Inflections. forms of the past When two forms of the past participle exist, as, drunk, drunken; bound, bounden; shaped, participle. shapen; got, gotten; the form in -en is generally used as an adjective, and the other form as a participle. Thus we say, The man was drunk at the time; A drunken man. He was bound with chains; My bounden duty. This is misshaped; A misshapen thing. He has got his dues; ill-gotten gains. Double forms of the past tense. Adverbs. Soon, often. Well, etc. When two forms of the past tense exist, as, drunk, drank; swum, swam; rung, rang; sung, sang; sunk, sank; spit, spat; sprung, sprang ; the form in a, as, drank, spat, sprang, is preferable to the other, if only to distinguish between the past tense and past participle. ADVERBS. Very few adverbs are inflected at all. Those ending in -ly, which are all Adverbs of Quality, have three degrees of comparison, like adjec tives. The comparative and superlative degrees are formed from the positive by prefixing more and most; as, wisely, more wisely, most wisely; quickly, more quickly, most quickly. Soon and often are compared by adding -er to the positive for the comparative, and -est for the superlative. Soon, sooner, soonest; often, oftener, oftenest. Well, badly, little, and much are thus compared : Well, better, best; badly, worse, worst; Little, less, least; much, more, most; like their Inflections. corresponding adjectives. All other adverbs have no inflections what Derivation and composition. Origin of language. PART III. DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. "LANGUAGE, being the invention of ignorant and barbarous men, was at first necessarily confined to the names of things and actions of common occurrence and daily use. And as nouns and verbs are necessary in all communications, they were invented first; the noun being the name of a thing at rest, as a tree, which is always a tree; and verbs the names of things in motion; as, he sleeps,-but he does not by nature always sleep. And as the earliest language was invented for the purpose of communication, so its later refinements such as adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, etc., were invented for the sake of dispatch or speedy communication, nouns and verbs alone being insufficient for that purpose. Instead, however, of inventing new sounds or names for these particles, that is, conjunctions, etc., they made use of verbs and nouns with or without modifications to express them by. Consequently all adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, etc., are either derivatives or compounds of nouns or verbs, though the origin of most of them is not apparent at first sight, and of some of them completely untraceable."-HORNE TOOKE. Derivation (derivo = to draw off, Lat.) is the Derivation. addition of a letter or letters, but not of a whole word, to a root, thereby forming another word; as tumble, stumble; patron, patronage; carry, carrier, carrying; or it is an internal change in a word with or without the addition of letters; as, win, won; strong, strength. All the grammatical inflections are examples of derivation. = tion. Composition (compono to place together, Composi Lat.), is the joining together of two different words, and treating the combination as a single term both as regards accent and inflection; as, fisherman; washerwoman; armchair; appletree; Thursday. Derivatives are formed either by an internal Derivatives. change, as won from win; men from man, etc. : or by an affix; as, conquer, conqueror; fish, fishery; good, goodness. Compounds are formed by prefixing some Compounds. other word to the root, as the first word in a compound always qualifies the second; as, riding-habit habit for riding; apple-tree= tree for producing apples; inkstand for ink. = = stand Note.-A prefix is a letter or letters placed in front of Prefix. a word, thereby forming another word with a difference of meaning; as, he-goat, stumble from tumble; misshapen. An affix is a letter or letters added to the end of a word, Affix or thereby varying its meaning and forming another word; suffix. as, God-head, wisdom, oxen, happier, sing-er. of nouns. Nouns are derived from verbs, adjectives, and Derivation other nouns. Derivation of nouns. From verbs. From verbs, (1.) By means of the following affixes, signifying agent: -ar; as, beggar from beg; liar from lie. -ark or art; as, drunkard from drink; brag gart from brag. This termination denotes augmentation as well as agency. -er; as hunter from hunt; writer from write. -ster; as, punster from pun; gamester from game. This termination originally denoted female agents only, as is still seen in the word spinster from spin. It now denotes depreciation in most instances. -or; as, sailor from sail; grantor from grant. (2.) By means of the following affixes, denoting abstract state or condition, or action :-age; as, marriage from marry; tillage from till. -lock; as, wedlock from wed. : -ter; as, laughter from laugh; slaughter from slay. (3.) Or by the following affixes, denoting the accomplished act or passive state : -d; as, brand from burn; flood from flow; deed from do; seed from sown. -t; as, rent from rend; joint from join; weight from weigh. -en; as, burden from bear; Heaven from heave. These terminations, -d, -t, -en, are derived from the past participles in -ed or -en. -ment; as, astonishment from astonish; judgment from judge. |