2. The Pronouns variable on account of Number, are the

3. The Indeclinable Pronouns are, 1st. all the Possessives, viz. my, mine, or my own; thy, thine, or thy own; his, or his own; her, hers, or her own; our, ours, or our own; your, yours, or your own; their, theirs, or their own; 2dly the Relatives, that and what; and 3dly the Indefinites, any, some, none, such; together with same, Demonstrative.

OF ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives are Indeclinable; but some of them have only a Singular, and others only a Plural signification; as

1. Singular.---One, single, infinite, universal, much.

2. Plural.---Two, three, four, &c. few, many, several, more. Adjectives admit of comparison; except such as signify immensity, supremacy, perfection, or an absolute quality.

I. The Positive Degree does not change the form of the Adjective.

II. In general, Adjectives are compared by prefixing to them the words more or less, to form the comparative; and most, very, or least, to form the superlative.

III. Adjectives, being Monosyllables and Dissyllables, ending in y, also form the Comparative, by adding r or er, and the Superlative, by adding st or est to the Positive.

IV. Indefinite Comparison is made by prefixing the words somewhat, little, still, nearly, almost, so, too, exceedingly, and others, to the Adjective. Also by adding the termination ish to the Positive.

V. Double Comparisons are improper.

Note. That latter seems to be positive, because it is never used in comparison, and because adverbs in ly, as latterly, are never derived from comparatives in er.

ACCIDENCE OF VERBS.

Definitions.

I. Voice is that form of the verb which distinguishes action from passion, or doing from suffering.

:

1. The Active Voice shews the doing of an action.

2. The Passive Voice shews the suffering of an action.

II. Mood, or Mode, is a particular form of the verb, shewing the manner in which the being, action, or passion, is represented.

1. The Indicative Mood simply indicates or declares the attribute or quality of the verb, or it asks a question. 2. The Potential 'Mood implies possibility, liberty, power, will, or obligation.

3. The Subjunctive Mood, so called because it is generally preceded by another verb, as well as by a conjunction, expresses a condition, motive, wish, doubt, or supposition.

4. The Imperative Mood is used for commanding, exhorting, intreating, or permitting.

5. The Infinitive Mood expresses the meaning of the verb indefinitely, that is, without any immediate reference to number or person.*

III. Tense is the distinction of time.

1. The Present Tense represents an action or event as passing at the time it is mentioned.

2. The Imperfect Tense represents the action or event either as finished or past, or as remaining unfinished, at a certain time past.

3. The Perfect Tense represents an action or event as past or finished.

4. The Pluperfect Tense represents an action or event as finished or past antecedently to some other past action

or event.

5. The First Future Tense represents an action or event as yet to come, the time of the action or event being either definite or indefinite.

Note.-The Accidents of Verbs are five, viz. Voice, Mood, Tense, Number, and Person. There are two Voices, the Active and Passive; five Moods, the Indicative, Potential, Subjunctive, Imperative, and Infinitive; six Tenses, the Present, Imperfect, Perfect, Pluperfect, and First and Second Futures; two Numbers, the Singular and Plural; and three Persons, the First, Second, and Third.

See the Preface, which contains some remarks on the Infinitive Mood.

6. The Second Future Tense intimates that the action or event will be fully accomplished at or before the time of another future action or event.

IV. Number is that form which Verbs have in agreement with the leading subjects of discourse, considered as one or

more.

1. The Singular Number is that form of the Verb which agrees with a Singular Nominative.

2. The Plural Number is that form of the Verb which agrees with a Plural Nominative.

V. Person is that form which Verbs have in agreement with the leading subjects of discourse, considered as speaking, spoken of, or spoken to.

1. The First Person agrees with the Person or Persons speaking, and follows the sign I, or We.

2. The Second Person agrees with the Person or Persons spoken to, and follows the sign Thou, Ye, or You, or any Noun preceded by an Interjection.

3. The Third Person agrees with the Person, Persons, Thing or Things spoken of, and follows the sign He, or They, or any other word except I, We, Thou, Ye, or You.

CONJUGATION OF VERBS.

The Conjugation of Verbs is the rightly putting together of their several parts, according to Voice, Mood, Tense, Number, and Person.

The Conjugation of an Active Verb is termed the Active Voice, and that of a Passive Verb, the Passive Voice.

A Regular Verb forms the Imperfect of the Indicative and the Perfect Participle in ed or d.

An Irregular Verb forms the Imperfect of the Indicative and the Perfect Participle, or one of them, in some other termination than ed or d.

A Defective Verb is used only in some of its Moods and Tenses.

An Impersonal Verb is used only in the third Person Singular, and has its Nominative always a Thing, and never a Person.

An Auxiliary Verb is that which is used, or assists, in the conjugation of other verbs, as do, have, be, will, shall, may, can.

The only Accidents common to Nouns, Pronouns, and Verbs, are those of Number and Person, Verbs having no Accidents of Gender and Case, and Nouns and Pronouns having none of Voice, Mood, and Tense.

F

RULES FOR THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS.

1. There is in English but one Conjugation of Verbs. The division of verbs into active, passive, and neuter, and into regular and irregular, forms no exception to the rule. The distinction of regular and irregular takes place only in the Active Voice or form.

2. All Moods have not an equal number of Tenses. The Indicative has six Tenses, the Potential four, the Infinitive two, and the Imperative one.— The Subjunctive Mood in its first form has six Tenses, and in its second four, analogically to the Indicative and Potential forms.

3. Those Tenses which have a simple form are the Present and Imperfect Tenses of the Indicative and 1st Subjunctive Moods, he Second Person of the Present of the Imperative, and the Present of the Infinitive.

4. The Compound Tenses are, the Perfect, Pluperfect, and First and Second Futures, in whatever Mood they be.

5. The Simple Tenses may be changed into a compound form, but the Compound Tenses cannot be changed into a simple form.

6. The Signs do, shall, will, may, can, require to be followed by the Present of the Infinitive of the principal verb;-the sign be is followed by either the present or perfect participle, and the sign have is followed only by the perfect participle. These signs are

7. Passive Verbs have no simple Tenses-they are conjugated with the help of the verb to be.

8: In Neuter Verbs the form of the conjugation generally agrees with that of Active verbs;-sometimes it is Passive.

9. The Second Person Singular of verbs ends in st, or perative, and first three Tenses of the 1st Subjunctive singular of the Present of the Indicative ends in s or th. are like the first, in the several Tenses.

t, except in the ImThe third Person The other Persons

10. In the Compound Tenses of Irregular Verbs, the form of the Imperfect of the Indicative is sometimes improperly used for the Perfect Participle-as I have wrote, for I have written-I have shook, for I have shaken.

11. The Present Participle ends always in ing, the Perfect Participle in ed, t, or n. A few Participles end in ng and nk. The Participle of come is come and a few others may be equally irregular.

12. The terminations ch, ck, p, x, ll, ss, of the Present, sometimes change ed of the Imperfect Tense, or of the Perfect Participle into t, as snacht, pluckt, snapt, fixt, dwelt, past. The same thing happens after the terminations l, m, n, p, preceded by a diphthong, the diphthong moreover being shortened, as in dealt, dreamt, slept. Likewise the termination ve is changed into ft, as bereave, bereft, leave, left.

13. Irregular Verbs are found to be for the most part monosyllabic-originally, perhaps, they are all so.