Words in General. Words are articulate or jointed sounds, used by common consent, as the signs of our ideas. A word of one syllable, is called a monosyllable. A word of three syllables, a trissylable. A word of four or more syllables, a polysyllable. Words are divided into two general classes; primitive and derivative. Primitive words are those which cannot be reduced to any simpler words in the language; as man, good, content. Derivative words are those which are formed from some other words; as manful, goodness, contentment. ETYMOLOGY. . The second part of Grammar is Etymology, which treats of the different classes, or sorts of words, their derivation; and their various inflections and changes, to express gender, person, number, case, time and manner. . There are eight sorts, or classes of words; commonly called Parts of Speech: 1. The Noun, or Name; II. The Verb; III. The Pronoun, or Substitute; IV. The Adjective or Attribute; V. The Adverb or Modifier; VI. The Preposition; VII. The Conjunction, or Connective; VIII. The Interjection, or Exclamation.* NOTE. These eight sorts of words are ranked in two general divisions; on account of their relative importance in sentences; viz. Primary and Secondary. Primary words are those which are essential to the formation of a sentence: they are names and verbs: thus, rain falls. It would destroy this sentence, to take away either of the words, and hence both words are essential to the existence of the proposition. First Lesson for Beginners. 1. NOUNS OR NAMES. Grammar is the science of language, and language is made up of words: Hence in studying Grammar, we have to study words. Question. What is the first inquiry we naturally make about any person or thing? *For Articles and Participles, see pp. 48, 104. + The word noun is the Att. accusative case of the Greek word noos, thought, and is most likely adopted from that language, as a suitable title for the class of words that represent the most elementary thoughts or ideas. (18) Answer. What is the name by which such person or thing is known. Hence NAMES are the most important class of words, and therefore they should be studied first, in etymology.* NOTE. Most grammarians call names, NOUNS; but noun, is a technical word, which means name, and therefore we will use the word name more generally than the word noun, especially in the first part of this work; for every body understands what the word name means, which is not the case with the word noun. METHOD OF STUDY. The learner should not attempt to commit the definition to memory at first, but read it until he gets the IDEA, that is, until he understands it, and then practice on the idea, as directed after the definition, until it is well understood, and then commit the definition to memory. This is the plan to be pursued throughout the grammar. DEFINITION. Nouns or Names are the words by which persons or things are called; as, man, tree, Erie, love, justice. PLAN OF EXERCISE. Now speak the name of any thing that you can see, or hear, or taste, or smell, or feel, or think of: take time to go through the list deliberately, and call as many names as you can. All names belong to this part of speech. NOTE. Let the learner now write names on a black board, slate, or paper, until the habit of distinguishing them, is acquired; and then take a blank book, and rule the pages in the first part of it, into three equal parts, perpendicularly; and then commence at the top of the left hand space, to write a column of names, leaving as much room to the left of the names as possible, for other words to be written before them: write a dozen names in the column; after this Model of Composition: man boy house book *The first class of words corresponds to the faculty called by logicians, apprehension, or simple apprehension. They are commonly named nouns or substantives, or nouns substantive; and express either individuals; as, John, Charles;' or classes; as, 'man, animal.' ”— Brande's Encycl. Art. Gram. CLASSIFICATION. Names are of two kinds; common and proper. A common name is a general name; as man, animal, tree, knowledge. What kind of a word is man? Ans. It is a name. What kind of a name? Ans. A common name. Why? Ans. Because it is a general name. It is applicable to all men. Parse animal, tree and knowledge, as I have parsed man. Now write six common names in the column of names in your blank book, as before. A proper name is a particular name, given to an individual person or thing, to distinguish it from all others; as Laura, Thomas, Detroit, Erie, New York. What kind of a name is Laura? and why? Ans. It is a proper name, because it is a particular name. Why is it a particular name? Ans. Because it distinguishes one particular person from all others. Parse all the examples as Laura is parsed above. Write several proper names on a slate or blackboard, and then write several in your column of names, as before. NOTE. Proper names should always begin with a capital letter. If a proper name has an, a or the before it; or if it admits the plural form, it is used as a common name; as he is the Cicero of his age, he is not a Newton, the twelve Cæsars, the seven Jameses. When a noun or name signifies many individuals, it is called a collective name, or name of multitude; as people, army, company, flock, herd. Names of substances are called substantive nouns; as earth, iron, wood, cotton, man, state. Names of immaterial things; such as qualities and actions; are called abstract names; as virtue, knowledge, kindness, truth, love, joy. NOTE. An immaterial thing, is a thing which has no bodily existence; as love, hatred, joy, gladness, &c. To names belong gender, person, number and case. GENDER. Gender is a modification of names to distinguish the sexes. Names have two genders, the masculine and feminine. The masculine gender denotes males; as man, boy, James, George, son, brother. Model of Parsing. Man is a name, common, because it is a general name, masculine gender, it denotes a male. Parse all the examples according to the above model, and write in your list of names three common names, and three proper names in the masculine gender. The feminine gender denotes females; as woman, girl, daughter, Susan, sister. Parse and write as before. N. B. If the student would be faithful and true to his own interest, and advance rapidly and thoroughly, he must parse every example given, and be sure to understand it before he quits it. The names of some things without sex, are, by a figure of speech, put in the masculine or feminine gender; as when we say of the sun, "he is setting;" of a ship, "she sails well." When this figure of speech is used, the things which are strong, controlling, or producing, should be put in the masculine; and the things which are beautiful, dependent, or containing, should be put in the feminine gender. REMARK. Nouns that do not distinguish sex, have no gender which it is as useless to mention in parsing, as it would be to say, that they have no mode or tense. There are three methods of distinguishing the sexes. |