be false. Of two Sub-alternate propositions, the truth of the Universal proves the truth of the Particular; and the falsity of the particular proves the falsity of the universal, but not vice versa. Of two Contradictory propositions, one must be true and the other false:

SIMPLE PROPOSITIONS AND COMPLEX.

§ 394. In order for a proposition to be SIMPLE, its terms must be simple. The Substantive or pronoun, forming one of them, must be the name of an object of incomplex apprehension. The Adjective or participle that very often forms one, must also be simple. Finally, the Verb, if it stand instead of a participle and copula, must also be simple. A COMPLEX proposition is one which has a complex term, or whose verb, if it stand for both predicate and copula, is modified by some adjunct. See § 377 and § 385.

COMPOUND PROPOSITIONS.

$395. COMPOUND PROPOSITIONS are those which are made up of two or more subjects or predicates, or both. They are either Conjunctive or Disjunctive, according as the connection subsisting between those different subjects or predicates is of a copulative or disjunctive character.

1. He is both a knave and a fool (Conjunctive). 2. Every action is good or bad (Disjunctive.)

EXERCISE.

Distinguish the compound propositions from such as are compounded in appearance, and state which of the former are conjunctive and which disjunctive, and point out the com

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1. Friendship either finds or makes men equal.

2. He who voluntarily lives quite alone must be either more or less than a man.

3. The Doctrine which places the chief Good in pleasure is unworthy of a philosopher.

4. It is not the cross, but the cause, which makes the Martyr.

5. Alike the subject and predicate are distributed in universal negatives.

6. The sun, moon, and stars can not all shine at once.

7. Either this man hath sinned, or his parents.

8. Extreme riches and poverty are alike to be deprecated.

CHAPTER IV.

THE RELATIONS OF THE PROPOSITION TO THE
PARTS OF SPEECH.

THE PROPORTION WHICH PROPOSITIONS BEAR TO

LANGUAGE.

§ 396. Ir we consider the great extent to which statements concerning particular objects, or classes of objects, form the staple of human conversation; if we remember how much of our speech is applied to making assertions concerning different subjects; and if we convince ourselves of the degrees in which we are continually affirming or denying something of something, we shall perceive the great proportion which that part of our language which takes the form of propositions bears to that which does not do so. From this fact we infer the importance of studying the structure of propositions in order to a philosophic classification of the parts of speech.

No one can look into a Grammar without finding an enumeration of what are called the Parts of Speech, viz., the Verb, the Substantive, the Adjective, the Pronoun, the Adverb, the Preposition, the Conjunction, the Interjection; and

the question arises, How are these distinguished from each other?

THE TESTS BY WHICH THE PARTS OF SPEECH ARE

DETERMINED.

397. Now the Parts of Speech are determined by the structure of propositions; and a word is a Noun, a Conjunc tion, or a Verb, according to either the place it takes in a proposition, or the relation it bears to one. fully shown in the following pages.

This will be

1. Is the Grammatical form of a word a sufficient test? No substantive, in the etymological signification of the term, ends in -ev in Greek, while infinitive verbs, generally speak. ing, do so end. Nevertheless, the infinitive forms, tò ¿loveiv, iv T 40ovεiv, are not verbs, but substantives. For the pur poses of Syntax, at least, the logical test, as opposed to the etymological test, is indispensable. This is especially true in the English language, which is more irregular in its ety mological forms than the classical languages. In a given case we do not think of saying what part of speech a word is until we have seen it used in a sentence. The etymological form, then, is an insufficient test. 2. Neither is the Phonetic form (i. e., the sound) of a word The same combination of sounds may have a variety of meanings, and may sometimes constitute one part of speech, sometimes another. The word up is an Adverb in the sen tence, I go up in a balloon; a Preposition in the sentence, I go up a tree.

a test.

"Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds."

"I do love thee so.

That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven."

"He was present at that love feast."

How do we know what part of speech love is in these several cases? Evidently from the office which it performs, and not from its form. It is a Noun, or a Verb, or an Adjective, according to its office in these three propositions. A part of speech can, in a given case, be distinguished only by examining the speech itself, and the principal speech is the proposition.

THE PARTS OF SPEECH WHICH ENTER INTO THE
OF SIMPLE PROPOSITIONS.

STRUCTURE

§ 398. THE SUBSTANTIVE.-A word which can enter into the structure of a simple proposition, either as the subject or the predicate, is called a Substantive; as, "Iron is hard." Here the word iron is the subject, one of the three parts of a simple proposition. "Washington was president." Here the word president is the predicate, one of the three parts of a simple proposition. A noun is the name of any object or entity that exists, or that is conceived to exist. see how it can form the subject of a proposition. says Hobbes, "is a word taken at pleasure, to serve for a mark, which may raise in our mind a thought like to some thought such as we had before, and which being pronounced to others, may be to them a sign of what thought the speaker had before in his mind."

Hence we "A name,"

Now an object must either possess or be without certain qualities, properties, or attributes; e. g., it must be either white, or not white. Hence the name of any property or attribute of any such object may form a predicate; e. g., Snow is white; Coal is not white. But we may also predicate of any object or entity that it may be equal to, or identical with, another object or entity; e. g., A man is an animal; A bird is not a quadruped. This shows that the name of an object may enter into propositions either as Subject or Predicate.

§ 399. THE ADJECTIVE.-A word which can enter into the structure of a simple proposition as the predicate, but not as the subject, is called an Adjective. Thus, in the instance above, white is the predicate of the simple proposition, but it can not be the subject of it. That the name of such a quality or attribute can not be the Subject of it is clear. We can not make the subject of our conversation a name betokening a quality. We can predicate a quality of an object in which that quality inheres, but we can not predicate an object of a quality. We can say snow is white, but we can not say white is snow, in the sense of predicating snow of white. $400. THE PRONOUN.-A word which stands for a noun,

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and can enter into the structure of a simple proposition either as the subject or the predicate, is a Pronoun.

In respect to what it denotes, it is a Noun Substantive or Adjective, as the case may be. In respect to the manner of denoting it, it is peculiar, being Variable; whereas Substantives are Invariable.

Thus the Substantive snow takes its name from qualities which it possesses, and through the effect of which it becomes cognizable to our senses and our imagination. Now these qualities, or their equivalents, are fixed and invariable.

In like manner, the adjective white means some fixed, inherent quality of some object or entity. The particular class of objects or entities to which it applies is not always certain; but it is always certain that it is the name of a constant quality.

The character of the words snow and white is determined by the nature of the objects to which they are applied.

Hence, a contrast between nouns and pronouns. The character of words like this, that, it, thou, he, is determ ined by the relation of the object spoken of to something else. Hence the meaning of a pronoun as a name varies with the variable relations of the object to which it is applied, while the meaning of nouns, both substantive and adjective, expresses the constant characteristics of the objects to which it is applied. Nouns are absolute names; Pronouns, relative.

The difference, then, between a Substantive and an Adjective is, that the former can be either the Subject or the Predicate of a proposition, and the latter can be only the Predicate, but not the subject of a proposition.

The difference between the Substantive and the Adjective on the one hand, and the Pronoun on the other, is, that the two former are variable names, and the latter is an invariable name.

Some writers apply the word name only to the denotation of objects or entities, and that only when its power is invariable, i. e., they restrict it to Substantives. In this case, not only are adjectives not names, but pronouns are in the same predicament.