was. The support of his mother and the of his mother and the expense of his sister was a heavy tax upon his industry,-were. The support of his mother with the expense of his sister were a heavy tax on his industry,was. What is wisdom and virtue to the sons of folly? Reconciliation was offered on terms as moderate as was consistent with a permanent union. Not one of all these sons of folly are happy. And the fame of his person and of his wonderful actions were diffused abroad. The variety of the productions of genius, like those of art, are without limit. To live soberly, righteously, and piously, are required of all men: here, to live, (not soberly, righteously, and piously,) is the nominative to the verb. To be of a pure and humble mind, to exercise benevolence, to cultivate piety, is the sure means of becoming peaceful and happy. Here there are three distinct entities spoken of or enumerated in the nominative to the verb, and, therefore, not is but are should be used.

DIRECTIONS CONCERNING THE WORDS CALLED AUXILIARIES OR HELPING VERBS.

THESE are, May, Might, Can, Could, Will, Would, Shall, Should; and, fortunately, they have no change of termination except that they assume st in connexion with thou: thus, I may, Thou mayst, He may, &c.: will and shall, have, instead of willest, shallest, wilt and shalt.

All, therefore, that the grammatic learner has to remember in using these words is to put st with thou: thus, Thou mayst train, thou mightst train, thou canst train, thou couldst train, thou wilt train, thou shalt train, thou shouldst train.

Do is frequently employed as an auxiliary and changes thus: I do, thou doest or dost, he doeth, or doth or does, we, you, they, &c., do; I did, thou didst, he did, we did, &c.; I have done, thou hast done, &c.

Here all you have to remember, is to put est or st with thou, and eth or es with he, she, it, or any one object in the third person present: in the past tense, did remains unchanged, except that st is added after thou.

Children and foreigners, following analogy, naturally say, I do, we do, &c.; I doed, he doed, we doed, &c., I have doed, &c.; instead of which they must learn to say and write, I do, thou dost, he doth or does, &c.; we did, thou didst, &c.; I have done, &c.

Have is also, with another verb, considered auxiliary, and is similarly contracted: thus, I have, we have, you have, they have, thou hast, he hath or has; I had, thou hadst, he had, we had, &c.

Here, again, you have only to remember to say or write, thou hast, he hath or has, thou hadst; in all the other combinations have and had undergo no change.

The termination eth or th is now almost obsolete;

es or s being commonly used: thus, he trains, she loves, it rains; not he traineth, she loveth, it raineth.

DIRECTIONS CONCERNING REGULAR VERBS.

These are, fortunately, very simple; for they have no useless and troublesome changes or terminations, except est or st in connexion with thou, and eth, th, es or s, in connexion with he, she, it, or any one object or singular nominative in the third person, and what is called present tense. The only mistake, therefore, which persons are apt to commit who are at all accustomed to grammatic usage, is in not putting est in connexion with thou, and es or s in connexion with he, she, it, or any singular noun, in the present tense. The second person singular, i. e. thou is (as already intimated) never used except in prayer, and by the Quakers, and in jocular or contemptuous discourse. The chief attention, therefore, of the grammatic learner should be directed to the third person singular, present tense; and he has only to keep this explicit rule steadily in view: When the nominative is singular, i. e. when one object is connected with the word called a regular verb, es or s must be affixed; but when the nominative is plural, i. e. when two or more objects are indicated, es or s must not be affixed. Thus,

John trains the pointers: John and James train the pointers: John or James trains the pointers. William possesses good sense and loves instruction; he diligently applies to useful learning; and his

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brothers possess much affection for him: they, too, love instruction and apply diligently to learning.

The following are instances of grammatic impropriety: the improper words (i. e. in having or in not having es or s affixed) are put in Italics.

All joy and tranquillity dwells there: Much joy, or at least tranquillity dwell there. Thoughtless and intemperate pleasure usually deteriorate both mind and character: Intemperate pleasures usually deteriorates both mind and character. Ignorance and negligence has produced the effect: Ignorance or negligence have produced the effect: Ignorance with negligence produce bad consequences: Negligence as well as ignorance produce bad consequences. Not only his fortune his reputation suffer by his misconduct. The king and his courtiers has passed by: The king with his courtiers have passed by: The king as well as his courtiers have passed by. Nothing delight me so much as the works of nature. Public and private happiness, national dignity, and all that is most interesting to human beings in this world, depends greatly on the character of the go

vernment.

In all the above instances, the attentive learner will perceive that the words put in Italics are wrong, because es or s is affixed when the nominative is plural, or omitted when the nominative is singular. There is some difficulty at first, in ascertaining the nominative or promptly discovering whether it be plural or singular. To this point, therefore, the gramma

tic student should apply particular attention, until it becomes quite familiar to him. The following remarks are intended for his assistance.

1. All nouns and pronouns that are evidently plural, i. e. which indicate two or more objects, must not have es or s affixed to the verb with which they are connected: as, They, These, Those, Men, Women, Children, Houses, &c.: thus, They love us— not They loves us. These are the friends of the poor -not These is the friends of the poor. Men naturally love their children-not loves. People do not consider how much they are improved by adversitynot People does not consider how much it is improved by adversity, &c.

2. When two or more singular nouns and pronouns are enumerated or added together, they form a plural nominative to the verb; thus, John and James and William love play: John, James, William, equally love play. Robert and his sister Mary often walk together in the fields: both he and she prefer the country to the city: they are fond of botany, and seldom return from their walks without some botanic specimens.

In all such cases the pronouns must be in the plural number.

3. Two or more circumstances form a plural nominative thus, To see the beauties of nature and to listen to the music of the groves, produce agreeable sensations not produces. The flashing lightning and the reverberating thunder, naturally produce