(b.) When the Noun is followed by another Noun, and expresses possession, it is said to be in the Possessive Case.

(c.) When the Noun denotes the object on which the action expressed by a Transitive Verb terminates, or follows a Preposition, it is placed after the Verb or Preposition, and is said to be in the Objective Case.

13. The Possessive Case is formed according to these Rules :

(1.) The Possessive Singular is generally formed by adding an apostrophe (') and s to the Nominative.

(2.) When the Nominative ends in s or in the sound of s, and the Noun following begins with s, the Possessive is formed by simply adding an apostrophe (') to the Nominative.

(3.) The Possessive Plural is generally formed by adding an apostrophe (') to the Nominative Plural,

(4.) When the Nominative Plural does not end in s, the Possessive Plural is formed like the Possessive Singular.

14. In all English Nouns the Nominative and the Objective are alike in form. They are distinguished from each other by their position in the sentence.

(a.) The Nominative is generally placed before the Verb.

(b.) The Objective is generally placed after the Verb or after a Preposition.

THE VERB.

15. The Verb is inflected or changed in its form to express Person, Number, Tense, Mood, and Voice.

16. Person is the inflection or change of form which the Verb undergoes to express whether the agent or doer of the action be the person speaking, the person spoken to, or the person spoken of.

17. The Verb is said to have three Persons,-the First, the Second, and the Third.

(a.) When the agent is the person speaking, the Verb is said to be of the First Person.

(b.) When the agent is the person spoken to, the Verb is said to be of the Second Person.

(c.) When the agent is the person spoken of, the Verb is said to be of the Third Person.

NOTE. As the subject always requires to be expressed, except in the Imperative Mood, the English Verb has few Personal endings.

18. Number is the inflection or change of form which the Verb undergoes to express whether the subject of the Verb be singular or

19. Verbs have two Numbers,—the Singular and the Plural.

(a.) When the subject of the Verb is singular, the Verb is said to be of the Singular Number.

(b.) When the subject of a Verb is plural, the Verb is said to be of the Plural Number.

NOTE. As the subject always requires to be expressed, except in the Imperative Mood, the English Verb has few Number endings.

20. Tense is the inflection or change of form which the Verb undergoes to express the time at which the action takes place.

21. There are three Leading Tenses, the Present, the Past, and the Future.

(a.) When the action expressed by the Verb is represented as actually going on, the Verb is said to be in the Present Tense.

(b.) When the action expressed by the Verb is represented as past, the Verb is said to be in the Past Tense.

(c.) When the action expressed by the Verb is represented as future, the Verb is said to be in the Future Tense.

22. (a.) Many Verbs form their Past Tense by adding d or ed to the Present. Such Verbs are called Regular.

(b.) Many Verbs form their Past Tense, not by the addition of d or ed to the Present, but by a change of the internal vowel. Such Verbs are called Irregular.

(c.) The Future Tense is always formed by adding the auxiliary Verbs shall or will to the present Infinitive of the principal Verb.

23. Each of the three Leading Tenses has a Subsidiary Tense, which indicates not only the time of the action, but also the degree of its completion. These Subsidiary Tenses are called Perfect Tenses.

24. There are three Perfect Tenses, the Present Perfect, the Past Perfect, and the Future Perfect. The Perfect Tenses are all formed by attaching the Past Participle of any Verb to the auxiliary Verb have.

(a.) When the Verb expresses present time and completed action, it is said to be in the Present Perfect Tense.

(b.) When the Verb expresses past time and completed action, it is said to be in the Past Perfect Tense.

(c.) When the Verb expresses future time and completed action, it is said to be in the Future Perfect Tense.

NOTE.-Have, shall, and will are called Auxiliaries of Tense.

25. Mood is the inflection or change of form which the Verb undergoes to express the mode or manner in which the action presents itself to the mind.

26. There are five Moods,-the Indicative, the Potential, the Subjunctive, the Imperative, and the Infinitive.

(a.) When the Verb is employed to express a simple assertion, it is said to be in the Indicative Mood.

(b.) When the Verb is employed to express power, obligation, or duty, it is said to be in the Potential Mood.-The Potential Mood is formed by the auxiliaries may, can, must, would, should.

(c.) When the Verb is employed to express doubt or contingency, it is said to be in the Subjunctive Mood.-The Subjunctive Mood is formed by prefixing some Conjunction, as if, though, to the Verb.

(d.) When the Verb is employed to express a command, it is said to be in the Imperative Mood.-The Imperative Mood is formed by subjoining the Pronouns thou or ye and you to the Verb.

(e.) When the Verb is employed simply to name the action, without any limitation, it is said to be in the Infinitive Mood.-The Infinitive Mood is generally formed by prefixing to to the Verb.

NOTE.-May, can, must, would, should are called Auxiliaries of Mood. 27. Voice is the inflection or change of form which the Verb undergoes to express whether the agent acts or is acted upon.

28. There are two Voices-the Active and the Passive.

(a.) When the subject of the Verb acts, the Verb is said to be in the Active Voice.

(b.) When the subject of the Verb is acted upon, the Verb is said to be in the Passive Voice.-The Passive Voice is formed by adding the Past Participle of any Transitive Verb to the complete conjugation of the Verb To be.

NOTE.-The Verb To be is termed the Auxiliary of Voice.

29. When the Verb is employed to express that the action is in actual progress, it is said to be in the Progressive Form.-The Progressive Form of a Verb is formed by adding its Present Participle to the complete conjugation of the Verb To be.

30. When the Verb is employed to ask a question, it is said to be in the Interrogative Form.-The Interrogative Form of a Verb is formed by putting the subject after the Verb, or between the Auxiliary and the Verb, except when the question begins with the Interrogative Pronoun.

THE ADJECTIVE.

31. The Adjective is inflected to express Degree.

32. Adjectives have three Degrees,-the Positive, the Comparative, and the Superlative.

(a.) When the Adjective is used in its simple form, it is said to be in the Positive Degree.

(b.) When the Adjective is used to compare the degree in which any

quality exists in two objects, it is said to be in the Comparative Degree.

(c.) When the Adjective is used to express the highest degree of any quality, it is said to be in the Superlative Degree.

33. The following are the Rules for forming the Comparative and the Superlative Degrees :

:

(1.) In Adjectives of one or two syllables, the Comparative is generally formed by adding r or er to the Positive, and the Superlative by adding st or est to the Positive.

(2.) In Adjectives of more than two syllables, the Comparative is generally formed by prefixing more, and the Superlative by prefixing most, to the Positive.

34. The comparison of some Adjectives is irregular.

THE ADVERB.

35. A few Adverbs are inflected to express Degree.

NOTE.-Adverbs have the same degrees as Adjectives, and form these degrees according to the same rules.

THE PRONOUN.

36. The Pronoun, like the Noun, is inflected to express Number, Gender, and Case.

37. The Personal and the Relative Pronouns alone undergo inflection.

38. (a.) The Personal Pronouns express the plural by the use of different words.

(6.) The Relative Pronouns are the same in the plural as in the singular.

(c.) Except in the case of the Pronoun of the third person singular, the gender of the Personal Pronouns depends upon the gender of the Nouns for which they stand.

(d.) The gender of the Relative Pronouns depends on the gender of the Nouns for which they stand.

(e.) The Personal and the Relative Pronouns have distinct forms for the objective case, and in this respect differ from Nouns, in which the nominative and the objective are alike in form.

THE CONJUNCTION, THE PREPOSITION, AND THE

INTERJECTION.

39. The Conjunction, the Preposition, and the Interjection do not undergo inflection.

IRREGULAR VERBS.

40. The following list comprehends almost all the Irregular Verbs in the language, arranged into three classes :

CLASS FIRST.

Verbs which have only one form for the Present Tense, the Past Tense, and the Past Participle :

Verbs which have only two forms to express the Present Tense, the

Past Tense, and the Past Participle :-