a male animal, and no other, in the masculine gender; every name of a female animal, the feminine; and every animal whose sex is not obvious, or known, aswell as every inanimate object whatever, in the neuter gender. And this gives our language a superior advantage to most others, in the poetical and rhetorical style: for when nouns naturally neuter are converted into masculine and feminine, the personification is more distinctly, and more forcibly marked. The English language has three methods of distinguishing the sex, viz. 3. By a noun, pronoun, or adjective, being prefixed to the substantive: as, Votary Widower A cock-sparrow A man-servant A he-goat A he-bear A male child Male descendants A hen-sparrow A maid-servant A female child Female descendants. It sometimes happens, that the same noun is either masculine or feminine. The words parent, child, cousin, friend, neighbour, servant, and several others, are used indifferently for males or females. These words cannot properly be said to denote a distinct species of gender, as some writers on English grammar have asserted, who denominate them the common gender. There is no such gender belonging to the language. The business of parsing can be effectually performed, without having recourse to a common gender. Thus, we may say; Parents is a noun of the masculine and feminine gender; Parent, if doubtful, is of the masculine or feminine gender; Parent, if the gender is known by the construction, is of the gender so ascertained. Nouns with variable terminations contribute to conciseness and perspicuity of expression. We have only a sufficient number of them to make us feel our want: for when we say of a woman, she is a philosopher, an astronomer, a builder, a weaver, we perceive an impropriety in the termination, which we cannot avoid; but we can say, that she is a botanist, a student, a witness, a scholar, an orphan, a companion, because these terminations have not annexed to them the notion of sex. If you have paid attention to what I have said, you will be able to answer the following questions before I give you any new information. 1 will write them for you, that you may find out the answers, which I shall expect you to give, when we meet again. How do you distinguish the three cases? What rule do you give when you parse the possessive case? When you parse an objective case what rule? What is a verb? What distinction have I given respecting a verb? What is the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb? Are verbs, in the singular number, written as they are in the plural ? What is the distinction between a common and a proper noun? Of what persons are all nouns? How are nouns, naturally neuter, made of masculine or feminine gender? Can proper nouns be converted into common nouns? How? CONVERSATION V. Tutor. OF ARTICLES. In the two preceding Conversations, I endeavoured to explain to you the two principal parts of speech in the language, viz. the Noun and the Verb. An article is a word prefixed to nouns, to limit their signification. In the English language, there are but two articles, a and the: a becomes an, when the following word vowel, or a silent h: as, an acorn, an that acorn begins with a vowel; and h in hour is n hour. begins with a Here you see silent; there fore an is used; for the first letter sounded in hour is the vowel o. George. Must we always use a before a word beginning with h that is sounded? Tutor. No: there is one exception. An must be used when the following word begins with an h that is not silent, if the accent is on the second syllable; as, an heroic action, an historical account. But when the h is sounded, and the accent is not on the second syllable, a is only to be used: as, a hand, a husband, a heathen. Caroline. You said we must use an, and not a, before a word beginning with a vowel; is there no exception to that? Tutor. Yes there are two. An must not be used before the vowel u, when it is sounded long, but a: as, a union, a university, a useful book, &c. A must be used also before the word one: as, many a one-because in pronouncing one, we sound it as if it were written with a w. A or an is called the indefinite article; because it is used to point out one single thing of a kind in an indefinite manner) as, Give me a book-Bring me an apple; not meaning any particular book, or any particular apple. The is called the definite article; because it points out what particular thing or things are meant as, Give me the book-Bring me the apples; meaning some particular book, or apples. A noun used without an article to limit it, is generally taken in the widest sense: as, Man is mortal. You readily see that this does not mean the same, as a man is mortal. The former phrase means, the creature, nian, that is, all mankind; the latter restricts the meaning to an individual. The rule we give, then, when we parse an article, is RULE IV. An article refers to a noun, expressed or understood, to limit its signification. George. Do both the articles limit the nouns they refer to? Tutor. Yes; but in different ways. A or an requires the following noun not be in the singular number, and therefore limits it as to its number. Caroline. Does a or an always require the following noun to be singular? Tutor. Not always; for when the words few, great many, dozen, hundred, thousand, come between the article and noun, the noun is plural: as, a few men, a great many men, a dozen men, a hundred houses, a thousand houses. George. I could not properly say, a houses; but if I use few, or any of the words you mentioned, I perceive that the noun must be plural: as, a few houses, &c. But the definite article, I see, may be used with nouns of either number: I can say the house, or the houses, with equal propriety; how then does the definine article limit its noun ? Tutor. By referring to some particular thing or things, known; while a or an refers to things unknown, and of course to no particular thing. Caroline. When I say, You saw a horse, which my father sold, does not a refer to a particular horse, which is known ? Tutor. You have put a very proper question, Caroline and I am glad to observe you examine closely the principles I present to you. If you reflect on your question, however, you will find, that it is not the article, which ascertains the horse, spoken of to be a particular one, that is known; but it is that part of the sentence that follows the word horse. This will appear by stopping at the word horse: as, You saw a horse. -What horse is referred to? George. None, in particular. I now perceive, that the indefinite article has not the power of pointing out a thing precisely; but that other words render the thing definite, which the article alone could not make so. Caroline. I believe, that we now entirely comprehend the different uses of the articles. QUESTIONS. How many articles are there in the English language? What are they called ? For what purpose are they used? How does the indefinite article limit the noun ? How does the definite article limit it? When must a become an? In what instances must a be used before a vowel ? What rule do you give when you parse the articles? EXERCISES IN PARSING. The men saw wood. A boy runs. A girl writes. The husband governs the family. An owl hoots. The owls hoot. An ostrich runs. A bird flies. The ladies teach the children. The merchant sells the goods. The farmers sell pro duce. |