Etymology treats, first, of the _classification_ of words.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE is derived chiefly from the Saxon, Danish, Celtic,
and Gothic; but in the progressive stages of its refinement, it has been
greatly enriched by accessions from the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish,
Italian, and German languages.
The number of words in our language, after deducting proper names, and
words formed by the inflections of our verbs, nouns, and adjectives, may
be estimated at about _forty thousand_. There are ten sorts of words,
called parts of speech, namely, the NOUN or SUBSTANTIVE, VERB, ARTICLE,
ADJECTIVE, PARTICIPLE, ADVERB, PREPOSITION, PRONOUN, CONJUNCTION, and
INTERJECTION.
Thus you perceive, that all the words in the English language are
included in these ten classes: and what you have to do in acquiring a
knowledge of English Grammar, is merely to become acquainted with these
ten parts of speech, and the rules of Syntax that apply to them. The
_Noun_ and _Verb_ are the most important and leading parts of speech;
therefore they are first presented: all the rest (except the
interjection) are either appendages or connectives of these two. As you
proceed, you will find that it will require more time, and cost you more
labor, to get a knowledge of the noun and verb, than it will to become
familiar with all the minor parts of speech.
The principal use of words is, to _name_ things, _compare_ them with
each other, and _express their actions_.
_Nouns_, which are the names of entities or things, _adjectives_ which
denote the comparisons and relations of things by describing them, and
expressing their qualities, and _verbs_, which express the actions and
being of things, are the only classes of words necessarily recognised
in a philosophical view of grammar. But in a treatise which consults,
mainly, the _practical_ advantages of the learner, it is believed, that
no classification will be found more convenient or accurate than the
foregoing, which divides words into ten sorts. To attempt to prove, in
this place, that nothing would be gained by adopting either a less or a
greater number of the parts of speech, would be anticipating the
subject. I shall, therefore, give my reasons for adopting this
arrangement in preference to any other, as the different sorts of words
are respectively presented to you, for then you will be better prepared
to appreciate my arguments.