have, on this account, received the name of PARTICIPLES. See § 133.

5. The adjectives which remain, and which, for the most part, are adjectives of quality and circumstance, are commonly called simply ADJECTIVES; as good, bad, wise, brave; absent, daily, national.

It is in this limited sense, that the term adjective is most frequently employed in etymology.

The old grammarians used the term noun in a sense so extended, as to include not only the words which name, but also those which describe, persons and things. They then divided the class of nouns into substantive nouns and adjective nouns. The term pronoun they employed to denote words which distinguish persons and things, without naming or describing them. class, again, they divided into substantive pronouns and adjective pronouns. The terms substantive nouns and adjective nouns, have now mostly given way to the simpler terms, nouns and adjectives.

This

Adjectives of quality are sometimes called epithets (Exiderov, from iTitiInps, to add).

Adjectives and adjective pronouns denoting possession, are termed possessive (possessīvus, from possideo, to possess); as my, their.

$140. Nouns and adjectives are termed,

1. Gentile (gentīlis, from gens, nation), when they show to what nation any person or thing belongs; as, Jew, Jewish, Vandal, Choctaw.

2. Patrial (patria, father-land, country), when they show, to what country any person or thing belongs; as Greek, Athenian, American.

The same words are often both gentiles and patrials.

3. Patronymic (rargès voua, father's name), when they give the name of one's father or ancestor. The familiar surnames, Johnson, Jackson, Robinson, &c. were originally patronymics, John's son, Jack's son, Robin's son, &c.

4. Diminutive (diminuo, to diminish), when they imply diminution; as hillock, lambkin, animalcule; sweetish, greenish.

5. Augmentative (augeo, to increase), or amplificative (amplifico, to enlarge), when they imply a great quantity or degree.

$141. Adverbs may be divided into adverbs of quality, adverbs of distinction, and adverbs of circumstance. Or they may be classed in smaller divisions, as adverbs of manner, of place, of time, of degree, of number, &c.; as well, slowly, thus; here, there; now, then; very, enough; twice, thrice;

&c.

$142, Pronouns and adverbs are termed,

1. Demonstrative (demonstro, to point out), when they serve to point out particular persons, things, &c.; as, this, that; thus, here, there, then, thence.

2. Connective (connecto, to connect), when they serve to connect sentences; as who, what; where, when, while, why.

3. Relative (refero, to carry back, to refer), when they not only connect sentences, but also refer to a correspending word in the preceding sentence; as who, which, what; how, where, when.

The word to which a relative refers, is called its antecedent (antecedens, going before).

4. Interrogative (interrogo, to question), when they serve to ask a question ; as who? which? how? where? when? why?

In the sentence, "Who did this?" the pronoun who is an interrogative; in "I will tell you who did it," who is simply a connective; in "John was the man who did it," who is a relative, referring to man as its antecedent.

5. Indefinite (indefinītus, unlimited), when they denote persons, things, &c., in a general way, that is, without specifying any particular person, thing, &c.; as any, some; anywhere, sometimes.

6. Negative (nego, to deny), when they serve for denial; as none; nowhere, never.

7. Emphatic (uparinós), or intensive (intendo, to strain), when they give emphasis (μQaris, from supaiva, to exhibit, to make specially prominent); as myself; very, especially.

In the sentence, “I struck myself,” the pronoun myself is reflexive (§ 132); in the sentence, "I will go myself," it is emphatic.

§ 143. Adjectives and adverbs, from their great importance in description, may be styled the DESCRIPTIVE ELEMENTS of language.

Of the elements which remain, a part only acknowledge the authority of grammar. These are SIGNS OF RELATION, and are divided into two classes; 1. those which denote the relations of persons and things, and, 2. those which denote the relations of sentences.

§ 144. Words which simply denote the relations of persons and things, are called PREPOSITIONS (præpositio, from præpono, to place before).

In the sentence, "In four days, James went on foot, with John, from Boston to New York, upon a wager," the words in, on, with, from, to, and upon, are prepositions, showing the several relations of the persons or things denoted by the nouns, days, foot, John, Boston, New York, and wager, to the action denoted by the verb went. We have first the time of the action, then the manner, &c.

Prepositions are so named, because they are usually placed before the substantives of which they show the relation, but this order is not always observed.

§ 145. Words which simply denote the relations of sentences, are called CONJUNCTIONS (Conjunctio, from conjungo, to join together).

In the compound sentence, "If you will go, as you promised, I will go too, although I am quite busy, for it is very important that the thing should be done," the words if, as, although, for, and that, are conjunctions, showing the several relations of the simple sentences, 'you will go," "you promised," "I will go too, "I am quite busy," "it is very important," and "the thing should be done." The relation denoted by if, is that of condition, by as, of correspondence, &c.

Conjunctions are so called, from their connecting the sentences of which they show the relation. But sentences are likewise connected by pronouns and adverbs (§ 142). Indeed, there is no precise line of division between connective adverbs and conjunctions.

§ 146. Prepositions and Conjunctions, from their important office in the connexion of discourse, may be styled the CONNECTIVE ELEMENTS of language.

The further consideration of prepositions and conjunctions belongs more appropriately to Syntax.

147. The elements which now remain, and which are simply EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION, acknowledge no grammatical rules. They are named INTERJECTIONS (interjectio, from interjicio, to throw in between), from their being often thrown in abruptly, between the other elements of discourse.

Among the most familiar interjections in English, are oh! ah! alas!

"He struck, and, oh! he slew."

When words, belonging to other classes, are used as interjections, they are called exclamations (exclamo, to cry out), a term which is sometimes applied to all interjections.

Interjections, from their belonging rather to instinct than to reason, may be styled the INSTINCTIVE ELEMENTS of language.

§ 148. A general view of the CLASSIFICATION of words is presented in the following table.

NOTE. In the table, the word things is employed in its philosophical sense, as including all the independent objects of thought, whether persons, material things, or mere abstractions. For the use of the word actions, see § 129.

THE SIGNIFICANT ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE.

Without its essential elements, language could not exist at all; without its descriptive elements, it would be vague and meagre; without its connective elements, it would be disjointed; and without its instinctive elements, it would want sensibility and passion.

149. The great classes into which words are divided, are termed parts of speech. These classes, as given in the table above, are seven in number. A division, which was common with the Greek grammarians, made eight parts of speech, the article, the noun, the pronoun, the verb, the participle, the adverb, the preposition, and the conjunction. From these eight, English grammarians have often made ten, by separating the adjective from the noun (§ 139), and the interjection from the adverb.

The parts of speech are, in some cases, distinguished from each other, not so much by a difference in what they represent, as in their manner of representing

it. For example, relations are expressed by adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and nouns, as well as by prepositions and conjunctions. But while the latter simply denote them, as relations, adjectives and adverbs represent them as properties of some person, thing, &c.; verbs predicate them of some subject; and nouns present them abstractly, as independent objects of thought. In like manner, properties may be both predicated by verbs, and presented abstractly by nouns. And we have seen already (§ 133), that the action which is expressed by a verb, becomes a property in the participle, and an abstraction in the infinitive.

As words are the representatives of persons, things, &c., we often speak of them as having the properties and relations which belong to the persons, things, &c., which they represent. Thus we say, that a preposition shows the relation of a substantive to a verb, instead of saying, that it shows the relation of the person or thing denoted by the substantive to the action denoted by the verb.

150. The significance of a word may be regarded as its life. But in every thing which has life, the vital principle manifests itself in the external form. We proceed, therefore, to consider that variety of formation, by which the various senses and offices of words are displayed.

151. With reference to its formation, a word is termed,

1. DERIVATIVE (derivo, to draw from), when it is formed from another word.

2. PRIMITIVE (primus, first), when it is not formed from any other word.

E. g. from the primitive man are formed the derivatives manly, manliness, manhood, manfully, &c.

3. COMPOUND (compōno, to put together), when it is formed by the union of two or more words.