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OF DERIVATION.

Words are derived from one another in various ways, viz.

1. Substantives are derived from verbs; as, from" to love" comes " lover."

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2. Verbs are derived from substantives, adjectives, and sometimes from adverbs; as, from "salt" comes "to salt;" from " warm comes "to warm;" from "forward" comes "to forward."

3. Adjectives are derived from substantives; as, from “health" comes healthy."

4. Substantives are derived from adjectives; as, from "white" comes whiteness."

5. Adverbs are derived from adjectives; as, from "base" comes "basely."

SYNTAX.

THE third part of Grammar is SYNTAX, which is derived from a Greek word signifying to marshal an army, and treats of the construction of words in a sentence.

A sentence is an assemblage of words forming a complete sense.

Sentences are of two kinds, SIMPLE and COM

POUND.

A simple sentence has in it but one subject and one finite verb; as, "Life is short.",

A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences connected together; as, "Life is short, and art is long;" want, vice, and misery."

"Idleness produces

A phrase is two or more words rightly put together, making sometimes part of a sentence, and sometimes a whole sentence; as, "In short,

to be plain with you."

The principal parts of a simple sentence are, the subject, the attribute, and the object.

The subject is the thing spoken of; the attri

bute is the thing or action affirmed, or denied of it; and the object is the thing affected by such action.

The nominative denotes the subject, and usually goes before the verb or attribute; and the word or phrase, denoting the object, follows the verb; as, "A wise man governs his passions." Here, a wise man is the subject; governs, the attribute, or thing affirmed; and his passions, the object.

Syntax principally consists of two parts, Concord and Government.

Concord is the agreement which one word has with another, in gender, number, case, or person.

Government is that power which one part of speech has over another, in directing its mood, tense, or case.

RULE I.

A verb must agree with its nominative case, in number and person; as,

66 I learn;"" Thou art

improved;"" The birds sing."

The nominative is generally placed before the verb; but in the following cases it is commonly placed after it.

1. When the verb is interrogative, imperative, or expresses a wish; as, "Believest thou the Prophets?" "Go and do thou likewise.” “May he be happy!"

2. When a supposition is made without using the conjunction if; as, "Were I in your place."

3. When the verb is connected to a preceding sentence by the conjunctions neither and nor; as, "Neither shall they learn war any more."

4. When the verb is preceded by one of the following adverbs, here, there, then, thence, hence, thus, &c.; as, "Here am I." "Thus terminated this bloody war."

Many verbs are used impersonally, and have the pronoun it for their nominative; as, "It was raining;" "It freezes;

"It will thunder."

Verbs of the imperative mood have no nominative expressed; as, "Retire to rest early, and arise betimes."

If the same word be the nominative to two verbs, which come very near together, it will not be expressed with both; as Henry is gone, but will return again;" i. e. Henry will return.

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In like manner, if the same verb belong to two nominatives in the same sentence, it will not be expressed with both; as, "Not only

Henry went, but his brother also;" i. e. his brother went.

The infinitive mood being equivalent to a noun, and sometimes a whole sentence, is the nominative to a verb; as, "To study is praiseworthy;" "That children obey their parents is

a reasonable service."

It is more elegant to place the pronoun it before the verb, and the infinitive mood or the sentence, as the case may be, after it; as, "It is praiseworthy to study;" "It is a reasonable service, that children should obey their parents."

Two or more infinitives, being nominatives to the same verb, require the verb to be plural; as, "To have mercy, and to do good, are the duties of every Christian.”

RULE II.

Two or more nouns, &c., in the singular number, joined together by a copulative conjunction, expressed or understood, have verbs, nouns, and pronouns, agreeing with them in the plural number; as, "Socrates and Plato were wise: they were the most eminent philosophers of Greece;" "The sun that rolls over our heads, the food that we receive, the rest that we enjoy, daily

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