Having given the student a general view of the parts of speech and their relation, it is now proper to call his attention to the SENTENCE, which we shall present in its ancient, unbroken state, without spaces or points, that we may afterwards, by introducing punctuation between the phrases, and spaces between the words, give the student, not only an idea of a sentence, but of the manner in which a writer (ypaμuareus) would proceed in forming a sentence and also of the use of punctuation. AN ANCIENT UNBROKEN SENTENCE. Themidnight Moonserenelysmileso'er Naturessoft Repose By introducing a space between moon and serenely, we shall divide the first sentence into its logical subject and predicate. Logical subject. Themidnight Moon Logical predicate. serenelysmileso'er Nature'ssoft Repose. Here we see, that a logical subject is the nominative, together with all other words having a relation to it, and the logical predicate is the verb, and all those words which modify or hold a constructive dependence upon it. Now we will, by introducing into this sentence. three more spaces, and a point, draw out the grammatical nominative and verb, and divide the sentence: Themidnight moon serenely smiles, o'er Nature'ssoft Repose. The grammatical nominative is the single noun or pronoun preceding, (in construction,) and having a single relation to the verb; as, moon2 smiles; and the grammatical predicate is the single verb used to assert the existence or action of that nominative; as, moon smiles.9 Hence, words in a sentence naturally fall into this two-fold division: sentensic, or those which form the sentence; and insentensic, or those which have no sense until they are united to the sentensic. Insentensic. The midnight serenely o'er Nature's, &o. moon 2 smiles 9 Hence, a sentence is always formed by the union of a being to its own existence or action, and is constituted by the connection of not more than three nor less than two words; as, Moon 2 smiles 9 (9 two words.) Cloud 2 obscures 10 sky 6 (10 three words.) Having disposed of the first sentence, let us look to the second. If we introduce a semicolon before the conjunction nor, we shal divide this compound to simple sentences; as, Nolow'ringcloudobscures thesky; norrufflingtempestblows. Should we proceed further with this sentence, it would be a mere repetition of the first; therefore we shall leave this task to the student, who, we apprehend, will have no difficulty in dividing it into words, by the intro NOTE. Any word holding the 2d, 6th, 9th, 10th or 11th relation, (see Table of Relations) must be sentensic; all others are insentensie. duction of spaces, and pointing out the logical and grammatical subject and predicate, and distinguishing the sentensic from the insentensic words. [NOTE. EXERCISES IN PARSING. The figures placed after the words, refer to the Table of Relations, the Plate, the Parsing Lessons and Rules.] As16 twol young1 bears2 in 14 wantonl mood,7 Alarmed11 at 14 this,1 thel littlel crew2 About 14 their8&5 ears,7 vindictive 12 flew.9 The unequall combat,6 quit 10 the1 plain:6 With 14 greedy1 haste7, we8&2 snatch 10 our8&5 fill,6 ill:6 But 16 when 12 experience2 opes 10 our8&5 eyes,6 It8&2 flies,9 but 16 oh!17 too20 late 12 we8&2 find,10 118&2 leaves 10 al reall sting6 behind 14 (it.) MERRICK. • The phrases with rage and with pain, have an auxiliary adjective relation to blind and mad. † Seized-on and swallow-down are compound transitive verbs PARTS OF SPEECH. The parts of speech are eight: Adjective, noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. An adjective is a word holding a relation to a noun, and limiting its logical extension. NOTE. Under this class of words are included the article, participle, and all other words holding the same relation to a noun which the word cold holds to day, in the preceding table. The word the, in Greek, is called the definite artiele; being used there to define the gender of the noun to which it belongs; and as this adjective is always used in Greek Lexicons for that purpose, and is declinable like other Greek adjectives, they called it the definite article; mas., fem., to neut., corresponding to the Latin ille, illa, illud, (he, she, it). Old writers have continued to call it an article, although it has no such use in English neither does it define or ascertain what particular thing is meant: the book, the zone, the man, the table; the does not refer to any book, zone, man, or table, previously mentioned, because the words have not been previously mentioned in this paragraph. Supposing there shonld be but one book in the room, certainly the book is of itself a very definite article, and cannot be made more so by prefixing the to point it out and show how far its signification extends, than it is without the: as, book; and should there be two books, by prefixing the no person on earth could possibly tell which was meant by the book. The large book: which word enables the person addressed to understand which book is meant, the or large? There are two books on the table, a large and a small one; the learned schoolmaster commands his learned disciple to bring him the book, and he brings him the small one; whereupon he punishes the boy for not bringing the right book. The boy says that he could not tell by the which book was meant. The learned gentleman repeats the punishment, and gets into a passion, calling him a blockhead for not knowing what book is meant, when he has defined the book by the definite article the-the book means the large book. After this display of wit and talent, the master goes home, and orders the girl to set the table for dinner. She asks him which table, (as there are three in the house-a mahogany table, a cherry table, and a pine table;) the learned gentleman is surprised at the stupidity of servant girls, that do not know which particular table is meant, when he has defined it by THE, the DEFINITE article. The master condescends to modify his language, from the table, to her limited capacity, and says: the cherry table. The girl tells him that she knows which he means, and that if an article is a word added to a noun to ascertain which table is meant, as he has taught her, that the word cherry is the article. Suppose that you wish to point out a particular chair, which is standing in the room in which you are reading this dissertation, and you say: "The chair which stands by the door," as there are generally more chairs than one in a house; which one, is pointed out by the, the chair, the (definite) chair. Suppose you say to a visitor: "Take the chair which stands by the window," is it by the, or the qualifying phrase, which stands by the window, that he learns which one you mean? But, says the friend of soothsaying, does not THE refer to some chair previously mentioned? No; because none has been previously mentioned. To tell the truth, you would say, that you said to your friend, on entering, "take the chair," without previously mentioning any chair. The word article is derived from articulus, a hinge. Let us talk it in English. There are two hinges in the English language, viz: a definite hinge!! and an indefinite. hinge!!! If the word hinge is applicable as a part of speech, the conjunction, preposition, and relative pronoun, would constitute the hinges of language, as without one of these hinges, or connectives, no relation could take place between one phrase or sentence and another, as: God (who) spake (by) Moses (and) the prophets. In order to constitute a word an adjective, it must have the syntax of an adjective; that is, it must be joined to at noun, and must, at all events, limit its logical extension. A noun without an adjective is invariably taken in its broadest extension, as: Man is accountable. America is a |