6. An Adverb is a word which qualifies a Verb, an Adjective, or another Adverb, by expressing some circumstance of time, place, or manner respecting it; as, "He writes correctly" "A remarkably diligent boy;" "He speaks very fluently."

7. A Preposition is a word placed before Nouns and Pronouns, to show the relation which they bear to each other, or to some verb; as, "He went from London to Leeds;" "She is above disguise;" "They are instructed by him."

8. A Conjunction joins words and sentences together; as, "One and one make two;" "He and I must go.'

9. An Interjection expresses a sudden passion or emotion of the mind; as, O! ah! alas!

1. As the intention of classification is to assist the memory in the acquisition and retention of facts, objects must be ranged in the order determined by their specific properties. Accordingly, the parts of speech in the English language have been classed under the denominations of nouns and verbs, to denote the names and actions of things; pronouns to express the substitutes for the names of objects; adjectives to denote the qualities of objects; prepositions and conjunctions to denote the relation and connexion of objects; and articles and adverbs to designate various appendages of the noun and verb.

2. In the following passage all the parts of speech are exemplified; the figure over each word denotes the part of speech in the order in which it is explained; thus, 1, stands for the article, 2, for the substantive, 3, for the adjective, &c.

4

The power of speech is a faculty peculiar to man; and was bestowed on him by

his beneficent Creator, for the greatest and most excellent uses; but alas! how often 4 7 1

5 4

5

3

7

2

do we pervert it to the worst of purposes.

3. The best and most rational mode of making the pupil understand the parts of speech, is to require him to distinguish them by the definitions and illustrations subjoined to each. Numerous additional examples may be supplied by the teacher.

II. INFLECTION.

1. OF THE ARTICLES.

An Article is a word put before a noun, to show whether it is taken in an indefinite or in a particular sense; as, “A man," "The man."

Article, in Grammar, from articulus, signifies a little member. The Articles are, in strictness, definitive adjectives; but, having several peculiarities attached to them, it has been found more convenient that they should retain their usual situation among the parts of speech.

The articles are a or an, and the.

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A or an is called the indefinite article, because it does not point out any particular person or thing; as, a book," that is, any book.

A is used before nouns only in the singular number, beginning with a consonant; as, a tree;" before the sound of

66

u long, and before words beginning in sound with w and y; 66 a unit," "such a one," » a ewe, ""a European."

as,

A is, however, used before plural nouns when they are preceded by the words few and great many, as, "A few men," "A great many apples;" also before collective words, as, "A dozen," "A hundred men."

In poetry a is sometimes placed between the adjective many and a singular noun; as, "Full many a gem." This construction, though allowable in poetry, is inadmissible in prose.

An is used, for agreeableness of sound, instead of a before a vowel or a silent h; as, 66 99 66 an eagle," an hour;" and in order to prevent a disagreeable hiatus, it is used before words beginning with h sounded, when the accent is on the second syllable; as, 66 an historical account."

1. The words beginning with h silent are heir, herb, honest, honour, hospital, hour, humour, humble, and their derivatives.

2. A and an are merely abbreviations of the old words ae and ane, signifying one used unemphatically. The peculiar difference in the application of the article a or an, and the numeral one, will be seen from the following examples:-When I speak of one object in contradistinction to two or more, I make use of the term one; as, "Can one man carry this weight? No; but two can." But when I allude not so much to the number as to the species, I say, "Can a man carry this weight? No; but a horse may."

The is called the definite article, because it indicates that some particular person or thing is meant; as, "the book," meaning a particular book. The is used before nouns both in the singular and the plural number.

A noun without an article before it, is generally taken in its widest sense; as, "Man is mortal," that is, all mankind.

Sometimes a noun without an article before it is used elliptically, having a qualifying word understood; as, "There are men destitute of shame," that is, there are

some men.

2.-OF SUBSTANTIVES.

A Substantive or Noun is the name of any person, place, or thing; as, John, London, book.

Every thing that we can see, feel, hear, or conceive to exist, is a noun; thus, boy, John, school, book, are nouns, because we can see and touch them. Honour, hope, goodness, are also nouns; for though we can neither see, nor hear, nor touch them, yet we can conceive such things to exist; as, "The honour in which he was held;" "Hope cheered him when unfortunate;" "His goodness was conspicuous."

A Substantive may, in general, be distinguished by its taking an article before it, or by its making sense of itself; as, an animal, a man; honour, hope, goodness. The term Substantive is derived from substare, to stand, to distinguish it from an adjective, which cannot, like the noun, stand alone. Noun comes from nomen, a

name.

Substantives are of two kinds, Common and Proper.

Common Nouns are the names given to a whole class or species, and are applicable to every individual of that class; as, man, city, tree.

Proper Nouns are the names given only to individuals; as, the particular names of persons, places, seas, rivers,

mountains, &c.; as, George, Britain, London, the Baltic, the Thames.

Observing many individuals to agree in certain properties, we refer them all to one class, to which we give a name, comprehending, in its signification, all the properties by which the class is distinguished; thus, every thing which can, of itself, move from place to place is called an animal; and this term animal is applicable to every individual in that class. Again, every animal which has four legs is called a quadruped, and the term quadruped is common to all the individuals possessing these properties. So also, Boy is a name common to thousands of human beings, but the name William or Thomas may be appropriated only to few individuals of the class. The name boy is therefore a common noun, while William and Thomas are proper nouns.

Nouns are sometimes divided into the following, classes :

Collective nouns, or such as denote a multitude; as, people, parliament, army. Abstract nouns, or such as denote the names of qualities, considered as unconnected with the substances to which they belong; thus, from beautiful animal, sweet rose, the qualities beautiful, sweet, when separated from their substances animal, rose, form the abstract nouns beauty, sweetness; and these qualities may also be characterized by other qualities; thus, we can say, great beauty, exquisite sweetness.

Verbal or participial nouns are such as are derived from verbs and participles; as, Beginning from begin, Reading from read.

Proper nouns become common when they are employed to donote more individuals than one; as, "the Johnsons," "the Howards;" and also when they denote a species or character common to several; as, a "Catiline," meaning a conspirator; "He is the Cicero of his age," that is, he is a very distinguished orator.

The properties belonging to substantives are gender, number, person, and case.

Gender.

Gender is the distinction of nouns, either with regard to sex or the want of sex. There are three genders, the Masculine, the Feminine, and the Neuter.

The Masculine gender denotes male animals; as, a man, a horse.

The Feminine gender signifies female animals; as, a woman, a hen.

The Neuter or neither gender, denotes objects without life ; as, a house, a garden.

Names which are applicable either to males or females, are said to be of the common gender; as, a parent, a friend.

1. In the distribution of gender, the English language follows the order of nature. In French, on the contrary, all nouns are either masculine or feminine; and in Greek and Latin, the gender of inanimate objects is determined by the termination.

2. When speaking of animals, the sex of which is not regarded by us, we frequently assign to them gender suited to their particular characteristic properties. The strong and bold ones being considered of the masculine, and the weak and timid of the feminine gender; thus, we say of the horse, that he is a useful animal; of the hare, that she is timorous.

3. Insects, small quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, are frequently spoken of as neuter.

Inanimate objects, when spoken of, or spoken to, as if they were persons, are considered either as masculine or feminine; thus, we say of Time, "he flies on rapid wings;" and of Earth, "she is fruitful.”

This mode of giving life and sex to inanimate things, forms a striking_beauty in our language, and renders it, in this respect, superior to the languages of Greece and Rome, neither of which admitted this animated phraseology. But no fixed rule can be given to determine, in all cases, which objects must be considered masculine and which feminine. In general, however, nouns that convey an idea of strength, firmness, or energy, are masculine; as, the Sun, Time, Death, Sleep, Love, Autumn, Winter, &c. Those which convey an idea of weakness or timidity, or which are more of a passive than of an active nature, are feminine; such as, the Moon, Earth, Church, Religion, Nature, Summer, Spring, the names of Ships, Virtues, Vices, Cities, and Countries, and also of abstract nouns, as, Liberty, Honour, &c.

The Feminine gender of nouns is distinguished from the Masculine in three ways;

FIRST, BY DIFFERENT WORDS; AS,

SECOND, BY A DIFFERENCE OF TERMINATION; AS,

The mark - over a syllable, shows that it is accented and long, as, tỷ in týrant; denotes that the syllable is accented but short, as, ec in executor.

the mark

C

1. Several words have the same termination for both masculine and feminine; as, guide, guardian. Some have a feminine but no masculine; as, laundress, sempstress, Amazon, Brunette, Dowager, Jointress, mantua-maker, milliner, shrew, siren, vixen, and virago.

2. In a few words, such as poet, author, &c., when the office or profession, and not the sex of the individual is intended, the masculine term is used; but when we wish to distinguish the sex, the feminine noun must be employed to express the female. Thus, the poets and authors of the age," includes both males and females; but "she is the best poetess in the country," signifies, that she is the best only of her own sex.

Number.

Number is the inflection of a noun, to indicate one object or more than one.

Or, Number is the expression of unity or of more than unity.

*The term songster is confined to birds. The word singer is applicable both to men and women; the proper name, or the word male or female, being employed to distinguish the sex.

Infant, a prince of the royal family either of Spain or of Portugal, makes, in the feminine, Infanta.