the same verb, or several verbs applied to the same nominative, or both.  Every verb marks a judgment or attribute, and every attribute must have a subject.  There must, therefore, be in every sentence or period, as many propositions as there are verbs of a finite mode.  Sentences are compounded by means of relatives and conjunctions; as, Happy is the man who loveth religion, and practiseth virtue.”—­Adam’s Gram., p. 202; Gould’s, 199; and others.

OBS. 27.—­Now if every compound sentence consists of such parts, members, or clauses, as are in themselves sentences, either simple or compound, either elliptical or complete; it is plain, in the first place, that the term “phrases” is misapplied above, because a phrase is properly only a part of some simple sentence.  And if “a simple sentence is that which has but one nominative and one finite verb,” and “a compound sentence is made up of two or more simple sentences,” it follows, since “all sentences are either simple or compound,” that, in no sentence, can there be “either several nominatives applied to the same verb, or several verbs applied to the same nominative.”  What, therefore, this author regarded as the characteristic of all compound sentences, is, according to his own previous positions, utterly impossible to any sentence.  Nor is it less repugnant to his subsequent doctrine, that, “Sentences are compounded by means of relatives and conjunctions;” for, according to his notion, “A conjunction is an indeclinable word, which serves to join sentences together.”—­Adam’s Gram., p. 149.  It is assumed, that, “In every sentence there must be a verb and a nominative expressed or understood.”—­Ib., p. 151.  Now if there happen to be two nominatives to one verb, as when it was said, “Even the winds and the sea obey him;” this cannot be anything more than a simple sentence; because one single verb is a thing indivisible, and how can we suppose it to form the most essential part of two different sentences at once?

OBS. 28.—­The distinction, or real difference, between those simple sentences in which two or more nominatives or verbs are taken conjointly, and those compound sentences in which there is an ellipsis of some of the nominatives or verbs, is not always easy to be known or fixed; because in many instances, a supposed ellipsis, without at all affecting the sense, may obviously change the construction, and consequently the nature of the sentence.  For example:  “And they all forsook him, and [they all] fled.”—­Mark, xiv, 50.  Some will say, that the words in brackets are here understood.  I may deny it, because they are needless; and nothing needless can form a true ellipsis.  To the supplying of useless words, if we admit the principle, there may be no end; and the notion that conjunctions join sentences only, opens a wide door for it.  For example:  “And that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared