The vowels are, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. Wand y are consonants when they begin a word or syllable; but in every other situation they are vowels. Consonants are divided into mutes and semiTowels. The mutes cannot be sounded at all without the aid of the vowel. They are, b, p, t, d, k, and cand g hard. 1 The semi-vowels have an imperfect sound of themselves. They are f, l, m, n, r, v, 8, 2, and x, c and g soft.* Four of the semi-vowels, namely, l, m, n, r, are also distinguished by the name of liquids, from their readily uniting with other consonants, and flowing as it were into their sounds. A dipthong is the union of two vowels, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice; as ea in beat, ou in sound. A tripthong, the union of three vowels, pronounced in like manner; as eau in beau, ieu in view. A proper dipthong is that in which both the vowels are sounded; as, oi in voice, ou in ounce. An improper dipthong has but one of the vowels sounded; as ea in eagle, oa in boat. SYLLABLES. A syllable is a sound either simple or compound.. ed, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word, or part of a word; as, a, an, ant. Spelling is the art of rightly dividing words into their syllables; or of expressing a word by its prop→ er letters.* *For the distinction between the nature and the name ef a consonant, see the larger Grammar, 15th edition, .p. 19. *Dr. Johnson's Dictionary is the best standard of EngEsh orthography! WORDS. Words are articulate sounds, used by common consent, as signs of our ideas. A word of one syllable is termed a monosyllable; a word of two syllables, a dissyllable; a word of three syllables, a trisyllable; a word of four or more syllables, a polysyllable. All words are either primitive or derivative. A primitive word is that which cannot be reduced to any simpler word in the language; as man, good, content. A derivative word is that which may be reduced to another word in English of greater simplicity; as, manful, goodness, contentment, Yorkshire. --oxox0000000000000 ETYMOLOGY. The second part of Grammar is Etymology; which treats of the different sorts of words, their various modifications, and their derivation. There are in English nine sorts of words, or, as they are commonly called, parts of Speech; namely, the Article, the Substantive or Noun, the Adjective, the Pronoun, the Verb, the Adverb, the Preposition, the Conjunction and the Interjection. 1. An article is a word perfixed to substantives to point them out, and to show how far their signification extends; as, a garden, an eagle, the wo 2. A Substantive or noun is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have any notion; as, London, man, virtue. A substantive may, in general be distinguished by its taking an article before it, or by its making sense of itself, as, a book, the sun, an apple, temperance, industry, charity. 3. An Adjective is a word added to a substantive, to express its quality; as, an industrious man, a virtuous woman. An adjective may be known by its making sense with the addition of the word thing; as, a good thing, a bad thing or of any particular substan tive; as, a sweel apple, a pleasant prospect. 4. 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. 5. A Verb is a word which signifies to BE to Do or to SUFFER; as, "I am, I rule, I am ruled." A Verb may generally be distinguished by its making sense with any of the personal pronouns, or the word to before it; as, I walk, he plays, they write ; or, to walk, to play, to write. 6. An Adverb is a part of speech joined to a verb, an adjective, and sometimes to another adverb, to express some quality or circumstance respecting it; as, he reads well; a truly good man; he writes very correctly. An Adverb may be generally known, by its answering the question, How? How much? When? or, Where? as in the phrase, "He reads correctby," the answer to the question, How does he read is, correctly. 7. Prepositions serve to connect words with one another, and to show the relation between them; as, "He went from London to York;" she is above disguise;" "They are supported by industry." A preposition may be known by its admitting after it a personal pronoun in the objective case; as with, for, to, &c. will allow the objective case af ter them; with him, for her, to them, &c. -8. A Conjunction is a part of speech that is chiefly used to connect sentences; so as, out of two or more sentences to make but one: it sometimes connects only words; as, "Thou and he are happy, because you are good." "Two and three are five." 9. Interjections are words thrown in between the parts of a sentence, to express the passions of emotions of the speaker; as "O virtue !.how amlable thou art! ARTICLE. An Article is a word prefixed to substantives, to point them out and 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. 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 indefinite article, because it ascertains what particular things are meant: as "Give me the book; "Bring me the apples ;" meaning some book, or apples referred to. A substantive without an article to limit it, is generally taken in its widest sense; as, "A candid temper is proper for man ;" that is, for all mankind. SUBSTANTIVE. * A Substantive or noun is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have any notion; as, London, Man, Virtue. Substantives are either proper or common. Proper names or substantives, are the names appropriated to individuals; as, George, London, Thames. *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 correspondent 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 Exer cises see "English Exercises," Tenth, or any subsequent edition, page 9-18, Common names or substantives, stand for kinds containing many sorts, or for sorts containing many individuals under them; as, animal, man, tree, &c. 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 the 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 fe male 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 substantives naturally neuter are, by a figure of speech, converted into the masculine or feminine gender; as, when we say of the sun, he is setting, and of a ship, she sails well, &c. The English language has three methods of distinguishing the sex,viz... 1. By different words: as, Male. Female. Male. Female Bachelor maid Husband wife |