+386.+ We have been studying the parts of speech,--the elements of which
sentences are composed. But we have another class of words which we call
parts of speech because they are spoken and written as words, but which
are really not parts of speech in the same sense as the words which we
have been discussing. These are words which we call interjections.
Interjection means, literally, thrown between, from _jecto_, to throw,
and _inter_, between. So interjections do not enter into the
construction of sentences but are only thrown in between. Every word
that is really a part of the sentence is either a noun, a pronoun, a
verb, an adjective, an adverb, a preposition or a conjunction.
There are words, however, that we use with sentences which do not enter
into the construction. For example, you say:
Oh! I am wounded.
Aha! I have conquered.
Alas! He came too late.
+387.+ Words which we use in these sentences, like, _oh_, _aha_, _alas_,
are used to express the emotion which you feel in making the statement.
Your _Oh!_ in a sentence like: _Oh! I am wounded_, would probably sound
very much like a groan. But your _Aha!_ in the, _Aha! I have conquered_,
will sound like a shout of victory, and your _Alas!_ in the sentence,
_Alas! He came too late_, will express grief or regret over the fact
that he came too late.
These words do not assert anything and very much of the meaning which we
give them must come from the tone in which they are uttered. Every one,
upon hearing them, knows at once whether they express grief or delight.
+388.+ +An interjection is an exclamatory word or phrase used to express
feeling or to imitate some sound.+
+389.+ Interjections may be divided into four classes:
1. +Words which we use instead of an assertion to express feeling of
various kinds+, as:
(a) Surprise or wonder; as, _Oh_, _Aha_, _What_.
(b) Pleasure, joy, or exaltation; as, _Hurrah_, _Ha, Ha_.
(c) Pain, sadness or sorrow; as, _Alas_, _Alack_.
(d) Contempt or disgust; as _Fie_, _Fudge_, _Ugh_, _Pshaw_.