though it is in origin an imperative mode. In point of grammatical form, we have similar interjectional expressions in popular meetings; as, off! off! down! down!

Salutations and valedictions furnish several interjections and interjectional forms; as, hail! all hail! welcome! benedicite! greeting! farewell! adieu!

It is worthy of observation that the same interjection expresses very different emotions. Oh! is an expression

of sorrow; it is also an exclamation preceding discourse, and demanding attention; as ho! These variations depend not on the articulation but on the intonation, the elevation or depression of the voice. We may say emphatically, "well! what of that ?" or with patient acquiescence, "well! never mind."

There is, therefore, no doubt that the interjection is entitled to the distinction of a separate part of speech; that its character is determined as all the other parts of speech are not by its sound or derivation, but by its use in the particular passage in which it occurs. It evinces actual emotion, but does not assert its existence. We perceive that emotion passes into conception, or assertion, in the human mind; so the interjection rises to a noun, or a verb; and the phrase, verb, or noun, sinks into an interjection.

Although the English language is believed to consist of more than sixty thousand words, the number of radical words is comparatively few. Most words are formed by adding to the roots, whether as prefixes or affixes, various syllables, which were originally distinct words, but which, having lost their independent character, are now used only in combination with other words.

DERIVATION OF Nouns.

1. Nouns formed from verbs, and sometimes from other nouns, by the addition of r, er, or, denote an agent or actor, as from love, lover; burn, burner; hunt, hunter; sail, sailor; flatter, flatterer; suit, suitor. Other formations are less regular, as glass, glazier; fruit, fruiterer; cross, crosier; court, courtier; parish, parishioner; pave, pavier.

2. Nouns formed by the affixes dom and ric, denote jurisdiction, as kingdom, the jurisdiction of a king; bishopric, the see of a bishop. Other words of similar formation are freedom, thraldom, dukedom, popedom, martyrdom, sheriffdom, lunatic, magnetic, pathetic, energetic.

3. Nouns formed by the addition of hood and ship denote state or condition, as man, manhood; child, childhood; brother, brotherhood; neighbourhood, priesthood, boyhood, falsehood; friend, friendship; clerk, clerkship; scholarship, township, workmanship, apprenticeship, &c.

4. Nouns ending in ment and age, derived from the French, denote state or act, as agree, agreement; amend, amendment; commencement, arrangement, engagement. Words with this termination are numerous-from six to seven hundred: bond, bondage; line, lineage; marry, marriage; vassalage, usage, parentage, vicarage. Words of this termination are also numerous.

5. Nouns formed from other nouns by adding cy suffer contraction in their formation in many instances, as private, privacy; advocate, advocacy; obstinate, obstinacy; elegancy, intimacy, vacancy, accuracy. Words of this

class are numerous.

6. The terminations er, or, added to nouns, are used

in opposition to nouns ending with ee,-donor, a giver, donee, a receiver; indorser, indorsee; assigner, assignee.

7. Nouns ending in ty, ity, are derived from adjectives, as affable, affability; liable, liability; culpable, culpability. This is one of the most numerous terminations in the language. Comparatively few adjectives ending in ble can be formed into nouns by the affix ty or ity. 8. Nouns ending in ate, as carbonate, signify, in chemical language, carbonic acid combined with another body.

9. Nouns ending in ite, derived from other nouns, and denoting salts formed by the union of other bodies, as sulphite from sulphur.

10. Nouns ending in ret, derived from other nouns, and denoting a substance combined with an alkaline, earthy, or metallic base, as sulphur, sulphuret.

DERIVATION OF ADJECTIVES.

1. Adjectives are formed from nouns by adding y or by, -as, health, healthy; blood, bloody; pith, pithy; knob, knobby; scab, scabby; shrub, shrubby.

2. Adjectives are formed from nouns by adding ful,— as, play, playful; hope, hopeful.

3. Adjectives formed from nouns or verbs by the affixes able, ible, denoting power or capacity,—as peace, peaceable; agree, agreeable; change, changeable; perish, perishable; teach, teachable; enviable, discernible, congestible, corruptible, resistible. Nouns ending in e mute drop that vowel when ible is added,-as reducible, convincible, forcible, corrodible.

4. Adjectives formed from nouns by adding ish,-as childish, churlish, feverish, clownish, whitish, waggish. 5. Adjectives formed from nouns by adding less

denoting deprivation,-as fatherless, penniless, comfortless, faultless, artless, lawless.

6. Adjectives formed by adding ous, signifying, full of, -as hazardous, joyous, gracious, fallacious, courageous, glorious.

7. Adjectives formed from nouns by adding some,as delightsome, burdensome, troublesome, darksome.

6. Adjectives formed from nouns by adding al,-as maniacal, cubical, logical, magical, geological, typographical, anatomical, philosophical.

9. Adjectives ending in ic, derived from the Latin or Greek, or with ic added to nouns, -as cryptic, rustic, Attic, diagnostic, fantastic, domestic, identic.

DERIVATION OF VERBS.

1. Verbs are formed from nouns and adjectives by the affix ize,-as civil, civilize; method, methodize; dogma, dogmatize; satirize, harmonize, humanize, symbolize.

2. Verbs are formed by adding fy,-as glorify, stupify, stratify, magnify, purify, rectify.

3. Nouns and adjectives are convertible into verbs by prefixing to,—as to calm, to purchase, to fear, to honour, to cool, to warm.

4. Verbs are formed from adjectives and nouns by affixing n or en,—as wide, widen; strength, strengthen ; ripe, ripen; soft, soften; brighten, whiten, hasten, straighten.

ADVERBS.

Adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding ly,-as great, greatly; sweet, sweetly; ward in the direction of, as upward, downward; forward, backward.

PREFIXES.

The prefixes that have been introduced into the English language from foreign tongues, and which originally were separate words, are in English incorporated with, and become inseparable from, the noun, adjective, or verb with which they are united. Much of the force and precision of language, as well as elegance of diction, depends on the correct use of these prefixes. Even English prepositions are so generally attendant on nouns, that in many instances they are regarded together as integral. Hence we have after combined with numerous words,afterages, aftercrop, afterlife, afternoon, afterthought. Before stands in opposition to after,-as beforehand, beforetime; in and out are in a similar contrariety,as income, outgoing; inside, outside; inward, outward. There are other instances in which no opposition is expressed,-inbeing, indwelling, inborn, inbred, incage, inclose, are examples. Over and under are the prepositions combined initially with the greatest number of words; over occurs in about three hundred instances,as overawe, overbalance, overboard, overcast, overshadow, &c.

Under is also the initial part of a numerous class,as undergo, underground, undergrowth, underline, underplot, underrate, &c.

The meaning and use of the English Prefixes and Affixes may be better understood in the following tabular

A, on, as aboard; at, as athirst, abaft, abide.

BR, make, as becalm; over, as bespatter.

Eм, to confine, enclose, as embark, embrace.

EN, to make, as enrich; to enclose, to encircle, to engird.