times connects only words; as, "Thou and he are happy, because you are good." three are five." "Two and 9. An Interjection is a word used to express some passion or emotion of the mind; as, " Oh! I have alienated my friend; alas! I fear for life." ARTICLE. An Article is a word prefixed to substantives, to point them out, and to show how far their signification extends; as, a garden, an eagle, the woman. In English there are but two articles, a and the; a becomes an before a vowel, and before a silent h; as, an acorn, an hour. But if the h be sounded, the a only is to be used; as, a hand, a heart, a highway. To this rule there are some exceptions; thus we say, An heroic act, an historical composition. U long at the beginning of a word is made up of the sound of initial y and o in move: it therefore requires the article a before it and not an; as, a unit, a union, but an uninterrupted business. A or an is styled the indefinite article: it is used in a vague sense, to point out one single thing of the kind, in other respects indeterminate; as, "Give me a book;” “ Bring me an apple." The is called the definite article, because it ascertains what particular thing or things are meant; as, "Give me the book;""Bring me the apples;" meaning some particular book, or apples, referred to. A substantive, without any article to limit it, is generally taken in its widest sense; as, “A candid temper is proper for man ;" that is, for all mankind. A or an is in general used before nouns of the singular number only; as, a tall man, a fine horse. It is however used before certain nouns of the plural number; as, a few apples, a great many pears. The is in general `used before nouns, whether of the singular or of the plural number; as, the good man, the good men. It is also used before certain adverbs of the comparative and superlative degrees; as, "the more I read this book, the better I like it;""He did his lesson the best." No article is used before nouns, when the whole class is signified; as, Man possesses reasoning powers; beasts do not. The article the is sometimes prefixed to a noun of general signification in the singular number, to denote the whole class; as, "The lion is more generous than the tiger;" i. e. lions are more generous than tigers. SUBSTANTIVE.* A substantive or noun is the name of any thing which exists, or of which we have any notion; as, London, man, virtue. Substantives are either proper or common. Proper substantives are the names appropriated to individuals; as, George, London, Thames. Common substantives stand for kinds contain_ ing many sorts, or for sorts containing many individuals under them; as animal, man, tree, &c. * As soon as the learner has committed to memory the definitions of the article and substantive, he should be employed in parsing these parts of speech, as they are arranged in the corresponding Exercises, in the Appendix. The learner should proceed in this manner, through all the definitions and rules, regularly turning to, and parsing, the exercises of one definition or rule, before he proceeds to another. In the same order, he should be taught to correct the erroneous examples in the Exercises. For further directions respecting the mode of using the Exercises, see "English Exercises," Tenth, or any subsequent Edition, pp. 9-12. Substantives, denoting qualities of either persons or things, are called abstract; as, virtue, vice, misery. To substantives belong gender, number, and case; and they are all of the third person, when spoken of, and of the second, when spoken to ; as, "Blessings attend us on every side: Be grateful, children of men!” that is, " 'ye children of men." GENDER. Gender is the distinction of nouns, with regard to sex. There are three genders, the Masculine, the Feminine, and the Neuter. The masculine gender denotes animals of the male kind; as, a man, a horse, a bull. The feminine gender signifies animals of the female kind; as, a woman, a duck, a hen. The neuter gender denotes objects which are neither males nor females; as, a field, a house, a garden. Some nouns are common; i.e. either masculine or feminine; as, parent, child, infant, servant, writer. Some substantives naturally neuter are, by a figure of speech, converted into the masculine or |