How to Speak and Write Correctly. Joseph Devlin

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      A noun is the name of any person, place or thing as John, London, book. Nouns are proper and common.

      Proper nouns are names applied to particular persons or places.

      Common nouns are names applied to a whole kind or species.

      Nouns are inflected by number, gender and case.

      Number is that inflection of the noun by which we indicate whether it represents one or more than one.

      Gender is that inflection by which we signify whether the noun is the name of a male, a female, of an inanimate object or something which has no distinction of sex.

      Case is that inflection of the noun which denotes the state of the person, place or thing represented, as the subject of an affirmation or question, the owner or possessor of something mentioned, or the object of an action or of a relation.

      Thus in the example, "John tore the leaves of Sarah's book," the distinction between book which represents only one object and leaves which represent two or more objects of the same kind is called Number; the distinction of sex between John, a male, and Sarah, a female, and book and leaves, things which are inanimate and neither male nor female, is called Gender; and the distinction of state between John, the person who tore the book, and the subject of the affirmation, Mary, the owner of the book, leaves the objects torn, and book the object related to leaves, as the whole of which they were a part, is called Case.

ADJECTIVE

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      An adjective is a word which qualifies a noun, that is, shows or points out some distinguishing mark or feature of the noun; as, A black dog.

      Adjectives have three forms called degrees of comparison, the positive, the comparative and the superlative.

      The positive is the simple form of the adjective without expressing increase or diminution of the original quality: nice.

      The comparative is that form of the adjective which expresses increase or diminution of the quality: nicer.

      The superlative is that form which expresses the greatest increase or diminution of the quality: nicest.

      or

      An adjective is in the positive form when it does not express comparison; as, "A rich man."

      An adjective is in the comparative form when it expresses comparison between two or between one and a number taken collectively, as, "John is richer than James"; "he is richer than all the men in Boston."

      An adjective is in the superlative form when it expresses a comparison between one and a number of individuals taken separately; as, "John is the richest man in Boston."

      Adjectives expressive of properties or circumstances which cannot be increased have only the positive form; as, A circular road; the chief end; an extreme measure.

      Adjectives are compared in two ways, either by adding er to the positive to form the comparative and est to the positive to form the superlative, or by prefixing more to the positive for the comparative and most to the positive for the superlative; as, handsome, handsomer, handsomest or handsome, more handsome, most handsome.

      Adjectives of two or more syllables are generally compared by prefixing more and most.

      Many adjectives are irregular in comparison; as, Bad, worse, worst; Good, better, best.

PRONOUN

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      A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun; as, "John gave his pen to James and he lent it to Jane to write her copy with it." Without the pronouns we would have to write this sentence—"John gave John's pen to James and James lent the pen to Jane to write Jane's copy with the pen."

      There are three kinds of pronouns—Personal, Relative and Adjective Pronouns.

      Personal Pronouns are so called because they are used instead of the names of persons, places and things. The Personal Pronouns are I, Thou, He, She, and It, with their plurals, We, Ye or You and They.

      I is the pronoun of the first person because it represents the person speaking.

      Thou is the pronoun of the second person because it represents the person spoken to.

      He, She, It are the pronouns of the third person because they represent the persons or things of whom we are speaking.

      Like nouns, the Personal Pronouns have number, gender and case. The gender of the first and second person is obvious, as they represent the person or persons speaking and those who are addressed. The personal pronouns are thus declined:

      First Person.

       M. or F.

	Sing.	Plural.
N.	I	We
P.	Mine	Ours
O.	Me	Us

      Second Person.

       M. or F.

	Sing.	Plural.
N.	Thou	You
P.	Thine	Yours
O.	Thee	You

      Third Person.

       M.

	Sing.	Plural.
N.	He	They
P.	His	Theirs
O.	Him	Them

      Third Person.

       F.

	Sing.	Plural.
N.	She	They
P.	Hers	Theirs
O.	Her	Them

      Third Person.

       Neuter.

	Sing.	Plural.
N.	It	They
P.	Its	Theirs
O.	It	Them

      N. B.—In colloquial language and ordinary writing Thou, Thine and Thee are seldom used, except by the Society of Friends. The Plural form You is used for both the nominative and objective singular in the second person and Yours is generally used in the possessive in place of Thine.

      The Relative Pronouns are so called because they relate to some word or phrase going before; as, "The boy who told the truth;" "He has done well, which gives me great pleasure."

      Here who and which are not only used in place of other words, but who refers immediately to boy, and which to the circumstance of his having done well.

      The word or clause to which a relative pronoun refers is called the Antecedent.

      The Relative Pronouns are who, which, that and what.

      Who is applied to persons only; as, "The man who was here."

      Which is applied to the lower animals and things without life; as, "The horse which I sold." "The hat which I bought."

      That is applied to both persons and things; as, "The friend that helps." "The bird that sings." "The