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8.

Degrees

parison.

a.

Immo seems to have been originally Imo, 'in the lowest place.'
It might therefore be considered an Adverb of Place.

Adverbs of Manner sometimes change their form to denote of Com- Comparison taking for the Comparative the Neuter of the Comparative of the Adjective: and for the Superlative, changing the termination of the Superlative of the Adjective into e: as Pulchre, pulchrius, pulcherrime; Fortiter, fortius, fortissime. This is the exception alluded to in Clause 1.

b.

9.

Preposition.

a.

Comparison is also shewn in Adverbs, as in Adjectives, by the Adverbs Magis, more, and Maxime, most: as Magis assidue, more assiduously; Maxime assidue, most assiduously. Magis and Maxime are Comparative and Superlative forms, which have no Positive. They answer to the adjectives Major, and Maximus; but there is no adverb answering to Magnus.

A Preposition is a word placed before a Noun, to connect it with other Nouns.

Nouns are connected together, in order to shew how the objects named by them are connected together. Now connexion between objects is shewn in a great measure, as we have seen, by changes in the form of the Nouns which name them: that is, by the Noun passing through cases. And I suppose it would be possible for the Noun, by passing through more cases, to shew all the ways in which objects can be connected. But instead of this, certain cases are divided, as it were, into various parts, by these little indeclinable words called Prepositions being placed before them. Some are placed before the Accusative; some before the Ablative; some before both cases.

The following are placed before the Ablative.

b.

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De, down from, concerning

The following are placed before the Accusative.

C.

Ad, to

Adversus, against

Ante, before

Apud, at

Circa, circum, circiter, about

Cis, citra, on this side

Contra, against

Erga, towards

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The following are placed before both the Accusative and Ablative cases: In, in, into; Sub, subter, under; Super, over. In English, Prepositions are used more than in Latin. For the connexion between objects, which is shewn in Latin by putting their Nouns in certain cases, is for the most part shewn in English by placing before them Prepositions.

A Conjunction is a word which joins together words and sentences.

Conjunctions are divided into several classes; but we are hardly in a condition to go into them at present. Nothing in fact requires more exact acquaintance with a language than the proper use of Conjunctions. Perhaps, however, it may be well to observe the following distinction.

Some Conjunctions join together words and sentences on equal terms: as Et, and; Aut, or; Sed, but, &c. These may properly be said to conjoin. Others join together sentences only, and in such a manner that one sentence is subordinate to the other: as Ut, that; Si, if, &c. These may rather be said to subjoin the preposition sub denoting that one sentence is dependent on, or, as it were, under the other; while the preposition cum (in conjoin) merely denotes that the joined words or sentences are to be taken together.

:

An Interjection is a word or sound expressive of feeling. Of joy, as Io; of grief, as Heu; of astonishment, as O, eu, &c.

It is called an Interjection, because it is interjected or cast between the other words in the sentence, without affecting or being affected by them.

d.

e.

10. Conjunc

tion.

a.

b.

11. Interjection.

1.

Use of Words.

2.

Sentence.

3.

Parsing.

CHAPTER VII. .

ON THE USE OF WORDS.

A. IN the preceding Chapters you have learnt the forms of words. You are now going to see how they are used. But, first, what is the use of words?

B. To express what passes in the mind. (Int. 2.)

4. How can you make words do this?

B. I must put them in sentences; that is, arrange them so as to have a meaning.

A. What then is a sentence?

B.

Words arranged so as to have a meaning.

A. Let us see whether you can make a sentence yet. What classes of words, or Parts of Speech, have you learnt?

B. Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Verbs.

A. What is a Noun? a Pronoun ? a Verb?

B. A Noun is the name of an object. An object is anything whatever impressed on the mind, whether through the senses or not: that is, anything I can see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or in any way think of.

A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

A Verb is a word which, joined to a noun, denotes that the object named by it performs a certain action.

A. Now then form a sentence: as short an one as possible. It must consist of two words at the least: one, a Noun or Pronoun, to name an Object; for, if you speak, you must speak about some object: the other, a Verb, to say something about the object.

B. John runs.

A. Very well. Now I want you to give an account of every word you come to. You must say what Part of Speech it is; what word it comes from; what part or form of that word it is; and why it is in such part or form. This is called Parsing a word. I will now shew you how to parse the two words in your sentence, giving the reason for each step.

John. A Proper Noun: a noun, because it is the name of an object which we can see and touch: proper, because it is a name proper to one object, not common to a class. It is in the

S. Number, because you name only one object; and in the N.
Case, because the object John is spoken of as acting (1. 6).

Runs. As far as form goes, this might be a noun in the P. Number. But clearly it cannot be; for we have got one noun already in the sentence, and the other word we said was to be a verb. Runs then is a verb, denoting an action performed by the object John. It is in the Third Person; because you are speaking neither of yourself, nor of me, but of some third person. It is in the Singular Number; because you speak of only one object as running. In the Present Tense; because you mean to say that he is running now. In the Indicative Mood, because you wish simply to state the fact of his running.

Now form another sentence and parse the words.

B. Dogs run.

Dogs. Noun; in the P. number, and N. case, because the objects are spoken of as acting.

Run. Verb; in the 3rd person, P. number, Pres. tense,
Ind. mood.

A. How should you express that you run yourself?
B. I should say, I run.

A. Yes. Instead of naming yourself, you use the Personal Pronoun for the First Person, I. And if, when speaking to me, you wished to speak of me, you would use the Pronoun for the Second Person, Thou; or in common language, You. In Latin you might omit these Pronouns; but in English you must insert them, because the verb changes so little, that otherwise we cannot tell who it is that runs. But before going any further, I wish to give you a more convenient rule for the Nominative Case.

If an object, we said (1. 6), is spoken of as acting, its noun is in the N. case. In the sentence, 'John runs,' John names an object which is spoken of as acting, and is therefore in the N. case. In the sentence, 'John lifted George,' John names an object which is spoken of as acting on another object, and is therefore in the N. case. Now, in each of these sentences, John names the object, which is called the Subject of the Sentence: that is, the object about which what is spoken in the sentence is spoken. And in every sentence that can be formed, whether one or more than one object is named, there is one

4.

Plural,

5.

Personal Pronoun.

6. Subject of the Sen

tence. Subject

word.

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object, about which whatever is spoken in the sentence is spoken. This object is called the Subject of the Sentence, and the word which names it, whether noun or pronoun, we call the Subject-word.

Our new rule then for the N. case will be.

If an object is spoken of as the Subject of the Sentence, its noun is in the N. case.

Or more simply,

The Subject-word is in the N. case.

I think you can understand this rule now, as you know what a sentence is. But you must carefully distinguish between Object and Subject. Whatever is impressed on the mind, whether person or thing, we call an Object, because it is thus laid before '-the mind. In a sentence, we speak of one or more objects. But in every sentence there is one object, called the Subject, because it is laid under-the sentence; being as it were the foundation on which the sentence is built. Every subject you see therefore must be an object; but every object is not the subject.

Let us now go back to the simple sentences we were considering, John runs, &c.

You will now understand that if there are only two words in a sentence, one must be the Subject-word, and that this is in the N. case. The other, in the present sentences at least, will be a Verb. These two words are connected by the following Rule, called the First Concord:

The Verb agrees with the Subject-word in Number and Person. That is to say: With regard to Number; if the Subjectword names one object, the Verb, as well as the Subject-word,

1 Object comes from the Latin Objectum, a thing laid before. Laid before what? the mind; Menti being understood in Latin. Subject comes from Subjectum, a thing laid under. Laid under what? not the mind, but the sentence; Sententiæ (not menti) being understood in Latin.

"I am sorry to use this somewhat awkward compound. But it cannot be right to say, A Verb agrees with its N. case in Number and Person. One Part of Speech, as a Verb, cannot agree with the mere form of another part, as the N. case. It is clear we cannot use the expression, consistently with the view we have taken of Words and their forms. Nor can we say, the Verb agrees with its Noun ; for then we lose all idea of person, which depends on the pronoun being used instead of the noun.

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