adding st or est, to the end of it: as, wise, wiser, wis-est; great, greater, greatest. And the adverbs more and most, placed before the adjective, have the same effect; as, wise, more wise, most wise.

Monosyllables, for the most part, are compared by er or est; and dissyllables by more and most; as, mild, milder, mildest; frugal, more frugal, most frugal.

Some words of very common use are irregularly formed: as, "good, better, best; bad, worse, worst ; little, less, least; much or many, more, most ;" and a few others.

PRONOUNS.

A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word; as, "the man is happy," "he is benevolent," "he is useful."

There are three kinds of pronouns, viz. the Personal, the Relative, and the Adjective Pronouns.

PERSONAL FRONOUNS.

There are five Personal pronouns; viz. I, thou, he, she, it ;. with their plurals, we, ye, or you, they.. Personal pronouns admit of person, number, gender, and case.

The persons

numbers, viz,

of pronouns are three in each of the

I, is the first person

Thou, is the second person

He, she, or it, is the third person

We, is the first person

Ye or you, is the second person

They is the third person

Singular.

Plural.

The numbers of pronouns, like those of substantives, are two, the singular and the plural; as, I, thou, hew, ye, they.

Gender has respect only to the third person singu lar of the pronouns, he, she, it. He is masculine; she is feminine; it is neuter.

Pronouns have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and the objective.

The objective case of a pronoun has, in general, a form different from that of the nominative, or the poss sessive case.

The personal pronouns are thus declined.

Relative Pronouns are such as relate, in general, fo 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 virtuously."*

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

* See Grammar, 14th, or any subarquent edition, ħ. 42, the note.

Who is applied to persons, which to animals and in-animate 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 toe 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."

Who is of both numbers, and is thus declined :

Who, which, 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, partic pating the properties both of pronouns and adjectives. The adjective pronouns may be subdivided inte four corts, namely, the possessive, the distributive, the demonstrative, and the indefinite.

1. The possessive are those which relate to posses→ sion or property.

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

Mine and thine, instead of my and thy, were formenly used before a substantive or adjective beginning with a vowel, or a silent h; as, "Biot 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; as, "Each of his brothers is in a favorable situation ;”

* Every man must account for himself"; " I have not: seen either of them."

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 intelli

gent than that.” "This indicates the latter, or last mentioned; that the former, or first mentioned: as, "Wealth and poverty are both temptations; that tends to excite pride, this, discontent.”

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, suchy

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

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

A Verb Active expresses an action, and necessarily implies an agent, and an object acted upon; as, to love; "I love Penelope."

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 la acted upon; as, to be loved;" Penelope is loved by

me,"

A Verb Neuter expresses neither action nor pas

sion; but being, or a state of being, as, "I am, I sleep, I sit."

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 va riation:

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 & 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."

The Potential Mcod implies possibility of liberty, power, will, or obligation; as, "It may rain; he may go or stay; I can ride; he would walk; they should learn"