another to communicate specific information. This 
gives rise to Int ives, ee 
" — Though we have already given some account of the 
_. differences of words as subservient to these different 
uses, there are many varieties, as well as many analo- 
gies of form and use among them, which have not come 
‘under our consideration. The analysis of these will 
throw light on the general faculty of speech, and will 
furnish some rules for preserving us from mistakes in 
e, and from mistakes of importance re- 
ing the diversified subjects ‘to which language is 
speGed: The remaining of this article will be 
© 
in investigating the differences which are com- 
Sandy dnabaated as constituting the different parts of 
speech. - ‘ precael 
> CHAP. IIL 
Of the Parts of Speech. 
"7 Tuese have been variously enumerated.| Gramma- 
dif. rians have not only differed in their arrangements, ‘but 
indif- in the number of parts of speech which they have al- 
tlan- Jowed. The character of a particular language may, in 
some instances, determine the propriety of an arran 
Ment in so far as concerns itself alone. The Latin 
language has no word exactly co ding to the ar- 
ticle é, 4, ro, in the Greek, and the in English. Those 
therefore who consider these words as the only definite 
articles in these two lan, will consider the Latin 
; re Yd gern no such word ; the cireumstance 
_— by it in other languages being left to be infer- 
; ‘red from the connection. 
a Somnats by the ge- 
to i ran er bya 
eeeviniiviten andor granes el hei eed: 2 
- This ge ization has been carried the greatest length 
in Tooke’s Diversions of Purley. This author reckons the 
Noun and the Verb the only essential parts of speech 
He does not, however, uiesce in the views of Mr 
Harris, who sets out with a binary division of the sub- 
ject which has the appearance of being similar. Mr 
is considers the adverb, the p ition, and the 
conjunction as merely subsidiary and inferior materials 
which connect the other parts sll nacido ve or- 
nament and fulness of expression to the whole; while Mr 
Tooke considers them, in every instance in which they 
are used, as equally essential with nouns and verbs, and 
refuses them a separate rank only because they are pos- 
sessed ba me pe pring wi - one ~ other of these 
parts of speech. He considers their’ only liarity as 
neem in an abbreviated form, which thes oeiyiinied 
in the efforts of mankind to express their thoughts with 
‘We have already observed that Mr Tooke founds his 
ee 7 the bmw of all words — nouns and 
‘ on this principle, that lang implies “ the signs 
of ideas,” id aoe, ua separate instruraent for the ne 
of communication.” This sep instrument 
calls the bbe ® boo considers “Art me co as im- 
ng a noun, as imp something more, 
Bonk he leaves the ] cepived, what’ that 
definite circumstance which, when added to the noun, 
makes it a verb? ~ ; 
Miao yey coincide with aa ome in = sented 
t sanguage consists of the signs of ideas, er with 
certain contrivances for connecting these so as to answer 
. 1 
GRAMMAR: 
397 
the purposes of "We adopt from him the va. Univermt 
luable suggestion, that the verb contains the name of an Grammar. 
idea, and, in this , comprehends the character of 
a noun, together with some additional circumstance ; 
but we are obliged to give this suggestion a much wider 
extension, and to consider all the parts of speech, the 
noun itself included, as consisting of two parts, one of 
which is the sign of an idea, and the other a sign of a 
definite place which that idea is to oceupy in the order 
of discourse. Instead of saying with this author that 
the ‘verb is quod loquimur, and the noun de quo, we 
would say. that both the one and the other contain the 
name'of an idea, and also a mark i a ry appli- 
eation, arising from the present occasions of the sone 
Both express certain objects de quibus loquimur, while 
the loquimur is the result of the collocation of the 
thus mutually adapted. 
+’ Such differences of mutual adaptation furnish the only Division of 
good foundation for a distribution of the parts of speech, this subject 
reat nicety in our subdivision is not essential to the ™ S°™¢ 
explanation of their nature. We may, independently fovy 
of this; point out the’ cireumstances in which any part 
of to which we happen to give a separate name 
‘approaches to various others, or differs from them in its 
character. We shall therefore, without condemning the 
plans ofothers, adopt the division and arrangement 
which appear to us, in the mean time, most conve- 
nient, where a dispute may arise about the pro- 
priety of a particular distinction, in consequence of a 
‘slightdifference in the obvious form of some words, which 
‘may have led into an erroneous conception of their na- 
ture, this is wor of being noticed, for the ay 04 of 
assigning to it its due share of importance. Useful infor- 
mation may be derived from the detection of deceitful 
resemblances and deceitful differences, as well as from 
— of analytical science apparently more profound. 
'o content ourselves with mer mere. = other weed 
were misled by them, and reprobati e errors whi 
they daitiacel, is a plan of cxithies totes fitted to pro« 
mote scientific inquiry nor liberality of feeling. 
CHAP. IV. 
Of Nouns. 
Szcr. I. The Nature of the Noun. 
Tue word Noun in our language, as well as the cor- Differences 
responding words used by grammarians in other in the extent 
languages, signifies “ a name.” Nouns are, for the * Lays 
most part, defined to be “ words which denote objects °°" Vv \0° 
or substances.” Some consider them as including sub- 
stantives and adjectives ; substantives denoting substan~ 
ces, and adjectives denoting qualities. Othersregard these 
two sorts of words as ie he separate rank in lan- 
guage, and therefore restrict the meaning of the term 
noun” to substantives. The words to which these differ- 
ent appellations are assigned agree in some respects, and 
differ in others ; and the ee rie of ranking them to- 
gether or separately ‘will depend on the definition given 
to the noun. ‘Mr Tooke considers both substantives 
and adjectives as nouns, and as in fact the same sort of 
words, only that the adjective contains, besides the name 
of the object, a sign that it is to be coupled in language 
with somé other. We shall; on the t occasion, 
restrict the term noun to the substantive, and‘shall use 
these terms indiscriminately, sometimes preferring the 
latter as better fitted to ent'any ambiguity on the 
part of the reader, created by the general usages of 
grammarians. aw: 
We may trace in the prevalent method of describing Frroneous 
the nature of the noun,’ as" distinguished ‘from other distinctions, 
