The adjectives commun, confus, exprès, importun, obscur, précis, profond, require the acute accent on the e mute of their ternination feminine before ment is added to it, as communément, confusément, &c. Note. The adjective gentil, which gives the adverb gentiment, instead of gentillement is the only exception to this rule. S. How many classes of adverbs are there? M. Nine classes will comprehend them all: they are adverbs of manner, time, place, quantity, number, comparison, interrogation, affirmation and negation, doubt and reasoning. The following is a list of a few of each class; but, I consider, with Beauzée, that such classifications are objects rather of curiosity than utility. ADVERBS AND ADVERBIAL PHRASES. OF MANNFR. Sagement, prudemment, conformément, bien, mal, à la háte, peu à peu, &c. OF TIME. Quand, combien de temps, autrefois, dernièrement, hier, aujourd'hui, demain, alors, &c. OF PLACE. Où, ici, là, y, en, ailleurs, auprès, autour, &c. OF QUANTITY. Combien, beaucoup, assez, peu, davantage, médiocrement, &c. OF NUMBER. Souvent, rarement, premièrement, &c. une fois, deux fois, &c. OF COMPARISON. Autant, plus, moins, très, fort, aussi, &c. OF INTERROGATION. Pourquoi, comment, quand? &c. OF AFFIRMATION AND NEGATION. Certainement, vraiment, sans doute, nullement, point du tout, &c. OF DOUBT AND REASONING. Peut-être, ainsi, conséquemment, pareillement, &c. S. You have said that an adverb could be resolved into a preposition and its noun. As I cannot comprehend this in the following instances, viz. y, en, auprès, autour, hier, aujourd'hui, demain; I shall be much obliged to you to make me sensible of it. M. Y and en, which are indeed very elliptical expressions, are the equivalents of a preposition and a noun. The first is derived from the Latin word hic, which was itself the ellipsis of the phrase in hoc loco, meaning in that place, dans ou à ce lieu, according to circumstances. Thus, y stands, in French, for the preposition dans or à with a complement or regimen.-Examples: J'y vais, I am going there, stands for Je vais dans ou à ce lieu. J'y pense, means, according to circumstances, Je pense à lui, à eux, à elles, à cela, à cette chose, à ces choses, &c. En is derived from the Latin word indè; we can resolve it by the preposition de and a noun.-Examples: J'en viens, I come from there, is, according to local circumstances, for Je viens de ce pays, de cette ville, de ce village, de cet endroit, &c. J'en parle, is for Je parle de moi, de nous, de toi, de vous, de lui, d'eux, d'elle, d'elles, de cela, de cette chose, de ces choses, de l'homme qui, &c. This analysis of y and en is opposed to the opinion of some grammarians, who call them pronouns. As to autour and auprès, they of themselves sufficiently indicate their adverbiality, being composed of the preposition à, the article le, and the noun près ou tour; from à le près, à le tour, they gradually and naturally became auprès, autour: the first is an adjective taken substantively, and signifies a neighbouring place; the second is a noun, meaning the roundness of a thing. I will conclude by observing, that the words hier, aujourd'hui, demain, which we have ranked among the adverbs, are truly nouns; an undeniable proof of which is, that they are the nouns of various prepositions, as in the following examples, taken from the Dictionary of the French Academy: d'hier en huit jours, from yesterday week; la journée d'aujourd'hui est plus belle que celle d'hier, this day is finer than yesterday; l'affaire est remise à demain, the affair is postponed until to-morrow. Besides, these words may be modified by adjectives, a fact which still more forcibly proves them to be real nouns.-Examples: tout aujourd'hui, the whole day; hier passé, yesterday, &c. When the above expressions are used, by themselves, after the verb, • See Gébelin. the preposition, by the help of which they would modify it, is understood: this accidental circumstance, by which they are stript of the accidents of nouns, renders them adverbs. We may, therefore, without deviating from our general principle, give them a place accordingly. CONVERSATION XIII. OF THE CONJUNCTIONS. Scholar. What is a conjunction? Master. A word which connects words or sentences. S. How many simple conjunctions are there? M. Nine; viz. et, and; que, that, than, or how; ni, neither, nor; ou, either, or; si, if, whether; mais, but; car, for; or, now; donc, therefore. The five last might, with propriety, be denominated elliptical. ET or & connects nouns and phrases or sentences together, as well as adjectives, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs. This conjunction, implying a denial, requires, according to the sense, to be preceded or followed by the negative, ne. EXAMPLES. Ne prenez si cette fleur-ci, ni celle-là. | Take neither this flower nor that. Ni l'or ni les grandeurs ne nous rendent Neither gold nor greatness make us heureux. happy. But, though ni is repeated in an enumeration as often as there are things to which the denial is applied, ne is used but once. Il n'entend ni les vents qui grondent sur sa tête, Ni son amante, hélas! qui meurt, s'il ne vit plus.. DELILLE. This conjunction leaves the liberty of choice, and implies doubt. comes from the Latin sit, which means qu'il soit ; and, whereas some verb must be understood before qu'il, as no phrase could begin with it, it follows that si stands for, or is the abridgment of, such a conjunctive phrase as Je suppose qu'il soit vrai que, I suppose it is true that. EXAMPLES. Pensez bien et parlez peu, si vous voulez qu'on vous regarde comme un homme d'esprit. Think well and speak little, if you wish to be looked upon as a man of understanding. * It is to complete the metre that un is used. D'usurpateur (alone) should have been used; for the epithets parricide and usurpateur are applied in a general sense. Si mon cœur, de tout temps, facile à tes désirs, MAIS is a word that once signified plus, as may be ascertained prin cipally by the works of the old French romance writers, where this expression often occurs: now, that it is used to connect a phrase with another, it has preserved a part of its ancient meaning, and signifies that "quelque chose de plus que," something more than has been said, is going to be said, that will fix the ideas completely about the subject of the discourse. It may also be solved by the expressions et de plus. EXAMPLES. La satisfaction qu'on tire de la vengeance ne dure qu'un moment; mais celle que l'on tire de la clémence est éternelle. The satisfaction we derive from revenge lasts but a moment; but that which we derive from clemency, is eternal. Louis, du haut des cieux, lui prêtait son appui, VOLTAIRE. il chérit la critique, Vous avez sur ses vers un pouvoir despotique; CAR is used to account for a proposition brought forward. EXAMPLES. Je ne pourrai y aller, car je suis rete- I shall not be able to go thither, for I nu au lit par une fièvre ardente. am confined to my bed by an ardent fever. Tout ce que les mortels ont de plus redoutable, RACINE In the above sentences, car stands very clearly for OR answers to the English now. Or, comme je vous ai dit, Now, as I have told you. This conjunction designates the actual existence of a condition, |