Methinks, Methought, is used in the first person; Beware! Fie! (from Fian, to hate,) Lo! Hark! only in the second person of the imperative mood.

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Can, May, Must, Ought, Shall, Will, are used only in auxiliary tenses. Quoth is used in all the persons of the indicative present and imperfect. The pronoun is commonly put after the verb, as Quoth I," Quoth he." The verb Quote has taken the place of Quoth, from which Bequeath is derived.

May makes Might, Mighty, Main [the chief].

Wicked, Glad, Yclept (named), Hight (named), are used only in the participle.

To Wicked are akin Wickedness, Wickedly; to Glad-Glee, Gleesome, Gladsome, Gladden, Gladdening, Gladly.

The verb to Nill, to be Unwilling, is now used only in the saying "Will he, Nill he," whether he will or will not.

PREPOSITIONS.

A PREPOSITION is a small word put before Names Substantive to show their bearing on each other, and with Verbs to direct their meaning; as "He went from London to York;" "The duck swims in the water;" "He went off;" "He went by," "Up rose the king of men.'

Prepositions are separable or inseparable.

The separable prepositions may be joined with words or stand alone; as "To overlook, to look over, to look over the hedge; a downfall, to fall down." Such are over, in, under, &c.

The inseparable prepositions are joined only with words, such as Be, Fore, Un, &c.; as in Became, Bedew, Foresee, Undo.

Prepositions are put with Names Substantive and Adjective, with Adverbs, and with Verbs; as in overlooker, over the water, overbold, overweak, overlong, overhead; to overset, to set over.

The following are the prepositions most used with names substantive :—

The following are sea words :-Aboard, Abaft, Alongside.

Some of the prepositions refer chiefly to time; as Since, While, Ere, Till, Until.

Anent is most used in the English dialects of the Lowlands.

The prepositions can be compounded together; as From off the shore, from without, from within, from outside, from inside, from near Manchester, from beside him, from about six years old, from round Glasgow, from against, from nigh, from across the Rocky Mountains, from between, from among the men of Kent, from over the Atlantic, from up the country, from before his birth, from above, from under, from down east, from after, from below, from behind, from beyond the Tweed.

Of about six feet high, of near, of nigh, of over three years old, of under.

To within six feet of him, to about, to near, to nigh, to over, to above six shillings.
At about, at toward.

With about, with near, with nigh, with over, with after, with beyond.

Through to.

Right is used with prepositions to strengthen them; as Right under the centre, right through, right above, right between, right among, right amid, right behind, right over, right upon, right beneath, right after, right before, right against, right round.

All is used with the same meaning; as Al over the ship.

Names Substantive, which have a preposition in combination, are mostly derived from verbs. The prepositions separable and inseparable used are Over, Under, Fore, After, Hind, In, Out, Mid, Up, Down, Off; as in Overseer, Underling, Foreman, Foreleg, Afterthought, Hindleg, Inlet, Outlet, Midleg, Downfall, Upland, Offcast.

A pronoun put after a preposition must be in the objective case; as "I went to him ;" "He spake of her ;" "He came towards us;" "He walked after them."

The prepositions put with Names Adjective are the same as those put with substantives and verbs.

Several prepositions are used as adverbs, or in the like way; as In, Out, Within, Without, Inside, Outside, Off, Near, By, About, Round, Athwart, Across, Along, Through, Throughout, Over, Under, Before, After, Above, Below, On, Beneath, Behind, Beyond, Past.

Of, From, But, Except, To, At, Unto, Into, Towards, Against, With, Among, Amongst, While, Ere, are not used adverbially.

Afore, Atween, Aneath, Atwixt, Alow, Around, are used as adverbs, rather than Before, Between, Beneath, Betwixt, Below, and Round.

A is an inseparable preposition used in making adverbs; as in abed, ashore, asleep, aloud, acold.

Prepositions are used very much with verbs, thereby giving very many meanings; as to take off, to take to, to take in, to take up, to take down, to take on, to take out, to betake, to overtake, to undertake, to draw in, to draw up, to draw off, to draw down, to draw out, to overdraw, to undraw, to withdraw.

The inseparable prepositions most used are-An, Be, Down, En, Fore, Gain (Against), In, Mis, Off, Out, Over, Re, Un, Under, Up, With.

A is mostly used with participles; as "The house is a-building;" "The book is a-printing.

Be gives an active transitive form to the verb, with the meaning of greater or further action.

Un has a negative meaning, as in Undo, Undress, Unsay, Unmake, Unthinking, Unasked.

With and Gain have the meaning of against, as in Withstand, Withhold, Gainsay.

Mis stands for wrong; as Misdo, Misreckon, Misbehave, Mistake.

Re is of foreign root, but sometimes used with English words, standing for again; as Rebuild, Rehear, Relay. Dis is used with an ill or negative meaning; as in Dislike, Dishonour.

Most of the Latin prepositions are used with the Latin and French words brought into the language.

These take the following forms: A, Ab, Abs, from, by; Ad, At, to, at; Ante, before; Circa, Circum, round, about; Cum, Con, Co, with; Cis, on this side; Contra, Counter, against; De, Dis, Des, of, from, away; E, Ex, Ec, out of, from; Extra, beyond; In, Im, En, Em, in, against, not; Inter, Entre, among, between; Intro, within, in; Ob, Oc, Op, for, because of; Per, through, very; Pre, Præ, before; Post, after, since; Pro, for; Sine, without; Super, Sur, above; Sub, Suc, Sup, under; Trans, Tra, beyond; Ultra, beyond.

Of Greek prepositions and particles so used are -A, un, without; Amphi, around; Anti, against; Apo, from; Ana, again; Cata, in, within, towards, thoroughly; Dia, through; En, in; Epi, upon; Ec, Ex, from, out of; Hypo, under, from; Hyper, over; Meta, with, after; Peri, around, about; Para, from, near; Pro, before; Sun, with.

CONJUNCTIONS.

THE CONJUNCTION, or yoke-word, is used to bring together other words so as to make a sentence or saying; as "The man and the woman are happy ;" "The English of the Old World and the New are a strong people;" "A swan or duck swims in the water."

The Conjunction brings together two or more words, or two or more sayings; but though it yokes together the words, it does not, therefore, yoke together the meanings. We say, "The man and the woman;" "the man or the woman;" "neither the man nor the woman;" "he is unlucky and wicked;" "he is unlucky, but not wicked."

Conjunctions are called Copulative, as connecting the meaning, or Disjunctive, as breaking it off.

The following are Conjunctions :

Some Conjunctions of comparison work together in pairs :

1. Though - yet, nevertheless: Though he was born in America, yet he devoted himself to the interests and politics of Ireland, and tried to embroil the United States in a war with England."

"Whether

2. Whether or: "Whether the English or the Warings had the greater share in the settlement of the Russian empire, it is hard to tell." the Frisians or the Hollanders be nearer of kin to us, may be doubtful; but there can be no doubt whether the Highlanders or Manks are of the same race as the Lowlanders and ourselves.

3. Either or as "He will either write or send."

4. Neither

nor: as "Neither Blake nor Nelson lived to enjoy the

honours he had won.

5. As

in the world."

6. As

as: thus, "The Irish are as clever a people as can be found

so: so:

"As the stars, so shall be the host of England's sons." "As Weden gave our people their most valued institutions, so has he been held in honour."

7. As

8. So as: "The English have not been so long in this island as the Welsh; nor, perhaps, have these been so long as those Western Irish said to be of Spanish Iberian descent."

9. So that: “He was so lazy that he would hardly stir.”

Than is employed in comparison after the comparative degree; as "Ray was earlier than Linnæus in these investigations.

INTERJECTIONS.

AN INTERJECTION is a small word or particle thrown in to show the feeling

of the speaker; as "Lo! he comes." Hush! she sleeps."

The following are some of these words:

Oh! Ah! Alas! Alack! Welldone! Ha! Whew! Eh! What! Poh! Pshaw! Pish! Tut! Humph! Gammon! Humbug! Fudge! Foh! Fie! Off! Avaunt! Ho! Soho! Hollo! Hoy! Ahoy! Aye-aye! Hip! Hurrah! Huzza! Heave ahoy! Tallyho! Ha, Ha! Hail! All-hail! Wait hail! Drink hail! Lo! Hark! Law! Hush! Hist! Whist! St! Mum! Heigh-ho! Fee-fo-fum! Whoh! Avast! Halt! Gee-up! Gee-ho! Farewell! Good-bye! Ay-ay! Oho! Hey! Ha! All! Aye! No! Hullaballoo! Lillibullero! Hear, hear! Chair, chair! Order! Down, down! Off, off! Oyez, Oyez!

Of this kind are many cries and toasts; as "St. George for England!" "One and all!" "Wellington for ever!" "A Talbot! A Talbot!" "Washington for ever!" "The Land o' Cakes!" "Lancashire witches!" "Currency lasses!" "Home!" "No Popery!" "Auld Reekie!" "Boyne Water!" "Slieve-a-gammon !" "Paddy!" "Sambo!" "Taffy!" Such are likewise trade and street cries; as "Clo!" "Miow!"

Some of the noises made in the Legislatures of England, America, and Australia, are of the kind of Interjections; as "Hear, hear!" "Aye!" "No!"

O! Oh! Ah! take me after them, in the first person singular; as Oh! me! But in the second person, thou, ye, you; as "Oh! thou wretch!" "Ah! ve robbers of the poor!" "Oh! you followers of Wellington, who have fought by his side!"

SYNTAX

SYNTAX means putting together, and is that part of grammar which speaks of the putting together of words in a saying or sentence, so as to give a full meaning.

Such saying or sentence may be single or compound; as to all." "Death comes to all-to kings as well as thralls."

I. VERBS.

"Death comes

I. A VERB must agree with its subject in number and person; as "I fight;" "Thou art embittered;" "The man dies;" "The men are slain." A verb, therefore, must be in the singular number to agree with a single thing as its subject, and in the plural number to agree with more things than one. It must likewise be of the same person of each number as its subject; that is, of the first, of the second, or of the third. We cannot say "I fights;" "The men is slain;" or "He art slain."

You, however, as before named, is said to one as well as to many, but the verb must nevertheless be in the second person plural.

The subject of a verb may be of many kinds, and may be put before or after the verb; 66 as He is blessed who does good;" "Blessed is he who does good;" "He who does good is blessed."

The subject of a verb may be a single word or several words. As a single word it may be a name substantive, or that which stands for it—a pronoun; as "Man lives;" "He lives." The subject may be the infinitive mood of another verb; as "To be good is to be happy." Or it may be a saying; as "To do good unto others is a great happiness;" "The same fathers, the same speech, the same rights of freedom, the same body of laws, the same learning, are owned by our English brethren in the United States as by us."

Not only must the subject be in agreement with its verb, but the verb must agree with its subject, and the meaning must be clearly shown.

"A man whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and had great abilities to manage the business," is a bad saying; forasmuch as it may be understood that the "man's inclinations "had great abilities." It should be, "and who had great abilities."

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Sometimes a verb comes between two names substantive, one singular and one plural, and either of which may be its subject, as both are connected in meaning by it. In such case the verb may be put in the singular or plural, to agree with either; but the plural is better, as it is softer, being without the hissing of the s or z sound. If, however, the neighbouring words are of the same sound as the plural verb, it may be better to put the verb in the singular. We may say, "His meat was locusts and wild honey;" or "Locusts and wild honey were his meat."

A substantive or pronoun may be put before a participle in the nominative case. This is called the case absolute; as "Shame being lost, all virtue is lost;" "He being lost, the cause is lost."

The subject to the verb is put before, after, or within the parts of the verb, where it will give the strongest meaning and the best sound. If we wish to throw more weight on the meaning of happiness, we may say "Happy is he who does good;" if to make the meaning of doing good