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النشر الإلكتروني

Of these pronouns, only the words one and other are varied. One has a possessive case, which it forms in the same manner as substantives; as, one, one's. This word has a general signification, meaning people at large; and sometimes also a peculiar reference to the person who is speaking; as, One ought to pity the distresses of mankind: One is apt to love one's self. This word is often used by good writers in the plural number; as, The great ones of the world: The boy wounded the old bird, and stole the young ones: My wife and the little ones are in good health.

Other is declined in the following manner :

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The plural others is only used when apart from the noun to which it refers, whether expressed or understood; as, When you have perused these papers, I will send you the others He pleases some, but he disgusts others. When the pronoun is joined to nouns, either singular or plural, it has no variation; as, The other man, the other men.

The following phrases may serve to exemplify the indefinite pronouns; Some of you are wise and good: A few of them were idle, the others industrious Neither is there any that is unexceptionable: One ought to know one's own mind: They were all present: Such is

the state of man that he is never at rest: Some were happy, while others were miserable.

The word another is composed of the indefinite article prefixed to the word other.

One another is used as a kind of compoune pronoun, including both of the preceding terms; as, Charles and Eliza were jealous of one another; that is, They were mutually jealous one of the other. The word one may refer eto either of the preceding terms, taken separately, and is in the nominative case. Another

may also refer to either of the preceding terms taken separately, and is in the objective case. As, They were jealous; one, viz. Charles, was jealous of the other, (Eliza.) Or, one, viz. Eliza, was jealous of the other, (Charles.)Thus one another include both nouns, and each may refer to either of the preceding terms; yet each of them, like the compound relative what, has a distinct case.

Both is sometimes a pronoun, sometimes an adjective, and sometimes a conjunction. In the following sentence it is used as a pronoun: The two brothers were both arrested, and both were found guilty. Here both in the first instance is used for the sake of emphasis, and put in apposition with the noun brothers. In the second instance it supplies the place of the It is used as an adjective in the following passages: Both parties were present; both cases ware decided.

noun.

In the sentence which follows, it is a conjunction It is for ones interest both here and here

after, to live virtuously. When used as a conjunction, this word, like several other conjunctions, has some of the properties of an adverb, and serves,i na sense, to qualify the sentence in which it stands.

None is used in both numbers; as, None is so deaf as he that will not hear: None of those are equal to these. It seems originally to have signified, according to its derivation, not one, and therefore to have had no plural; but there is good authority for the use of it in the plural number; "None that go unto her, return again." Prov. ii. 19. "Terms of peace were none youchsaf'd." MILTON.

The distributive, demonstrative, and indefinite pronouns, when joined to substantives to which they relate, take the nature of adjectives; as, This book is instructive: Each object was accomplished: Some boys are ingenious: All men are liable to err. This, each, &c. as here used, are adjectives, and may properly be styled pronominal adjectives.

Of Verbs.

A verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer; as, I am, I rule, I am ruled. Here, am is a verb, signifying to be, or to exist; rule is a verb, signifying to do, or to act; am ruled is a verb, signifying to suffer, or to be the recipient of an action performed by another.

Verbs are of three kinds; transitive, intransi tive, and passive.

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A transitive verb is one which passes over from the agent or subject, and terminates on some object; as, Men build houses: Fire consumes wood. Transitive means passing, or having the power to pass from one object to another; and therefore verbs which have this erty, are denominated transitive verbs.

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Intransitive verbs are those which do not pass over and terminate on an object, but whose being or action is confined to the subject or actor; as, Birds fly; I sit; They muse. Intransitive is the negative, or opposite, of transitive; and it is therefore applied to all that class of verbs which have no effect beyond their agents."

A passive verb expresses passion, or suffering, or the receiving of an action; as, the horse is seen; the dog was beaten ; the men were punished. To be passive, in the sense in which the term is here used, is to be made the subject of an impression from some external cause; to be acted upon; to be made the receiver of an action from another. The horse is seen; i. e. seen by some person. The dog was beaten ; i. "e. beaten by some individual. Thus, although the passive verb implies action, its action does not (like that of transitive verbs) pass from its agent, or subject, to some object; but on the contrary, the action originates in the object, and terminates on the agent, or nominative When I say, The scholar was instructed by me; although scholar is the subject of the verb, and forms its nominative case, yet the

case.

action which the verb expresses was not performed by the scholar, but by another person. The verb's nominative is not the doer of the action, but the receiver of it. The action terminates on the nominative, instead of the objective case. This is the grand distinction between transitive and passive verbs. The action of the transitive verb passes from the agent to some object, styled the objective case; the action of the passive verb passes from some noun or pronoun in the objective case expressed or understood, and terminates on the agent, or nominative case. The nominative case to a transitive verb is the doer of an action to another; the nominative case to a passive verb, is the receiver of an action from another. This distinction is too obvious to be easily mistak

en.

Nearly all transitive verbs imply action, and may therefore be styled in general active verbs. But there are some exceptions; as, I have a house: I own a farm. In instances like these, no action is expressed; yet the verb is transitive, and governs the following word in the objective case.

Intransitives comprehend a large portion of the active verbs, many of which imply action in the very highest degree; as, The fox leaps: Fishes swim Horses run: Birds fly. These verbs, although they imply a high degree of action, are neither transitive nor passive; they are not transitive, because they do not pass from the agent to any object; they are not passive,

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