ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



about the house,' it is a preposition referring the 

 direction of the running to a particular object. 



Many relations are expressed by prepositional 

 phrases j as, instead of, with regard to, apart 

 from. The preposition beside is evidently an 

 abbreviation of such a phrase by the side of, 



Conjunctions. 



Conjunctions serve the purpose of connecting 

 sentences, parts of sentences, and single words ; 

 as, ' Day ends, and night begins. William and 

 John learn Latin. Charles and James carried the 

 basket between them.' In the first sentence, and 

 connects two separate affirmations into one com- 

 pound sentence. The same is true in the second 

 the separate affirmations being 'William learns 

 Latin,' and 'John learns Latin.' In the third sen- 

 tence, and connects only the two words, ' Charles ' 

 and ' James,' as it cannot be affirmed of either of 

 them alone that he ' carried the basket.' 



It is not easy either to distinguish conjunctions 

 from adverbs, or to classify them satisfactorily ; 

 and yet, in order to the right comprehension of 

 the relations between the parts of sentences, it is 

 essential that the nature of conjunctions be well 

 considered. In fact, all conjunctions are adverbs, 

 and owe their conjunctive power to their significa- 

 tion as adverbs. In a few and, but, or, if, nor 

 the original adverbial signification is almost lost 

 sight of, so that we attend only to their conjunc- 

 tive effect. All the rest might be called Adverbial 

 Conjunctions or Conjunctive Adverbs. Ex., ' He 

 is industrious ; therefore he is happy' that is, ' he 

 is happy for that.' This adverb, or adverbial 

 phrase, expressive of the cause of the happiness, 

 by referring us back for its meaning to the former 

 assertion, has the effect of connecting the two in 

 the mind. Again, ' The messenger arrived while 

 he was speaking.' Here while is equivalent to, at 

 the time at which (he was speaking). As an 

 adverbial phrase, this simply indicates the time 

 of the act of 'arriving;' but as it also expresses 

 that the speaking was going on at the same time, 

 it thus conjoins the two assertions. 



The most important distinction among conjunc- 

 tions will be seen in the following pairs of sen- 

 tences : 



The sun went down, and the moon rose. 

 The moon rose, as the sun went down. 

 He is passionate, but he is kind. 

 He is kind, though he is passionate. 

 He is in earnest, therefore he will succeed. 

 He will succeed, because he is in earnest. 



The first (compound) sentence of each pair con- 

 tains two simple sentences or assertions, linked 

 together, yet each standing on an independent 

 footing ; the two are joined on terms of equality, 

 and are therefore said to be co-ordinate, and the 

 conjunction is called a Co-ordinative Conjunction. 

 In the second sentence of each pair, the last 

 clause, though a grammatical sentence, contains no 

 logical proposition, no assertion made for its own 

 sake, but merely states a fact as a modifying cir- 

 cumstance with regard to the assertion contained 

 in the first clause. The sentence of the second 

 clause is therefore subordinate to that of the first, 

 and the conjunction that marks the relation, a 

 Subordinative Conjunction. The chief Co-ordi- 

 native Conjunctions are : 



I. And, also, likewise, not only but, partly 

 partly, first then, further. 



All these are used to tack on sentences whose 



sense accords with, or adds to, the effect of what 

 goes before. Hence they might be called cumula- 

 tive conjunctions. The following (2) mark various 

 degrees of opposition in the sense or effect of the 

 sentences, and might be called adversative con- 

 junctions. These terms seem preferable to con- 

 junctive and disjunctive, often used. 



!(a.} Not but, else, otherwise (Exclusive). 

 (b.) Either or, neither nor (Alternative). 

 (c.) But, only, yet, still, at the same time, 

 nevertheless. 



3. Therefore, wherefore, for, thus, consequently, 

 hence, accordingly, so, so that. (Cause and effect.) 

 All other conjunctions may be classed as Sub- 

 ordinative, such being their usual function. Those 

 in most common use are : 



Although, as, as well as, so as, as as, because, 

 if, lest, since, than, that, in order that, though, un- 

 less, whether, when, before, after, while. 



Interjections. 



Interjections are exclamations expressive not so 

 much of a thought as of an emotion. They are 

 therefore hardly parts of speech, and never form 

 part of a sentence. Ex., Ah ! alas ! hurrah ! fie ! 

 pooh ! 



To parse a sentence is to tell what ' part of 

 speech' every word is that is, whether it is noun, 

 pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, con- 

 junction, or interjection. This the learner should 

 practise, till he readily recognise the class of any 

 word that presents itself. Any book will furnish 

 exercises for this purpose. 



It frequently happens that the same word 

 belongs to several parts of speech, according to 

 the connection in which it stands. Ex., Still, as 

 the name of an apparatus, is a noun ; in, ' Still 

 waters run deep,' it is an adjective ; in, ' Mothers 

 still their babes,' a verb ; in, ' He is still here,' an 

 adverb ; and in, ' He was beset with dangers, still 

 his presence of mind never forsook him,' it is a 

 conjunction. 



II. INFLECTION. 



In order to express the relations between the 

 parts of a sentence, sometimes separate words are 

 employed, and sometimes changes are made on 

 the principal words themselves. 



Ex., ' Mary's descendants sat, and sit, on Eliza- 

 beth's throne.' Here the name ' Mary' has been 

 changed into ' Mary's,' to express the relation of 

 possession between it and 'descendants;' s has 

 been added to ' descendant ' to make it refer to 

 more than one ; ' sat ' differs from ' sit,' not to 

 express a different kind of action, but a different 

 relation to the present moment. It is changes of 

 this nature that are called Inflections. 



Inflections occur in all the parts of speech 

 except three Prepositions, Conjunctions, and In- 

 terjections. They are most extensive in Verbs, 

 Nouns, and Pronouns, less so in Adjectives, and 

 still less in Adverbs. The inflection of a noun or 

 pronoun is called Declension ; of a verb, Conju- 

 gation ; the only inflection of adjectives and 

 adverbs in English is that for Comparison. 



INFLECTION OF NOUNS. 



Nouns are inflected to indicate r. Their Num- 

 ber ; 2. Their Case ; 3. Their Gender. 



