To parse an adjective,

Tell, 1. What part of speech-...

....and why?

and compare it;

2. If it is a qualifying adjective, the degree-and why?

3.

4. To what noun it belongs;

5. Rule.

To parse an article,

Tell, 1. Whether definite or indefinite-and why?

2. To what noun it belongs;

3. Rule.

Or, parse it as a limiting adjective.

MODEL.

"That boy rode the vicious horse.”

--

That is a limiting adjective — it limits the meaning of a noun; it belongs to the noun boy.

RULE II.-Adjectives and participles belong to nouns or pronouns.

Boy is a common noun, of the masculine gender, third person, singular number, in the nominative case-subject of the verb rode.

RULE IV.—The subject of a finite verb is put in the nominative case.

The is the definite article

it refers to a particular object; it belongs to the noun horse. [Better.-The is a limiting adjective — it limits the meaning of a noun; it belongs to the noun horse.]

RULE II.-Adjectives and participles belong to nouns or pronouns.

Vicious is a qualifying adjective

---

it expresses a quality belonging to an object; in the positive degree - it simply expresses the quality; positive, vicious, comparative, more vicious, superlative, most vicious; it belongs to the noun horse.

RULE II.--Adjectives and participles belong to nouns or pronouns. Horse is a noun, etc.; in the objective case verb rode.

the object of the transitive

RULE IX.-The object of a transitive verb is put in the objective case.

"The rose is the fairest of all flowers."

Fairest is a qualifying adjective-it expresses a quality which belongs to an object; in the superlative degree the quality is represented as belonging to one of several objects in a higher degree than to any of the rest; positive, fair, comparative, fairer, superlative, fairest; it belongs to flower, understood.

RULE II.-Adjectives and participles belong to nouns or pronouns.

How do you parse an adjective?

How do you parse rn article?

"This room is warmer than that."

Warmer is a qualifying adjective, etc.; in the comparative degree — the quality is represented as belonging to one of two objects in a higher degree than to the other, etc.; it belongs to the noun room.

RULE II.-Adjectives and participles belong to nouns or pronouns.

PRONOUN.

A pronoun is a word which is used instead of a

noun.

Illustration.-John told Sarah that John would let Sarah have John's book, if Sarah wished to study Sarah's lesson.

John told Sarah that he would let her have his book, if she wished to study her lesson.

In the latter sentence, he and his, she and her are pronouns, standing for John and John's, Sarah and Sarah's in the former.

Pro is a Latin word which signifies for or instead of. Pronoun, then, means instead of a noun.

Remarks.-1. Pronouns are not absolutely necessary for the communication of our thoughts: but language, without them, would be burdened with the repetition of nouns.

2. Properly speaking, pronouns stand not merely for the nouns, but for the nouns with all the qualifying words. Thus, "The venerable old man treated us so kindly, that we were forced to love him." Here him prevents the repetition, not of man merely, but of the venerable old man.

EXERCISES.

1. In the following sentences, instead of the pronouns put the nouns for which they stand.

The gardener found his charmed fan to be the very thing he desired. He had now no labor to perform; a few sweeps of his fan brought him all the flowers he needed. He therefore spent his time in luxurious indolence.

Man was created out of the dust of the earth; and, when he rose from the ground, he saw plants every where around him. The rearing of them became his first care, their fruit his first food, and marking their kinds his first knowledge.

What is a pronoun?

Are pronouns necessary to the communication of thought?

2. In the following put pronouns where they can be used instead of the nouns. The news of the Sultan's return being spread, the courtiers came betimes in the morning before the Sultan's pavilion, to wait the Sultan's pleasure. The Sultan ordered the courtiers to enter, received the courtiers with a more pleasant air than the Sultan had formerly done, and gave each of the courtiers a present.

Remarks. To avoid the repetition of nouns is not the only office of pronouns. I is a word used by the person speaking, to designate himself, but does not stand for his name, or imply any previous mention of himself. So thou or you is used to designate the person addressed; and we use it whether we know the name of the individual or not.

I is equivalent to "the speaker;" and thou or you to the " "person addressed." We, the plural of I, is used when the speaker includes others with himself, or when several are joined in speaking or writing.

Kings, as a mark of pre-eminence, use we instead of I. We is also used instead of I by editors of periodical publications, and often by public speakers and others, to avoid the appearance of egotism, and for other reasons.

EXERCISES.

1. Put pronouns, where they are admissible, in the following sentences.

The speaker will love the person addressed. If the person addressed command, the speaker will obey. The person addressed did as well as the speaker could do.

2. Instead of the pronouns in the following sentences use their equivalents.

I wished you to do well. You said you loved me. How shall I beli ve you?

Note.-Though I and "the speaker" convey the same idea, yet their construction is not the same. I takes a verb of the first person, and "the speaker" takes one of the third, as all nouns do. A similar remark may be made with respect to thou, and "the person addressed."

Remarks.—1. He, she and it refer to persons or things spoken of, and generally imply some previous mention of the objects referred to; as, ،، Charles studies, and he will learn ;" "Susan is a good girl, and she will be loved;" "John saw the deer, and shot it."

2. But these pronouns do not always imply a previous mention of the objects. In the following sentences he stands for the man, or something equivalent, and she for the woman. "He who is just will be rewarded." "She who is virtuous will be respected."

To what is I equivalent?-thou?
When is we used?

To what do he, she, and it refer?

Do they always imply a previous mention of the objects?

The plural they is often used in an indefinite sense, referring to men in general; as, They say that the earth is spherical;" that is, men say.

66

EXERCISES.

For what do he, she, and they stand in the following sentences?

He that trusteth in riches shall fall. He that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. She that is industrious will improve. They say this man is honest.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

The pronouns I, thou, he, she, and it, in their various cases and numbers, are called personal pronouns; because I is always of the first person, thou of the second, and he, she, and it of the third. They are thus declined:

Remarks.-1. Where there are two forms of the possessive case, one of them is used when the name of the thing possessed is expressed; the other when it is omitted.

Thus: "That is your book, but this is mine," "This is my book, but that is yours."

Mine and thine were formerly used before a vowel or silent h; as, "Blot out all mine iniquities." They are still so used in the solemn style.

What words are called personal pronouns? | How are the two forms of the possessive Why are they so called? case used?

Decline I-thou-he-she-it.

2. These words, mine, thine, hers, ours, yours, theirs, are by some said to stand both for the name of the possessor and of the thing possessed. This is not correct. The name of the thing possessed is omitted, because it has been previously expressed. The nature of the pronoun may be understood by putting a noun in its place. Thus: "This is my book, but that is John's." It would be as correct to say that John's, in this sentence, stands for both John's and book, as to say that yours, in the preceding paragraph, stands for both your and book.

3. The s seems to have been added to our, your, their, and her, to give them the termination of the possessive case. The ear is more easily reconciled to the absence of the possessive termination when the pronoun is placed before the name of the thing possessed, than when it is not. His and its have the possessive termination, and the omission of the noun makes no change in their form.

4. In the third person there is a different pronoun for each gender in the singular number; but in the first and second the same pronouns are used, whatever may be the gender. The sex of the speaker and the person addressed is supposed to be known from their being present, and from other circumstances.

5. Originally, thou was the only pronoun used in addressing a single person; but from flattery or politeness, you began to be used in such cases; and it has now entirely usurped the place of thou except in the solemn style. The Friends, or Quakers, still use thou in common discourse. See remark on we, page 45.

COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

When self, (plur. selves,) is added to the personal pronouns, they are called compound personal pro

nouns.

These pronouns are used for the sake of emphasis or distinction; or when an action is represented as exerted upon the agent; as, “I myself did it ;" "He killed himself."

They have no possessive case, and the objective is the same as the nominative.

In those of the first and second persons, self and selves are added to the possessive case of the simple pronouns; in those of the third person self and selves are added to the objective case.

Why is there no distinct form for each | How are they used? gender in pronouns of the first and sec- | How many cases have they? ond persons? To what cases of the simple pronouns are self and selves added?

What are compound personal pronouns?