nd
elegance. The argument appears to be conclusive, then, that every
language must necessarily have more parts of speech in its refined, than
in its barbarous state.

The part of speech to which any word belongs, is ascertained, not by the
_original_ signification of that word, but by its present _manner_ of
meaning, or, rather, _the office which it performs in a sentence_.

The various ways in which a word is applied to the idea which it
represents, are called its _manner of meaning_. Thus, The painter dips
his _paint_ brush in _paint_, to _paint_ the carriage. Here, the word
_paint_, is first employed to _describe_ the brush which the painter
uses; in this situation it is, therefore, an _adjective_; secondly, to
_name_ the mixture employed; for which reason it is a _noun_; and,
lastly, to _express the action_ performed; it therefore, becomes a
_verb_; and yet, the meaning of the word is the same in all these
applications. This meaning, however, is applied in different ways; and
thus the same word becomes different parts of speech. Richard took
_water_ from the _water_ pot, to _water_ the plants.

ETYMOLOGY.

Etymology treats, first, of the _classification_ of words.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE is derived chiefly from the Saxon, Danish, Celtic,
and Gothic; but in the progressive stages of its refinement, it has been
greatly enriched by accessions from the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish,
Italian, and German languages.

The number of words in our language, after deducting proper names, and
words formed by the inflections of our verbs, nouns, and adjectives, may
be estimated at about _forty thousand_. There are ten sorts of words,
called parts of speech, namely, the NOUN or SUBSTANTIVE, VERB, ARTICLE,
ADJECTIVE, PARTICIPLE, ADVERB, PREPOSITION, PRONOUN, CONJUNCTION, and
INTERJECTION.

Thus you perceive, that all the words in the English language are
included in these ten classes: and what you have to do in acquiring a
knowledge of English Grammar, is merely to become acquainted with these
ten parts of speech, and the rules of Syntax that apply to them. The
_Noun_ and _Verb_ are the most important and leading parts of speech;
therefore they are first presented: all the rest (except the
interjection) are either appendages or connectives of these two. As you
proceed, you will find that it will require more time, and cost you more
labor, to get a knowledge of the noun and verb, than it will to become
familiar with all the m