DS UC-NRLF SB 257 KINNEAR GIFT F A . F . Morrison THE USE OF WORDS THE ACCIDENCE OF GRAMMAR AS IT EXPLAINS THE PARTS OF SPEECH BY GEORGINA KINNEAR NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON & CO. 1904 GIFT OP BUTTON'S PRIMERS Price 30c. net each PHILOSOPHY..^ By t A; g.; SAJPOPORT, PH.D. PHYSIOLOQYv' By" f . bl.' fef AILING, F.R.S. BOTANY. By J. IR'f-A^viER, fF.J\.a*\ THE USE 0^. WORDS/ By MI<&*K!INNEAR. Other Volumes will follow. PREFACE " THE chief object in the teaching of English as a school subject must be to acquire facility in the use of language as an instrument, and a clear apprehension of it as a means of expressing lucid ideas ; and, as an aid towards these, some know- ledge of its structure and its growth is of great importance. " It is hoped that the present little book, in the hands of efficient teachers, will do some- thing to supply the manifest want of an in- troductory manual on the use of language, in the sense of the passage just quoted from Sir Henry Craik^s latest report. Its aim is to teach grammar, and at the same time to stimulate an intelligent appreciation of the final end which is served by gram mar- study, namely, to increase the power of expression and to insure a correct use of the English tongue. It is an elementary book, and will, it is hoped, be found to answer the requirements of the English and Scottish codes. Grammar has two chapters, Accidence and Syntax. If the present volume prove useful, a companion volume on the Syntax will be added to it. GEORGINA KINNEAR. EDINBUEGH, June, 1904, M99175 CONTENTS PAGE SECTION I LESSON I THE FIRST EXPLANATIONS WHICH ABE NECESSABY IN OBDEB TO UNDEBSTAND THE SCIENCE OF GBAMMAB ........ 1 SECTION II LESSON I THE DIVISION OF WOBDS BY GBAMMAB INTO THBEE PBIMABY CLASSES 6 SECTION II LESSON II A FUBTHEB DEFINITION OF WOBDS, CONSIDEBED AS " PABTS OF SPEECH " . . . . 9 SECTION III LESSON I GBAMMATICAL ATTBIBUTES 11 SECTION III LESSON II CASE 14 SECTION III LESSON III THE INDIBECT CASES 15 SECTION IV LESSON I A FULLEB DEFINITION OF THE NINE " PABTS OF SPEECH." THE SUBSTANTIVE .... 19 SECTION IV LESSON II THE OFFICES AND GBAMMATICAL ATTBIBUTES OF ADJECTIVE NOUNS 27 SECTION IV LESSON III THE PBONOUNS . 32, vi CONTENTS SECTION IV LESSON IV THE SUBSTANTIVE PEONOUN 34 SECTION IV LESSON V THE ADJECTIVE PBONOUNS 40 SECTION IV LESSON VI ADVEBBS AND ADVEEBIAL PEONOUNS . . .49 SECTION V LESSON I THE AETICLE 56 SECTION VI LESSON I THE VEEB AND ITS ATTBIBUTES 61 SECTION VI LESSON II VOICE, MOOD, AND TENSE 64 SECTION VII LESSON I THE ACTION OF THE VEEB IN MOULDING SENTENCES 76 SECTION VII LESSON II THE DIFFEEENT OBDEES OF THE VEEB ... 77 SECTION VII LESSON III THE CONJUGATION OF VEBBS, 83 SECTION VII LESSON IV THE CONJUGATION OF VEEBS (continued) ... 91 SECTION VII LESSON V TEANSITIVE VEBBS IN THE PASSIVE VOICE . . 97 SECTION VIII LESSON I PAETICLES . 101 THE USE OF WORDS SECTION I LESSON I THE FIRST EXPLANATIONS WHICH ARE NECES- SARY IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE SCIENCE OF GRAMMAR 1. CHILDREN must often learn Grammar before they understand what science is, or what a science means ; before, indeed, they can give a clear account of what Language is. It would, therefore, be useless to tell them that Grammar is one of several sciences, which must be studied in order to obtain a thorough knowledge of Language. 2. In science, however, much may be learned, without insisting on a perfectly clear explanation of very difficult points. Complete understanding must come by degrees, and the learner must be satisfied to give a definition of the Science of Grammar at the end, not at the beginning, of his first lesson. 8. Every child knows that science means some kind of knowledge ; Language, again, is a common 2 THE USE OF WORDS thing, which, he beliefs, he understands perfectly, as ;he v uses, it every day.- H will say without hesitation th^t it' enables people to tell one another what they are thinking or doing ; what they have seen or heard ; what they fear, or seek, or intend ; and what they know to have happened. Further, he will readily allow that it is impossible to see Language. It is a thing invisible we only hear it. 4. So far, then, it is clear that if Grammar be a science, it teaches some kind of knowledge, and if it be a science belonging to Language it must explain the nature and use of some thing or things, which we find in Language : again, if the question be asked : " What things belong to Language ? " is it possible that a clever boy might say, and say correctly : " Words " ? 5. Language is, in fact, made up of words. The number of words to be found in it is immense. Moreover, words are constantly increasing in number. Abraham was a very great man ; a prince and a ruler, a very old man, and, in his long life, he had learned much, yet he did not know many words which an ignorant child now- adays knows and uses. Many countries, trees, animals have been discovered since Abraham's time ; many new implements have been made ; and whenever a man makes or finds a new thing, THE SCIENCE OF GRAMMAR 3 he gives it a name, and the name becomes a new word. Thus, words, for the most part, are names and have meanings. 6. Words have differences of character as well as separate meanings. For instance, house has a meaning of its own, quite different from big. It is used, moreover, in a different sense, because it represents a thing complete in itself. You see a house in your mind as soon as you hear the word. Bigi too, has a meaning of its own : it is easy to understand and to explain what big is, but it is not a complete thing. To make it quite real to yourself, or to any one else, you must join it to another word ; as " a big house," " a big tree," " a big boy," " a big mountain." 7. Strikes, as a word, has also a plain meaning, but standing alone, it tells you nothing, because you wish to know who and what strikes, and who and what is struck ? " Lightning strikes the tree," sets a picture before you. By joining words together you have gained definite knowledge of a thing that has happened. Further, such words differ from each other, not only in meaning, but also in character. Strikes, in spite of its plain meaning, is incomplete in itself, but lightning, tree are complete ; nevertheless, they tell you nothing that is satisfactory unless you add to them other words. " Lightning strikes the tree " is an actual 4 THE USE OF WORDS event ; there are change and movement in the fact that is told. The combination of words gives you something interesting to think of. 8. In Grammar, such a combination of words is called a Sentence. A sentence may contain only four words ; two or three, indeed, can some- times make its sense complete. " I go," is a sentence ; " send him " is another ; " let me go," " send him back " are complete sentences in three words. But after the sense is complete, the power and interest of the sentence, and the amount of information which it gives, are in- creased by adding fresh words. " The forked lightning struck a magnificent, an old and a mighty tree." The picture set before you by those words fixes your attention more strongly than the bare sentence : " The lightning struck a tree." Yet the new words in themselves are less important, for forked, magnificent, old, mighty, tell no intelligible fact when they stand alone. As words, therefore, they are of less value than the four which make a complete sentence. 9. Again, the sense and value of a sentence depend greatly on the arrangement of its words that is, on the order in which they follow one another : Magnificent a strikes lightning old forked tree the and has really little comfortable instruction in it, yet the words used are precisely THE SCIENCE OF GRAMMAR 5 those which gave a complete sense when they were differently arranged. 10. This is a long lesson and has, perhaps, too many words in it. It may, however, be summed up in three propositions. I. Language seems to be made up of words. The number of words is enormous, and they are constantly increasing in number, yet each word has its own distinct meaning. 11. Words have not only different meanings ; they differ also in the character of the thing they signify. Some represent a thing complete in itself : many are incomplete and cannot be used alone ; but when they are joined to a complete word, they give a clearer meaning to it. A combination of words is called a sentence. A single word presents a single image to the mind ; a sentence is necessary to express a thought. III. Words in a sentence vary in value ; some are indispensable to its meaning, some are not ; but the full meaning depends greatly on the mode in which its words are disposed, that is, the order in which they follow each other. SECTION II LESSON I THE DIVISION OF WORDS BY GRAMMAR INTO THREE PRIMARY CLASSES 1. IN the first lesson, it is made plain that a knowledge of Language means a knowledge of words. The practice of speaking teaches that Language is made up of words. It adds another lesson, that words represent things that can be seen, or heard, or felt. A word sets a picture before your eyes. It can awaken a thought in your mind. 2. There is more, however, in words than images of real things. They may signify, not an object that can be seen or touched, but movement, or action. Things can be complete or incomplete. Two words may differ in character, as much as in meaning. House is complete ; big is not. Words at once express the meaning, and signify the character of what they represent ; but there are fewer differences of significance (as the character may be called) than of meaning. DIVISION OF WORDS BY GRAMMAR 7 II 1. This lesson seems perhaps to repeat the first, but, in order to learn Grammar, it is very necessary to understand the difference between meaning and significance, for Grammar pays no regard to the meaning of a word ; it ascertains the significance, and by that it judges of its importance, and of the place it may hold in a sentence, for it is the work of Grammar to join words together so as to make sense, and thus to construct what, for want of a better name, may be called "Speech/ 1 2. The first work of Grammar is to divide words into separate classes, according to their significance. It takes the whole number, that make up a Language, and decides that they may be divided into three classes, or orders : Nouns, Verbs, and Particles. 3. Nouns are names. Language gives a name to every thing which sight or hearing, or even mere feeling discovers to us : such as ship, thunder, red, green, huge, sweet, bitter, joy, anger ; yet those last are only felt, not seen. Such words as he, we, you, every, all, are also names, and therefore Nouns. 4. Verbs are the most important words in the work that belongs to Grammar, because they 8 THE USE OF WORDS bring words into relation with each other and thus make intelligible sentences : as " The boy obeyed his father and ran home quickly." If obeyed and ran be left out, the sense is not clear. 5. Particles seem to have no meaning. They are not names. They do not, like Verbs, signify actions. They are, in fact r bits of words, but they have a certain grammatical significance and are therefore useful. They serve as links to fasten words together : as " The book lies on the table." " On " has no substance, no real meaning, but it shows the position of the book with regard to the table. Such particles as on are indispensable. There are others which might be left out without spoiling the sense of the sentence. Thus, with a free use of Particles, the following sentence is constructed : " The boy has a spade and an axe, and a garden with flowers." But quite good sense is obtained with the Particles omitted : " The boy has a spade, an axe, a garden, flowers." A DEFINITION OF WORDS SECTION II LESSON II A FURTHER DEFINITION OF WORDS, CON- SIDERED AS "PARTS OF SPEECH" 1. NOUNS, Verbs, Particles, is a primary classification, because . it is the first in time and the first also in importance, for every other division of words must be founded on it. It is plainly accurate and includes every word in Language. All Nouns are certainly names ; never- theless, a careful revision of words, shows that among Nouns which are one class, so far as naming is concerned, there are distinct differences of significance, marking important differences in character. Grammarians, therefore, make a re-division of Nouns into five classes. Verbs, they regard as forming a single class ; Particles are comparatively few in number. They are divided into three classes. 2. Thus, the whole number of words, in any language, are divided by Grammar into nine different classes, to which grammarians give the appropriate name of " Parts of Speech." 3. (i). Nouns-Substantive, (ii). Nouns- Adjec- tive, (iii) Pronouns, (iv) Adverbs, and (v) the 10 THE USE OF WORDS Article make up the five separate classes, or orders of Nouns. 4. (vi) Verbs remain undivided. 5. There are three kinds of Particles (vii) Pre- positions, (viii) Conjunctions, (ix) Interjections. SECTION III LESSON I GRAMMATICAL ATTRIBUTES 1. WHEN it has been decided that there are nine " Parts of Speech," it seems to follow naturally that the explanation of the nine should be given. First, however, the students of Grammar must learn the nature and use of what are called " Grammatical Attributes." #. The special work of Grammar is to join words into sentences in order to express ideas. Practice makes it so easy that the careless speaker has very little notion of how it is done. Certainly, it does not occur to him that separate words are brought into relation, and so are made to help each other by means of these Attributes. 3. There are four grammatical Attributes common to all Parts of Speech, except Particles : They are Gender, Number, Person, and Case. Adjective Nouns have in addition, Degrees of Comparison. Verbs have Voice, Mood, and Tense. 11 12 THE USE OF WORDS 4. Gender is probably founded on the difference between animate, that is living, beings, and in- inanimate things. Hence, it may have been used to mark difference of sex. English steadily observes that use of Gender ; other European languages partially, still with sufficient constancy to prove its early origin. English recognises three Genders ; Masculine, Feminine, Neuter. It gives the following rules for their use : I. Proper Names and distinctive appella- tions of men are Masculine. II. Proper Names and distinctive appella- tions of women are Feminine. III. Things without life are Neuter. 5. All languages retain more or less the dis- tinction between men and women ; but the Romance that is, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, with one or two other dialects not so well known agree in having only two Genders ; Masculine and Feminine. The Teutonic and the Slav tongues add Neuter, and use three Genders, but distribute them impartially among living creatures and things ; even the distinctive appella- tions of men and women are not too strictly observed. In French and in German, a sentinel is Feminine. A woman in German is Neuter ; the mistress of the house is Feminine, but a young lady is Neuter ; a child is Neuter. GRAMMATICAL ATTRIBUTES 13 6. Number is naturally derived from the practice of counting. It pays no regard to the actual number of things in question ; it recognises only two distinctions, one or more, Singular or Plural. I. A Noun is singular when it represents an object, which, for the moment, is one, single and alone the ship ; a mountain. II. Any number of identical things is in- cluded in the Plural Number ships, mountains. 7. A third number, the Dual, is perhaps a relic of a very early stage of development in language. It hardly exists in European tongues. The Slav dialects, only, use it in a few expressions. Greek recognised it more definitely. It includes two identical things in a single word. 8. Language exists for no other apparent purpose than to speak, wisely or unwisely ; and speech presupposes a speaker, a listener, and a subject : these three parts constitute the grammatical Attribute, Person. The speaker is the First Person ; the person addressed, the Second ; the thing spoken of is the Third. 9. Speaking, or, to use the technical term Speech, is made up of Sentences ; Sentences, of Nouns and Verbs. Every Sentence must, at least, 14 THE USE OF WORDS have one Verb, the duty of which is to bring the Nouns into relation with each other and with itself. A sentence may have more than one Verb, but each separate verb must have, at least, one Noun belonging to it, and each Noun must plainly be in one of the three Persons. It is not necessary to have all three, but where there is only the Third, the First and Second are always pre- supposed. SECTION III LESSON II CASE 1. OF the grammatical Attributes, Case is the most important. In a sentence, it shows the relation of each individual Noun to the Verb. It marks also the particular value of each Noun in the general sense of the idea which the sentence expresses. 2. The Verb, it must be remembered, signifies the actual doing of an action, or it implies a change of state. The incidence, that is, the happening of an action, presupposes an actor, or, more correctly an agent. The action may concern only itself and the agent, or it may fall on a point in- dependent of both, which thus becomes the THE INDIRECT CASES 15 recipient or the object of the action. The recipient must be brought, by the Verb, into intimate relation with the agent. The agent in the action, the recipient of the action, complete the full significance of a Verb ; by their addition, a fact is told. " Felled " has a meaning certainly, and it has the significance of an action, but it tells nothing. " The woodman felled a tree," gives a sentence, the expression of a full idea. The agent and the object or recipient are the most important relations, in which a Noun can stand to a Verb. French grammarians call them the direct complements of the Verb, as they are directly necessary to complete the action it expresses. No phrase can be constructed without those Cases, and a Noun cast in them acquires a predominant value in the sentence. To the case representing the agent, the name Nominative is given. The recipient is called the Accusative. SECTION III LESSON III THE INDIRECT CASES 1. BESIDES the Nominative and Accusative there are seven Cases which mark relation in Nouns to the Verb. They are not necessary to complete a sentence, and the service they render to the Verb 16 THE USE OF WORDS is less obvious than that of the Nominative and Accusative. They do not so much complete its significance, as define the scope of its action by limiting it to a certain place, or time ; motive, or cause, or instrument ; or they mark the origin of the action, or the point at which it stops, when that is not included in the Accusative. Thus, " John struck his brother " requires no additional word to mark where the action ceases ; but " the boy brought an axe to his father " states the point at which the action stops, and so completes the sense, though " the boy brought an axe " is a quite correct and sufficient sentence. 2. Languages differ greatly in the manner in which they regard the cases that only define the Verb. None mark them all by separate names, except indeed the Slav dialects, which give ten cases to Masculine and Feminine Nouns. French Grammar and the Romance tongues generally recognise only the Nominative and Accusative by appropriate titles ; but French teachers ex- plain more clearly than any other the actual relation that a word bears to the Verb as it is affected by case. The Nominative and Accusative they call the "Direct Complements," and they sum up the defining cases as the " Indirect Com- plements " of the Verb. The Direct Complements fulfil the Verb's significance b}^ completing the THE INDIRECT CASES 17 action it expresses. The other cases, the " In- direct Complements,*" only define the circumstances, called in Grammar accidents of time, p ace, etc., which may accompany that completion. 8. English acknowledges three cases : Nomina- tive, Accusative, Possessive ; the last indicates origin as well as possession, and, in other lan- guages, it is called the Genitive. The Romans marked five cases. Nominative, Accusative, Geni- tive, Dative, Ablative. The last, Ablative, re- presented the indirect complements of the Verb, except origin or possession, which they called the " Genitive," and the point at which action ceases the " Dative." 4. A Substantive may stand in evident relation to the sense of a phrase, yet be neither direct, nor indirect, complement of its Verb, but be used in addressing a person, or in personify- ing a Noun. It is called the Vocative Case ; it lends to a Substantive the force of an Interjec- tion, which breaks the continuity of Discourse. " Oh ! I have heard this news already." " Sir, there is a proclamation that you are van- ished." "No, I say nay to that." "Ha! do I perceive ? " " O Lord, deliver us ! " " Alack ! what heinous sin is it in me to be ashamed to be my father's child?" "My son, be patient." The examples are, of course, not all Substantives, but 18 THE USE OF WORDS they serve the better to show that the Substan- tive, if it be used as an exclamation, is no more in evident relation to the Verb than is the Interjection. 5. The point at which action stops is a Dative case, though English grammars do not give it that name. Sometimes it is marked by a pre- position, sometimes not ; in its use, however, a definite rule is observed. If the case which, for the sake of clearness, may in the mean time be called " Dative," immediately follow the Verb, it requires no Preposition ; if an Accusative Case separate it from the Verb a Preposition must mark it to be what a French teacher would call an indirect case. " Philip gave his nephew a gun." " Philip gave a gun to his nephew." " We give him good advice." "We give good advice to him." SECTION IV LESSON I A FULLER DEFINITION OF THE NINE " PARTS OF SPEECH " THE SUBSTANTIVE 1. AN explanation of one or two grammatical expressions may make the following definition clearer. A " Term " may be a single word, or it may be two or three words ; its distinctive meaning is that it sums up a single impression on the mind. A Noun Substantive is a " Term," it is a word complete in itself, though other words may be joined with it to give a fuller sense to the expression it contains. Yet, with such words added, the Substantive retains its distinctive value, and thus " the bee " or " the pretty little busy bee" are alike single terms. There is only one thing the bee to think of. 2. Several words, united in relation to each other by a single Verb, are a " Phrase." The combination may also be called a Sentence ; so 19 20 THE USE OF WORDS long as a single Verb links all the words together, it is both Phrase and Sentence. But the Sentence has a wider meaning than the Phrase ; it may be prolonged to contain two or more Phrases, each with its Verb, and with the words which complete its sense : as, " Eight years afterwards a comet was seen, during twenty days, in the western quarter of the heavens, a fiery star, a meteor of the air."" " The nations, who gazed with astonish- ment, expected wars and calamities from its baleful influence." The first Sentence is the longer of the two, but it is moulded by a single verb, and it may be called also a Phrase. The second, on the contrary, which is composed of two Phrases, can only be called a Sentence. 3. The change in a Noun, or Verb, which marks the effect of a grammatical attribute, is expressed in three ways : 1st, by a change of spelling ; 2nd, by the order of the words forming a Phrase, 3rd, by the use of a Preposition. The first is perhaps the most common ; it can be used to mark any attribute ; it consists in contracting a word, or in adding to it a letter, or syllable. It is called an Inflexion : as, for instance, in English, men is the plural number of man ; trees, of tree ; watches, of watch. The order of the words points out Case in the following Sentences : "John struck the dog." "The dog bit John." THE SUBSTANTIVE 21 An indirect Case is very generally marked by a Preposition, as, "John struck the dog with a whip." In Latin, " with a whip " would be called the Ablative Case, and might be marked by an inflexion of the Noun, " whip," without the use of a Preposition. II 1. The Noun Substantive is, in respect to other Nouns, the chief word in a sentence. Adjective Nouns must take their Gender, Number, and Case from the Noun-Substantive, in order to show that they belong to it. Verbs take the Number and Person of a Substantive in the Nominative Case. The Substantive is, indeed, the only word com- plete in itself. Thus it gives a real sense and meaning to a sentence. Adjectives merely define, that is, explain that sense more clearly by limiting the full force of the Substantive to some par- ticular quality, exceptionally important for the moment. 2. Substantives are divided into two orders, Common and Proper. A Common Substantive is the name of a number of objects, either living creatures or things, which all possess the same qualities, and thus belong, as it were, to one class of beings : as, boy, tree, mountain, king, sun ; but the common qualities and the common name 22 THE USE OF WORDS do not prevent any single individual of such a class from possessing qualities peculiarly its own. The tree must be alive and grow, must be clothed with leaves, must be subject to injury, may be destroyed, will die ; but trees are by no means all alike ; a tree may shoot up tall and thin, like the poplar ; or spread like the beech ; or squat like the juniper. It may be green or grey, brown or purple ; it is still a tree. Of the millions of trees or boys, or mountains, which exist, there may be hardly one the exact counterpart of another ; but there is no difficulty in recognizing any tree or boy or mountain by the name common to it, with the whole number of its kin. 3. A Proper Substantive does not describe qualities or modes. It marks a single individual and so far separates him or it from the common class to which he or it belongs, as if, indeed, it were proper to him, or to it, alone : as, George, London, Ben, Nevis. It denotes absolutely one individual. 4. According to strict grammatical rule, it cannot assume the plural number, but it is hard to invent an infinite number of names, and, besides, there is often good reason why one already well known, should be given anew to people or to places, and thus it may happen to the most accurate scholar to speak illogically, but THE SUBSTANTIVE 23 not irrationally of the Georges, the Londons. Grammar does not subdivide Proper Substantives. Ill 1. Common Substantives fall into two classes, Concrete and Abstract ; and, derived from these, there are Verbal and Collective Substantives. 2. Concrete Substantives denote objects which sensibly occupy space, and can be seen or heard, things which can be touched, measured, or divided. 3. An Abstract Substantive expresses something which exists only as an image in the mind; it cannot be touched, or measured, or divided ; it is really a mere mental impression : as, grief, joy, beauty. Substantives, derived from ascribing concrete existence to an accidental mode, are partially, not wholly, abstract: as, length, from long; height, from high ; strength, from strong. 4. A Verbal Substantive is formed by transcribing the Infinitive Mood of any Verb, and using it as a Substantive, as, in fact, it is : as, " Climbing is dangerous." " To play is good, but to work is needful." 5. Collective Substantives may be concrete, or abstract. They are not a numerous order, and the concrete are not always parsed as collective. Such a Substantive presents a conception of many 24 THE USE OF WORDS things, severally in themselves complete, but regarded as uniting to form a single existence, complete also in itself; as, town, school, camp. A town collects houses, people, streets ; a school, children, benches, etc. ; a camp, soldiers, tents, etc. ; yet, emptied of people, children, soldiers, and tents, the town, the school, the camp remain real and solid things, objects that can be seen, and may be touched and measured. 6. The abstract Collective Noun ceases to exist, when the objects it collects are removed : as, for instance, a JlocJc, a fleet, a regiment. Who can make a picture of a flock, without its sheep ? of a fleet, without ships ? Without soldiers, the regiment vanishes. A Substantive in the Plural Number merely, is never a Collective Noun, because, in itself, it suggests no separate idea. The true Collective must collect objects which are different from itself, and are severally complete Substantives. It is a curious speculation, interest- ing in Grammar, to ask, how many objects must be removed before the Collective Noun ceases to be a true Collective. If all but ten soldiers in a regiment are killed in battle, would the ten still form the regiment ? If one only survived, would he be the regiment ? Grammatically, it would be correct to say that he is the sole representative of his regiment. THE SUBSTANTIVE 25 IV 1. In English the grammatical attributes of Substantives are not always marked by inflexion. Inflection, however, is almost regularly used to determine Number ; but seldom, Gender ; still more seldom, Case ; and Person has no inflexions. 2. To denote the Feminine of names of office, the Masculine final syllable or is sometimes changed to ess, or ix, as " governor, governess " ; "executor, executrix. 1 " The suggestions of the term " Queen " may possibly lie in the Teutonic inflexion inn ; probably it intentionally marks the feminine in one English word "fox, vixen." Gender is often marked by different words, as ; " boy, girl " ; " bull, cow." 3. English Substantives, with few exceptions, mark Number by inflexion. The common form is by adding s to the Singular, in order to change it to a Plural noun : as, " rose, roses " ; " cup, cups." 4. The rule, however, admits of exceptions : I. If a word end in o, s, x, sh, ch^ or ss, it affixes es instead of s : as, " church, churches." II. Y after a consonant changes to ws ; y after a vowel takes s : as, " lady, ladies " ; " boy, boys." III. F changes to ves ; double Jf takes s : as, " loaf, loaves " ; " ruff, ruffs." If the diphthong oo 26 THE USE OF WORDS precede f, it sometimes takes s : as, " roof, roofs " 'but " hoof, hooves "). Romance words add only s as " brief, briefs " ; " coif, coifs " ; " gulf, gulfs." IV. Exceptional words, borrowed without change from foreign idioms, must retain their proper Plural form: as, " stratum, strata" ; " phenomenon, phenomena " ; " cherub, cherubim." V. A few English words retain an old Teutonic inflexion, by modifying the radical vowel, as, " man, men," or by adding en, as " ox, oxen." One word takes er, " child, childer." It is found in old English, or in local dialects ; common usage changes it to the Dative case, " children." In the case of two words, the elder forms are not obsolete ; " kine," " swine." 5. Neither Case nor Person is marked in English Substantives by inflexion, except the Genitive, called in English, the Possessive Case, it takes sometimes V for es 9 in Teutonic inflexion ; sometimes, it is marked by a preposition : as, " His father's estate," or " The estate of his father." ADJECTIVE NOUNS 27 SECTION IV LESSON II THE OFFICES AND GRAMMATICAL ATTRIBUTES OF ADJECTIVE NOUNS 1. THE Adjective Noun is, in itself, incomplete in significance. It cannot, like the Substantive, form a complete Term, but, by defining the Substantive, it lends it a distinct quality or mode, which limits its somewhat vague character. . Adjectives have three values, marked by the position they hold in relation to the Substantive which they define : an Attributive value, a Pre- dicative, a Conjunctive. 3. When, in English, an Adjective is placed immediately before the Substantive, it is Attri- butive ; it merely adds an accidental mode or quality to the modes always recognised in the Substantive ; as, for instance, a " man " is a word at once understood as the name of a human being, nobody mistakes its meaning, but a man is not always good, nor brave, nor clever, nor strong ; it is thus that, with help of an Attributive Adjective, " the strong man,*" gives a clearer idea than " the man." 4. An Adjective is Predicative when it follows its Substantive and is joined to it by any tense of 28 THE USE OF WORDS the verb " to be." The words form a single term, but a certain force is given to the Adjective : as, " The man is strong." 5. The Adjective receives a Conjunctive value, when it serves to subjoin a word or phrase, which defines the Adjective itself: as, "He is a man strong to labour " i.e., not strong in every way, but he can work hard. " He is strong in patience " ; again, the man may be weak in other virtues, but at least his strength can be trusted in one, and the words added explain " strong " itself, not " he." 6. The Adjective Conjunctive is not so wholly one with the Substantive as the Attributive, or Predicative, and is therefore a more important word ; without the Substantive, however, it would have no real significance. II 1. As Adjectives become practically one thing with the Substantive which they define, they must take its grammatical attributes Gender, Number, Case, and Person. 2. It is perhaps a little difficult for an English learner of Grammar to perceive this, because no change is made in the Adjective, to show whether it be masculine or feminine, singular or plural, nominative or accusative, but if he remember ADJECTIVE NOUNS 29 how completely a Substantive and an Adjective become one thing, one term, one image in the mind, he will understand why it must be so. In French, and in most other languages, it is easy to see the fact, because an inflexion is given to the Adjective to mark that it has become Feminine or Plural, or has taken a different Case from the Nominative, in order to be in complete agreement with the Substantive to which it belongs. English too, in old times, had such inflexions to point out close agreement, but, as regards Adjectives, they have been dropped. 3. The Adjective, however, is not merely and solely a useful adjunct to the Substantive, it exercises an office proper to itself, an important, as well as a special office, which gives it a distinct value in relation to other Nouns. It determines points of comparison. " The strong man " means strong, as compared with ordinary men. Hence the Adjective has a grammatical Attribute, peculiar to itself. This Attribute of the Ad- jective is called its " Degrees of Comparison.*" 4. Adjectives express three Degrees of Com- parison : Positive, Comparative, Superlative. These are frequently marked by inflexion, and for the Comparative add to the Positive er ; est for the Superlative. Instead of the inflexions, a defining word is sometimes prefixed to the 30 THE USE OF WORDS Adjective : more, the Comparative ; most, the Superlative ; or less, least : as, swift, swifter, swiftest ; alert, more alert, most alert ; idle, less idle, least idle. 5. The Positive Degree determines a comparison in relation to individual Substantives. It gives to a particular Substantive a real and positive quality which marks a difference between the Noun in question, and other creatures, or things, for it may be an animate or an inanimate object, and can take the Singular or Plural Number ; as " the savage dog," " the cruel sea," " green hills." 6. The Comparative Degree makes a comparison, by ascribing to one Substantive a distinctive degree of a quality which is common to two Substantives ; and these may be either the same in meaning, or different : as, " The wolf is more savage than the bear." " This dog is more savage than that." u John is a cleverer boy than James." The comparison must always lie between two Nouns, but the Nouns may be in the Plural Number: as, "Wolves are more savage than bears." 7. The comparison of the Superlative Degree separates a particular Substantive from other Substantives of its own class, by ascribing to it a quality in its highest or lowest degree, a degree so strongly marked as to set the Noun in question apart : as, " Snowdon is the highest (mountain) ADJECTIVE NOUNS 81 of Welsh mountains.*" "Wasps are the most mischievous (insects) of winged insects." The Superlative may be quite correctly used to give merely an intensive sense in an incomplete com- parison : as, " This is a most beautiful azalea." "The azalea is a most beautiful flower." How- ever slightly the comparison be marked in such phrases, it is real. 8. The intensified, or the weakened, mode does not necessarily mark a very high, or a very low degree. The Positive is, in fact, as it is in- variable, the strongest of the three comparisons. Its value is certain and absolute. The values of the Comparative and Superlative are variable and relative. There is no question of the courage of " a brave soldier " ; but " the bravest soldier of that troop" may be a coward. 9. Some qualities, or modes cannot be intensified, and thus, some Adjectives cannot be remodelled by Degrees of Comparison. I. Such as express by the Positive a supreme significance : as, " chief." II. Such as define a Substantive by de- scribing the thing of which it is made, that is, its material substance: as, " wooden." III. Such as are derived from Proper names : as, " French," " English." 32 THE USE OF WORDS 10. There are two Adjectives which have no Positive Degree, only a Comparative and Super- lative : "former, first 11 ; "latter, last" (though " late " in Grammar, not in the meaning of ordinary Speech, is the real Positive Degree of "later." SECTION IV LESSON III THE PRONOUNS 1. PRONOUNS are words which have no distinct meaning of their own. They do not describe ; their office is to supply the place of true de- scriptive Nouns, and thus prevent the too fre- quent repetition of the same word. 2. The Pronoun, as it has no real meaning, is not the symbol of a real thing that exists. The Substantive is ; and the Adjective, in like manner, is the symbol of a quality or mode. The Pronoun, on the contrary, does not, of itself, recall the image of any creature or thing ; nevertheless, it is not a Particle, but a true Noun. 3. The Pronoun possesses all the grammatical attributes Gender, Number, Person, and Case THE PRONOUNS 33 and these give it a certain substance, such as Particles cannot have. 4. Farther by assuming the Gender, Number, and Person of the Noun, which it represents, a Pronoun is identified with such Substantive, or Adjective, and cannot be separated, in idea, from it, so long as the relations last between the real Noun and its substitute. 5. As regards the attribute, Case, the Pronoun is independent. It takes that Case, which its evident relation to a Verb demands. 6. Pronouns differ from other Nouns in three particulars. I. They are signs, not true symbols. II. They cannot, from age to age, be multi- plied in number, as descriptive words can be and are. They remain re- stricted to a definite list of Nouns, that is to say, Names, the sense of which is determined by their gram- matical attributes, as it is from these they borrow a visionary sub- stance. III. Pronouns, when they are also Substan- tives, retain modes of inflexion, with a persistence which, particularly in the English language, is not found in other Nouns. 34 THE USE OF WORDS II 1. The primary function of Pronouns is to represent that is, to stand for other Nouns. It is imperative, therefore, that they have distinctive characters. They form three classes, adapted severally to hold the place of the three orders of pure names or nouns. Thus there are necessarily, Substantive Pronouns, Adjective Pronouns, and Adverbial Pronouns, and those three distinct classes must be considered separately. SECTION IV LESSON IV THE SUBSTANTIVE PRONOUN I 1. SUBSTANTIVE PRONOUNS represent Nouns Sub- stantive which have been actually used in speak- ing or writing, and in order to identify themselves with the word for which they stand, the Pronouns take its Gender, Number, and Person : as, " Star- lings fear the merlin, though he is little bigger than they ; you must have seen them fly from him." 2. The Pronoun, however, marks Case by the relation which it holds to the Verb of its own phrase, and even when Substantive and Pronoun occur in the same sentence, the Pronoun is in regard to Case, independent, and may, indeed, THE SUBSTANTIVE PRONOUN 35 stand as complement to a different Verb. " The starling is a bold bird, yet the merlin scares him." 3. There are two classes of Substantive Pro- nouns Personal Pronouns and Relative Pronouns. A Personal Pronoun directly replaces a Sub- stantive as, " The river Tarim formerly flowed due east, now it runs south, and often it overflows its banks."" " My guide and I were enveloped in clouds of gnats and gadflies ; we were forced to put up a tent on the deck ; we hoped it might protect us." The Personal Pronoun has the same value in the construction of the Sentence as its Substantive would have, and it makes the sense clearer by preventing a confusing repetition of the same words : as, " My guide and I were enveloped in clouds of gnats and gadflies ; my guide and I were forced to put up a tent on the deck ; my guide and I hoped the tent might protect my guide and me." It would be a still worse sentence if proper names were substituted for " my guide and I." 4. Personal Pronouns mark the grammatical attribute Person by different words. Gender is not marked, except in the third person singular, and then by different words. Number is marked in English, and generally in Teutonic languages, by different words ; in the Romance tongues in the third person, by inflexion. 36 THE USE OF WORDS THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS SINGULAR PLURAL Person 1st. I. We. 2nd. Thou. You. 3rd. He, She, It (marks Gender). They. 5. Case is marked in the Accusative by an inflexion, and frequently in the Genitive. In the other indirect complements of the verb, a pre- position, very generally, is prefixed to the noun : sometimes it is omitted in the Dative. The preposition is prefixed always to the Ablative. THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS SINGULAR 1st Person 2nd Person Case Norn. I. Thou. Accus. Me. Thee. Gen. Mine, of me. Of thee or thine. Dat. To me, or me. Thee, to thee. Ablat. By, with, etc., me. By, with, etc., thee. Voc. Ah me ! Thou ! 3rd Person Masculine Feminine Neuter Case Nom. He. She. It. Accus. Him. Her. It. Gen. His, of him. Hers, of her. Its, of it. ,, Dat. To him, him. To her, her. It, to it. Ablat.{ ^ By, etc., her. By, etc., it. Voc. He, or him. She, or her. It. THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS 37 PLURAL 1st Person Case Nom. We. Accus. Us. Gen. Ours, of us. Dat. Ablat. Voc. Us, to us. By, with, etc., us. We, or us. 2nd Person You, or ye. You, or ye. Yours ; of you, ye. You, ye ; to you, ye. By, etc., you, ye. Ah you, ye. 3rd Person. Case Norn. They Accus. Them. Gen. Theirs, of them. Dat. Them, to them. Ablat. By, etc., them. Voc. They, them. 6. As in the Noun Substantive, so in the Sub- stantive Pronoun, Personal, the preposition may be omitted before a pronoun in the Dative Case if it immediately follows the verb ; but if the sense or the harmony of the phrase seem to require the preposition it may be retained as, " He gave us an unexpected reward." " He proposed to us an unexpected reward." The preposition must be retained when the Dative is separated from the verb : as, " He gave a reward to us." II 1. The Relative Pronoun is of the same char- acter as the Personal, in so far as it represents 38 THE USE OF WORDS a true Substantive and prevents the repetition of the same word ; but it does not actually replace the Substantive, and could not be exchanged for it without sometimes confusing the sense of the sentence, and still more often its harmony. It stands rather in the place of a conjunction and a personal pronoun : as, "There passes the general, who has gained many battles," might be correctly rendered, " There passes the general, and he has gained many battles."" 2. In English the Relative Pronoun marks Gender by two distinct terms : " who " for Mascu- line and Feminine, "which" for Neuter Nouns. Neither Number nor Person are marked. " Who " distinguishes two Cases by inflexions : the Ac- cusative " whom " ; the Possessive, which is the Genitive " whose." " Which " remains unchanged, and the indirect cases are marked by prepositions : as, " The haste with which he came." " The books in the subject of which he is interested." In both pronouns the dative case is always marked by a preposition. It is not, like the Personal Pronoun, affected by its position in regard to the Verb : as, u He praised the boy, and gave him a book." If the Relative Pronoun be used the sentence must be, " He praised the boy, to whom he gave a book." 3. In asking a question, " which " may be used THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS 39 in agreement with a Masculine or Feminine Sub- stantive. It is, however, an Adjective, not a Substantive Pronoun : as, " Of which king did he speak ? v " Which," in such a phrase, is strictly in agreement with " king " ; it does not replace nor stand for the word, but is used as an Ad- jective Interrogative Pronoun. THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS "WHO, WHICH" Masculine or Feminine Neuter CfiseNom. Who. Which. Accus. Whom. Which. ,, Gen. Whose, of whom. Of which. Dat. To whom. To which. ,, Ablat. By, with, from whom. By, with, from which. Ill 1. In addition to the Relative Pronoun proper, English borrows another term from the Demon- strative Adjective Pronouns, "that." When it is so used, it has the value of a Substantive Pronoun. It marks no grammatical attribute by inflexion : as, " Sir, I am a poor friend of yours that loves you." " The friends that were faithful in misfortune." 2. The term " what " must be included as a Relative in the class of Relative Pronouns. It stands for two words, either " that which," or " it which," or it can be used to ask a question, 40 THE USE OF WORDS or mark an exclamation : as, " What ! must he die ? " " What great services has he rendered ? " It may stand for two Pronouns, the comple- ments of two Verbs : or for two Pronouns, the complements of one Verb, but in separate Cases : as, f ' What seemed his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on." ff With joy beyond what victory bestows." In this last sentence, " what " at once represents beyond ihat^ an Ablative Case, indirect comple- ment to the verb " bestows, 1 ' and an Accusative which the direct complement of "bestows." In the first sentence " what " contains two direct complements of two separate verbs : " that " Nominative Case to " seemed " : " which " Nomina- tive to "had on." SECTION IV LESSON V THE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS I 1. ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS differ in origin and in kind from the Substantive Pronoun, yet they are true Pronouns ; signs, not symbols. They prevent the too frequent repetition of the same THE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS 41 word, and thus secure precision and harmony in speaking or writing. 2. As Adjectives they do not define a Sub- stantive by expressing a quality of the substance of the word, that is, they do not describe its real nature, but they ascribe to it an accidental mode of time, place, or number. 3. Adjective Pronouns are subordinated to the Substantive which they define, and mftst agree with it in the grammatical attributes, Gender, Number, and Person. In Case an Adjective Pronoun agrees with the Substantive to which it is prefixed, not necessarily with that which it represents. " From this point you command a fine view ; that, from the top of the hill is mag- nificent." " View " in the first phrase is accusative, a direct complement of the verb " command " ; " that " in the second phrase represents " view," but is nominative to " is " ; it agrees, in fact, with a second " view " which is not expressed. Person in the case of one Adjective Pronoun is marked by different words. Number is sometimes marked by an inflexion, Gender is not ; but the Possessive Adjective Pronouns, as they are derived from the Personal Pronoun Substantive, mark Gender in the third person singular. 4. The Adjective Pronouns form five distinct classes of Pronouns, differing in origin and use. 42 THE USE OF WORDS These are the Possessive, Demonstrative, Distri- butive, Numeral, and Indefinite Pronouns. II 1. The Possessive Adjective Pronoun defines a Substantive, ascribing to it a certain relation of dependence on a Noun which may be expressed in the context, or implied in the sense of the Adjective 1 Pronoun itself: as, "There is no doubt that it is justly his estate." " It is your book, but you have borrowed my ideas." 2. The Possessive Adjective Pronoun is derived from the Genitive Case of the Personal Pronoun. It includes eight Nouns. My, thy, his, her, its, are singular, in so far as they represent a Substantive which is in the Singular Number, as in like manner our, your, their are plural ; but for the moment they must agree with the Substantive to which they belong. The Romance languages show the agreement by an inflexion ; English has no inflexion. Ill 1. Demonstrative Adjective Pronouns define Substantives by a note of time or place, and they determine a point of comparison with regard to nearness or distance. Two words make up the list of Demonstrative Pronouns : this, that. THE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS 43 This describes an object as near to the speaker in time or place ; that, as comparatively distant. 2. The Demonstrative must agree, as all other Adjectives must, with the Substantive which it defines, but only one grammatical attribute, Number, is marked by an inflexion. SINGULAR PLURAL This, That. These, Those. 3. When this, that, are used to place the same two identical objects in contrast, it is not necessary to repeat the Noun twice : as, " This picture is certainly finer than that." " That book is his, this is mine." IV 1. Distributive Adjective Pronouns separate from one another the indefinite number of units contained in a Substantive Plural, or in a Collec- tive Substantive, whether Singular or Plural. 2. The Distributive Pronouns are each, every, none, neither, either. Each, every have some- times the same sense : as, " Every boy will receive a prize," or, " A prize will be given to each boy in the class." They equally divide a whole number into single units. Every sometimes seems to be used collectively : as, " Every soldier must be brave." Yet it still implies " brave " 44 THE USE OF WORDS separately. Each is sometimes used in separate units. " Each of those books has a certain merit of its own " implies that two are compared. 8. Either, neither, always compare two units, by separating them. " Either plan is fair, neither is good ; both may fulfil the end in view."" 4. None is, in sense, no one ; it is sometimes parsed, but incorrectly, as a Substantive. It ascribes a certain quality or mode of not being to a Substantive, and so far, is properly an Adjective. It, so far, also represents the Substantive, of which it prevents the repetition, and thus it justly takes its place among Pronouns ; but it is an irregular, rather than a Distributive Pronoun. 5. The Substantive Pronouns, which, what, are used sometimes to separate one unit from several, but only in an interrogative sense. For the moment, however, they are Distributive Pronouns : as, " Which boy gained the prize ? " " Which of the squadrons fled ? " " What verdict was pronounced ? " V 1. The Numeral Adjective Pronouns include two large classes, which differ rather in use than in character, the Cardinal Numbers and the Ordinal Numbers. 2. Both are true Pronouns, mere signs of THE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS 45 Number, not symbols of the nature nor of the character of the Substantive they define. They describe a formal, not a real, nor a constant quality : as, " the old oak tree." " Old," is a real quality, it constantly remains with the tree. " This tree is seventy years old." " Seventy " de- fines "years " not " this tree," but the predicative Adjective " old " brings the Ablative Case " seventy years " into relation with " this tree is." The whole phrase would be " This tree is, by seventy years, old." " There are many beeches in the avenue, and ten fine old oak trees." The " fine " and " old " are real characteristics of the trees ; " ten " is a mere formal mode, any accident might change it, it does not affect the tree itself. 3. As Pronouns, both Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers give conciseness to a sentence and avoid repetition. Without them, the sense which they serve to convey would be lost in a multiplication of words. Three trees, necessarily, must be expressed, " a tree, and a tree, and a tree." 4. The Ordinal Numbers are equally useful. " After the seventh year of fine harvests, then will come seven barren years." " Seventh," as well as "seven," must, but for the Pronouns, be expressed by seven repetitions of the word "year." 5. The Cardinal Numbers have been sometimes 46 THE USE OF WORDS regarded as Substantives, but without reason. The Numbers, as words, do not contain ideas in themselves complete. The Verb of any phrase strictly subordinates them, as defining words, to a Substantive, of which they assume the gramma- tical attributes. Like Descriptive Adjectives, they can have an attributive, or a predicative value ; in the latter case, it is not necessary to repeat the Substantive with which they agree : as, " The books that treat of this very important subject are three." 6. Substantives may be formed from some Cardinal Numeral Adjectives, but they must be technical expressions, and by an exclusive usej in a certain sense, they must acquire a certain complete significance : as, a tithe, a tenth part ; familiarly used to signify a tax. A dozen is frequently a Noun Substantive ; a score, always. A millionaire is properly a French word, but it is used in English, for a man who possesses the sum of a million or of several millions in any national value of money francs, pounds, dollars, etc. 7. Cardinal Numbers express an exact sum of repetitions of any existing thing, which a Sub- stantive in its character of symbol can represent. " In this town there are four churches, two are magnificent, two very old and interesting." " Four " prevents the repetition of the Substan- THE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS 47 tive and defines it. " Two," more directly repre- sents, and, at the same time, defines churches ; both Adjectives prevent needless and confusing repetition and may justly be considered Pronouns. 8. Ordinal Numbers fix the relation, as regards time or place, which one unit bears to others, when they and it are actually the same in fact, and can be expressed collectively by a Substantive : as, " The night passed slowly, it was already the fifth hour, when the alarm was given." "'Your friend lives in the sixth house from the corner of the street." In these sentences " fifth " and "sixth" define and prevent repetition as evidently as the Cardinal Numbers ; they also mark a certain relation of time in the "fifth," to the other hours of the night ; of place in the " sixth," to the other houses of the street. The sentence might be differently formed, and would mark the character of the Ordinal Number, as at once, an Adjective, and a Pronoun even more evidently. " The hours of the night passed slowly ; it was already the fifth when the alarm was given." " There are thirty houses in this street, and your friend lives in the sixth from the corner." VI The Indefinite Adjective Pronouns include all words which express number or measure, but 48 THE USE OF WORDS do not define with precision. They are words in constant use : as, many, any much, little, all, some, few, other, such, same, etc. Little is an ambiguous word ; it can be used as a des- criptive Adjective : as, " A little house," when it means small ; yet it does service also as an Adjective Pronoun, and marks an indefinite quantity : as, " Little hope is left " ; " There is little corn in the barn " ; " Little rain has fallen." " Little," in those examples, does not express a real quality in the Substantive which it defines, but an accidental, indefinite quantity. It is declined irregularly by the degrees of comparison : The Positive is little ; the Comparative, less ; the Superlative, least. Much is also declined. Posi- tive, much ; Comparative, more ; Superlative, most. VII 1. Self and Own are irregular Pronouns, not in very frequent use in English. Self is the more important. It is a Substantive Pronoun rather than an Adjective. Like the Personal and the Relative Pronouns, it is the sign of another word. Considered apart from the term it represents, its significance is incomplete, yet it has a certain completeness of its own, and can stand as direct complement of a verb and assume aia indepencfeit Case : as, " Self stands first in his ADVERBS, ADVERBIAL PRONOUNS 49 esteem " ; " He communed long with his better self." It is, however, generally used to give emphasis to a Personal Pronoun. " He himself was present " ; " I myself have come " ; " Ourselves, we accomplished the task." It is joined, if emphatic, with the Genitive Case of the first and second Persons ; with the Accusative Case of the Third. It marks Number by an inflexion, but no other grammatical attribute. SINGULAR PLURAL Person 1st. I myself. Ourselves. 2nd. Thou thyself. Yourselves. 3rd. Himself, herself, itself. Themselves. 2. Own is an irregular Adjective Pronoun, Possessive. It gives emphasis to the Genitive Case of the Personal Pronoun, with which, for the moment, it is joined, and with it defines a Sub- stantive : as, " Good men love their own country." SECTION IV LESSON VI ADVERBS AND ADVERBIAL PRONOUNS I 1. ADVERBS include some Particles, but so few in comparison with true Nouns, that the whole 4 50 THE USE OF WORDS class of those words belongs certainly to the same order as Substantives and Adjectives. They have the character of Adjectives, not of Substantives. They do not form terms complete in them- selves, but define the modes or qualities of more important words than themselves. They define the modes of action expressed by Verbs, and those qualities of Substantives which Adjectives describe: as, "They are really good boys ; but they run to play quickly, "very slowly to school ; nevertheless, they learn tolerably well." In the sentence there are six Adverbs ; three define Verbs ; one, an Adjective ; two, other Adverbs. Quickly, slowly, define the Verb run ; well defines the Verb learn ; really defines the Adjective good ; very, the Adverb slowly ; toler- ably, the Adverb well. %. The Adverb, like the Adjective, implies comparison. 3. Adverbs may be divided into three classes. I. Predicative, or Descriptive Adverbs. II. Adverbial Pronouns. III. Adverbial Particles. 4. Predicative Adverbs describe qualities. They are directly formed from Adjectives, and are generally marked by an inflexion, the syllable ADVERBS, ADVERBIAL PRONOUNS 51 ly : as, " slow, slowly " ; " heavy, heavily " : it is a contraction from the Teutonic lich which means like. Some Adjectives are used as Adverbs without the inflexion : as, " fast," " low " ; " We run fast " ; " He speaks low." " Lowly," in fact, remains an Adjective with a slight change of meaning from " low " ; " goodly " from " good " is also an Adjective : as, " a lowly home " ; " a goodly prospect." Moore uses " stilly " as an Adjective instead of still : " Oft in the stilly night." 5. The Descriptive Adverbs plainly mark a point of comparison. " He spoke quickly " implies a contrast to speaking slowly. Descriptive Adverbs may therefore be defined by Degrees of Comparison. Some do not take the inflexion /;/. They mark the Degrees of Comparison like Adjectives, by er for the Comparative, est for the Superlative ; again, the ly may sometimes be dropped and the inflexion added : as, " He walked slowly," may become quite correctly : " He walked slower ', or slowest, or the slowest" If the ly keep its place, comparison must be marked by more and most as in Adjectives : as, " The river runs rapidly, more rapidly ; most rapidly" 6. As there are Adjectives that must be com- pared irregularly, so there are Adverbs : Good, better, best, becomes well, better, best ; bad, 52 THE USE OF WORDS worse, worst, becomes ill, worse, worst. " Badly " as well as "ill" may be used in the Positive Degree. II 1. Adverbial Pronouns are signs, not symbols. As signs merely, they do not mark qualities of things nor modes of the qualities. They are restricted, indeed, to a few words, which define verbs rather than adjectives. 2. The Adverbial Pronouns are derived from the Adjective Pronouns. From the Demonstrative, there, thence, thither, here, hence, hither; from the Relative Substantive Pronouns come when, where, whence, whither. 2. To these may be added a few irregular Adverbs : seldom, often, always, then, after, before, within, without, far, near, etc. Adverbs some- times connect a subordinate to a primary phrase, such as therefore, also, then, thus, still, etc. ; with them must be included the Interrogative Adverbs, why ? wherefore ? All are, in character and use, Pronouns, and all can be exchanged for a short explanatory phrase. 4. To Adverbial Pronouns belong three in constant use, formed from the Numeral Pro- nouns, once, twice, thrice as, " Once he spoke frankly." ADVERBS, ADVERBIAL PRONOUNS 53 III 1. There are a few Adverbial Particles. They do not define qualities ; they are not signs of a descriptive word. They merely serve to increase indefinitely its force. " The dawn was very beautiful, but clouds, too heavy and too threat- ening darkened the West." Very and too are those in most frequent use. They can define Adjectives only, or other Adverbs not the Tenses of Verbs. " He very discourages us " is nonsense ; but if an Adverbial Pronoun be added, with which the Particle can agree, it is good sense " He very much discourages us," or, " He discourages us very much." " His speech was good " may be made stronger, " His speech was very good." " He spoke too long " means more than, and, indeed, something different from, "He spoke long." Both very and too may change their meaning and their Part of Speech, and they may cease to be Particles. In the phrase, " He was a very rogue," very becomes an Adjective which means, genuine, thorough. Too may have the sense of an Adverbial Pronoun, " He, too, came frequently " for " He, also, came frequently." 2. The Negative Adverbs, no, not, and the Affirmative, yes, are Adverbial Pronouns rather than Particles. No, not, denies the statement 54 THE USE OF WORDS made by any phrase ; yes, on the contrary, confirms it. 3. The Verb, the word which expresses action, has three grammatical attributes peculiar to itself : Voice, Mood, and Tense. It is affected besides by the attributes of Nouns Gender, Number, Person. It follows that the word, which is called Verb, must be capable of many changes, in order to express its full significance. The whole number of these, repeated in regular succession, is called the Conjugation of a Verb. 4. Those changes are sometimes marked by inflexion : as, " love, loves,*" " loved, loving,"" sometimes by adding a term taken from another Verb : as, " I have loved," " He would love,' 1 " She can love," "We were loving." Those additional words, which only mark a change in time or manner of the action, lose their own significance as well as their own meaning. They cease, indeed, to be independent Verbs and are Adverbs, which modify the Verb according to a fixed rule. They are taken always from the same Verbs ; three of them define time, and are, when they are used alone, complete Verbs " to have," " to be," " to do." Some terms are also borrowed from a few incomplete or defective verbs : for the Verbs, "shall, should," "will, would," "can, could," " may, might," to which may be added ADVERBS, ADVERBIAL PRONOUNS 55 " must " and " ought," are, in origin and sense, certainly Verbs, and must be recognized as Verbs. Nevertheless, when they serve merely to define the Voice, Mood, or Tense of a Verb, they take, for the moment, the office of Adverbs. 5. Adverbs and Adverbial Pronouns, as they are invariably notes of time or place, motive or manner, remain persistently in the Ablative Case. SECTION V LESSON I THE ARTICLE 1. THE Article, as a separate Part of Speech, is not found in all languages, and practical grammarians are apt to dismiss it easily, as an Adjective Pronoun. 2. The meaning of the word Article is a joint, the name is given to two words only, the Definite Article, the ; the Indefinite , or an. It is especially the Definite Article which represents a separate Part of Speech, and which is regarded as an Adjective Pronoun. An Adjective it is not, for it expresses no quality which may give a fuller or more definite meaning to a Substantive, nor does it describe any mode of a quality. 3. The Definite Article is derived from the Demonstrative Pronoun that. There is there- fore some reason why it may be considered a Pronoun. It seems indeed sometimes to stand in the place of a clause, or phrase, necessary to 56 THE ARTICLE 57 the whole meaning of the sentence as, " There stands the man," may imply, the man of whom we were speaking, or the man in question, or any such explanatory comment. " The man has come" may, in like manner, be the man, whom we expected, has come. But, in fact, the inserted words are quite needless to express the real sense of what is said ; it is naturally and inevitably suggested by the subject at the moment in discussion ; and the Article, for the most part introduces sentences that require no implied illustration : as, " The east wind is blowing and the mountains are hidden in mist." " He was the only man fitted to cope with those difficulties." 4. The Definite Article is a word without meaning, or substance of its own ; nevertheless, it has a decisive significance and is in constant use to mark one individual person or thing, or collectively, an indefinite number of persons or things, from the whole class to which it or they belong. It does not define a Substantive by an actual quality, like the Noun Adjective, nor by a formal mode, like the Adjective Pronoun ; it is no sign of a Substantive in the context, and it does not prevent repetition : thus, it is no Pronoun ; nevertheless, it is a Noun, not a Particle, and it exercises a special office, by adding the idea of oneness, of distinct separation, to the Substantive, 58 THE USE OF WORDS to which it is prefixed : as, "The general who gained the battle," is not any general, but one specially so distinguished. "The soldiers, who fought at Waterloo," are not any, nor all soldiers. 5. A Substantive in the Singular Number, the direct Nominative to the Verb of its Phrase, requires, if it be defined by an Adjective, the additional definition of the Definite Article as, " The good man is patient." " Good man is patient," has no meaning. "A good man is patient," is good sense and good grammar, but there is less force in the expression. If the Substantive be in the Plural, the Article is not needed. " Good men are patient " is as correct in grammar as " The good men are patient." II 1. When no defining clause is expressed or implied, the Definite Article can give at once a new significance to the Substantive which it limits. Thus defined, a concrete term becomes abstract as, the Church, the State, the World. "The Church" is not a building, but the Community of Christians ; " the State " is not a mere country, but the whole social polity and the government of a country. " The World " is not the earth, the planet inhabited by men, but a society of its inhabitants considered in some special relation to THE ARTICLE 59 their dwelling place, the world. In like manner an Adjective, Singular or Plural, loses its individual customary limitation, and becomes in effect, a Substantive, a word complete in itself; in its sense general, not particular : as, " The wise, the strong, the unattainable." They mean all wise men, all strong men, anything that is unattain- able. in 1. The name "Article" explains the office of the Article, as a Part of Speech. It acts as a joint between a Substantive and any word or phrase which must stand in relation to it : as, " The boy who ran the race." " Boy who ran the race," has no clear sense. 2. In all Teutonic languages, the Definite Article is expressed by a word, derived from the Demonstrative Adjective Pronoun, and in all, except English, its agreement in Gender, Number, and Person, with the word to which it belongs, is marked by an inflexion. IV 1. The Indefinite Article, prefixed to a Sub- stantive, gives an impression of singleness. It does not otherwise define it, and necessarily, it cannot take the Plural Number. It is not, as 60 THE USE OF WORDS a Part of Speech, so important as the Definite Article. The finest of the Aryan languages does not recognise it. Latin has no Article, but in modern European languages, except the Slav dialects, both Articles hold their place ; though the Definite has very evidently the higher value. 2. The Indefinite Article is the same with the Numeral Pronoun one in sound and in sense, it always retains the expressions of oneness. In English, the name a or an is hardly changed from the Anglo-Saxon an, or ane. Words that begin with a consonant take a : as, " a lake," " stream," but those beginning with a vowel take an : as, " an oak," " an angel." SECTION VI LESSON I THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 1. THE Verb so far resembles other Parts of Speech that it gives separate names to a numerous class of impressions on the mind. The Verb and the Noun Substantive are more important, in the work of expressing thoughts, than the many other words which men are accustomed to use. 2. Verbs, with one exception, invariably repre- sent action that is, movement or change. With- out, however, some existing thing to effect the action, and something to be moved or changed, no real or complete sense could be given. Thus, the Verb is not, like the Noun Substantive, complete in itself. It is quite possible to make a picture of the boy, or the horse, of mountains, or streams, but impossible to draw " runs " by itself, or " rise," or " flow." The boy or the horse must run ; the mountains rise ; the streams flow. 3. The Verb, then, is not complete in itself; 61 62 THE USE OF WORDS but it is the Verb, and it only, that gives a living force to a sentence. If the Verb be effaced, the other words of the phrase lose all coherence ; that is to say, they lose all power of joining together so as to tell a fact that can be understood : for instance, " It that Arnulf for years a desire from the world ; but when he this project to the young king, who his counsels so that he, that he the heads of his two sons, if he the Court.*" The example has been taken at random ; certainly a little ingenuity might remodel it into good sense, not, perhaps, the sense intended by the writer ; but in any case, it shows plainly the value of Verbs. " It seems that Arnulf had, for years, cherished a desire to withdraw from the world ; but when he mentioned this project to Dagobert, the young king, who valued his counsels, was so incensed that he swore that he would cut off the heads of his two sons if he dared to leave the Court. " II 1. The Verb, with the Noun Substantive, can express ideas. The other Parts of Speech may add fulness or clearness to the expression, but Substantives and Verbs can, without their help, make quite intelligible Sentences. 2. In regard to the work of Language, in THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 63 transcribing thought, the Verb fulfils two offices. It gives the necessary expression of action or movement, and it forces the words of a Sentence into relation with itself an$ with each other. 3. The Verb recognises the grammatical attri- butes of Nouns, and sometimes adopts them. Case is the most important, and it is by imposing Cases, that the Verb adjusts the relations which Substantives must hold to itself and to each other. 4. Cases have been already explained, and a few words may serve to define the use made of them by the Verb. Ill 1. Action requires an agent to impel its force, and an object, or recipient, on which it falls. These are the direct complements of the Verb ; the Nominative Case and the Accusative. With- out them a phrase would, in general, be incom- plete. 2. Action is besides accompanied by various circumstances which are accidents ; it is not always necessary to describe them. The action falls at a certain time ; in a certain place ; a motive has given an impulse to it ; it moves in different manners, uses different instruments. Those accidents need not all be explained ; a sentence is often completed by describing one or two of 64 THE USE OF WORDS them. French grammarians call them the indirect complements of the Verb. In Latin, one name is without distinction given to them, the Ablative Case. One relation remains to be noted, the point where the action ceases, the Dative Case. One Case seems to be independent of the Verb, the Vocative. SECTION VI LESSON II VOICE, MOOD, AND TENSE 1. THE Verb borrows help from the grammatical attributes of Nouns, and differently in different languages, it adopts* Person, Number, and Gender to mark the particular relation it holds to a Noun in the Nominative Case. 2. With regard to Gender the Verb in English never recognizes it, nor in general do other European languages, except the Slave dialects, which adopt three different inflexions in the Perfect Tense to mark the three Genders. 3. In the Verb "to be" Number is marked, but not throughout in conjugating the Verb. Person in the Singular Number has very generally different inflexions. 4. But the Verb is not dependent on the attri- THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 65 butes of Nouns. It has three grammatical at- tributes proper to itself, which have their origin in its own peculiar significance, that of expressing action in movement or change. 5. These attributes are Voice, Mood, and Tense. They define the relation of action to the impulse which moves it. This is a little difficult, perhaps, to understand; but it is not necessary to give nor to learn an accurate scientific explanation. It is quite easy for a little boy or a little girl to see that nothing can act, or move, or change, without some person or some- thing moving it, also that nobody can act, or move, or change, without first intending it, and, to make the relation of action to impulse clearer, he may say the relation of an intention to an action. 6. Voice marks the direction which intention may give to action. Mood signifies mode or manner, and the mode of the Verb's action differs with the character of the intention which moves it. Tense is another word for time, and it defines the extent of the Verb's action by the length of time since the intention was formed. It may be at the present moment ; it may have given the impulse long ago ; it may only intend to give it at a future time. 5 66 THE USE OF WORDS II There are three Voices : the Active, Passive, and Reflective. 1. In the Active Voice the movement expressed starts from the Nominative Case, and, whatever may be the arrangement of words, falls imme- diately on an Accusative ; it may be prolonged to a Dative Case, but there it stops : as, " The father gave excellent advice to his son, 11 or " The father gave his son excellent advice." Both phrases are correct, and both mean the same fact ; moreover, in both, the impulse which moves the action in gave first touches the thing given, and next the person to whom it was given. The accidents of action are defined always by Nouns in an indirect case, as, " The Black Prince struck a decisive blow at the power of France, by the victory of Poictiers in 1356." "The Black Prince" is the Nominative, whence the action starts ; " struck " the action itself, Verb ; " a de- cisive blow," issue or effect of the action, Accusa- tive ; " at the power," point where the action ceases, Dative ; " of France," a Genitive Case defining " at the power " ; " by the victory of Poictiers," instrument, indirect complement of the Verb, defined by a Genitive Case ; " in 1356," indirect complement of time, as "by the THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 67 victory " is of instrument ; both are in the Ablative Case. 2. The Passive gives to a phrase the same meaning as it would have in the Active Voice, but it modifies the significance of its several parts. It takes the chief importance from the agent in an action by excluding the true Nomina- tive Case. The issue or effect becomes the ap- parent Nominative ; the agent is not always expressed ; if it be, it takes the character of an accidental circumstance defining the action by an Ablative, an indirect complement of the Verb. The Dative Case remains unchanged, but, as in the Active Voice, it may be omitted. 3. The Passive Voice is a perfectly legitimate construction. It may justly be used with the intention of giving prominence in the expression of an idea to the Accusative Case representing the issue or event. It may also serve to vary the expression of a long or too elaborate sentence, or to avoid the monotony of phrases constructed on a model too constantly repeated. Unfortun- ately it lends itself easily to incorrect Grammar. 4. The rule must be strictly observed in correct rendering of the Passive Voice that the real Accusative, the effect of action, becomes merely the apparent Nominative ; it cannot actually re- present the real agent, that must be figured by 68 THE USE OF WORDS an indirect complement in the Ablative Case. The sentence illustrating the Active Voice should be transferred to the Passive accurately in com- pliance with rule : " A decisive blow was struck at the power of France, by the Black Prince in the victory of Poictiers in 1856." Again, " His father gave excellent advice to the boy." Excellent advice was given to the boy by his father; but "The boy was given excellent advice," " The power of France was struck a decisive blow,"" are each alike a hasty rendering too common in the present day,, and quite without meaning. It is grammatically a blunder ; " the boy " cannot become Nominative in the Passive Voice, as it is not Accusative in the Active, nor is such a phrase good sense. It is not the boy, but " excellent advice " that can be, and is, given : as it stands, " excellent advice " and " boy " are identified and both Nominative to " was given," as they are joined by the Verb " to be." Ill 1. In the Reflective Voice, action starts from and determines, that is, ends, in the same point. The agent must be in the Nominative, the effect must fall on a word figuring the Accusative or the Dative Case, though in sense it be one and the same with the Nominative, as ; " he proved THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 69 himself both wise and strenuous. He gave a hard office to himself; or, he gave himself to a hard office, is equally correct. 2. The Reflective is sometimes called the Middle Voice ; that is, the Voice partly modelled on the Active, partly on the Passive. In English, it is little used, but in some languages it is important, and marks the complete significance of certain Verbs. IV 1. Mood is another attribute, peculiar to Verbs. It is the mode of the action which the Verb expresses more correctly perhaps, the mode of the impulse or intention which compels the actual movement of action. 2. There are but two modes, differing radically from each other, which affect both intention and action ; one, when the impulse has been given, and the movement of action is in actual operation; another when intention and action are alike ready, but still wait for the impulse. 3. The Verb has four Moods, which differ from each other in action, in accordance with the difference in motive or intention which has just been explained. Those Moods are the Indicative, the Potential, the Subjunctive, the Imperative. 4. The Indicative Mood is the only one which 70 THE USE OF WORDS represents action actually in movement, actually effecting change. In 622, " Mohammed escaped to Medina." " The Franks subdued the whole of France." " History teaches useful lessons." 5. The Potential Mood describes an action possible, ever ready to happen, but delayed and waiting for a decided intention, as ; " He may spend a year in travelling." " The men could work harder." 6. The Subjunctive is the Mood of dependent phrases, it also describes an uncertain action, but the uncertainty depends on a possible motive described in the primary phrase. If the primary phrase contain a negative, or if a Particle signifi- cant of uncertainty connect the two phrases, the Subjunctive Mood marks the dependent ; it must be remembered that the primary phrase does not always stand first, but it explains the dependent. " We do not know whether we go to Paris." " If he come, the project will succeed." " He will be king, if he gain the battle." English writers and speakers are much more careless of the Subjunc- tive than French. The Potential Mood may sometimes be used in its place. " We do not know whether we may go to Paris." " He will be king, if he can gain the battle." 7. The Imperative Mood commands. It is restricted to one motive, a command, and it THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 71 includes in itself both the motive and the action. In strict accuracy it can be used only in the second Person ; it is sometimes, however, expressed in the first or third, but it loses in some degree the force of a command. In such a case, the Pronoun becomes the Accusative of a different- Verb, from that which expresses the action : as, " Let us go to Paris," " Let them declare war," phrases less emphatic than, " Go then to Paris," " Declare war." 8. All languages recognise another Mood, the Infinitive. It differs, however, both in character and use, from the four Moods already described. It is a true Verb, in so far as it resolves Nouns into appropriate Cases, its direct or indirect complements ; but it is also a true Substantive, and itself can assume a direct or indirect Case to another Verb, of which it thus fulfils the signifi- cance. "To attack fierce beasts in their own demenses is his passion ; he cares little to shoot the half- tame creatures in your woods." The Infinitive Mood often serves to prolong a complex sentence without obviously adding separate phrases. " He determined that, before a year had passed, he would set free the district from the dread of wild beasts," may be shortly rendered, " He determined to set free the district, within a year, from the dread of wild beasts." 72 THE USE OF WORDS 9. There are two forms of the Infinitive Mood, one, with no inflexion, and preceded generally by the preposition, to. One, ending with the inflexion ing. It is derived from the old English inflexion en as " to comen." The second form is especially used when the Infinitive takes an indirect case : as, " He fulfilled his promise by strictly fulfilling his duty." 10. The Infinitive is not the only Mood in which the Verb uses a true Noun and Substantive to express action. It adopts also an Adjective, and the name of Participle is given to words, which thus, by their significance, are truly Verbs, and, no less truly, are Adjectives, as is evident by their work and service in the forming of sentences. Participles are Adjectives ; they are resolved into direct or indirect complements by the Verb, and agree in Gender, Number, and Case with the Substantives which they define ; the agreement, however, in English, is not marked by distinct inflexions. Participles have two forms, but they express a difference of time. The first has, the inflexion ing and represents present time ; the second takes ed as a sign of past time as, " loved." " The old ploughman is still a labouring man." Sometimes en takes the place of ed, " He only obeyed the given and written law." THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 73 1. Tense adjusts the relations of time to action. There are three primary divisions of time-^ Present, Past, Future. 2. Present time cannot be modified ; it denotes action at the moment of speaking. There is but one tense of present time, it is named the Present : as, " I write," " He speaks." 3. Past time is a definite interval, long or short, traced back from the moment of speaking to a more or less remote instant of action. Past Time may be almost indefinitely divided, and the number of its tenses developed by Grammar, differs in different languages. English has three : the Imperfect, the Perfect, the Pluperfect. 4. The Imperfect marks an uncompleted action in any time past ; the Perfect a completed action ; the Pluperfect supposes two actions, one of which has been completed before the occurrence of the other ; both are in Past Time. 5. Two tenses represent Future Time ; the Future and the Future Perfect. They belong to the Indicative Mood only. The Future Tense represents an action in regard to time not yet effected. The Future Perfect, two actions, still only in intention, of which one must precede the other in effect. 74 THE USE OF WORDS 6. Because the uncertainty implied in the Future Tenses has a regard to time only, all languages in which they are recognized decide that they are Tenses of the Indicative Mood, and it would be pedantic to insist on a more accurate appreciation. In point of fact they form a Mood, of the class of which the Potential and the Subjunctive are the acknowledged representatives that is, a mood expressing an action of uncertain incidence. The Indicative, it must be remembered, is the Mood which describes an action effected. 7. The Potential Mood has a Present, a Perfect, and a Pluperfect Tense. The Subjunctive adds to those tenses an Imperfect. The Imperative Mood has a single tense. The true Imperative marks only the second Person. 8. The Infinitive has a Present Tense and a Past. Participles are Present and Past. 9. Tenses are defined in English, sometimes by inflexion, sometimes by a composite term : as, " love, loving, loved " ; " have loved, did love, was loving," etc. The adverbial words, by which a change of Mood or Tense is expressed, are taken from certain definite Verbs, and have been used for that purpose from the moment when the first attempt was made to give a wider significance to Verbs than the bare term, which expresses a single action, can give. THE VERB AND ITS ATTRIBUTES 75 10. It may be accepted as a general rule, which applies to all European tongues, that the Inflected is the primitive form, used in the days when vocabularies were limited, when language had not yet received the development of which it is capable. SECTION VII LESSON I THE ACTION OF THE VERB IN MOULDING SENTENCES 1. THE chief work of the Verb is to join words of different significance so closely together that they form a complete Sentence, of which the significance is one and its own, although it bears a certain sense of the Verb's action in its separate parts. 2. The Verb, in effect, exercises three move- ments in a quite complete Sentence, although two suffice to create an intelligible Phrase. In the first it resolves a Substantive into the Nominative Case, the agent in action. It imposes no change on the word, but modifies its own expression by assuming the grammatical attributes, the Number and Person, in some dialects, even the Gender, of the Noun which it has thus made its direct Complement ; and so perfect is the union of the two words, (separate Parts of Speech as they are) that they become practically a single Term. ORDERS OF THE VERB 77 3. Regimen is the name used by French grammarians to signify a second movement of the Verb, that by which it subordinates a Substantive immediately to itself, and further compels it into close relation to the Nominative Case. It is thus a complex movement which imposes the Accusative Case, also a direct Complement of the Verb. 4. By another complex movement the Verb subjoins the accidental circumstances of its action, (place, time, manner, motive, instrument, etc.) to the whole Sentence, as it stands, correct in grammar and sense, but failing in the full com- pleteness which it gains by the indirect Comple- ments of the Verb. SECTION VII LESSON II THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF THE VERB I THE whole number of Verbs may, by a first division, be separated into two orders the Substantive Verb, and Predicative Verbs. The Substantive Verb remains alone, but Predicative or Descriptive Verbs have different modes of action in the movements by which they form Phrases or Sentences. They may therefore be 78 THE USE OF WORDS again divided into Transitive, Intransitive, and Auxiliary Verbs. II 1. The Substantive Verb is very evidently single in meaning and in significance : it asserts only that things and creatures are that is, exist. With whatever defining words it may be used, these do not define its meaning nor its character, but that of its Nominative, or of the Substantive, with which it unites its Nominative Case. One exception there is, the negative Adverbs not, never : as, " Enoch was not, for God took him." 2. As the Substantive Verb is limited in significance, it is limited also in its exercise of grammatical attributes. It is defective in Voice, for it cannot assume the Active Voice, nor impose the Accusative Case on a Substantive. As it fails in the Active, it cannot be changed to the Passive Voice. If Voice be ascribed to it, then virtually it is in the Reflective always, for the movement of the Substantive Verb begins and ends in the same point. The Substantive, which follows it, merely transcribes that which precedes, is identical with it in significance, and, in Case, Nominative. 8. In effect, the Substantive Verb denotes a fact ; it cannot of itself connote qualities. Never- THE PREDICATIVE VERB 79 theless, it is not, in English Grammar, represented as defective in Mood or in Tense, III THE PREDICATIVE VERB 1. So much has already been said on the subject of Verbs, that a brief definition of the Predicate, in contrast to the Substantive Verb, is all that is necessary before entering on a full account of the modifications its work may undergo. 2. The Predicative Verb does not assert a fact, it describes an action. In regard to grammatical attributes, it has no defect, nor in any point does it fail to join together and to itself the Nouns of a Sentence, which expresses its movement and the changes effected by it. IV 1. As the Substantive Verb stands alone, in its single expression of thought, it cannot be divided by difference of action into subordinate classes. Yet the contrast of its work and character, as compared with Predicate Verbs, is too strongly marked to permit of their forming one uniform class of words in obvious contrast, as Parts of Speech, to Nouns and Particles. 2. The whole Number of Verbs must be referred. 80 THE USE OF WORDS to two primary Orders. The first Order is re- presented by one Verb ; the second comprehends a numerous list of words, varying in modes of working and in minor characteristics, yet working to the same general effect. These form three classes which have been already named, as Transitive, Intransitive, and Auxiliary Verbs. 3. Transitive Verbs describe actions, incomplete in their full significance, unless they be defined by a direct complement in the Accusative Case. They imply the passing of action from an agent to an independent object, or recipient, from the Nominative to the Accusative Case ; both must be explicitly expressed : as, " The shepherd drove his flock from the hills.*" Transitive Verbs are readily resolved into the three Voices. 4. Intransitive Verbs describe actions complete in themselves, of which the agent only, the Nominative Case, is explicitly expressed, because the object or recipient of the action is implicit that is contained in the movement of the Verb : as, " He sleeps," " He runs." The complete sentence would be : " He sleeps the sleeping," " He runs the running," but in such a phrase, it is needless to express the Accusative Case, as it is identified with the action of the Verb. Sometimes an apparent Accusative is so parsed in good faith : as, " He sleeps the sleep of THE PREDICATIVE VERB 81 death," but " the sleep," correctly defined, is an Ablative Case, an indirect complement " He sleeps in the sleep of Death." Other indirect complements there are, that lead to error, as in the sentences, " He ran the race," or " He slept three days." Some teachers perhaps, certainly many pupils, at first sight give a mistaken parsing and call both race and days direct complements in the Accusative Case. As grammatical ex- pressions, the phrases are, in fact, correct, and may be found in other languages which have dropped inflexions, but the French scholar will without hesitation call them indirect complements of the Verb ; as indeed they are, and in the Ablative Case " He ran in the race," " He slept for three days." 5. Auxiliary Verbs, that is helping Verbs, as the name implies, help to express necessary changes in the Conjugation of Verbs. Three are complete Verbs, though they must be reckoned among the Auxiliary, but even so they retain their full significance as the Substantive, and as Transitive Verbs ; their action, too, differs from that of the defective Verbs which are merely Auxiliary. The Verb " to be " is used to form the Passive Voice and the Imperfect Tense of the Indicative Mood. The Transitive Verbs " to have " and " to do " mark changes in 6 82 THE USE OF WORDS Tense only, but with a difference. " To have," merely indicates Past Tenses ; " to do " retains certainly the sense of time, but it can be used in the Present Tense, merely to give emphasis to the expression of the Verb : as "I do speak," " He does speak." In the Past Tenses, it gives the impression both of time and of emphatic in- tention. 6. There are six Auxiliary Verbs which are, with perhaps one exception, defective. They are : " will, would " ; " shall, should " ; may, might " ; " can, could " ; " must ; ought." Their office is to change the Mood of Verbs, not the Tense. They do not become merely defining Adverbs, but to significance of action they add the significance of uncertainty in its incidence ; thus they affix to the Future Tenses and to the Potential Mood, a peculiar sense. They retain the force of true Verbs and govern a direct complement in the Accusative Case ; it is the Infinitive Mood of the Verb to which they are prefixed that fulfils the intention it expresses. 7. With the exception of u will," which may be regarded as a Transitive Verb, when it signifies strictly and evidently determination, the Auxiliary Verbs are defective by the loss of the Infinitive Mood, of Participles, of the Potential and Impera- tive Moods, of composite Tenses. Yet they are THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 83 true Verbs, because they signify actions, and the effect of action ; and because they exercise the movements of Transitive Verbs, and govern an Accusative Case. 8. "Must" and "Ought" have no Present Tense, nevertheless they are used as Present, to fulfil the significance of that Tense when evidently the present moment is the time of speaking. " He must consent," " He ought to refuse." The Past Tenses are, " He must have consented," " He ought to have refused," and the Accusative governed is the Infinite of " have " defined by a Past Participle. The Verb " to owe " may repre- sent the origin of ought. 9. There are not in English, as in German, Composite Verbs formed by joining a separable Preposition to the Verb; but the sense of the Verb may be modified by a Preposition ; as, " to swear ; to forswear," " to take ; to undertake," " to look ; to look for," i.e. to seek. SECTION VII LESSON III THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS I THE word "Conjugation" is used to denote the variation of forms in a Verb, by which its 84 THE USE OF WORDS grammatical attributes are marked. As Gender, Number, Person, Case are expressed in Nouns by inflexion, or by the use of Particles, so must Voice, Mood, and Tense be marked in Verbs. The changes in Nouns are comparatively few, and the Declension of a Noun is a short and simple process, but the Verb includes more parts and offices than the Noun, and these effect many changes when all are duly and methodically arranged, in what is called the Conjugation of the Verb. It requires a more serious effort to learn and write out the whole Conjugation than to make an orderly summary of the Declensions of Nouns. II 1. The Substantive Verb is derived from more than one root, and it does not take all the inflexions of Tense of other Verbs ; in Conjuga- tion, therefore, it stands alone. 2. Predicative Verbs, with some difference, follow a regular system ; they are divided by Conjuga- tion, into two orders : Strong Verbs and Weak Verbs. 3. Strong Verbs mark the perfect Tense by modifying the radical vowel : as, come, came, run, ran ; write, wrote. 4. They form the Past Participle by adding THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 85 the suffix en. The inflexion is not invariable and Strong Verbs may be divided into three classes. I. Those in which the Participle resumes the vowel sound of the Present Tense : as, write, wrote, written ; strike, struck, stricken ; give, gave, given. II. It repeats the vowel of the Past Tense ; as, break, broke, broken ; speak, spoke, spoken. III. The distinctive en of the Participle is dropped, and in some cases, a new radical vowel adopted ; as, run, ran, run ; spin, span, spun ; ring, rang, rung. Ill 1. The weak Conjugation forms the Past Tense and Past Participle by adding a suffix, possibly derived from the Verb, " to do * : as, hate, hated, hated ; love, loved, loved. 2. The change of the radical vowel must be regarded as the primitive form of inflexion ; early modes in Language have generally adopted arbitrary changes ; they bear no mark of obvious intention to use such additions or such altera- tions as might explain a change of accidental relation, in the words of a Phrase, but later inflexions are sometimes significant, as the later inflexion of the Perfect Tense, " loved " has been 86 THE USE OF WORDS fancied to suggest love did. A better witness than fanciful derivation is the more frequent use of the stronger inflexion, in the earliest English writings, which, if it be so, would justify the idea that Strong Verbs belonged to the English dialect in its earliest stage of use and progress ; and that the Weak mark successive additions to the meagre vocabulary of its early days and first conscious efforts. IV 1. Weak Verbs form six classes : I. Those in which the suffix remains unchanged : as, turn, turned, turned. II. Those ending in d ; the suffix is contracted and the double dd changed to t : as, build, built, built. III. Those ending in a vowel, when the Past Tenses are contracted : as, shoe, shod, shod ; flee, fled, fled. IV. Those in which the vowel sound of the Present Tense is expressed by a diphthong ; it contracts in the Perfect Tense, and, for the most part, ed becomes t : as, creep, crept, crept ; bereave, bereft, bereft, sometimes bereaved ; there are exceptions : as, fear, feared. V. Those ending d or t : as, light, lit ; it too is sometimes regular ; speed, sped, sped is not. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 87 VI. Those in which a diphthong, as radical vowel, is modified, and ed changed to d, or t : as, teach, taught, taught. 2. Those forms may, in some cases, seem to be without rule, but there appears in all an obvious intention to abide by customary usage. The deviations are, it may be, efforts to preserve harmony of sound, even by the sacrifice of rigid obedience to primitive rule. 3. There are few irregular Verbs in English. They may be counted as under two heads. I. Those in which the Present and Past Tenses are derived from different roots : as, to go, went, gone. II. Those which ending in d or t have re- jected every sign of variation in Tense : as, hurt, hurt, hurt; put, put, put; spread, spread, spread. 4. A few Verbs whicn are regularly marked by ed in the Perfect Tense, have in the Past Participle en as well as ed. The elder form is the more correct, but ed is more constantly used. The en may have been assumed or re- sumed to give a technical sense : as, grave, or engrave, graved, graved, or graven ; melt, melted, melted or molten; prove, proved, proved or proven, as the verdict in Scottish law not proven. 88 THE USE OF WORDS THE CONJUGATION OF THE SUBSTANTIVE VERB "TO BE" INDICATIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE SINGULAR PLURAL Person 1st. I am We are. ,, 2nd. Thou art. You are. 3rd. He, she, it is. They are. IMPERFECT TENSE Person 1st. I was. We were. 2nd. Thou wast. You were. 3rd. He, she, it was. They were. PERFECT TENSE Person 1st. I have been. We have been. 2nd. Thou hast been. You have been. 3rd. He, she, it, has been. They have been. PLUPERFECT TENSE Person 1st. I had been. We had been. 2nd. Thou hadst been. You had been. 3rd. He, she, it had been. They had been. FUTURE TENSE Person 1st. I shall be. We shall be. 2nd. Thou wilt be. You will be. 3rd. He, she, it will be. They will be. Person FUTURE PERFECT TENSE 1st. I shall have been. We shall have been. 2nd. Thou wilt have been. You will have been. 3rd. He, she, it will have been. They will have been. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 89 THE POTENTIAL MOOD PRESENT TENSE Person SINGULAR PLURAL 1st. I can or may be. We may or can be. 2nd. Thou canst or mayest be. You may or can be. 3rd. He, she, it can or may be. They may or can be. IMPERFECT TENSE 1st. I might or could be. We might, could be. 2nd. Thou mightest, couldst be. You might, could be. 3rd. He, she, it might, could be. They might, could be. PERFECT TENSE 1st. I may or can have been. We may or can have been. 2nd. Thou mayest, canst have You may or can have been. been. 3rd. He, she, it may, can have They may or can have been. been. PLUPERFECT TENSE 1st. I might, or could have We might, or could been. have been. 2nd. Thou mightest, couldst You might, or could have been. have been. 3rd. He, she, it might, could They might, or could have been. have been. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE SINGULAR PLURAL Person 1st. I be (If I be). We be. ,, 2nd. Thou beest. You be. 3rd. He, she, it be. They be. 90 THE USE OF WORDS IMPERFECT TENSE Person 1st. I were. We were. 2nd. Thou wert. You were. 3rd. He, she, it were. They were. PERFECT TENSE Person 1st. I have heen. We have been. 2nd. Thou have been. You have been. 3rd. He, she, it have been. They have been. PLUPERFECT TENSE Person 1st. I had been. We had been. 2nd. Thou hadst been. You had been. 3rd. He, she, it had been. They had been. IMPERATIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE SINGULAR PLURAL Person 2nd. Be thou. Be ye or you. INFINITIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE PERFECT TENSE To be, or being-. To have been, or having been. PARTICIPLES PRESENT PAST Being 1 . Having been. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 91 SECTION VII LESSON IV THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS (continued) 1. ENGLISH Grammars write out in full the Con- jugation of the Substantive Verb. Possibly it may be a mistake, for the relations of time and action can be more definitely marked than the relations of time and being. If, however, it be not strictly correct, the attempt in a single lan- guage may be justified by the common practice of Jlomance and Teutonic tongues. 2. In Predicative Verbs the distinctions of time are definite in the Indicative Mood, but in the Potential and Subjunctive a certain indefiniteness of expression prevails : as, " Who has declared that it be unwise to decide so hastily a difficult question ? " "... that it were unwise to de- cide. . . ." "... that it may be unwise. . . ." "... that it might be unwise. . . ." In the example given, the two Present and the two Imperfect Tenses imply alike the movement of speaking : that is, Present Time. 3. The distinction of the unfinished action in a time indefinitely past from the unfinished action in a time definitely past, of the finished action in a time indefinitely past from the finished action 92 THE USE OF WORDS in a time definitely past is marked in the Romance languages, but not in the Teutonic, and therefore not in English. 4. English has dropped several inflexions, as have also other Teutonic dialects, and like them uses the clumsier mode of composite terms ; un- like German or Dutch, English adopts two Auxiliary Verbs to be used at will in completing Tenses : as, " I have or did speak." Sometimes, too, English transcribes a Tense by the Verb " to be," and the Present Participle of the Verb conjugated : as, " I am speaking." 5. CONJUGATION OF THE TRANSITIVE VERB "TO SPEAK" INDICATIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE SINGULAR PLURAL Person 1st. I speak. We speak. 2nd. Thou speakest. You speak. 3rd. He, she, it speaks. They speak. 6. " Do speak " ; " am speaking " may be used. The Plural has no inflexion of Person. IMPERFECT TENSE SINGULAR Person 1st. I spoke, or was speaking. 2nd. Thou spokest, or wast speaking. 3rd. He, she, it spoke or was speaking. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 93 PLURAL Person 1st, 2nd, 3rd. We, you, they spoke, or were speaking-. PERFECT TENSE SINGULAR Person 1st. 1 spoke, or have spoken. 2nd. Thou spokest, or hast spoken. 3rd. He, she, it spoke, or has spoken. PLURAL Person 1st, 2nd, 3rd. We, you, they spoke, or have spoken. PLUPERFECT TENSE SINGULAR Person 1st. I had spoken. 2nd. Thou hadst spoken. 3rd. He, she, it had spoken. PLURAL Person 1st, 2nd, 3rd. We, you, they had spoken. The composite forms are anomalous, yet they mark the unfinished action in any time past, in contrast with the finished action in time past, more clearly than the regular inflected forms. FUTURE TENSE SINGULAR Person 1st. 1 shall speak. 2nd. Thou wilt speak. 3rd. He, she, it will speak. 94 THE USE OF WORDS PLURAL Person 1st. We shall speak. 2nd. You will speak ; Shall you speak ? 3rd. They will speak. FUTURE PERFECT TENSE Person 1st. I shall have spoken. 2nd. Thou wilt have spoken. 3rd. He will have spoken. PLURAL Person \st. We shall have spoken. 2nd, 3rd. You, they will have spoken. THE POTENTIAL MOOD To the Potential Mood are ascribed four tenses, which are regarded as Present, Imperfect, Perfect, Pluperfect. It would be more accurate to con- sider them as two Present Tenses and two Past. The second Present may be used somewhat in- definitely as an Imperfect Tense, the second past somewhat indefinitely as a Pluperfect. PRESENT TENSES SINGULAR Person 1st. I may or might speak. 2nd. Thou mayest or mightest speak. 3rd. He, she, it may or might speak. PLURAL Person 1st. We may or might speak. 2nd, 3rd. You or they may or might speak. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 95 PAST TENSE (PERFECT) SINGULAR Person 1st. I may have spoken. 2nd. Thou mayest have spoken. ,, 3rd. He may have spoken. PLURAL Person 1st, 2nd, 3rd. We, you, they may have spoken PAST TENSE (PLUPERFECT) SINGULAR Person 1st. I might have spoken. ,, 2nd. Thou mightest have spoken. ,, 3rd. He might have spoken. PLURAL Person 1st, 2nd, 3rd. We, you, they might have spoken. THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD 1. The Subjunctive is distinctively a mood of uncertain incidence in action. It is invariably but not distinctively a mood of dependent phrases. These are even more frequently moulded by the Indicative. 2. The motive to uncertainty is expressed in the primary phrase, or in the significance of the word that introduces the dependent, whether it be pronoun, adverb, or conjunction. 96 THE USE OF WORDS 3. The most general rule is : The dependent phrase assumes the Subjunctive if the primary be a question or convey a negative e.g. " Must you wait till he comes ? " The question remains undecided, Yes, till he speak. 4. The Subjunctive has four Tenses a Present, an Imperfect, a Perfect, a Pluperfect. It admits no inflections of Person, or Number and need not be written out in full. THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE Person SINGULAR PLURAL 1st, 2nd, 3rd. !_, thou, he speak. We^ you^ they speak. IMPERFECT TENSE y, yy yy ly tllOU, llC SpOfcC. W&y VOU_, PERFECT TENSE yy yy yy ly tllOU, llC l^VC WC, VOU, spoken. spoken. PLUPERFECT TENSE yy yy yy ly tllOU, llC had We_, VOU, spoken. spoken. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 97 THE IMPERATIVE MOOD The Imperative has a single Tense, the Present. Correctly used, it marks only the second Person. SINGULAR PLURAL Person 2nd. Speak. Speak. It may be rendered but awkwardly by " Do thou speak ; do you speak.' 1 The Infinitive Mood has two separate forms, and two Tenses of which the Perfect is composite. PRESENT TENSE To speak. Speaking. PERFECT TENSE To have spoken. Having spoken. SECTION VII LESSON V TRANSITIVE VERBS IN THE PASSIVE VOICE I 1. THE Passive Voice is rendered in some languages by inflections ; in others by combining the Past Participle of the verb conjugated with the regular Tense forms of another verb, of which the meaning gives a passive significance to the composite term. The verb " to be " very 7 98 THE USE OF WORDS commonly serves that purpose, but other verbs are also used to form appropriate Tenses. 2. English adopts the Substantive Verb. It is needless to write out, in full, a table of the Passive Voice, as the changes in Mood and Tense are those of the verb " to be." 3. Conjugation of the Transitive Verb to reward in the Passive Voice. INDICATIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE SINGULAR PLURAL Person 1st. I am rewarded. We are rewarded. IMPERFECT TENSE y , j, 1 was rewarded. We were rewarded. PERFECT TENSE yy yy I have been re- We have been re- warded, warded. PLUPERFECT TENSE yy yy I had loeQn rewarded. We had been re- warded. FUTURE TENSE } y I shall be rewarded. We shall be rewarded. FUTURE TENSE (PERFECT) y .y 1 shall have been We shall have been rewarded. rewarded. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS 99 POTENTIAL MOOD PRESENT TENSE Person 1st. I may be rewarded. We may be rewarded. IMPERFECT TENSE I might be rewarded. We might be re warded. PERFECT TENSE ,, I may have been We may have been rewarded. rewarded. PLUPERFECT TENSE I might have been We might have been rewarded. rewarded. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE Person 1st. I be rewarded. We be rewarded. IMPERFECT TENSE I were rewarded. We were rewarded. PERFECT TENSE ,, I have been re- We have been re- warded, warded. PLUPERFECT TENSE I had been rewarded. We had been re- warded. IMPERATIVE MOOD Person 2nd. Be rewarded. Be rewarded. 100 THE USE OF WORDS INFINITIVE MOOD PRESENT TENSE To be rewarded. Being rewarded. PERFECT TENSE To have been rewarded. Having been rewarded. PARTICIPLES PRESENT PAST Being rewarded. Having been rewarded. II The Reflective Voice is hardly recognized in English. No transitive verb becomes intransitive by its use as in the Romance dialects. SECTION VIII LESSON I PARTICLES 1. PARTICLES are not true words, but contractions or abbreviations of words. It is difficult to trace their derivation, but of some the Substantive Verb is evidently the root. Probably it has suggested many. The word which identifies, for the moment, terms different in sound and sense that is, makes them one image of a single impression, is, indeed, the word peculiarly appropriate to the office of Particles, that of giving coherence to a phrase. 2. As words they are imperfect, they merely act as joints in the structure of discourse, and it is not without reason that they have been called articulations. 3. Particles are not names of actual things that exist ; they have no grammatical attributes ; they do not describe qualities nor modes of being. 101 102 THE USE OF WORDS They are mechanical contrivances, and they only show the relative position of those things which language represents with so great fidelity as to make a picture, or to express a quite intelligible idea : as, " Day set on Norham's castled steep." " The day," " the setting," the steep " are dis- tinct images ; " Norham's castled " gives indi- viduality to " steep," the words add to it visible characteristics ; " on " expresses nothing that is a real image in the mind, but it marks the position held by the " day? the relation of the setting to " Norham's steep." Without it the picture would have no coherence. 4. Particles are, in effect, mechanical contri- vances, designed to remedy a defect in Language, which is neither so graphic nor so swift in move- ment as thought. A scheme of inflexions might equally well indicate relation. " Norham's steep " and the steep of Norham present precisely the same image ; nevertheless, no Language has developed a system of inflexions, so elaborate, as to dispense with the use of Particles. II Particles form three distinct Parts of Speech Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections. They include also a few Adverbs. PARTICLES 103 III 1. The peculiar office of the Preposition is to indicate Case, or to define the relations imposed on Nouns by the Verb. 2. Prepositions are Simple or 'Composite. The Simple are mere indefinable Particles : as, in, of to. The Composite are formed either of two Prepositions, or of a Preposition and an Adverb : as, into, without, within. The Composite ex- pression may, by ellipsis, be used as an Adverb : as, he stands " without," but if a Substantive be supplied, it becomes a mere Preposition : as, " without the house," " without the walls," etc. 3. Substantially significant words may take the place of a Preposition : as, " except," " ex- cepting." Even a clause may do a like service ; as " by reason of." 4. Prepositions, though indefinable, have a certain restricted significance of their own. They cannot be used indifferently, though in some cases they may be interchanged, yet always with a slight modification of significance. 5. " Of," points out simple relations of origin, or possession ; in relations of place, with, by ; relations of cause, or manner, etc. Thus, if they be interchanged, the motive or intention is varied, though the meaning of the phrase remains 104 THE USE OF WORDS practically the same : as, " It was of ignorance, he sinned," " He sinned from ignorance " ; " He sinned by ignorance " ; " In ignorance, he sinned." IV 1. The proper office of Conjunctions is to join words together ; or to annex clauses by which a sentence, or a mere phrase may be prolonged : as, " He came and went, without question." " The soldier must have quick observation, determined courage, and energy and skill, but withal he must obey." " Withal " is here an Adverb, defining "obey," "and," "but," are Conjunctions. 2. Conjunctions can only connect like Parts of Speech, and like intervals of Discourse. They join Substantive with Substantive ; Verb with Verb ; Clause with Clause ; Phrase with Phrase. Pure Conjunctions are few in number; but Adverbs, correctly or incorrectly, are often parsed as Conjunctions, as they seem for the moment to fulfil the duty of that part of speech : as, " The crisis was imminent, therefore he came." Is not " therefore " an Adverb, defining came ? 1. The office of the Interjection is to mark a break in the continuity of discourse. PARTICLES 105 2. Pure Interjections are very few in number, but any exclamation which is detached from the government of the ruling Verb is practically an Interjection. 3. The Vocative Case, in so far as it is inde- pendent of the ruling Verb, is an Interjection. Printed by Hazcll, Watson