SEARCH
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Prev | Current Page 160 | Next

Kirkham, Samuel

"English Grammar in Familiar Lectures"

But, before you proceed, please to
answer the following
QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED IN PARSING.
How many articles are there?--In what sense is a noun taken, when it has
no article to limit it?--Repeat the _order_ of parsing an article.--What
rule applies in parsing the _definite_ article?--What rule in parsing
the _indefinite_?
* * * * *
PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.
A, AN, THE.
In a scientific arrangement of grammatical principles, _a_ and _the_
belong to that class of adjectives denominated _definitives_ or
_restrictives_.
_A, an, ane_, or _one_, is the past participle of _ananad_, to add,
to join. It denotes that the thing to which it is prefixed, is
_added, united, aned, an-d, oned, (woned,)_ or made _one_.
_The_ and _that_. According to Horne Tooke, _the_ is the imperative,
and _that_, the past participle, of the Anglo-Saxon verb _thean_, to
get, take, assume. _The_ and _that_ had, originally, the same
meaning. The difference in their present application, is a modern
refinement. Hence, _that_, as well as _the_, was formerly used,
indifferently, before either a singular or a plural noun.


Pages:
148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172