quite irregular; "Man, men; woman, women; child, children; ox, oxen; die, dice; mouse, mice; louse, lice; goose, geese; penny, pence; foot, feet; tooth, teeth.

Note. Some nouns are used in the singular number only, as, "Gold, pitch, sloth, pride," &c. Some are used in the plural number only, as, (6 Scissors, bellows, tongs, lungs, riches, alms, mathematics." Some are the same in both numbers, as, 66 Deer, sheep, means."

Examination.

1. What is the plural of chair? How is it formed? By adding s.

2. What is the plural of church? How is it formed? By adding es.

3. What is the plural of lady? How is it formed? By changing y into ies.

4. What is the plural of mouse? How is it formed? It is quite irregular, &c.

III. CASE strictly means a change of termination. There are three cases, the nominative, the genitive, and the accusative. The nominative simply signifies the name of the object. The genitive signifies the proprietor, as, John's book; the girl's cap. The accusative denotes an object acted upon, or which has a relation to some other object, as, Peter struck John; he spoke to the girl.

Note 1.-The nominative and accusative cases of nouns are always alike.

Note 2.-The genitive singular is formed by adding an apostrophe and s to the nominative singular, as, 66 Boy's, lady's.' The genitive plural is formed by adding an apostrophe only to the nominative plural, as, Boys', ladies"." The genitive of the irregular plurals, men, women, children, oxen, &c. is formed by adding 's, as, " Men's, women's.'

Examination.

1. What is the genitive singular of lady 3-How is it formed? -Spell it.

2. What is the genitive plural of lady ?-How is it formed? --Spell it.

3. What is the genitive plural of child 2-How is it formed? -Spell it.

Note. Sometimes 's form a syllable, as, "Fox's, pronounced

Foxiz."

PRONOUN.

Pronouns are of three kinds, personal, relative, and demonstrative.

1. Declension of the Personal Pronouns.

First Person, or Person speaking.

I, my or mine, me.

Nom.

We, our or ours, us.

Second Person, or Person spoken to.

Gen.

Accus. Nom.

Gen.

Accus.

Thou, thy or thine, thee. | You, your or yours, you.

Note.-You, instead of thou or thee, is now generally applied to a single person; and ye is sometimes used instead of you, as the nominative plural.

Third Person, or Person spoken of.

Fem. She, her or hers, her. They,their or theirs, them. Neu. It,

its, it.

Note. The plural of the 1st, 2d, or 3d person, united, is we; and the plural of the 2d and 3d person, united, is you; as, “You, he, and I, associate together, we are neighbours. She and thou resemble each other, you are relations.

I

2. Declension of the Relative Pronouns.

Nom. Gen.

Acc.

Nom. and Acc.

Sing, and Plur. Who, whose, whom. Which, that.

3. Declension of the Demonstrative Pronouns.

Nom. and Acc.

Singular. This, that.

Plural. These, those.

Examination.

1. What is the genitive plural of I? Our or ours.

2. Of what person, gender, number, and case, is she?---Third person, feminine gender, nominative singular.

3. What is the plural of this? These.---What is the singular of those? That.

VERB.

There are three kinds of verbs, active, passive, and neuter.

An active verb is said to be transitive, when the action passes on to an object, as, " John struck me. It is said to be intransitive, when there is no object to which the action passes, as, "John trifles."

A verb is passive, when it expresses an action which is received by its subject, as, "John was whipped."

Á verb is neuter, when it simply expresses the existence, or the state of being, of its subject, as, "John sleeps."

There are four things to be considered in a verb, the person, number, time, and mode.

1st and 2d. A verb is said to be of the same person and number as its subject. Thus, have may be the first person singular, or it may be the first, second, or third person plural, because its subject may be I, we, you, ye, they, or any noun in the plural number. Hast is said to be the second person sin

gular, because its subject is thou. Has or hath is said to be the third person singular, because its subject may be he, she, it, or any noun in the singular number.

3d. The times or tenses are the present, past, and future. "Present, Just now I entreat. Past, Yesterday I entreated. Future, To-morrow I shall entreat." But, to express the progress of an action, I can say, "Just now I am entreating. Yesterday I was entreating. To-morrow I shall be entreating." And, to express the completion of the same action, I can say, Just now I have entreated. Yesterday I had entreated. To-morrow I shall have entreated." All these are different modifications of present, past, and future time.

4th. Mode is a particular manner of expressing the signification of the verb, as denoting an affirmation, condition, command, &c. The modes are, the indicative, the conditional, the imperative, the infinitive, and the participles.

1. The indicative mode is that by which we express an affirmation without any dependent circumstance, as, "I entreated him."

2. The conditional mode is that by which we express an affirmation with some dependent circumstance, as, " I may entreat him."

3. The imperative mode is that by which we command or solicit, as, "Be diligent; forgive me."

4. The infinitive mode expresses the general meaning of the verb, as, "To entreat;" of which mode the word to is the sign, and may be considered as part of the verb.

5. A participle is that state of a verb, by which we express acting or existing without any particular application, as, "Entreating, entreated." It appears to be partly a noun or adjective, and partly a verb.

Note 1.-To conjugate a verb, is to exhibit its variations with respect to person, number, time, and mode.

Note 2.-Before attempting the conjugation of a verb, the pupil should be accurately acquainted with the person and number of the following pronouns :

1st, 2d,

Singular.

3d, person. 1st,

Plural.

2d,

3d, person.

I-thou-he, she, it. We-you or ye—they.

The Variations of the Auxiliary Verbs.

Shall, shalt - Should, shouldst - Will, wiltWould, wouldst - Can, canst-Could, couldst May, mayst-Might, mightst-Must.

Must is in

The above arrangement is to be thus understood: Shall agrees with any person except thou, which requires shalt, &c. variable, and therefore will agree with any person.

Conjugation of the Verb TO HAVE. Had.

Present, have-thou hast-he has or hath
Past, had-thou hadst

Future, shall have-thou shalt have

Perfect, have had-thou hast had-he has had Pluperfect, had had-thou hadst had

Fut. perfect, shall have had-thou shalt have had.

Note. For he may be substituted she, it, who, which, that, or any noun in the singular number; for you may be substituted ye; and for they may be substituted these, those, or any noun in the plural For has may be substituted hath, and for shall may be

number.

substituted will.

Conditional Mode.

Pres. or Fut.

may

have-thou mayst have. Perfect, may have had thou mayst have had.

Note 1.-For may may be substituted can, must, might, could, would, or should.