EXERCISE ON THE NOUN.

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twelve in thickness. The space enclosed was about half-an-acre. Within this rainpart all the arms, the ammunition, and the provisions of the settlement were collected, and several huts of thin plank were built.

8. In a short time two hundred foot and a hundred and fifty horse had assembled.

9. Lowliness is young Ambition's ladder.

10. The grape is a richer fruit than the gooseberry.

11. Affectation in any part of our behaviour is lighting up a candle to our defects.

12. The beauties of a great poem cannot be enjoyed at first sight.

13. Life is precious; yet men have laid down their lives to preserve the liberties of their country.

14. There is no royal road to geometry; practice is the way to perfection in all sciences and arts.

15. James has a complete set of the ferns of his own district.

16. Laws securing to every man a property in the produce of his labour are universal in well-ordered societies.

17. Loam contains more sand than potter's clay.

18. Hundreds of different grasses are named in works on Botany.

19. Halloween, Shrove Tuesday, and other old festivals, are now less observed than in former times.

20. Morris, turning in his saddle, called out to his people, "remember what I have told you, men.' Then he put his spurs into Old Treasurer,' and, followed by the fraction of the regiment that ranged clear of the battery, drove full at the squadron confronting him.

21. Humanity then lodged in the hearts of men, And thankful masters carefully provided For creatures wanting reason.

22. Cholera makes great ravages in low-lying and illdrained towns.

23. Lime is an essential ingredient in all fertile soils. 24. In the direct front of the ranks thus awaiting the charge of our horsemen, there was sitting in his saddle a Russian who seemed to be the squadronleader.

25. When the Arminian controversy arose in Holland, the English Government and the English Church lent strong support to the Calvinistic party.

26. From March, 1629, to April, 1640, the Houses of Parliament were not convoked.

27. Carbon is the most abundant element in plants.

28. Wheat is a finer grain than oats.

29. In a time of frost, the appearance of the northern lights may be counted on with certainty.

30. The Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1833 to enquire into the state of the education of the people in England and Wales, gives an amount of information showing the increase of decency of deportment in the present age.

Questions.

1. Mention all the Parts of Speech that may be the Subject or the Object of a Sentence.

2. Distinguish the Noun from the Pronoun.

3. Distinguish the Noun and the Pronoun from the Verb.

4. Why are the words-Adam, tree, winter-called Show that they correspond with the

Nouns ?

Definition.

5. Why are the words-he, great, loving-said not to

be Nouns ?

QUESTIONS ON THE NOUN.

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6. Why are the nouns-India, Charles-called Proper ? why Singular? why Meaningless ?

7. How is it that singular nouns may be names for many subjects? Take the examples-Venus, Washington, Smith.

8. What is done to prevent confusion when one name is given to many persons, or to several places or buildings ?

9. Why are the nouns-star, kingdom, table-called Common? why General? why Significant?

10. Why are class names General and Significant? 11. What Singular objects have names that are not Meaningless, but Significant?

12. How can Significant names be joined to express a Singular Object? Take as examples-the head of our family; the father of all mankind; the last of the Stuarts; the great pyramid.

13. Some Singular Names are compounds of meaningless and significant words. Show this in the namesMount Horeb, the Falls of Niagara, St. Paul's Cathedral.

14. What is a Collective Noun ? Are the nouns-people, family, fleet-significant as well as collective ? 15. Of what class are the Nouns-ivory, spice, grass ? 16. Of what class are-wines, spices, grasses?

17. To what class belong the nouns-brightness, scarcity? What is the meaning of these words, as compared with the adjectives-bright, scarce?

18. To what class belong-education, success, life? 19. When Abstract Nouns are used with 'a' before them, or in the plural, what are they?

20. To what class belong the words-Time and Space ? 21. Give all the places, in a sentence, where Nouns may be found.

THE PRONOUN.

DEFINITION.

1. The Pronoun differs from the Noun in expressing a thing not by its own name, but by a reference or relation to something else. 'I' (the person speaking)' say;' 'he' (some person already mentioned) remained.'

We know what John Smith' or 'man' stands for, as soon as we hear or see the name; we do not know what I' stands for until we find out who is addressing us. When we ask-Who is there? and get the answer-I,' we do not know from the pronoun who is the person speaking: we remain in ignorance until the person gives his real name, or until we recognise him by his voice or by some other circumstance. The writer of a letter uses the pronoun 'I' to designate himself; but unless he signs his name or unless we know the handwriting, we do not know who it is that 'I' designates.、

In a legal document, the writer tells who he is—' I, James Brown, of Duke Street, St. James's, do hereby declare.'

In the following sentence, 'we' is used with a similar explanation :-'We, English, occupy a middle ground between the French and the Germans.'

Merely to say 'I saw him,' without having spoken before, conveys no sense; but if after speaking of some person we add 'I saw him yesterday,' we know that ‘him’ refers to

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

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In like manner, 'she,' 'it,'

the person spoken about. 'they,' 'this,'' that,' have no sense unless we know, in some other way, who or what they refer to.

2. The Pronoun, like the Noun, may be the Subject or the Object of a sentence, and may be changed for number, case, and gender.

'We saw them;' 'I met her.' "We' and 'them' are plural; 'them' and 'her' are changes for case (from 'they' and 'she).' She' and 'her' are feminine; 'he,' ‘him,' being masculine.

In regard to case, the Pronoun has more changes than the Noun.

The Pronoun farther agrees with the Noun, in occupying the following places in the sentence, besides being Subject or Object.

1. In Phrases, with a Preposition :-He spoke comfort to me; they left the book with us; all retired except them; John, from whom I heard.

2. In the Predicate of a Sentence, with incomplete verbs, especially the verbs 'is,'' was,' &c. :-It is I; if I were he.

CLASSES OF PRONOUNS.

3. I. Personal Pronouns :-I, we, thou, ye, you. 'I' and 'we are pronouns of the first person ; the others—thou, ye, you—are pronouns of the second person.

I denotes the speaker by himself: 'I give you leave to do it.'

We denotes the speaker and others with him. A schoolboy says for himself and his schoolfellows-'We played cricket,' 'We do not meet on Saturday:' a member of a church says-' We have a good minister.'

Thou is addressed to one person. It is used not in