son we ought to say, 'I shall consider his
censures so far only as _concerns_ my friend's conduct;' and not 'so far as
_concern_.'"--_Philosophy of Rhet._, p. 229. It is too much to say, at
least of one of these sentences, that there is no nominative with which the
plural verb can be regularly construed. In the former, the word _as_ may be
said to be a plural nominative; or, if we will have this to be a
conjunction, the pronoun _they_, representing _conditions_, may be
regularly supplied, as above. In the latter, indeed, _as_ is not a pronoun;
because it refers to "_so far_," which is not a noun. But the sentence is
_bad English_; because the verb _concern_ or _concerns_ is improperly left
without a nominative. Say therefore, 'I shall consider his censures so far
only as _they concern_ my friend's conduct;'--or, 'so far only as _my
friend's conduct is concerned_.' The following is an other example which I
conceive to be wrong; because, with an adverb for its antecedent, _as_ is
made a nominative: "They ought therefore to be uttered _as quickly as is_
consistent with distinct articulation."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 76. Say
rather, "They ought therefore to be uttered _with as much rapidity_ as is
consistent with distinct articulation."

OBS. 11.--Lindley Murray was so much puzzled with Tooke's notion of _as_,
and Campbell's doctrine of the _impersonal verb_, that he has expressly
left his pupils to hesitate and doubt, like himself, whether one ought to
say "_as follows_" or "_as follow_," when the preceding noun is plural;
or--to furnish an alternative, (if they choose it,) he shows them at last
how they may _dodge the question_, by adopting some other phraseology. He
begins thus: "_Grammarians_ differ in opinion, respecting the propriety of
the following modes of expression: 'The arguments advanced were nearly _as
follows_;' 'the positions were, _as appears_, incontrovertible.'"--
_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 146. Then follows a detail of suggestions from
Campbell and others, all the quotations being anonymous, or at least
without definite references. Omitting these, I would here say of the two
examples given, that they are not parallel instances. For, "_as follows_,"
refers to what the arguments were,--to the things themselves, considered
plurally, and immediately to be exhibited; wherefore the expression ought
rather to have been, "_as follow_," or, "_as they here follow_." But, "_as
appears_" means "_as it appears_," or