PART FIRST. CONTAINING THE PRINCIPLES OF ANALYSIS OR PARSING. ENGLISH GRAMMAR. GRAMMAR is the science of languages. ENGLISH GRAMMAR is divided into four parts: ORTHOGRAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PROSODY. ORTHOGRAPHY treats of letters, ETYMOLOGY of words, SYNTAX of sentences, and PROSODY of pronunciation and the laws of poetry. LESSON I. SUBSTANTIVES. All words which represent persons, places, or things, including nouns and pronouns, are substantives. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing; as, man, Boston, book. Nouns may be divided into three kinds: common, proper, and abstract. A Common Noun is a name common to a whole class of individuals; as man, bird, tree. A Proper Noun is the name of an individual; as, George, Boston, June. An Abstract Noun is the name, not of a substance, but of a quality; as, love, justice, weight. [Tell which of the following words are Nouns, which are Common, which Proper, and which Abstract.] James, book, good, hat, Boston, came, justice, gun, house, July, rat, run, love, murder, gout, Sarah, town, county, state, Charlestown, old, new, horse, cat, truth, falsehood, can, but, Massachusetts. LESSON II. Nouns have Person, Number, Gender, and Case. PERSON. Nouns have three persons; the first, the second, and the third. The first person is the speaker; as, I, John Doe. The second person is the one spoken to; as, John, pass me thy book. The third person is the one spoken of; as, Andrew Jackson commanded the American army at New Orleans. NUMBER. Nouns have two numbers; the Singular, and the Plural. The singular number expresses but one object; as, pen, book, slate. The plural number expresses more objects than one; as, pens, books, slates. GENDER. Gender means sex. Nouns have two genders; the Masculine and the Feminine. Names of males are Masculine; as, man, boy, father. Names of females are feminine; as, girl, sister, mother, Objects which are neither male nor female have no gender; as, house, field, pen. Such words as parent, child, &c., are either Masculine or Feminine. [Case. See Lesson IV.] [In analyzing the following words, tell which are Nouns, what kind, what person, number, and gender.] Father, brother, sister, came, mother, and, John, house, glad, field, come hither, Charles, - Sarah, lend me thy pen, hats, gloves, quill, parents, lad, children, Thomas, girls, kites, rivers, lakes, Joseph lost his ball in the pond, Samuel recites his lesson well, - Jane has a new doll. LESSON III. ADJECTIVES. An Adjective is a word added to a substantive to limit, define, or describe it; as, the book, that man, a good girl. Adjectives may be divided into three kinds; definitives, descriptives, and numerals. A definitive adjective defines, or shows what thing is meant; as, the man, that man, same man. A descriptive adjective describes, or shows what kind; as, sweet apples, ripe cherries, a new hat. Numeral adjectives express number; as, one, two, three, many, few, &c. - The following are the principal definitives; this, that, each, every, either, neither, a, an, much, one, and another, singular; several, many, both, few, these, and those, plural; the, former, latter, own, very, same, some, any, other, all, such, no, none, which, what, my, thy, his, her, our, your, their, first, second, &c., of both numbers. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES. Many descriptives have three forms to represent different degrees of the quality; as, great, greater, greatest. The positive form represents the quality in its positive or simple state; as, a tall tree, a good boy. The Comparative form represents the quality in its comparative or increased degree; as, a taller tree, a better boy. The superlative form represents the quality in its superlative or highest degree; as, the tallest tree, the best boy. The comparative degree is formed by adding er to the positive; and the superlative degree is formed by adding est to the positive; as, Adjectives of more than one syllable are usually com pared by placing the adverbs more and most before them; Every adjective belongs to some substantive, expressed or understood. [Parse the following nouns and adjectives.] Harriet is a good girl. little boy. Mary gave me ning. John lost his kite. James is a large boy. George is a this little book. The old dog is runThe little girl loves her doll. Your friend is sick. Sweet oranges, sour grapes, green apples, ripe fruit. LESSON. IV. PRONOUNS. A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun; as, John is a good boy; he goes to school. There are two kinds of pronouns, Personal and Relative* pronouns. * For Relative Pronouns, see Lesson X. |