46 GLOSSOLOGY. 



strative, as this, that; or distributive, as each, every, either; or 

 indefinite, as one, some, other, any, all, and such. A pronoun, is 

 a word used instead of a noun, for the sake of brevity or variety. 

 The personal pronouns are 7, thou or you, and he, she, or it, with 

 their plurals. / is said to be in the first person, referring to the 

 person who speaks ; thou in the second person ; and he, she, or it 

 in the third. These pronouns are declined like nouns ; being found 

 in all the three cases, nominative, possessive, and objective ; as 7, 

 my or mine, me; thou, thy or thine, thee ; he, his, him; she, hers, 

 her. The relative pronouns are who, which, that, and what ; all 

 referring to some antecedent word or phrase ; except in asking ques- 

 tions, when they are termed interrogative pronouns. 



A verb, is a word by means of which some action, or state, is 

 attributed to some agent, or subject; as I am, he loves. An active 

 verb, expresses a direct action ; and when some object is at the same 

 time acted upon, or affected thereby, the verb is called transitive ; as 

 they love virtue. A neuter verb, simply expresses some state or 

 relation ; and a passive verb expresses the same, with a reference to 

 some agent, as producing or causing that state ; as he is loved. A 

 verb in the infinitive mood, expresses an action, or state, without 

 immediate reference to any particular agent; as to love : in the 

 indicative mood, it makes a declaration, or asks a question : in the 

 imperative, it commands or requests : in the potential, it expresses 

 power, obligation, or possibility ; as he can go : and in the sub- 

 junctive mood, it implies some condition, or contingency ; as if he 

 come I will see him. A verb in the present tense refers to present 

 time : in the imperfect tense, it refers to past time, either indefi- 

 nitely, or specified by the context ; as they spoke or were speaking: 

 in the perfect tense, it refers to past time completed, though it may 

 be very recent ; as he has gone : and in the pluperfect tense, it 

 refers to past time anterior to some other past time alluded to ; as 

 they had gone when he arrived. A verb in the future tense, refers 

 to future time generally ; and in the perfuture or second future, it 

 refers to future time anterior to some other future time alluded to ; 

 as they will have seen him before he arrives. Verbs are also varied 

 in reference to number and person ; as I am, thou art, he is, we 

 are, you are, they are : and the assemblage of al] these variations, 

 constitutes the conjugation of a verb. Auxiliary verbs, are those 

 used to assist in conjugating other verbs; as shall, will, may, can, 

 must, and especially the verbs to have, and to be. This last auxiliary 

 is used in our own language, in the conjugation of all passive verbs ; 

 as he is esteemed, the word was spoken : and all our passive verbs 

 are formed from the perfect participles of active verbs ; but in most 

 of the ancient languages they are single derivative words. 



A participle, is a word derived from a verb, and often uniting the 

 properties of a verb and a noun or adnoun ; as loving, loved, having 

 loved. These three forms are distinguished as the present, perfect, 

 and compound. An adverb, is a word used to qualify or explain a 

 verb, or adnoun ; as well, wisely, there, then. A preposition, serves to 

 show the relation of some noun, pronoun, or phrase, to the preced- 

 ing part of the sentence ; as by, to, from, in, with, on, over. A 



