dding
_est_ to the adjective in its positive or original state, as long,
longer, longest; short, shorter, shortest. When the adjective consists
of more than two syllables, the comparative and superlative are formed
by prefixing the words more and most to the adjective; as, beautiful,
more beautiful, most beautiful. Some adjectives differ entirely from
these rules in forming their comparison, as, good, better, best; bad,
worse, worst. Now, some examples.

_Anne._ Fine is an adjective because it is a quality, black because it
is a colour, coarse is an adjective in its positive state, brighter is
the comparative degree, and youngest is the superlative.

_Mrs. Harley._ A _verb_ is a word which signifies _to be_, _to do_, or
_to suffer_. Verbs are divided into _neuter_, _active_, and _passive_.
Neuter verbs merely signify being, or that kind of action which has no
effect upon any thing beyond the performer, as, _I am_, _I sit_, _I
walk_. (You may distinguish those neuter verbs that seem to imply action
from active verbs by their making a complete sense by themselves,
whereas active verbs always require a noun or pronoun after them to
finish the sense.)

_Active verbs_, denote action as, I eat, I love, I work. _Passive
verbs_, denote suffering, they are only the _participle passive_ of an
active verb with a tense of the neuter verb _to be_ before it; as, _I am
loved_, _you are dressed_.

Any word is a verb before which you can place a _noun_, a _pronoun_, or
the word _to_, as _Mary talks_, _he works_, _to be_. The different times
when actions are performed are called _tenses_, there are properly only
three, the present, as _I am_, the past as _I was_, and the future as _I
shall be_; but these are subdivided into others; and there are a great
many other things relating to verbs, which you shall learn when you are
a little older.

_Anne._ Thank you, mamma, I believe I understand all that you have told
me about verbs, except the meaning of _participle passive_.

_Mrs. Harley._ A _participle passive_, my dear, is that part of a verb
which follows a tense of either of the verbs _to have_, or _to be_.
Some people consider it a distinct part of speech.

_Adverbs_ denote _time_, _place_, _manner_, and _quantity_; therefore
you may always know them by recollecting their meaning: _to-day_,
_there_, _prettily_, _much_, are adverbs.

Prepositions serve to connect words with one another and to shew the
relation between them. The