THE PRONOUN. A Pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun, as, Sam was punished because he did not know his lessons. Pronouns are divided into three* classes: Personal, Relative, and Interrogative. A Personal pronoun simply stands for a noun; they are I, thou, he, she, it. A Relative pronoun, besides standing for a noun, joins and relates one sentence to another; they are who, which, that, what, and sometimes as; e. g., The person who did it knew well the trouble that must follow. Who is used in reference to persons only; which to animals and things; that to either persons or things. What is called the compound relative, as it includes both the relative and the antecedent; e. g., I know what you want. An Interrogative pronoun is used in asking questions; they are, who? which? what? One of the forms of the possessive cases of personal pronouns is generally called a possessive pronoun. † The demonstrative adjectives this and that when used without a noun following, are called demonstrative pronouns; as, Bring that here. One, any, other, &c., are frequently used as indefinite pronouns ; as, One feels hurt at such treatment; I don't want any. When self is joined to the personal pronouns, own to the possessives, and ever or soever to the relatives and interrogatives, they form compound pronouns. * The most complete division is into pronouns substantive, and pronouns adjective, but as each of these requires many sub-divisions, it is too complicated for a little work like this. The personal pronouns have a double form for the possessive case, as, my, mine; her, hers; one being always followed by a noun, the other not. The former, partaking of the nature of adjectives, should be called possessive pronouns, the latter possessive cases of personals. THE ADVERB. An Adverb is a word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb; as, He runs fast; you are uncommonly rude; I know it too well. Adverbs are divided into those of Time, Place, Manner, Time: now, then, always, presently, soon, once, to-day. Degree: very, too, nearly, quite, exceedingly. Adverbs often consist of two or more words; as, in vain, at Many adverbs connect sentences, as well as modify attributes, e.g., I will go where I please: these should be called adverbial conjunctions. THE PREPOSITION. A Preposition connects words and shows the relation between them; as, They left because of the fever; he jumped over the hedge into the ditch. The relations expressed by Prepositions are of Time, Place, Cause, Instrument, &c. Some of the most common prepositions are of, on, to, at, in, by, for, up, with, from, under, above, against, across, until, towards, through, amidst, &c. They often consist of two or more words; e.g., for the sake of, in accordance with, in spite of. Prepositions should be clearly distinguished from adverbs; e.g., get on, he rode behind (Adverbs); get on the wall, he rode behind his uncle (Prepositions). THE CONJUNCTION. A Conjunction is a word that joins sentences, or parts of sentences together; Tom and Harry were punished although their aunt was there. Conjunctions* are of three kinds, Copulative, Disjunctive, and Causal. A copulative conjunction adds one statement to another; as, He is merciful as well as just. A disjunctive conjunction separates one statement from another; as, He must do it or go. A causal conjunction connects statements that depend one upon the other; as, Tom was plucked because he had been lazy. Copulative conjunctions are like a plus sign (+) in arithmetic. Disjunctive minus ( the logical Many Conjunctions consist of several words; e.g., inasmuch as, in order that, seeing that, &c. Some Conjunctions are used in pairs; as, either-or; on the Some Adverbs are used as Conjunctions, and are then called afford. It will be seen, when the pupil gets a little further on, that the fundamental distinction between Prepositions and Conjunctions is, that the former connect notions, the latter sentences. THE INTERJECTION. An Interjection is a sudden exclamation; as, O! Ah! Bah! These can hardly be considered as words-they are little more than mere animal cries, like the bark or yelp of a dog. * Let it here be made clear to the pupil that many other kinds of words besides conjunctions connect; viz., prepositions, relative pronouns, certain adverbs, and copulative verbs; but that conjunctions join only, whilst the rest perform other functions as well. NOTIONS AND RELATIONS. Besides the divisions of words into Parts of Speech, all words may be comprised under two heads, viz., notional and relational words. * up some A notional word has a meaning in itself, and calls image or picture in the mind; as, tree, red, run. A relational word has no meaning in itself, but expresses some relation between notional ones; as, a blow on the nose, a yard of silk. Adjective, S Preposition, 2. Relational, as the Conjunction. Interjections can hardly be considered as words, and really come under neither head. From what has been before said it will be seen that copulative verbs, and adverbial conjunctions, are really relational words. In order to show clearly to the pupil the relative importance of the different classes of words, the following methods may be made use of. (1.) We have about 40,000 different words in our language, the number in each part of speech is about as follows: It must be noticed, however, that the words of the smaller classes occur most frequently. ON THE INFLECTION OF WORDS. Inflection is a change in the spelling of a word to show some alteration in its meaning; as, man, men ; sweet, sweeter; walk, walked. Our language has very little inflection now, though the AngloSaxon, from which it is derived, had a great deal. The Latin language is rich in inflection, as will be seen from the following example. The word boy with us has only four forms,-boy, boy's, boys, boys'; while in Latin the word puer, a boy, has seven forms, puer, pueri, puero, puerum, puerorum, pueris, pueros. In verbs the difference is still greater, and in the Greek language greater still. The want of inflection in English is made up by the use of prepositions and auxiliary verbs. All notional words are inflected, relational words are not. Nouns are inflected in number, gender, case. person, number, gender, case. (2.) All words may be gathered into three heaps, thus:— |