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What are the birds doing in yonder grove? Class. "They sing." What can you say of plants? Class. "They grow." Write the words "falls," sing," and grow" under the others. Now each take a place at the blackboard, and write the names of all the acts you can think of that boys do. The class write "boys play," "boys read," "boys write," "boys run, "boys eat," "boys laugh," &c., &c. The actions that girls, horses, dogs, birds, &c., perform may then be written, if time permit, or assigned for future lessons; and, when pupils are fully prepared to understand it, they may be told that all the names of actions are called verbs. In further lessons, they may be required to form sentences containing particular verbs and to point out the verbs in sentences.

EXERCISE FIFTH.-Kinds of Verbs.--Adopting the common classification of Verbs, lists of them may be written upon the blackboard as follows:--

FIRST LIST.

Boys play.
Birds fly.
Men work.
Dogs bark.

SECOND LIST.
The table stands.
The book lies.

The curtains hang.
The teacher sits.

THIRD LIST.

The boy was whipped.
The soldier is wounded.
The horses were sold.
The pitcher was broken.

Pupils having learned that the names of actions are Verbs, can readily point out the Verbs in the first list. They may then be asked to point out the words that most resemble Verbs in the second and third lists. This done, tney may be shown the dif ferences in the meaning of the three kinds of Verbs, and learn to call them by their names-Active, Neuter, and Passive. A great deal of practice must be allowed pupils in naming the different kinds of

Verbs as they occur in sentences, and in composing sentences containing them.

EXERCISE SIXTH.-The Properties of Verbs.Whether Verbs are the names of actions which are perceptible, or of those which are imperceptible; whether they denote actions performed or actions endured, they must have reference to time and manner. Pupils can readily give orally or write the names of actions which are taking place at the present time; and it is not much more difficult to suppose that the same actions took place yesterday, or will take place to-morrow, and to express them accordingly. After full practice upon the Present, Past, and Future Tenses, the pupils may be made acquainted with those subdivisions of them thought to be necessary by Grammarians.

The teacher can write lists of sentences containing Verbs in the different Modes, and instruct his pupils in those peculiarities of expression upon which distinctions of Mode are founded.

Many examples of Verbs should then be given, and the pupils be required to state their Tense and Mode. Sentences can also be constructed containing Verbs of certain given Tenses and Modes.

Verbs denote by their form whether actions are performed or received by one person or more, or by a speaker, a person or thing spoken to, or a person or thing spoken of. This can be readily exemplified in the manner previously described.

Pupils should not only be required to commit the Conjugation of verbs, in a certain order, but they should be expected to answer questions asked mis

cellaneously upon it. The teacher may name Modes, Tenses, Numbers, and Persons, and demand of the pupils forms of Verbs that answer the conditions, he may require such Verbs to be embodied in sentences, or he may assign the sentences and engage the pupils in distinguishing and classifying the Verbs.

Exercises similar to those now described should be given in respect to Pronouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections; but any teacher who has appreciated the spirit of the method indicated can do it for himself. The spirit and form of these Exercises are identical with those recommended in giving lessons on objects. The more obscure distinctions in Etymological Grammar can be presented in the same way to pupils prepared to understand them. It must be remembered, however, that these exercises do not contemplate an exhaustive discussion of the Parts of Speech.

GRAMMAR AS A SCIENCE.

An effort will now be made to point out the proper method of teaching Grammar as a science. Our thinking is regulated by laws. which treats of these laws is Logic.

The science Language is the verbal expression of thought, and therefore there must be a close analogy between the laws of thought and the laws of speech. Hence the relationship which exists between Grammar and Logic.

We think, talk, and write in sentences. Discourse is made up of sentences. A sentence in Grammar corresponds to the unit in Mathematics. It is the

least integral part of discourse, as words are but frac tional parts of sentences. The first step in teaching Grammar therefore is to communicate to pupils an idea of a sentence. To do this a teacher may ask his class to say something about a book, a horse, a bird; and what they say he may write on the blackboard. These expressions and others like them they may be told are called sentences. The division of their reading lessons into sentences may be pointed out. In this manner children can learn to know simple sentences. Further practice should be given them in writing sentences about particular things, and in detecting combinations of words that do not form sentences. A sentence is a form of words containing a proposition; but such a definition would be quite out of place at this stage of progress.

When pupils have learned to know simple sentences, they may begin the work of analyzing them, and the elements thus found must be classified and investigated. The system thus built up should present the principles of the language in a clear and logical manner. A sufficient number of steps in this analysis will be presented to indicate to the thoughtful teacher the method by which the whole may be taught.

The Subject. The teacher may write such sentences upon the blackboard as birds fly, men work, fire burns, rain falls, &c.; and call the attention of his class to the fact that in each of these sentences there is a word which represents a thing of which something is said. The pupils may then point out such words or forms of words in these and nume

rous other sentences, and learn that they are called subjects. They may be asked to name things of which something may be said, and to tell what can be said to run, fly, eat, work, &c.

The Predicate. In the same manner, it can be shown that sentences like those named in the preceding examples contain words or forms of words that are used to say something of the subject. These are called Predicates. Pupils can be led to point them out in such sentences and in others. It is well also to give them practice in naming words which are used to say something of things, and to write on slate or blackboard what can be said of boys, girls, horses, fishes, birds, &c.

In miscellaneous exercises upon Subjects and Predicates, a Subject can be given and the pupils required to find suitable Predicates, or a Predicate can be given and the pupils required to supply suitable Subjects, thus:

When able to point out the Subject and Predicate in sentences, pupils may be told that the two taken together constitute a Proposition, and then be allowed to point out and to construct Propositions.