--Their importance.

LECTURE XI.

ON VERBS.

The verb =to be=.--Compounded of different radical words.--=Am=.
--Defined.--The name of Deity.--_Ei_.--=Is=.--=Are=.--=Were=,
=was=.--=Be=.--A dialogue.--Examples.--Passive Verbs examined.--Cannot
be in the present tense.--The past participle is an adjective.

LECTURE XII.

ON VERBS.

=Mood=.--Indicative.--Imperative.--Infinitive.--Former distinctions.--
Subjunctive mood.--=Time=.--Past.--Present.--Future.--The future
explained.--How formed.--Mr. Murray's distinction of time.--Imperfect.--
Pluperfect.--Second future.--How many tenses.--=Auxiliary Verbs=.--Will.
--Shall.--May.--Must.--Can.--Do.--Have.

LECTURE XIII.

ON VERBS.

Person and number in the agent, not in the action.--Similarity of
agents, actions, and objects.--Verbs made from nouns.--Irregular
verbs.--Some examples.--Regular Verbs.--_Ed_.--_Ing_.--Conjugation of
verbs.--To love.--To have.--To be.--The indicative mood varied.--A whole
sentence may be agent or object.--Imperative mood.--Infinitive mood.--Is
always future.

LECTURE XIV.

ON CONTRACTIONS.

A temporary expedient.--Words not understood.--All words must have a
meaning.--Their formation.--Changes of meaning and form.--Should be
observed.--=Adverbs=.--Ending in _ly_.--Examples.--Ago.--Astray.--Awake.
--Asleep.--Then, when.--There, where, here.--While, till.--Whether,
together.--Ever, never, whenever, etc.--Oft.--Hence.--Perhaps.--Not.
--Or.--Nor.--Than.--As.--So.--Conjunctions.--Rule 18.--If.--But.--Tho.
--Yet.

LECTURES ON LANGUAGE.

LECTURE I.

GENERAL VIEW OF LANGUAGE.

Study of Language long considered difficult.--Its importance.--Errors
in teaching.--Not understood by Teachers.--Attachment to old
systems.--Improvement preferable.--The subject important.--Its
advantages.--Principles laid down.--Orthography.--Etymology.--
Syntax.--Prosody.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

It is proposed to commence, this evening, a course of Lectures on the
Grammar of the English Language. I am aware of the difficulties
attending this subject, occasioned not so much by any fault in itself,
as by the thousand and one methods adopted to teach it, the multiplicity
of books pretending to "simplify" it, and the vast contrariety of
opinion entertained by those who profess to be its masters. By many it
has been considered a needless affair, an unnecessary appendage to a
common education; by others, altogether beyond