REMARK. The signification of few and little is somewhat extended when preceded by the indefinite article.

Ex.: Little (= scarcely any) hope remains. A little ( = not insignificant) hope remains. Few (= scarcely any) persons were present. A few (= not an inconsiderable number of) persons were present.

Adjectives, and other Definitives, when single, commonly precede the substantives which they define. There are some few adjectives that can only be employed in the predicate, as for example, well, ill, alive, awake. We cannot say a well man, an alive fish. Some adjectives have a meaning when predicated of a subject, differing from that which they convey when used to define a substantive. the sentence," the man is wrong," we assert that the subject errs; but the phrase "the wrong man expresses want of identity.

In

I will here recapitulate the seven different kinds of Addition already enumerated, by which the sense of a substantive is more accurately determined.

1. By an adjective: the old man.

2. By a substantive in the genitive case: the king's palace.

3. By a substantive with the sign of the genitive case omitted: the parish church.

4. By a demonstrative pronoun: that house, yon

man.

5. By a possessive pronoun: our father.
6. By an attribute of sex: the cock-sparrow.
7. By a numeral: five sheep, much gold.

Other peculiarities of Definition will be adverted to and explained in our onward progress.

SECTION II.

SUBJECT REPRESENTED BY THE DEFINITIVE.

By a figure, called Ellipsis, a substantive is frequently omitted, the idea of the object being expressed by a definitive. This is, in English, more especially the case when classes of persons are spoken of; for as our definitives generally do not indicate either the number or gender of their substantive, this form cannot commonly be used in predicating of an individual person, though instances may be found where it is thus employed. When the substantive is represented by an adjective, the latter is mostly preceded by the definite article, but other definitives are found without the article.

Ex.: The pious pray. The brave are generous. The indus-
trious prosper. Saint Paul's (cathedral) is a noble building.
The bookseller's (house) is large. The fishmonger's (shop) is
closed. Some (persons) are fortunate. Many fail. Few
will come. All were gay.
Three refused. The past is irre-
The future is uncertain. "The rich hath many

coverable. friends."

All adjective and pronominal definitives permit ellipsis of the substantive, except the definite and indefinite articles, the numerals no, every, and the possessive pronouns my, thy, &c.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 40.-Write twenty sentences, taking for the subject of each an adjective preceded by the definite article.

Ex.: The ignorant are obstinate.

LESSON 41.-Write twenty similar sentences, employing as subject either an indefinite numeral or a demonstrative pronoun.

Ex.: Many answered.

That will be difficult.

We frequently find the substantive, that is really the

44

SUBJECT REPRESENTED BY THE DEFINITIVE.

subject of the sentence, detached from its definitive and transferred to the predicate; and this occurs more especially when it is defined by a genitive case. We say, for instance, "the general's is a handsome horse," or, "the general's horse is handsome;" the two expressions being perfectly equivalent. But as the genitive case of our personal pronouns will not admit a substantive after it, when such a case is employed to represent the subject, the ellipsis cannot be supplied. In such sentences as "mine is a difficult task," "yours is a pretty desk," 66 ours is a thankless office," we cannot insert the subject that is really the nominative case of the verb; but in construing such a proposition, the pupil will say that the nominative case is understood; for he will see, that as the definitive is in the genitive case, it cannot possibly be the nominative also, and it is indispensable that every predicating verb have a nominative case expressed or understood.

In sentences asserting what the subject is, instead of repeating the substantive, the numeral one is often employed in the predicate, and which, although the especial representative of unity, in sentences where the subject is in the plural number, assumes the plural form and becomes ones.

Ex.: My task is a difficult one. These books are not the right

ones.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 42.-Write twenty sentences in which the real subject stands in the predicate, the genitive case by which it is defined preceding the verb; or if the subject precede the verb, let it be represented in the predicate by the term

one.

Ex.: Yours was a lame excuse. The answer is a clever one.

SECTION III.

PROGRESSING (incomplete) ACTION.

The verb to be is called, by grammarians, the SUBSTANTIVE VERB; THE VERB par excellence. It expresses the most general of all attributes, that of mere existence: I am; that is, I exist.

When we would characterize an object by its state or quality, rather than by its actions, the verb to be serves at once as the vehicle of assertion and as the medium of combining the subject and attribute in one thought and sentence; and, from its frequent use as the connecting link between two ideas thus correlative, it has been called the GRAND COPULA.

When we would assert of an object what it does, we employ a verb which expresses both the assertion and the attribute. Such verbs, combining in themselves the attribute of existence, with that of the action which they affirm, have been called ADJECTIVE VERBS. They show by inflections of the verb itself, and the auxiliaries of tense and mood, those relations of the predicate to the subject, which, in sentences predicating a state of the subject, are expressed by the substantive verb to be and the auxiliaries.

The theory of a substantive verb existing in the adjective verbs, which has been before alluded to, has been fully developed and reduced to practice in the English language, for we habitually use a form of expression, in which the attributes of existence and action are kept perfectly distinct; and this form is constantly employed in speaking of an object engaged in, or performing, an incomplete act. It is in this way that we form our Imperfect Tense; but instead of being restricted to a single one, as in other languages, we can express incomplete or progressing action in all our tenses. I am not not aware that this manner of employing the verb has any generally recognised name. One has called it the Induring verb, and others have given it names according to their fancies: it might, perhaps, be regarded as a distinct voice of the verb. It describes the subject as engaged in progressing action; and is formed by adding to the substantive verb to be, through all its moods and tenses, a form called the ACTIVE PARTICIPLE of the adjective verb, which expresses the attribute of the action predicated of the subject. This mode of expression, so familiar to us, is not found in any other language of which I have any knowledge,

except when employed by grammarians to illustrate the doctrine of a substantive verb and adjective verbs; a doctrine that is readily comprehended by an Englishman. The following are instances of this

form of expression.

I am writing. The boys have been skaiting.
The moon is
rising. The sun is setting. It has been raining. Papa will
be waiting. A savage dog is barking. The foolish sailor has
been drinking.

This form of the verb requires no further explanation at present, unless it be to remark that the future tense, when thus expressed, is commonly a relative tense, referring to some other event. Thus the sentence, "I shall be writing," naturally suggests the question, "when ?" and requires some circumstance of time to be mentioned to which it has reference.

EXERCISE.

LESSON 43.-Write twenty sentences, in which the verb to be, in the present or perfect tense, serves as the medium of assertion, the attribute being expressed by the active participle of an adjective verb.

Er. The happy scholars are singing. We have been rowing. Participles are so named from participating the functions both of an adjective and a verb. In the former character they are very commonly used to define substantives.

Ex.: A blazing fire is cheerful. Boiling water scalds. The nettle is a stinging weed. Running streams are clear. The apple is a refreshing fruit. An aching tooth torments.

Participles, like adjectives, agree in number, gender, and case, with the substantives which they define, and in most languages they show these concords by varying terminations. Sometimes they become pure adjectives, not expressing action, but rather defining the object by some capability of action. Thus, in the phrase," a singing bird," singing does not necessarily convey the idea that the bird is warbling; but "a bird singing" expresses action in the first instance, "singing," noting a quality, is an adjective; in the second, expressing action, it is a participle. So again it may be, that many a stinging