difference must be at once apparent. But, not to deal in general reasoning more, we shall present the analysis of a short sentence by way of example : "A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he has lost no time; but that happeneth rarely."-Bacon's Essays. A is an adjective, because it limits the signification of the noun man. Man is a noun, because it is the name of a class of beings. Is is a verb, because it asserts something (existence). Young is an adjective, qualifying the noun man understood. Every adjective must have a noun understood if not expressed. In is a preposition, inasmuch as it points out the relation that "years" has to "young man." Years is a noun, being the name of a portion of time. May is a verb, asserting something (power) of the noun man. Be is a verb, asserting or denoting existence. Old is an adjective, qualifying the noun man understood. In is a preposition, as above. Hours is a noun, being the name of a division of time. 66 If is a conjunction, connecting the clause, " A man that is young in years may be old in hours," to the following clause, " he has lost no time." As if in such cases points out the condition on which the assertion going before it is to be received, it is called by many grammarians a conditional conjunction. He is a personal pronoun, standing instead of the noun man. Lost is a verb indicating an act. On the nature of this part of the verb we shall have more to say afterwards. No is an adjective, qualifying the noun time. But is a conjunction. It connects the two clauses, and at the same time indicates, or, to adopt the apt expression of which Mr Mill frequently makes use, connotes that the clause coming after it is in opposition to the one going before, and therefore it is called a disjunctive conjunction. That is a demonstrative adjective, qualifying the noun thing understood. Happeneth is a verb, asserting something of its subject," that thing." Rarely is an adverb of time, modifying the verb happeneth. EXERCISE X. Parse the following sentences : 1. When we pass from the earth to the sea, from land to water, we pass through a great change; but an adequate change accompanies us of animal forms and functions, of animal capacities and wants. The earth in its nature is very different from the sea, and the sea from the earth; but one accords with its inhabitants as exactly as the other; and the correspondency instituted by divine wisdom pervades and harmonizes the whole.-Paley. 2. It is wisely observed by the moralist, that our globe seems particularly fitted for the residence of beings placed here only for a short time, whose task is to advance themselves to a higher and happier state of existence by unremitted vigilance of caution and activity of virtue.-Johnson. 3. But more than all this, economical and military questions are not purely external; they are connected closely with moral good and evil a faulty political economy is the fruitful parent of crime; a sound military system is no mean school of virtue; and war, as I have said before, has, in its vicissitudes, and much more in the moral qualities which it calls into action, a deep and abiding interest for every one worthy of the name of man.-Arnold. 4. Henry II. was of a middle stature, strong, and well proportioned; his countenance was lively and engaging; his conversation affable and entertaining; his elocution easy, persuasive, and ever at command. He loved peace, but possessed both conduct and bravery in war; was provident without timidity; severe in the execution of justice, without rigour; and temperate without austerity. He preserved health, and kept himself from corpulency, to which he was somewhat inclined, by an abstemious diet, and by frequent exercise, particularly by hunting. When he could enjoy leisure, he recreated himself in learned conversation, or in reading; and he cultivated his natural talents by study, above any prince of his time.-Hume. 5. Charles then rose from his seat, and leaning on the shoulder of the Prince of Orange, because he was unable to stand without support, he addressed himself to the audience, and, from a paper which he held in his hand, in order to assist his memory, he recounted with dignity, but without ostentation, all the great things which he had undertaken and performed since the commencement of his administration.-Robertson. 6. In the sands of Africa and Arabia the camel is a sacred and precious gift. That strong and patient beast of burden can perform, without eating or drinking, a journey of several days; and a reservoir of fresh water is preserved in a large bag, a fifth stomach of the animal, whose body is imprinted with the marks of servitude the larger breed is capable of transporting a weight of a thousand pounds; and the dromedary, of a lighter and more active frame, outstrips the fleetest courser in the race. Alive or dead, almost every part of the camel is serviceable to man: her milk is plentiful and nutritious; the young and tender flesh has the taste of veal; the dung supplies the deficiency of fuel; and the long hair, which falls each year and is renewed, is coarsely manufactured into the garments, the furniture, and the tents of the Bedoweens.-Gibbon. 7. These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then! In these thy lowest works; yet these declare * Hail, universal Lord! be bounteous still Milton. 70. As the class to which a word belongs is determined solely by the idea which it represents, and the same word in different connexions is used for separate ideas, it follows that the same word may belong to different classes. It is quite certain that every word must originally have expressed one idea, and consequently belonged to one class; but other ideas come to be attached to it. A few examples will illustrate this best : "Come out of the wet." Here wet is a noun, because it is a name expressive of a certain state of the elements. "John threw off his wet clothes." Here wet is an adjective, because it qualifies the noun clothes. "A shower came on and wet the ground." Here wet is a verb, because it expresses an action. The shower did something-“ wet the ground." EXERCISE XI. 1. The sun is the great source of light. Feathers are light. 2. Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. The sea was calm. To calm the restless pulses of the heart. .-Shakspeare. 3. It is no mean happiness to be seated in the mean.— Blessed are those, Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled, 4. That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger Shakspeare. 5. On ship-board the fresh water is often doled out with more caution than the most precious product of the still.-Dr Arnott. Now came still evening on, and twilight gray Is this the Talbot so much feared abroad Milton. That with his name the mothers still their babes? Shakspeare. What ardently I wish'd, I long believed, Cowper. 71. The principal words in a sentence are the Noun, the Adjective, and the Verb; and as they represent ideas in some measure by themselves, they have been called notional words, whereas Prepositions and Conjunctions have got the name of relational words, as they merely serve to indicate connexions of various kinds between the notional words. It must not be hence supposed that they are of slight importance. Nothing is more certain than that a large portion, not merely of the beauty, but even of the meaning of writing, depends on the proper use of these particles-particularly conjunctions. This subject has not yet been much attended to by common grammarians, though its exceeding importance was long ago recommended to their notice by the prince of English philosophers. "Besides words,” says Locke, "which are names of ideas in the mind, there are a great many others that are made use of to signify the connexion that the mind gives to ideas or propositions one with another. The mind, in communicating its thought to others, does not only need signs of the ideas it has then before it, but others also, to show or intimate some particular action of its own, at that time, relating to those ideas. This it does several ways; as is and is not are the general marks of the mind affirming or denying. But, besides affirmation or negation, without which there is in words no truth or falsehood, the mind does, in declaring its sentiments to others, connect not only the parts of propositions, but whole sentences, one to another, with their several relations and dependencies, to make a coherent discourse. 66 Though prepositions and conjunctions are names well known in grammar, and the particles contained under them carefully ranked into their distinct subdivisions, yet he who would show the right use of particles, and what significancy and force they have, must take a little more pains, enter into his own thoughts, and observe nicely the several postures of his mind in discoursing.”—Human Understanding, book iii. ch. vii. 72. From what has been already said on the separate parts of speech, it will be easily seen that some of them are more closely related than others. The Noun and Pronoun resemble each other. The Adjective, Verb, and Adverb, have a common idea running through them, and the Conjunction and Preposition are very much alike. II.-INFLECTION OF WORDS. 73. Any change made on a word, particularly on its termination, may be called its accident or inflection. This, it must be allowed, is an arbitrary definition of the word inflection, as it might be, and indeed has been, by several respectable grammarians, viewed under a different aspect. The difference in the definition, whether fully expressed, or, as is more frequently the case, tacitly assumed, ultimately leads to different results. For ourselves, without condemning the opposite one, we prefer that which considers the termination, or, at any rate, change in the form of the word itself, without immediate regard to the change of idea effected by the use of other words. 74. In this way the words boy's, wiser, its, loved, and oftener, are considered inflections of the words boy, wise, it, love, and often respectively, while the equivalent expressions, of a boy, more wise, of it, did love, and more often, are not considered inflections. 75. Inflection is used to modify the meaning attached to the original word; but some classes of words are susceptible |