PARSING THE NOUN.

177. A noun is parsed etymologically, by stating its accidents, or grammatical properties (110), as exemplified (182).

178. NOTE.-The possessive is easily known by its form. As the nominative and objective of nouns are alike, in parsing nouns in the following lists, all nouns not in the possessive may be said to be in the nominative. The method of distinguishing the nominative and objective will be explained in its proper place. As person belongs, not to the form, but to the relations of the noun, the mention of it may be omitted for the present.

179. N. B.-In all parsing, much time will be saved, if the pupil be accustomed to say everything necessary to be said, at once, without waiting to have each particular drawn from him by a question-to say it in the shortest possible mannerand also to say the same things always in the same order. Every teacher will of course select that order which he prefers. The order here directed may perhaps be acceptable to most teachers (182).

180. As it makes no difference in the construction of a sentence, whether a noun be proper or common, there seems to be little or no advantage in mentioning this distinction in parsing. Some accordingly omit this, as well as person in parsing, for the sake of brevity-an object worthy of consideration in a large school, where economy of time is important. Or, when a proper noun occurs, which is comparatively seldom, it may be mentioned, taking it always for granted that a noun is common when not otherwise mentioned. This appears to be sufficient for every

purpose.

PRELIMINARY ORAL EXERCISE.

181. In proceeding to parse the noun, the teacher, if he thinks proper, may begin by some such inductive process as the following: The class having gone through the preceding definitions and rules, the teacher may call on some one to mention the NAME of anything he sees, or happens to think of; and suppose he mentions the words house, tree, book, desk, pen, &c., let these words be written on the blackboard. He may then call on another, and another, in the same way, still writing the names as mentioned. In this way the pupils will furnish a list of exercises for themselves. The teacher may then take the first of these, "house," and write it by itself on the board, at the left hand, and proceed with some such questions as the following, the answers to which, from what has been previously learned, will be obvious, and readily given:

Is HOUSE the name of any thing?

What part of speech are the names of things?

Then, what part of speech is House?

Ans. "A noun."

(After the word house on the board now write the word "noun".)

What is a noun ?-How many kinds of nouns are there?

What is a proper noun ?-what a common noun?

Is the word house proper or common? Ans. Common.

(Then after the word "noun" write the word common, as before.)

What are the properties or accidents of the noun ?

What is gender?-How many genders are there?

What nouns are masculine ?-what feminine ?-what neuter?

To which of these does the word house belong? Ans. Neuter. Why? (Then write the word neuter after common, as above.)

What is the next property of the noun?

What is number?-How many numbers are there?
What does the singular denote ?-the plural?
Does House denote one or more than one?

Of what number then is House? Ans. Singular.
(Now add as above the word singular.)

What is the next property of a noun?

How many cases are there? Name them.

Decline House in the singular:-in the plural.

Which of these cases is used when a noun is mentioned simply as the name of an object?

House being used in this manner here, in what case is it? Ans. In the Nomi

native.

(Then write nominative at the end, as above.)

At this point, there will have been written on the blackboard the following:HOUSE, Noun, Common, Neuter, Singular, Nominative.

The teacher may then ask, as a sort of review, Why do you call house, a noun? -why, common?-why, neuter?-why, singular ?-why, the nominative?— requiring a distinct answer to each question. And last, he may require the pupil to state these reasons in order, without the questions; hus:

HOUSE-a Noun, because the name of a thing.

Common, because it belongs to all taings of the sort;
Neuter, because without sex;

Singular, because it denotes one, plural, houses;

Nominative, because it is used only as a name (164-1st).

By repeating this process a few times, occasionally, all that belongs to the parsing of a noun will become so familiar, and so clearly understood, as to be always easy. 182. In parsing, these accidents may be stated, either in the order above, or in such as the teacher prefers. Some say, "A common neuter noun, in the nominative singular." Others prefer, as giving more prominence to the accidents, and sufficiently euphonious, to say, “A noun, common, neuter, in the nominative singular.” omitting the kind of noun, except when a proper noun occurs, for reasons stated (180), to say more briefly, “A noun, neuter, in the nominative singular." This last method is the one here recommended, as being brief and sufficiently descriptive.

EXERCISES.

Or,

1. State the gender, case, and number of the following nouns, and always in the same order; thus, "Father, a noun, masculine, in the nominative, singular."

Father, brothers, mother's, boys, book, loaf, arms, wife, hats, sisters', bride's, bottles, brush, goose, eagles' wings.

echo, ox's horn, mouse, kings, queens, bread, child's toy grass, tooth, tongs, candle, chair, Jane's boots, Robert's shoe, horse, bridle.

2. Go over the same list, giving a reason for everything stated; thus, “Father, a noun, because the name of an object; masculine, because it denotes a male; nominative, because mentioned simply as the name of an object (164-1st); singular, because it denotes one."

THE ARTICLE.

183. AN ARTICLE is a word put before a noun, to indicate the manner in which it is used.

184. There are two articles, a or an and the.

185. A or an is called the indefinite article, because it shows that its noun denotes a person or thing indefinitely, or without distinction; as, A man, i. e., any man, or some man, without stating which one.

186. A is used bet re a consonant; as, a book: also before a vowel, or diphthong, which combines with its sound the power of initial y, or w; as, a unit, a ue, a eulogy, a ewe, many a one.

187. An is used before a vowel or silent h; as, an age, an hour: also before words beginning with h sounded, when the accent is on the second syllable; as, an heroic action, an historical account;because h in such words is but slightly sounded.

188. NOTE.-The primary form of this article is An (ane). Then has been dropped before a consonant, from regard to euphony.

189. A or an is sometimes used in the sense of one, each, every; as, "Six cents a pound;" "two shillings a yard;" "one dollar a day;" "four hundred a year."

190. REMARK.-In the expressions a hunting, a fishing, a building, and the like, a is equivalent to at, to, in, on, and is to be regarded, not as an article, but as a preposition or prefix (548). In the same sense, it is used as a prefix in such words as afloat, ashore, asleep, abed &c.

191. The is called the definite article, because it shows that its noun is used definitely, and refers to some particular person or thing; as, the man, i, e., some particular man ascertained or pointed out. ee Syntax (707-2).

192. NOTE.-The article is sometimes said to limit the signification of a noun, and is therefore called a "definitive." This is scarcely correct. A noun with a ɔr an prefixed, is always used in an individual sense, to denote one of a class. But this being for the most part sufficiently indicated by the singular number, the use of

the article to mark the individual is necessary only in the few cases in which the noun, in the singular number, is used in a generic, as well as individual sense. Thus the terms man, woman, oak, &c., without an article, mean the species; but with a or an prefixed, they mean the individual; as, a man, a woman, an oak. So far only can a or an properly be said to limit, or perform the part of a definitive. In other respects, it rather shows the want of limitation.

193. In like manner, the article the commonly indicates that its noun is limited, and refers to some particular person or thing, but still the article is not the limiting word. A noun may be limited in a variety of ways, by notoriety or eminence, by previous mention, by an adjective, a possessive, a relative clause, a preposition and its case, &c.; but never by the article, except perhaps in the case of previous mention, and even that is doubtful. Thus when we say, "The red book," "the boy's book," "the book which we lost," "the book on the table," we perceive that the word book, following the, is limited-not, however, by the article, but by the words red, boy's, &c. This fact cotitutes a specific difference between the article and the adjective: the adjective always describes or limits its noun; the article does not, but is only a sort of index, to give previous notice that the noun is used in a particu. lar way.

194. PARSING.-The article is parsed by stating whether it is definite or indefinite, and to what noun it belongs; thus, “A book.”—A is the indefinite article, and belongs to book.

1. Prefix the indefinite article a or an correctly to the following words. 2. Tell which words are nouns, and why-parse them (177)-decline them. Chair, table, horse, cart, book, house, garden, bird, owl, egg, ear, eye, tree, cow, unit, use, old man, young man, word, hook, pot, bench, desk, room, oven, oak, eulogy, ewe, uncle, aunt ;-open wagon, useful contrivance, round stone, old hat, new coat, ice-house, &c.

3. In the following, correct such as are wrong, and give a reason for the change; -parse the articles and nouns.

An cup, a door, a apple, a pear, a ounce, a pound, an hat, an wig, an eulogy, an youth, a honor, a heir, a crow, a ostrich, a pen-a ugly beast, a useful tree, an humming-bird, an neat

cottage, a upper room, an huge monster, a han lsome woman, a delightful prospect.

THE ADJECTIVE.

195. AN ADJECTIVE is a word used to qualify a suostantive; as, "A good boy," "a square box;" "ten dollars ;" ;" "we found him poor."

196. A noun is qualified by an adjective, when the object named is thereby described, limited, or distinguished from other things of the same name. This is

done two ways:

1. Certain adjectives connect with their nouns some quality by which the objects named are described or distinguished from others of the same kind; as, “A red flag;" ;""an amusing story." Such are common and participial adjectives (202). 2. Others merely limit, without expressing any quality; as, "An American book;" "ten dollars;" "last week;" "this year;" "every day," &c. Such are circumstantial, numeral, and definitive adjectives (202).

197. Adjectives, as predicates, may qualify an infinitive mood, or clause of a sentence used as a substantive; as, "To play is pleasant.”—“ That the rich are happy is not always true.”

198. Several adjectives sometimes qualify the same noun; as, "A smooth, round stone."

199. An adjective is sometimes used to qualify the meaning of another adjective, both forming a sort of compound adjective; as, "A bright-red color;" "a dark-blue coat;""a cast-iron ball.”

200. Nouns become adjectives when they are used before other nouns, to express a quality or property belonging to them; as, "A gold ring;" a silver cup ;" ;" "sea water."

66

201. On the contrary, adjectives without a substantive are sometimes used as nouns; as, "God rewards the good, and punishes the bad."-" The virtuous are the most happy." way are usually preceded by the, and, when for the most part considered plural.

Adjectives used in this applied to persons, are

DIVISION OF ADJECTIVES.

202. Adjectives are sometimes divided into the following classes, viz. :— 1. Common, which express quality; as, good, bad, sweet, &c.

2. Circumstantial, which express circumstances of time, place, nation, &c.; as, daily, eastern, English, American, &c.

3. Numeral, which express number; as, one, two, three; first, second, &c.

4. Participial, consisting of participles, or compounds of participles used as adjectives; as, "An amusing story;" "an unmerited rebuke;" "to pass unmolested." Some add