RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

Relative Pronouns are such as relate, in general, to some word or phrase going before, which is thence called the antecedent: they are who, which, and that; as," The man is happy who lives virtuuously."*

What is a kind of compound relative, including both the antecedent and the relative, and is mostly equivalent to that which; as, "This is what I wanted;" that is to say, "the thing which I wanted "

Who is applied to persons, which to animals and inanimate things; as, "He is a friend who is faithful in adversity;" "The bird, which sung so sweetly, is flown;" "This is the tree, which produces no fruit."

That, as a relative, is often used to prevent the too frequent repetition of who and which. It is applied to both persons and things; as, "He that acts wisely deserves praise;" "Modesty is a quality that highly adorns a woman.'

*The relative pronoun, when used interrogatively, relates to a word or phrase, which is not antecedent, but subsequent, to the rela tive. See Syntax, Rule VI. App. 2. page 55.

What is a double relative, and may be thus declined:

Who, which, and what, are called Interrogatives, when they are used in asking questions; as "Who is he?" "Which is the book?" What are you doing?"

ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.

Adjective Pronouns are of a mixed nature, participating the properties both of pronouns and adjectives.

The adjective pronouns may be subdivided into four sorts, namely, the possessive, the distributive, the demonstrative, and the indefinite.

1. The possessive are those which relate to possession or property.

There are seven of them; viz. my, thy, his, her, our, your, their.

Mine and thine, instead of my and thy, were formerly used before a substantive, or adjective, begin

*The objective form Of which of this relative, is used in English to express the relation of property or possession; and corresponds to the Genitive cujus of the Latin pronoun Qui. The possessive whose is sometimes, by eminent authors, connected with an antecedent of the neuter gender; but this connection is rather a poetical license than grammatical propriety, and should be avoid

ed.

Editar

ning with a vowel, or a silent h; as, "Blot out all mine iniquities."

2. The distributive are those which denote the persons or things that make up a number, as taken separately and singly. They are each, every, either; "Each of his brothers is in a favourable situation;""Every man must account for himself;" "I have not seen either of them.

as,

3. The demonstrative are those which precisely point out the subjects to which they relate: this and that, these and those, are of this class; as, "This is true charity; that is only its image.'

This refers to the nearest person or thing, and that to the more distant; as, This man is more intelligent than that." This indicates the lat ter, or last mentioned; that, the former, or first mentioned; as, Wealth and poverty are both temptations; that tends to excite pride, this, discon

tent."

66

Former and latter belong to this class; as, "Fabius continued in the command with Minucius; the former's phlegm was a check upon the latter's vivacity."

4. The indefinite are those which express their subjects in an indefinite or general manner. The following are of this kind: some, other, any, one, all, such, &c.

One and Other are declined in the following

A Verb is a word which signifies to BE, to Do, or to SUFFER; as, "I am, I rule, I am ruled.”

Verbs are of three kinds; ACTIVE, PASSIVE, and NEUTER. They are also divided into REGUlar, IRREGULAR, and DEFECTIVE.

A Verb Active-transitive expresses an action, and necessarily implies an agent, and, an object acted upon; as, to love; "I love Penel'ope."

A Verb Active-intransitive expresses an action, which is confined to the agent, without affecting any particular object; as, to walk, to run, to fly; "The man walks, the horse runs, the bird flies."

A Verb Passive expresses a passion or a suffering, or the receiving of an action; and necessarily implies an object acted upon, and an agent by which it is acted upon; as, to be loved; Penel'ope is loved by me."

66

A Verb Neuter expresses neither action nor passion; but being, or state of being; as, “I am, I sleep, I sit."

The verb active is called transitive, because the action passes over to the object or has an effect upon some other thing; as, "The tutor instructs his pupils." "I esteem the man."

Verbs neuter may properly be denominated intransitives, hecause the effect is confined within the subject, and does not pass over to any object; as, "I sit, he lives, they sleep."

Some of the verbs that are usually ranked among neuters, make a near approach to the nature of a verb active; but they may be distinguished from it by their being intransitive; as, to run, to walk, to fly, &c. The rest are more obviously neuter, and more clearly expressive of a middle state between action and passion; as, to stand, to lie, to sleep, &c.

In English, many verbs are used both in an active and a neuter signification, the construction only determining of which kind they are; as, to flatten, signifying to make even or level, is a verb active; but when it signifies to grow dull or insipid, it is a verb

neuter.

A neuter verb, by the addition of a preposition, may become a compound active verb. To smile is a neuter verb: it cannot, therefore, be followed by an objective case, nor be construed as a passive verb. We cannot say, she smiled him, or, he was smiled. But to smile on being a compound active verb, we properly say she smiled on him; he was smiled on by fortune.

Auxiliary or Helping Verbs, are those by the

help of which the English verbs are principally conjugated; they are, do, be, have, shall, will, may, can, with their variations; and let and must, which have no variation.*

To verbs belong Number, Person, Mood, and Tense.

NUMBER AND PERSON.

Verbs have two numbers, the Singular and the Plural; as, "I love, we love."

In each number there are three persons; as,

Mood or Mode is a particular form of the verb, showing the manner in which the being, action, or passion, is represented.

There are five moods of verbs, the Indicative, the Imperative, the Potential, the Subjunctive, and the Infinitive.

The Indicative Mood simply indicates or declares a thing; as, "He loves; he is loved:" or it asks a question; as, "Does he love? Is he loved?"

The Imperative mood is used for commanding, exhorting, entreating, or permitting; as, "Depart thou; mind ye, let us stay; go in peace."

Though this mood derives its name from its intimation of command, it is used on occasions of a very opposite nature, even in the humblest supplications of an inferiour being, to one who is infinitely his superiour; as, "Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses."

The Potential Mood implies possibility or liberty, power, will, or obligation; as, "It may rain; he *Let, as a principal verb, has lettest, and letteth; but as a helping verb, it admits of no variation.