in any sense, but a guide, a silent signal-post pointing the way in the
right direction.


THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN A NUTSHELL

All the words in the English language are divided into nine great
classes. These classes are called the Parts of Speech. They are Article,
Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and
Interjection. Of these, the Noun is the most important, as all the others
are more or less dependent upon it. A Noun signifies the name of any
person, place or thing, in fact, anything of which we can have either
thought or idea. There are two kinds of Nouns, Proper and Common. Common
Nouns are names which belong in common to a race or class, as _man_,
_city_. Proper Nouns distinguish individual members of a race or class as
_John_, _Philadelphia_. In the former case _man_ is a name which belongs
in common to the whole race of mankind, and _city_ is also a name which
is common to all large centres of population, but _John_ signifies a
particular individual of the race, while _Philadelphia_ denotes a
particular one from among the cities of the world.

Nouns are varied by Person, Number, Gender, and Case. Person is that
relation existing between the speaker, those addressed and the subject
under consideration, whether by discourse or correspondence. The Persons
are _First_, _Second_ and _Third_ and they represent respectively the
speaker, the person addressed and the person or thing mentioned or under
consideration.

_Number_ is the distinction of one from more than one. There are two
numbers, singular and plural; the singular denotes one, the plural two or