INTERJECTION.

An

Inter-jection means throwing between. Interjection is a word occurring in a sentence without any grammatical connexion with its parts, expressing some sudden emotion; as, Alas! I feared it. Oh! how dreadful it is.

EXERCISE.

Point out the Interjections, &c. :

Away! he cried. He is gone, Oh! what shall become of me now? Do you say so? How strange! Hail! ye Sons of Greece. Behold! how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! The delusions of hope, Alas! have left me as they have left others.

ARTICLE.

An Article is a word placed before a noun to limit its signification.

There are two Articles, an and the. An is called the Indefinite Article; the the Definite Article.*

Indefinite means not pointing out. The Indefinite Article does not point out any particular person or thing; thus, an asp means any asp.

Definite means pointing out. The Definite Article points out some particular person or thing; thus, the asp means some particular asp.

The teacher is recommended not to allow his pupils to pass the definitions, although they are repeated at the head of each article, until they thoroughly comprehend the nature of the various parts of speech, and are able to distinguish them readily. This will greatly shorten the work.

*As the articles, according to the definition, have an active force, Definitive and Non-definitive would appear to be more correct names for them.

An becomes a before a consonant, before u and eu sounded as in "unicorn," "eunuch," and before o in the phrase "many a one."

But an is used before a silent h; as, An hour. It is silent in "heir, honest, honour, hostler, hour, humour," and most of their derivatives; also in "humble."

As An signifies one, it is used before nouns in the Singular number only, except, "few," 'great many," and numerals used collectively; as, a dozen, a score, a hundred, &c.; thus, we say, a few persons, a great many persons.*

The is used before nouns in both numbers.

CAUTION.-Be careful not to call the a in such phrases as, I go a fishing, an article; it is then an abbreviation of at; and an in such phrases as, "Nay; an thou lovest me," is a conjunction.

a.-When several nouns or adjectives refer to the same person, or thing, the article is placed before the first only; as, The good and virtuous do so; but if they do not refer to the same thing it is prefixed to each of them; as, The good and the bad. EXERCISE ON NOTE α.

Correct the errors :—

The

A virtuous and wicked man lived in the same town. black and bay horses were all sold together. Have you seen the Cochin-china and Guinea fowls? The white and green parrots are all sold. The cottage and castle are burnt down. Did you see the steamer and sailing ships?

EXERCISE.

Place the Indefinite Article before "house, honour, heir, hare, youth, ape, evening, inn." NOUN.

Noun means name. Nouns are names of living creatures, places, and things; as, Man, horse, London, goodness.

* Because many and few are originally nouns, and of is understood.

Nouns are divided into Common and Proper. A Common noun is the name of a class of things; as, Boy, City, River.

A Proper noun is a name given to an individual of a class, to distinguish it from the others; as, John, London, Mersey. Here John is an individual of the class men, or boys; London, of the class city; and Mersey, of the class river.

When a proper noun is used to designate a class, it becomes common; as, He is the Newton of his age, a Daniel come to judgment; yea, a Daniel.

When a common noun by personification is used as a special designation, it becomes proper. Thus, we say, When Music heavenly maid was young. First, Fear his hand, its skill to try. Hotels designated by signs; as, The Star and Garter, names of books, the seasons, &c., are common instances of this.

EXERCISE.

Give the common nouns, or classes to which the proper nouns belong :

England, Europe, The Pacific, The Thames, Nottingham, Kilkenny, Mona, Henry, Jane, Shetlands, Bann, Killarney, Cairngorm, Lomond, Windermere, Snowdon.

Underline the common nouns: doubly underline the proper :

Is

Robert has sent Henry into the field. Jane gone to London? What does Eliza know of Europe? The beauty of Windermere has been much celebrated. The diamond is remarkable for its hardness. What is the weight of your book? How many pecks make a bushel?

Adjectives are used as nouns ; as, The sublime and beautiful. Adverbs are sometimes used as nouns ; as, An eternal hereafter. The eternal now does always last (Cowley). Not worth your while.

Verbs are used as nouns; as, To err is human. This mode of thinking.

Pronouns are used as nouns ; as, The nameless He (Young). Conjunctions are used as nouns; as, Your if is the only peacemaker (Shakespere). Here are eight ands in a sentence (Blair).

Interjections are used as nouns; as, With hark, and whoop, and wild halloo (Scott).

And so for other parts of speech.

NUMBER.

Nouns have two Numbers: the Singular, which denotes one, as, Book; and the Plural, which denotes more than one, as, Books.

Most proper nouns want the plural.

The Plural is generally formed by adding s to the Singular; as, Slate, slates.

When the singular ends in a hissing sound, in i or o, preceded by a consonant, the plural is formed by adding es; as, Gas, gases; Church, churches; Alkali, alkilies; No, noes.

The hissing sounds are s, ss, x, z, sh, and ch soft.

Exceptions:-Canto, grotto, junto, portico, quarto, solo, tyro, take s only.

Nouns ending in f, or fe, form their plural by changing f, or fe, into ves; as, Calf, calves; knife, knives; except brief, chief, grief, handkerchief, hoof, proof, roof, scarf, wharf, (sometimes wharves), dwarf, gulf, turf, surf, fife, strife, safe, which are regular.

Nouns in ff are regular, but "staff," has sometimes staves.'

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Nouns ending in y, preceded by a consonant, change y into ies; as, Lady, ladies. If the y is preceded by a vowel, the plural is formed regularly; as, Delay, delays.

Exception. Money is sometimes monies; chimney, chimnies; journey, journies.

The following form their plural irregularly:

Nouns borrowed without change from other languages mostly retain their original plurals.

* The words that make their plural in en are mostly of Saxon origin. Many words at present in use among the Lowland Scotch, whose dialect is the nearest approach to the Saxon, end similarly; thus, ee (eye) makes

een.