4. RULES CONCERNING ADDED SYLLABLES.

When any one of the syllables er, est, eth, ed, or ing is added to a word ending in a single consonant following a short vowel, if the last syllable is accented, the consonant should be doubled;

Run, runner, runnest, runneth, running; prefer, preferrest, preferreth, preferred, preferring.

But if the last syllable is not accented, the consonant* should not be doubled;

Prosper, prosperest, prospereth, prospered, prospering.

When any one of the syllables er, est, eth, or ed is added to a word ending in y preceded by a consonant, the y is changed into i;

Silly, sillier, silliest; defy, defieth, defied.

When the syllable ing is added to a word ending in ie, the ie is changed into y;

Die, dying.

When a syllable beginning with a vowel is added to a word ending in a silent e,† the e is omitted;

Change, changed, changing; love, loved, loving, lovable, lover.

But if the loss of the e would cause the sound of the preceding consonant to be altered, the e must be retained; Change, changeable; notice, noticeable.

* But 1 and s are frequently doubled when the syllable is unaccented. There is however a growing tendency to abide by the rules; thus Webster writes 'traveler,' 'traveling.'

+ Silent e has no sound of its own whatever, and is simply a mark to show that the preceding vowel is long: compare 'man' and 'mane,' 'hop' and 'hope.'

But from 'dye' is formed 'dyeing' to distinguish it from 'dying.'

CHAPTER II.

PARTS OF SPEECH.

5. The words of the English language may be divided, according to their use in a sentence, into eight kinds, or parts of speech; viz., NOUNS, PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES, VERBS, ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS, CONJUNCTIONS, and INTER

JECTIONS.

N.B. We can determine what part of speech a word is, only when its use in a sentence is known: and, moreover, since a word may have more than one use, the same word is not always the same part of speech; thus, in the sentence "He said that that 'that' that that boy was parsing is not the same part of speech as this 'that,'" the first 'that' is a conjunction, the second an adjective, the third a noun, the fourth a pronoun, and the fifth an adjective.

*

6. A sentence is a collection of words by means of which an assertion is made, a question asked, or a wish expressed. [See 314.]

7. A collection of words in a sentence which, taken by itself, expresses an assertion, question, wish, supposition, or purpose, but yet does not express the assertion, question, or wish expressed by the whole sentence, is called a subordinate clause.+ [See 318.]

• This sentence is equivalent to "He said that the word 'that' which that boy was parsing was not the same part of speech as this 'that.'"

In many grammars the word 'sentence' is used to denote at one time what is here called a sentence, and at another time what is here called a clause.

8. A phrase is a collection of words, no one of them being a finite verb [172], which collection performs in a sentence the function usually assigned to some particular part of speech.

9. A phrase, or a subordinate clause, used to perform the function usually assigned to some particular part of speech is called an equivalent to that part of speech.

10. Phrases used to perform the functions of nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, are called respectively nounal phrases, adjectival phrases, or adverbial phrases.

11. Subordinate clauses used to perform the functions of nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, are called respectively nounal clauses, adjectival clauses, or adverbial clauses.

NOUNS.

12. A noun, or substantive, is a word used as a name; My brother John went out in a boat for a row on the river Thames on Wednesday afternoon.

13. To assist the pupil in discerning the nouns in a sentence, it may be remarked, that nouns are used as the names of

I. Things* which have a real independent existence;

Richard, man, brother, town, nun, light, wind, angel, spirit.

III. Qualities, states, conditions, actions, feelings, occupations, or relations of such things;

Goodness, size, courage, value, warmth, ease, reading, race, love, music, distance.

* The word 'things' must be understood as in John i. 3.

↑ By 'relation' is meant the connexion which one thing has with another.

IV. Periods of time;

Century, month, Monday, summer, Whitsuntide.

V. Quantities, measures, or numbers;

Ton, pint, dozen, score.

VI. Two or more things considered as forming one whole;
Army, flock, jury.

Nouns of Class III. are called abstract nouns; and of Class VI., collective nouns.

14. Nouns are common or proper.

15. A common noun is a name given to every one of those things which in certain respects resemble each other;

Man, tree, pair, age, angel.

16. A proper noun is a name given arbitrarily to one or more particular things;

John, Thames, London, The Great Eastern, Vesuvius.

Proper nouns, in written language, begin with a capital letter.

17. A noun, generally common, used in a special manner to denote one particular object, may be called a common noun having a tendency to become proper;

The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Premier, the Bank, the City.

Similarly, (A) national and family names, &c., and (B) names belonging to remarkable persons or things, used to denote objects possessing qualities resembling the original, may be called proper nouns having a tendency to become

common;

Englishman, Turk; the Howards, the Cæsars; this statue is a Madonna; he is quite a Hercules.

In written language, a noun used in either of these two ways should begin with a capital letter.

18. Nouns have number, person, gender, and case.

NUMBER.

19. The numbers are singular and plural.

20. A noun in the singular number denotes one; Man, Casar, virtue, jury.

21. A noun in the plural number denotes more than one;

Men, Caesars, virtues, juries.

22. RULES FOR FORMING THE PLURAL OF NOUNS. GENERAL RULE.-Add s* to the singular; Boy, boys; horse, horses.

SPECIAL RULES

I. Nouns ending in s, sh, x, z, and soft ch† add es; Ass, asses; lash, lashes; box, boxes; topaz, topazes; church, churches.

II. Nouns ending in y after a consonant or qu change y into ies;

Jury, juries; lady, ladies; soliloquy, soliloquies.

III. Nouns ending in o after a consonant (generally) add es;

Hero, heroes; potato, potatoes.

IV. Nouns ending in fe and f (but not ff, rf, eef, ief, or oof) change fe or f into ves;

Wife, wives; loaf, loaves (but stuffs, turfs, reefs, griefs, hoofs). EXCEPTIONS TO RULE IV.

Thief, thieves; staff, staffs or staves; fife, fifes; strife, strifes. Also many words in rf are written with rfs or rves; Scarfs or scarves; wharfs or wharves.

In older English the plural was sometimes formed by

* In older English the plural terminations were as, es, and en.
†ch is soft in church,' hard in 'Christmas.'