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THE PRONOUN.-NUMBER.

LESSON LXV.

Examine the Pronouns in the following Exercise, and state whether they are Singular or Plural :

I gave John an apple. He ran after the dog. She was married in church. Thou hast deceived me. It cost more than five shillings. We saw the tree falling. You were in the garden when it fell. The men had a horse: they hurried him on.. The boy gave his sister the book, and she was quite pleased with it. He sang the "Song of the Shirt." Take her up tenderly. The horse was brought forth. He was a noble steed. They bound me on his back. I saw not where he hurried on. It vexed me, for fain would I have paid their insult back again. At times I almost thought he must have slackened in his speed. The man who came after me had a dog. The women who heard this, cried out for fear. The dog which you purchased has gone mad. The crows which are feeding in the field are easily frightened. The man that saw you is dead. The men that carried off his body were shot.

DEFINITION I-We express the plural of the Personal Pronouns by the use of different words. Thus:

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DEFINITION II.-The Relative Pronouns are the same in the plural as in the singular.

THE PRONOUN.-GENDER.

LESSON LXVI.

Examine the Pronouns in the following Exercise, and tell the Gender of each :

John came and said, "I have been ordered home." She exclaimed, "I am most wretched!" Addressing the poor man, he said, “Thou art undone." Cæsar addressed his soldiers, and said, "We have gained

a great victory." The women all cried out, "We must save ourselves." O ye Romans, you are poor slaves. Ye good men of the Commons, with loving hearts and true. When the men were overtaken, they looked weary and worn. When the ladies came up, they smiled, and remarked, "We have been long on the journey." When the horses heard the bugle, they pricked up their ears. The man who arrived yesterday is dead. The woman who fled from the city has returned. The horse which was caught in the field kicked violently. The brown mare which the farmer bought is in the field. The apple which grew on that tree has been stolen.

DEFINITION I.-Except in the case of the third Personal Pronoun singular, where there is a form for each gender (he, she, it), the gender of the Personal Pronouns depends on the gender of the words for which they stand. Thus: I, thou, we, you may be either masculine or feminine, according as the words for which they stand are masculine or feminine; and they, for the same reason, may be masculine, feminine, or neuter.

DEFINITION II.—The Relative Pronoun who (which is used when speaking of persons) will be masculine or feminine, and which (which is applied to inferior animals and things without life) will be masculine, feminine, or neuter, according to the gender of the words to which they relate.

DEFINITION III.-That is used for who or which, and may accordingly be masculine, feminine, or neuter.

THE PRONOUN.-CASE.

LESSON LXVII.

Examine the Pronouns in the following Exercise, and tell whether they form the subject or the object of the Verb, or whether they denote possession:

me.

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I struck him on the back. John threw the book away: it fell into the water. His father told me not to hurt him. I love them that love This knife is mine. He taught you how you might conquer them. The man whose horse was killed narrowly escaped. The boy said the book was his, and not yours. The tree which you saw has fallen. Tell them not to vex her: she has grief enough. He said it was no business of theirs whether he was right or wrong. The road which winds round the hill is very tiresome. The grass which the mower cut has withered. The dog whose ear was cropped cried pite

ously. We shall offer him the prize; it is his by right. Tell Jane that she is not to cry so. She might be worse. They told him that the king desired to see him. The prince wished me to inform you that they were on the march. This book is hers. The estate is ours. The victory is yours. The man who stole my watch has been apprehended. The forest, whose trees are all bare, appears bleak.

DEFINITION. The Pronoun (Personal and Relative) has a separate form for the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective; and in this respect differs from the Noun, which has only two forms, one for the Nominative, and another for the Possessive.

LESSON LXVIII.

We can now arrange the declension* of the Pronouns, so as to show all the changes at one view:

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Parse the Pronouns in the following Exercise :—

She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps,

And lovers around her are sighing;

But coldly she turns from their gaze and weeps,
For her heart in his grave is lying.

* "Declension," an exhibition at one view of the various inflections of the Noun or Pronoun.

:

She sings the wild songs of her dear native plains,
Every note which he loved awaking :-
Ah, little they think, who delight in her strains,
How the heart of the minstrel is breaking!

At last he shut the ponderous tome.
With a fast and fervent grasp
He strained the dusky covers close,
And fixed the brazen hasp:-
"O God, could I so close my mind,
And clasp it with a clasp!"

Then leaping on his feet upright,
Some moody turns he took:

Now up the mead, then down the mead,

And past a shady nook:

And, lo! he saw a little boy

That pored upon a book.

Thou art a good-natured soul, I will answer for thee, and thou shalt drink the poor gentleman's health in a glass of sack; and take a couple of bottles, with my service, and tell him he is heartily welcome to them, and to a dozen more, if they will do him good.

SUMMARY.

1. Certain of the Parts of Speech undergo changes to indicate corresponding changes of relation. These changes are called Inflections.

2. The Parts of Speech which undergo these inflections are the Noun, the Verb, the Adjective, the Adverb, and the Pronoun. These Parts of Speech are termed Inflected.

3. The Preposition, the Conjunction, and the Interjection undergo no inflection, and are termed Uninflected.

THE NOUN.

4. The Noun is inflected or changed in its form to express Number, Gender, and Case.

5. Number is the inflection or change of form which the Noun undergoes to express whether we are speaking of one or of more than one.

6. There are two Numbers, the Singular and the Plural. (a.) The Singular is used when we speak of one object.

(6.) The Plural is used when we speak of more than one object.

7. The following are the most common Rules for the formation of the Plural in English :

(1.) The plural is generally formed by adding the letters to the singular.

(2.) Nouns ending in s, or in the sound of 8, in sh, ch (soft), x, or v, generally form the plural by adding the letters es to the singular.

(3.) Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant form the plural by changing the y of the singular into i and adding the letters es.

NOTE.-Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel form the plural according to Rule (1.).

(4.) Various Nouns ending in ƒ or fe form the plural by changing the f or fe of the singular into v, and adding the letters es.

(5.) A few Nouns form the plural, not by addition, but by changing the rowel of the singular.

NOTE. Some Nouns have the same form for both the singular and the plural.

NOTE. Words introduced from foreign languages frequently retain the plural form of the language from which they are introduced.

8. Gender is the inflection or change of form which the Noun undergoes to express whether the object be of the male or female sex.

9. There are two Genders, the Masculine and the Feminine.

(a.) All Nouns which are the names of males are said to be of the Masculine Gender.

(b.) All Nouns which are the names of females are said to be of the Feminine Gender.

(c.) All Nouns which are not the names of males or females are said to be of no gender, and are called Neuter.

10. Gender is generally expressed in English in one of the three following ways:

(1.) Gender is expressed by the use of entirely distinct words. (2.) Gender is expressed by a change of termination, or by derivation. (3.) Gender is expressed by prefixing a word to indicate the sex, or by composition.

11. Case is the inflection or change in form or position in the sentence which the Noun undergoes to express its relation to some other word in a sentence.

12. There are three Cases-the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective.

(a.) When a Noun is the subject of a sentence-i.e., the subject about which any affirmation is made it is usually put before the Verb, and is said to be in the Nominative Case.

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