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tion, are nevertheless means of communication. These are called Interjections.' An interjection is thus a word thrown in to express some sudden thought or emotion of the mind; as, 'ah!' 'alas!' 'pooh!' 'hist!' 'hurrah!' etc.

Corresponding, then, to these eight general uses of words are the eight parts of speech. They fall into two general divisions:

1. Principal-noun, pronoun and verb.

2. Accessory

Modifiers-adjective and adverb.

Connectives-preposition and conjunction.
Exclamations- interjection.

To these we may add, not coördinately, but derivatively, certain verb-forms called Verbals, which, in addition to the use of the verb, have that of some other part of speech. These are of two kinds:

1. Participle-verbal adjectives sharing the properties of adjective and verb.

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1 Latin inter, between, and jacere, to throw, thrown between.

2 Latin pars, part, and capere, to take.

3 Latin infinitus, not limited-not limited to a subject, but naming the action in an indefinite way.

(1) Root Infinitive- the simplest form of the verb; as, 'read,' 'write.' Its usual sign

is the preposition 'to'; as 'to read,' to write.'

(2) Participial Infinitive the form in -ing; as 'read

ing,' 'writing.'

Note I.-The imperfect or active participle is often terined the present.

Note II. The participial infinitive is identical in form with the active participle, but differs from it in having the construction of a noun; as, 'By singing, birds delight us.'

Note III.- Until the sixteenth century, the active participle and the participial infinitive had distinct endings.

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Note IV.--In Old English the root-infinitive was formed by a suffix; as, lufi-an, to love. The sign 'to' belonged exclusively to the gerund, or infinitive of purpose; as, (to) lufi-anne. Thus Wycliffe writes: And he suffride hem nat for to speke.' changed to -en, then to -e, which was finally dropped. through the several stages of -ene, -en, and -e. tions were lost, the sign 'to' remained.

-An was first

-Anne passed When the termina

It remains to speak of a class of words joined to others to assist in expressing the relations no longer marked by inflectional endings. We have just seen that our Saxon forefathers never put 'to' before the infinitive proper. Instead of 'to drink,' for example, they would say 'drinc-an.' As the suffixes fell into disuse, they were replaced by the preposition; and, instead of saying, 'I like walk-en,' people began to say 'I like to walk.' Some verbs, however, were so often companions to the infinitive,

that it was not found necessary to insert 'to.' Hence we

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Most of these verbs have thus lost their original independence, and have sunk into mere indications of tense or mood. Words which are thus allies are called Auxiliaries. They are subdivided into:

1. Verb-auxiliaries

(1) Emphatic-'do' and its inflections.

(2) Passive

(3) Tense
(4) Mood

-'be' and its inflections.

— ‘have,' ‘had,' ‘shall,' 'will.’

['should.'

-'may,' 'can,' 'must,' 'might,' 'could,' 'would,'

(5) Infinitive — 'to.' 2. Comparison-auxiliaries, used in the inflection of adjectives and adverbs,-less,' 'least,' 'more,' 'most.'

Note I.—The word inflected by the aid of the auxiliary is called principal. Their combination is regarded as one—a composite word. Thus, might have been given' is regarded as one word-a verb. Note II.-Verbs always auxiliary-'may,' 'can,' 'shall,' 'must'; verbs sometimes principal — ‘do,’‘be,’‘have,' 'will.'

Note III. Less,' 'least,' 'more,' 'most,' have always a twofold use — auxiliary and principal.

Note IV.-Verb-auxiliaries combine with

1. Participles-imperfect, I am writing.

2. Root-infinitives, I can (to) write.

3. Infinitives and participles, I shall have written.

EXERCISES.

Give, with the reason therefor, the class and sub-class of the italicized parts. In the case of verbs, state whether they are simple or composite; if the latter, characterize the components. Refer, also, verbals and auxiliaries to their appropriate division and subdivision.

1. I think, therefore I am.-Descartes.

2. Can storied urn or animated bust

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?-Gray.

3. Young ladies, put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.-O. W. Holmes.

4. From liberty each nobler science sprung,

A Bacon brightened, and a Spenser sung.-Savage.

5. A foot more light, a step more true,

Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew.-Scott.

6. Some put their bliss in action, some in ease:

Those call it pleasure; and contentment, these.- Pope.

7. Close beside her, faintly moaning, fair and young, a sol

8.

9.

10.

11.

dier lay,

Torn with shot and pierced with lances, bleeding slow his life away.- Whittier.

Overhead the dismal hiss

Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew.-Milton.

Man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heav'n
As makes the angels weep.-Shakespeare.

Perdition catch my soul

But I do love thee.-Ibid.

In youth alone unhappy mortals live,

But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive.-Dryden.

12. A Nonne, a Prioresse,

That of hire smiling was full simple and coy.
And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetishly

After the schole of Stratford atte Bowe,

For French of Paris was to her unknowe.-Chaucer.

CHAPTER IV.

WORDS-INFLECTIONS.

It is a remarkable fact that the modern languages known in literature are, perhaps without exception, poorer in grammatical inflections than the ancient tongues from which they are respectively derived; and that, consequently, the syntactical relations of important words are made to depend much more on auxiliaries, determinative particles and position.-G. P. MARSH.

WE

E have seen that Inflection is a change of form to correspond to a change of meaning. Thus, 'The tree falls' becomes The trees fall,' when the word 'tree' is required to denote more than one object; and this requires a corresponding change in the verb from 'falls' to 'fall.' 'The tree falls' becomes 'The tree fell,' to indicate that the act of falling is not now going on, but took place in some time gone by. 'He struck me' becomes 'I struck him,' to indicate that the one who inflicted the stroke in the first case, endures the stroke in the second. Similar changes are: 'speak,' 'speakest,' 'had spoken'; ‘John,' 'John's'; 'wise,' 'wiser,' 'wisest.'

Inflections of the Noun and Pronoun are:

1. Number-forms, which distinguish the object of thought in respect of number- Singular, one; Plural,

more than one.

2. Gender-forms, which distinguish the objects of thought in respect of sex,- Masculine, male; Feminine, female; Neuter, neither; Common, either, as 'parent,' 'child.'

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