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Many of the foregoing adverbs are frequently used improperly. On reference to the foregoing list, it will be seen that the equivalent of here is—in this place: the expression, "Come here," therefore, which means, literally interpreted, "Come in this place," should be, “Come hither." In like manner, "Where did he go?" should be, "Whither did he go?" "Go there," should be, “Go thither," &c. &c. Such expressions as these, incorrect though they be, by use become stereotyped, and almost ineradicable, in the language. On this head, Professor Latham has the following remark:-" It is a common practice of language to depart from the original expression of each particular idea, and to interchange the signs by which they are expressed, so that a word originally expressive of simple position, or rest in a place, may be used instead of the word expressive of direction, or motion between two places."

The adjective does not always qualify, but sometimes limits the signification or application of its noun; so likewise the adverb does not always qualify, but sometimes limits the application of the word with which it is grammatically connected; this is peculiarly true with regard to adverbs of the class given in the foregoing list. The position of the adverb, as well as other limiting particles, should be cautiously attended to, the same words being frequently found to convey perfectly different ideas by a different arrangement in respect to their order. "He lost only five hundred men," ," "He only lost five hundred men;" here we have the same words, and yet nothing can be

more distinct than the ideas conveyed properly by each. In the first expression, the men lost are limited in number to five hundred by the adverb only;—that is, it is denied that the loss amounted to more than five hundred. In the second, what is limited is not the number of men lost, but the act of losing, in contradistinction to any other that might have been predicated of the subject he. Tried by this standard, the following sentence from Chesterfield's Letters to his Son, will be found incorrect,-“ As to the modes of good breeding, they vary according to persons, places, and circumstances, and are only to be acquired by observation and experience;"-the sense requiring, "and are to be acquired only by observation and experience;" that is, by these alone.

QUESTIONS ON THE ADVERB.

Derive the name adverb. Give a list of adverbs. What classes of words do adverbs qualify? Give examples. Shew the propriety of the name adverb from a twofold consideration. Some adverbs admit of inflection; give a list of such. Give an example of adjectives used as adverbs, and explain the principle thereof. State a characteristic of adverbs in common with the parts of speech not yet discussed, as contradistinguished from the other classes of words. From what probably arose the use of adverbs? What are compound adverbs? Give a list of such. Whence arises a difficulty of giving a complete list of adverbs? Illustrate your answer by examples. How have adverbs been subdivided? What class of adverbs usually ends in y? Form adverbs from the adjectives-needy, wily, steady, lazy. What is the peculiarity of such formation, and the probable reason thereof? Give a list of adverbs which have a variety of significations. Correct the expressions,"Where did he go?" "He went there yesterday;" "He I will come here to-morrow." What is Latham's remark on the origin of such expressions? Give examples of the same adverbs conveying different ideas according to their arrangement, in order to prove the importance of observing the proper place of the adverb. Point out the adverbs,

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and prove them such, from their use in the following

sentences:

"Man is endowed with faculties which enable him not only to recollect the past, but also to anticipate the future." "The genius of Watt discovered the means of multiplying our national resources to a degree perhaps even beyond his own powers of calculation."

"The mode in which the animal body is nourished is well deserving of our attention."

"When subjected to the ills which flesh is heir to, what is there to uphold our spirit but the discoveries of Revelation?"

"Impose on me whatever hardships you please. Give me nothing but the bread of sorrow to eat; take from me the friends in whom I had placed my confidence; lay me in the cold hut of poverty, and on the thorny bed of disease; set death before me in all its terrors,-do all this, only let me trust in my Saviour, and pillow my head on the bosom of Omnipotence, and I will fear no evil. I will rise superior to affliction: I will rejoice in my tribulation. But let infidelity interfere between God and my soul, and how shall I bear up cheerfully under the burden of distress?"

Mention such of the adverbs in the foregoing sentences as admit of comparison, and compare them. Classify all the adverbs of the foregoing sentences. Mention all the nouns therein. What sort of nouns are they? State their gender and number. Mention all the adjectives. Compare them, and decline such as admit of declension. Mention the pronouns. Classify and decline them. Mention the verbs, and state their mood and tense.

ON THE PREPOSITION.

THE preposition is like the adverb, in that it cannot of itself form any of the essential parts (subject, copula, predicate) of a proposition, but requires to be combined with another word or words in order to form a part thereof. It is so far unlike the adverb, as that the words with which it

enters into combination do not belong to the same class as those with which the adverb combines. Brightly is an adverb. We say, "The sun shines brightly," where brightly enters into combination with the verb shines. From is a preposition; it will not enter into combination with a verb, nor an adjective, nor an adverb. From, and words similar thereto, will combine with nouns and pronouns alone. Hence the definition of a preposition is, that "It is a word which becomes part of a proposition in combination with a noun or pronoun.'

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In nearly all languages, a preposition, entering into combination with a noun or pronoun, is placed before such noun or pronoun; as, " She came from London." Hence the name of this class, from pre = before, and positus = placed. Prepositions shew the relation between things, or point out where things are said to be. In the sentence, "The plague raged in the city," in is a preposition; it shews where the plague was-the plague in the city raged-that is, it connects the nouns plague and city. From this function, certain old grammarians called such words pegs or pins, a name conveying more of the essential characteristics of this class than the term preposition, which merely indicates its position in the sentence. In the expression, "My hand is under the table," under is the preposition, or pin or peg which fastens together, and thus unites, the hand and table.

The great peculiarity whereby the preposition is at once detected is, that it requires a noun or pronoun immediately after it to complete the sense, and this want the ear at once perceives. In the expression, "The horse leaped into," there is evidently such want; and, to make a full sense, the ear detects the necessity of some noun after into denoting the place into which the leap was made, as into the meadow. Hence into is without difficulty concluded to be a preposition. Several words, it is laid down by grammarians, are used, sometimes as adverbs and sometimes as prepositions; they are adverbs when not necessarily followed by a noun-prepositions when they are. It is a question, however, of some interest, and admitting of some discussion, whether all words do not properly belong, under every variety of position, to the same class; and whether

the apparent diversity of class of the same words does not arise, in the great number of instances, from the tacit understanding established amongst men that it is sufficient to use words, and allowable to abbreviate expressions, in such a way as to express clearly what is meant. Two men, for instance, standing, one in a boat, and the other on a landing-place adjacent,-it will be sufficient for the one in the boat to say, "Will you come in ?" to convey himself intelligibly to the other. Here in is evidently no adverb, but a contracted form of the preposition into, which requires after it the noun boat, rendered unnecessary in expression, but not in sense, from the circumstance of the case, and the habit in which the ear has been practised of hearing such abbreviations. In like manner we say, “Get on," where on evidently connects the individual addressed with the course or path which he is exhorted to commence. So "Cut through,' Pass by," "Go before," &c. &c., are expressions capable of a similar explanation.

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The following is a list of the prepositions in most general

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OBSERVATIONS ON THE PREPOSITION.

1. Combinations of words are used as prepositions; as, up-on, round-about, instead-of, along-side-of, and several of the words in the foregoing list. Such expressions are easily explained by their analysis. In the expression, "He placed his ship along-side of the enemy," along-side-of is a compound preposition, connecting the words ship and enemy. The analysis of this word is at the long side of, and the sense is, "He placed his ship in such a position that she

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