undivided in fpelling. 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 feparated from a preceding mute. Examples: ma-ni-feft, ex-e-cra-ble, un-e-qual, mif-ap-ply, dif-tin-guish, cor-ref-pon-ding.

But the beft and eafieft rule, for dividing the fyllables in fpelling, 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 consonants at the beginning of a fyllable.

W O ORD S.

W common as or

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

notions.

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

1

I. The ARTICLE; prefixed to fubftantives, 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 inftead 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 emi nence; fignifying to be, to do, or to suffer.

6. The ADVERB; added to verbs, and alfo to adjectives and other adverbs, to express some 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 exprefs the affection of the speaker, though unneceifary with respect to the construction of the tenance.

8 15

5

7 3 7 3

4

man, and was bestowed on him by his beneficent

8

9

5 3

5

it

7 I

but alas! how often do we pervert it to the

In the foregoing fentence, the Words the, a, are Articles; power, Speech, faculty, man, creator, uses, purposes, are Subftantives; him, his, we, it, are Pronouns; peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excel

lent

lent, worst, are Adjectives; is, was, bestowed, do, pervert, are Verbs; most, how, often, are Ad'verbs; of, to, on, by, for, are Prepositions; 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 fpeech, many forts of faculty, many individuals of that fort of animal called man; and so on. These general or com

mon names are here applied in a more or lefs extenfive fignification; according as they are used 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 largest extent; and fignify all of the kind or fort; all forts of speech, and all men. The word faculty, with the article a before it, is used 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 speech. The words power, creator, uses, purposes, with the article the before them, (for his Creator is the fame as the Creator of him,) are ufed in the moft confined fignification, for the things here mentioned and 6. afcertained:

afcertained the power is not any one indeterminate power out of many forts, but that particular fort of power here fpecified; pamely, 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 to be thofe in particular, that are the greatest and most excellent; fuch, for instance, as the glory of God, and the common benefit of mankind; the latter to be the worft, as lying, flandering, blafpheming, and the like.

The Pronouns, him, his, we, it, ftand inftead of fome of the nouns, or fubftantives, going before them; as, him fupplies the place of man; bis, of man's; we, of men, implied in the general name man, including all men, of which number is the fpeaker;) it, of the power, before mentioned. If, instead 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, beftowed 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

The Verbs is, was bestowed, do pervert, fignify feverally, being, fuffering, and doing. By the firft it is implied, that there is fuch a thing as the power of fpeech, and it is affirmed to be of such a kind; namely, a faculty peculiar to man: by the fécond it is faid to have been acted upon, or to have had fomething done to it; namely, to have been beftowed on man: by the laft, we are faid to act upon it, or to do fomething to it; namely, to pervert it.

The Adverbs, moft, often, are added to the adjective excellent, and to the verb pervert, to fhew 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 alfo a question is made, by the adverb how added to the adverb often.

The Prepofitions of, to, on, by, for, placed before the fubftantives and pronouns, fpeech, 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