A mute generally unites with a liquid following; and a liquid, or a mute, generally feparates from a mute following: le and re are never separated from a preceding mute. Examples: ma-ni-fest, ex-e-cra-ble, un-e-qual, mif-ap-ply, dif-tin-guish, corref-pon-ding.

But the beft and eafieft rule, for dividing the fyllables in spelling, is to divide them as they are naturally divided in a right pronunciation; without regard to the derivation of words, or the poffible combination of confonants at the beginning of a fyllable.

W

notions.

WORD S.

RDS

ORDS are articulate founds, used by common confent as figns of ideas or

There are in English nine Sorts of Words, or, as they are commonly called, Parts of Speech.

1. The ARTICLE; prefixed to substantives, when they are common names of things, to point them out, and to fhew how far their fignification extends.

2. The SUBSTANTIVE, or NoUN; being the name of any thing conceived to fubfift, or of which we have any notion..

3. The PRONOUN; ftanding instead of the

noun.

4. The

4. The ADJECTIVE; added to the noun to exprefs the quality of it.

5. The VERB; or Word, by way of eminence; fignifying to be, to do, or to fuffer.

6. The ADVERB; added to verbs, and alfo to adjectives and other adverbs, to exprefs fome circumftance belonging to them.

: 7. The PREPOSITION; put before nouns and pronouns chiefly, to connect them with other words, and to fhew their relation to those words. 8. The CONJUNCTION; Connecting fentences together.

9. The INTERJECTION; thrown in to express the affection of the fpeaker, though unneceffary with refpect to the construction of the fentence.

8 5

5

7 3 7 3

man, and was bestowed on him by his beneficent

8 6

Creator for the greatest and most excellent ufes;

6

6 5 3

5

3 7 1 4

› 8 9 but alas! how often do we pervert it to the worst

In the foregoing fentence, the Words the, a, are Articles; power, Speech, faculty, man, creator, ufes, purposes, are Subftantives; bim, his, we, it,

are

are Pronouns; peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are Adjectives; is, was, bestowed, do, pervert, are Verbs; most, how, often, are Adverbs of, to, on, by, for, are Prepofitions; and, but, are Conjunctions; and alas is an Interjection."

The Subftantives, power, Speech, faculty, and the reft, are General, or Common, Names of things; whereof there are many forts belonging to the fame kind, or many individuals belonging to the fame fort as there are many forts of power, many forts of speech, many forts of faculty, many individuals of that fort of animal called man; and fo on. These general or common names are here applied in a more or less extensive fignification; according as they are ufed without either, or with the one, or with the other, of the two Articles a and the. The words fpeech, man, being accompanied with no article, are taken in their Jargeft extent; and fignify all of all forts of fpeech, and all men. with the article a before it, is ufed in a more confined fignification, for fome one out of many of that kind; for it is here implied, that there are other faculties peculiar to man befide fpeech. The words power, creator, uses, purposes, with the article the before them, (for his Creator is the fame as the Creator of him,) are used in the most confined fignification, for the things here mentioned and ascertained: the power is not any one indeter

the kind or fort; The word faculty,

minate

minate power out of many, forts, but that parti, cular fort of power here fpecified; namely, the power of fpeech: the creator is the One great Creator of man and of all things: the ufes, and the purposes, are particular ufes and purposes; the, former are explained thofe in particular, that. are the great.ad moft excellent; fuch, .for. g inftance, as the c God, and the common,

f

benefit of manku e lauer, to be the worst; as lying, flandering, blafping, and the like. The Pronouns, him, his we, it, ftand, inflead of fome of the nouns, or fubitantives, going be fore them; as, him fupplies the place of man, his, of man's; we, of men, implied in the, general name man, including all men,, (of which number is the speaker;) it, of the power, before mentioned. If, inftead of thefe pronouns, the nouns for which they ftand had been used, the fenfe would have been the fame; but the frequent repetition of the fame words would have been difagreeable and tedious: as, The power of fpeech peculiar to man, bestowed on man, by man's Creator, &c.

The Adjectives peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are added to their feveral fubftantives, to denote the character and quality of

each.

The Verbs is, was bestowed, do pervert, fignify feverally, being, fuffering, and doing.. doing.

By the

"first.

firft it is implied, that there is fuch a thing as the power of fpeech, and it is affirmed to be of fuch a kind; namely, a faculty peculiar to man: by the fecond it is faid to have been acted upon, or to have fuffered, or to have had fomething done to it; namely, to have been bestowed on man : by the laft, we are said to act upon it, or to do fomething to it; namely, to pervert it.

The Adverbs, most, often, are added to the adjective excellent, and to the verb pervert, to shew the circumftance belonging to them; namely, that of the highest degree to the former, and that of frequency to the latter concerning the degree of which frequency also a question is made, by the adverb how added to the adverb often.

The Prepofitions of, to, en, by, for, placed before the fubftantives and pronouns, Speech, man, ¦ him, &c. connect them with other words, fubftantives, adjectives, and verbs, as, power, peculiar, bestowed, &c. and fhew the relation which they have to those words; as the relation of subject, object, agent, end; for denoting the end, by the agent, on the object; to and of denote poffeffion, or the belonging of one thing to another.

The Conjunctions and, and but, connect the three parts of the fentence together; the first more closely, both with regard to the sentence and the fenfe; the second connecting the parts of the fen

tence,