There are many persons in a large circle of acquaintance. My father entertains good hopes that John will make rapid progress. Good men have many friends. The Nile had seven mouths. This picture is beautiful. The scenery is enchanting. John is a good boy; James is better; Henry is best.

PRONOUN.

Pro-noun means for a noun.

A Pronoun is a word used for a noun, to avoid repeating the noun. Thus, instead of saying "Jane lost Jane's purse;-Has Jane found Jane's purse yet?" we say, "Jane has lost her purse; has she found it yet?"

EXERCISE.

Put the proper Pronoun instead of the noun when repeated:

Henry has taken John's bag from John. The man has lost his horse to-day; but the man may find his horse to-morrow. Julia, Jane, Emily, and Martha have taken Julia, Jane, Emily, and Martha's bonnets, and Julia, Jane, Emily, and Martha's cloaks, and have gone home. John, Thomas, and myself were taking a walk; but a shower came and wetted John, Thomas, and myself; so John, Thomas, and myself got colds.

Write out, supplying the Pronouns omitted :

The horse-we had is sold. The man-you saw. The house-was built. This is the birdsings. I know-I love.- of you did it? James is gone. I saw-off. will be back to-morrow.

Point out the Articles, Nouns, Adjectives, and Pronouns :

an

Has

A man was digging with a spade in a hard piece of ground; but he broke it, and could not dig any more. The watchful dog barks round his master's house by night, and frightens wicked robbers. Jane will give John apple if he will give her a plum. William blue marbles? No; he lost them at play; but he has green ones. George said to John, "Will you lend me your sharp knife?" No, I will not," John answered. Was he kind or unkind? Is the water clear or muddy? It is clear. Julia asked Mary to carry her heavy basket; kind little Mary took it up at once. Then she said, "Give me one of those sweet apples." Julia asked, "Which will you have; this or that"? "Neither," said she; "give me the other, if you please.”

66

VERB.*

A Verb is a word which tells what a noun or pronoun does;† as, The slate falls and makes a

noise.

One Verb tells what a noun or pronoun is, namely, the verb to be; as, The sun is warm.

* Verb signifies the word. It has been generally considered the principal part of speech. A different opinion, as will be observed, is adopted in this work.

The teacher is recommended to adopt this definition, as more intelligible than the one in ordinary use. The passive denotes doing as well as the active; an agent being always expressed or understood, e.g., The vessel is filled with water. Some person or thing filled it.

EXERCISE.

What Verbs describe the actions which those around you are doing?

Point out the Verbs, Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, and Articles:

The sun warms us and makes all things grow. The moon shines, but borrows her light from the sun. We walk frequently. Anne reads, Jane writes, Susan sews, and Julia paints flowers. She wept when she thought of her dear lost child. They loved me well. Have you seen the dog? he was running very fast. That horse is my brother's. That book is not good. He lifts his slate. They write with good pens; sometimes they are bad pens. We hope. Do we live? They are dying by hundreds. The waves rise on the shore. How few know this. They live honestly.

ADVERB.

Adverb means added to a verb. An Adverb is a word added to verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, to express some quality or circumstance respecting them; as, "He is playing now, He lives yonder, Very well done."

Adverbs are also occasionally joined to nouns and prepositions, as, Quite the gentleman," "Completely through;" and also to adverbial phrases, as, "More at leisure."

Adverbs may be known by answering to the question, How? How often? When? Where? Whither? or Whence ?

* Some would say the adverbs in the phrases "quite through," considerably beyond," &c., belong to the whole sentence and not to the preposition.

EXERCISE.

What Adverbs describe the manner in which those around you do their exercises? Point out the Adverbs, &c. :

The men acted nobly. Jane learned her lessons well. Eliza learned hers very well. She plays delightfully. She will play presently. Now she plays. It is very fine. He is quite a fop. Barely within bounds. We live yonder. Whence have you come? Thence. Who lives here? You live there. In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there, I might possibly answer that it had lain there for

ever.

Put Adverbs after the phrases, "they did," "they read," expressing time, place, and manner. PREPOSITION.*

Pre-position means position before. Prepositions serve to connect words and show the relation between them; as, The book is in a bag on the form.

EXERCISE.

Name the Prepositions expressing the various positions of your grammar during the day in its relation to other objects.

The best mode of teaching the Prepositions is by taking an object, say a book, in one hand, and placing the other hand in the various positions above the book, over, beneath, below, under, &c. Draw the hand across, &c.; hold it by a leaf for a minute-during a second, &c. In this way the pupil will learn all the prepositions in a single lesson, and a few repetitions will imprint them on his memory so firmly that they will never be forgotten. Lennie recommends them to be committed to memory. No practice could be more pernicious.

Point out the Prepositions, &c.:

He brought his books to school in a satchel on his shoulder; sometimes he swung the satchel round his head; and once he broke the string by which he held it, and then the books were scattered along the path, and one fell into a miry spot. After that he became more careful and refrained from abusing his books. He was walking up the road and I was coming down the hill, while John was making his way across the fields, towards us. We met at the same place. CONJUNCTION.

Con-junction means joining together. A Conjunction joins words and sentences together; as, John and James are gone, but I expect them back to-morrow.

EXERCISE.

Supply the proper Conjunctions &c. :-
Mary Eliza went, Jane remained at

home. You will do so

-

would not do it - I told him so often. Ye will ye do this. Neither John

repent was here.

to know it

James

John James did it. You ought you have often learned it. I will not do it it is wrong.

Point out the Conjunctions, &c. :

We

Neither Eliza nor Jane was present, though I understand both Julia and Emily were. must give over if no impression has been made; yet, we ought to have produced some impression, since he is not made of stone. You or I must go. Either John or James will come.