DEFINITIONS.

1. Grammar deals with words and sentences.

2. The Parts of Speech, or Kinds of Words, are eight:

(1) The Substantive is the name of a Person or Thing; as:

Cæsar; man; horse; sword; pleasure.

(2) An Adjective qualifies a Substantive, and distinguishes a thing from other things which have the same name; as:

Old man; sharp sword; great pleasure; young man ; blunt sword; little pleasure.

(3) A Pronoun stands for a Substantive; as: He cried; we laughed.

(4) A Verb expresses being, doing, or being done to; as:

I am; you are running; he is beaten.

(5) An Adverb shows how, when, or where, and qualifies a Verb, Adjective, or another Adverb; as: Run fast; hardly safe; very badly.

(6) A Preposition is placed before a Substantive, to show what that Substantive has to do with some other word or words in the sentence; as:

He stood in the doorway; he knocked at the door.

B

(7) AConjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses; as: Cat and dog; to run one mile or to walk ten. He never said a foolish thing,

Nor ever did a wise one.

(8) An Interjection is an exclamation of joy, sorrow, astonishment, or some other feeling; as: Hurrah! alas! oh!

3. Besides these Parts of Speech there are in English two Articles :

The Definite Article, the.

The Indefinite Article, a, an (before a vowel or silent h):

A book; a horse. But an ant; an hour.

4. A Sentence or Clause is a complete thought put into words; that is, a spoken thought.

For a complete thought two things are necessary: The Subject: that which is spoken about,

The Predicate: that which is said about the Subject.

5. A Phrase is a group of two or more words which makes sense, but is not a sentence.

THE SUBSTANTIVE.

6. Names of Things may be either:

Proper Names,

or Common Names.

Proper Names are names of particular Persons, Animals, Places, or Things; as:

Napoleon; Toby; Paris; Excalibur.

Common Names are names of things of which many may exist, or names of classes of things; as: Man; sword.

7. Substantives are either:

Concrete,

Abstract,

or Collective.

Concrete Names are names of things which can exist by themselves, and which we can perceive, or touch, or move about; as:

Boy; ball; star.

Also names of materials; as:

Iron; clay; wood.

Abstract Names are names of qualities, states, or actions of concrete things; as:

Bravery; death; flight.

They cannot exist by themselves; they generally have corresponding Verbs or Adjectives; as: Brave; die; fly.

Names of actions may be expressed by Verbal Substantives (Infinitives and Gerunds); as:

Riding (to ride); singing (to sing).

Collective Names are names of numbers of things taken together; as:

Form (of boys); crowd (of people); flock (of sheep).

8. NOTE.-A Substantive is called:

Singular, when it names one person or thing; as ·
Boy; tooth; ox.

Plural, when it names more than one person or thing; as:
Boys; teeth; oxen.

THE ADJECTIVE.

9. Adjectives may be divided as follows:

Quality Adjectives.

Quantity (Numeral) Adjectives.
Demonstrative Adjectives.

Possessive Adjectives.

Interrogative Adjectives.

Verbal Adjectives (Participles).

Quality Adjectives attribute some quality; as: Strong (strength); merciful (mercy).

Quantity Adjectives tell the number of things, or the order in which they come; as:

Three boys; third boy.

- Demonstrative Adjectives distinguish things by pointing to them; as:

This boy; those boys.

Possessive Adjectives distinguish things by showing to whom they belong; as:

My boy; their boys.

Interrogative Adjectives are used in asking quesWhich boy? what boys?

tions; as:

Verbal Adjectives (Participles) distinguish things by showing what they do, or have done to them, or what state they are in; as:

Dancing bear; toasted cheese; dead cat.

NOTE.-Verbal Adjectives often follow the Substantives which they qualify; as:

We saw the boy eating the apples stolen from the garden.

10. OBS. 1.-Substantives are used to distinguish one thing from other things of different kinds.

Adjectives are used to distinguish one thing from other things of the same kind.

Thus, if we have several things of different kinds, we distinguish one from another by using different names; as: Cat; fiddle; dog; moon.

But if we have several things of the same kind, we distinguish one from another by using different Adjectives; as:

The black cat; the white cat; the big cat; the little cat.

OBS. 2.-When we say that an Adjective qualifies a Substantive, we mean that it helps to limit the name of a class to some particular thing in that class. Thus, man is the name of a class of beings; but if we say black man, the class-name man is limited to negroes.

OBS. 3.-Adjectives are, however, often used simply to describe Substantives more fully, not necessarily to distinguish them from others with the same name. This is especially the case with Verbal Adjectives, which, often describe the condition of the Substantive at a certain time.

THE PRONOUN.

11. Pronouns may be divided as follows:

Personal: I; we; (thou; ye;) you; he; she; it; they.

Reflexive Pronouns: Self, selves; generally thus: Myself, yourself, himself, ourselves, &c.

Relative: Who; which; that; (what).

Interrogative: Who? what? which?

12. Personal Pronouns stand for the names of

persons or things; as:

John has the book, but he never reads it.