510
ns, we have the same sense without any pronoun; but it is obvious that the pronouns form a better mode of expression, because they prevent this awkward repetition. The different pronouns in English are twenty-four; and their variations in declension are thirty-two: so that the number of words of this class, is fifty-six.
5. How can we distinguish a VERB? By observing that it is usually the principal word in the sentence, and that without it there would be no assertion. It is the word which expresses what is affirmed or said of the person or thing mentioned; as, "Jesus wept."--"Felix trembled."--"The just shall live by faith." It will make sense when inflected with the pronouns; as, I write, thou _writ'st_, he _writes_; we write, you write, they write.--I walk, thou walkst, he _walks_; we walk, you walk, they walk. Of English verbs, some recent grammarians compute the number at eight thousand; others formerly reckoned them to be no more than four thousand three hundred.[131]
6. How can we distinguish a PARTICIPLE? By observing its derivation from the verb, and then placing it after to be or _having_; as, To be writing, Having _written_--To be walking, Having _walked_--To be weeping, Having _wept_--To be studying, Having studied. Of simple participles, there are twice as many as there are of simple or radical verbs; and the possible compounds are not less numerous than the simples, but they are much less frequently used.
7. How can we distinguish an ADVERB? By observing that it answers to the question, _When? Where? How much?_ or _How_?--or serves to ask it; as, "He spoke fluently." How did he speak? Fluently. This word fluently is therefore an adverb: it tells how he spoke. Of adverbs, there are about two thousand six hundred; and four fifths of them end in ly.
8. How can we