ;" ille (sc. r esp o ndi u t), then he replied;"— verum hactenus4io2C (sc. dixtmu s).309.— Obs. 5. When the subject is an infinitive, or a clause of a sentence, the verb is in the third person singular ; and, if a compound tensethe participle is put in the neuter gender ; as, in cert u m est quam longanostrum cujusque vita futura sit, "how long any of us shall live is uncerta;/ n310.— vObs. 6. The nominative is sometimes found with the infinitive,in which case ccepit or cceperunt, or some other verb, according to thesense, is understood ; as, omnes invidere mihi, " every one envied me."The infinitive with the nominative before it, is so common in historicalnarrative, that it is called the historical infinitive. Thus used, it is translatedas the imperfect or the perfect indefinite, for which tenses it seemsto be used, and with which it is sometimes connected. 669..— 311 Obs; 7. Videor, in the sense of " I seem," is used throughout asa personal verb, but is often rendered impersonally: as, videor esse liber,"it seems that /am free," literally, " I seem to be free."—Followed by thedative of a person, it means to think, fancy, suppose, with reference to theword in the dative, as the subject in English; as, videor tibi esse, "youthink /ki i am," literally, " I seem to you to be;" tu videris mihi, "Ithink that you—videor ;" Mi, " he thinks that I ;"