The Nominative noun, the Verb precedes;
He most improves, who good instruction heeds.
Possessive nouns, imply, belonging to,
The Scholar's duty, is the Master's due.
Nomen, a Name + Possessivus, having possession.
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The noun's Objective* too, will plain appear,
Sands make the mountain, moments make the year;
Nouns follow Verbs in the Objective case,
Hence year and mountain. after make we place.
* Ob. to oppose-jective, jacio, to throw.
ADJECTIVES. (ad, to-jective, jacio, to throw.)
By ADJECTIVES, we're taught the state, and kind
Of Substantives; in three degrees defin'd:
The Positive declares (then to begin,)
Good debts, Bad debts become, if not call'd in.
Comparatives with others are compar'd-
Thus you are wiser, and the more endear'd;
By most or est Superlativest are seen,-
Thus, fruits most rare, and fields of richest green.
* Comparo, examined with another. Saper. above, latum, carried.
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There's Adjectives of Quality, as sweet;
There's Adjectives of Quantity, as great;
Of Number too, the Cardinal, as three,—
The Ordinal-as bring the third to me.
PRONOUNS. (pro, for; nomen, a name.)
PRONOUNS, are words that do supply the place
Of Nouns; and have their Gender, Number, Case;
And Person too; of which no doubt you've heard,
I, is the First, You, Second, and He, Third.
I First, the person speaking do declare,
To You the Second, present thus to hear;
That He, the Third, if (absent he should prove,
And) spoken of. must mention'd be in love.
Some Pronouns, always Nominative be,
As these, I, Thou, We, She, They, Who, and He; Objective, Me, Us, Thee, Them, Whom, Him, Her ; But Ye, You, It, us'd in both cases are.
Possessive Pronouns us'd, are My or Mine,
Our-ours, Your-yours, Their-theirs, and Thy or thine:
Its-his, Her-hers,--thus followed by a Noun,
We say, Our house, My hat, Your coat, Her gown.
The Pronouns Relative,* are Who and Whom,
These male and female genders do assume:
All persons, and all numbers too, they claim,
But Which, relates to things, all things we name.
* Re, back again—lative, latum, carried.
This, singular, Demonstrates* near at hand,
That, singular, the farthest to command,
These, plural, present are, or mention'd last;
Those, were the first, and more remotely plac'd.
To Pronouns of third person, also give
Terms, Antecedent*, likewise Relative: †
The last to follow and agree in sense
With the preceding, the antecedents.
* Ante, before-cedent, cedo, to give. + Re, back again, .atum, carrie
The Distributive* Adjective's appeal
Is, that Each Parent, and the Country feel,
That Every child, of Either sex should be
So taught, that Neither, know adversity.
Pronouns Indefinite,* this verse informs
That Many labour to effect reforms:
Some try the laws, and Others sermons mild,
The best reform, is to INFORM THE CHILD.
In, not; de, out; finis, the end,
The One, is cruel, oft, not known till felt;
The Other slow, and None of sure result;
But early precept oft the mind ensures;
All that prevents, excels the certain cures.
VERBS. (verbum, the word.)
VERB, means a word; the word that doth declare The Being, Doing, Suffring;—hence 'tis clear That every sentence must a Verb contain,
Or we shall speak-or, we shall write in vain.
When Verbs a Subject, and an Object have,
Those Verbs are Active, and call'd Transitive; #
Noah builds the ark,-in this example see
The Object, Ark,-the Subject,-Noah must be.
* Transitio, from one to another.
Verbs Passive suff'ring mean, the " Ark is built The Neuter these, I smile, you weep, he felt: The neuter oft, are call'd Intransitives,t
"You weep," it states-but no instruction gives. * Intranseo, not passing over.
With Verbs, Three Persons, in both numbers lie,
I, Thou, He, She,-the plural We, Ye, They:
The single Verb, with single Nouns attend,
The Subject plural,—plural Verbs are penn’d.
When Noun, or Pronoun of first person be,
The Verb must harmonize, you'll plainly see;
For is it not absurd to say-I learns?
Or in the plural form, exclaim,- We burns?
The Second and Third persons also claim,
That you their feelings, will respect the same,
Their numbers to observe,-on no pretence
Exclaim they knows, it shocks all common sense.
The Moods do next demand our notice here,
The manner show, in which the Verbs appear;
The moods are Five, their names I'll quickly give,
And first, I mention the Indicative.†
This Mood we use, when we do simply say,
I learn-You Work,—Girls talk, and Boys love play:
Potential* next. implies the pow'r to do,
I may, and can, this letter write for you.
*Posse, possum; to be able.
Subjunctive* Mood condition's always meant,
"If rich be humble, and if poor content."
Imperativet-Commands, -Come hither John:
Infinitive -no limit,-thus to run.
Sub, under: jungo, to join. + Impero, to rule over.
In, not: finis, a limit.
Verbs vary in their Mood, by Tense* controul'd;
Mark, tense means Time, which six divisions hold.
The Present tense declares, that now I write;
The Past was writing, though not finish'd quite.
*Tempus, time, +called by some Imperfect; or preterimperfect.
The Perfect Tense, informs me you have read;
Pluperfect Tense, that you your task had said;
First Future Tense, you will for time to come,
Or shall leave school, to go directly home.
* Preterit. + Preterpluperfect.
By Second Future* Tense, you thus declare,
You shall or will have wash'd, and dress'd with care,
All Lessons learnt, at School, and not repine
To morrow-morn, before the hour of nine.
Deriv'd from verbs, declin'd like nouns are all
Those kind of words, Participles we call ;
The Passive form, with ed is known to end,
The Active, ing, subjoin'd to verbs doth lend..
For Verbs Irregular,—no rule is seen,
For Am, or Was,-Participle is been:
Winds blow, they blew, till blown, the Vessel's lain
To break,-tis broke,—yes, broken on the main.
ADVERBS, a part of speech you will perceive
Are join'd to Verbs, and oft to Adjectives;
Design'd to mark, thə Manner, Place, Degree,
The Time, and often too, the Quality.
Adverbs from Adjectives, the manner show,
Live honestly,-Walk humbly,-quickly go:
Adverbs of Place, are these, Thence, Thither, There,
Here, Where, Nigh, Near, Hence, Hither, Everywhere
Again, Down, Downward, Farther, Forth, and Fır,
Off, Out, Up, Upward, all of this class are:
Contracted Adverbs differ but in dress,
Come hither, always meaning to this place.
The Adverbs of Degree, to mark Excess,
Much, More, Most, Very, Too, do well express:
But when Deficiency, we would declare,
The Adjectives Less, Least, the Adverbs are.
Adverbs of Time, contracted thus, 'tis seen,
Never, at no time, now, at this time mean:
Again, Already, Always, Once, Twice, Late,
Then, Daily, Oft, Immediately, Still, Yet.
Adverbs of Quality, oft end in ly,
Which to Participles, we do apply;
Also to Adjectives ly we add,
He wrote it badly; for he wrote it bad..
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