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CONVERSATION XII.

OF THE ADVERB.

Scholar. What is an adverb?

Master. It is a word which modifies nouns, adjectives, verbs, of participles. It frequently modifies another adverb. The following phrases shew its various modifications.

Alors roi, then a king; assez bon, good enough; où irons-nous? where shall we go? Ainsi fait, thus made or done; très-bien, very well: parfaitement bien, perfectly well.

It will be proper to observe, that a preposition and the noun which it governs have the force of an adverb, and that every adverb may be resolved into a preposition and its noun.

S. In the English, we form the greatest part of our adverbs by adding to our adjectives the termination ly. What termination answers to this in the French?

M. The termination ment. In subjoining that termination to an adjective, to make it an adverb, the three following rules are to be observed:

1. When the adjective ends with a vowel, you have only to add ment: thus, honnête, aisé, poli, ingénu, will give the adverbs, honnêtement, aisément, poliment, ingénument.

The adjectives, aveugle, commode, conforme, énorme, incommode, opiniâtre, when transformed into adverbs, agreeably to the above rule, will require an accent on the e mute, thus: aveuglément, commodément, &c.

Note. The adjective, impuni, giving the adverb impunément instead of impuniment, is the only exception to this rule.

2. Adjectives, ending in nt, change that termination into mment: thus, méchant, ardent, will give méchamment, ardemment.

Note.-Lent and présent are to be excepted: for they produce the adverbs lentement, présentement.

3. Adjectives, ending in consonants, require the adverbial termination ement, to be added to their feminine gender: thus, grand, égal, &c. will give grandement, également, &c.

The adjectives commun, confus, exprès, importun, obscur, précis, profond, require the acute accent on the e mute of their termination feminine before ment is added to it, as communément, confusément, &c.

Note. The adjective gentil, which gives the adverb gentiment, instead of gentillement, is the only exception to this rule.

S. How many classes of adverbs are there?

M. Nine classes will comprehend them all: they are adverbs of manner, time, place, quantity, number, comparison, interrogation, affirmation and negation, doubt and reasoning. The following is a list of a few of each class; but, I consider, with Beauzée, that such classifications are objects rather of curiosity than utility.

ADVERBS AND ADVERBIAL PHRASES.

OF MANNER.

Sagement, prudemment, conformément, bien, mal, à la háte, peu à peu, &c.

OF TIME.

Quand, combien de temps, autrefois, dernièrement, hier, aujourd'hui, demain, alors, &c.

OF PLACE.

Où, ici, là, y, en, ailleurs, auprès, autour, &c.

OF QUANTITY.

Combien, beaucoup, assez, peu, davantage, médiocrement, &c.

OF NUMBER.

Souvent, rarement, premièrement, &c. une fois, deux fois, &c.

OF COMPARISON.

Autant, plus, moins, très, fort, aussi, &c.

OF INTERROGATION.

Pourquoi, comment, quand ? &c.

OF AFFIRMATION AND NEGATION.

Certainement, vraiment, sans doute, nullement, point du tout, &c.

OF DOUBT AND REASONING.

Peut-étre, ainsi, conséquemment, pareillement, &c.

S. You have said that an adverb could be resolved into a preposition and its noun. As I cannot comprehend this in the following instances, viz. y, en, auprès, autour, hier, aujourd'hui, demain ; I shall be much obliged to you to make me sensible of it.

M. Yand en, which are indeed very elliptical expressions, are the equivalents of a preposition and a noun. The first is derived from the Latin word hic, which was itself the ellipsis of the phrase in hoc loco, meaning in that place, dans ou à ce lieu, according to circumstances. Thus y stands, in French, for the preposition dans or à with a complement or regimen.-Examples: J'y vais, I am going there, stands for Je vais dans ou à ce lieu. J'y pense, means, according to circumstances, Je pense à lui, à eux, à elles, à cela, à cette chose, à ces choses, &c.

En is derived from the Latin word indè; we can resolve it by the preposition de and a noun.-Examples: J'en viens, I come from there, is, according to local circunstances, for Je viens de ce pays, de cette ville, de ce village, de cet endroit, &c.

J'en parle, is for Je parle de moi, de nous, de toi, de vous, de lui, d'eux, d'elle, d'elles, de cela, de cette chose, de ces choses, de l'homme qui, &c.

This analysis of y and en is opposed to the opinion of some grammarians, who call them pronouns,

As to autour and auprès, they, of themselves, sufficiently indicate their adverbiality, being composed of the preposition à, the article le, and the noun près ou tour; from à le près, à le tour, they gradually and naturally became auprès, autour: the first is an adjective taken substantively, and signifies a neighbouring place; the second is a noun, meaning the roundness of a thing.

I will conclude by observing, that the words hier, aujourd'hui, demain, which we have ranked among the adverbs, are truly nouns; an undeniable proof of which is, that they are the nouns of various prepositions, as in the following examples, taken from the Dictionary of the French Academy: d'hier en huit jours, from yesterday week; la journée d'aujourd'hui est plus belle que celle d'hier, this day is finer than that of yesterday; l'affaire est remise à demain, the affair is postponed until to-morrow. Besides, these words may be modified by adjectives, a fact which still more forcibly proves them to be real nouns. Examples: tout aujourd'hui, the whole day; hier passé, yesterday, &c.

When the above expressions are used, by themselves, after the verb,

* See Gebelin.

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the preposition, by the help of which they would modify it, is understood: this accidental circumstance, by which they are stript of the accidents of nouns, renders them adverbs. We may, therefore, without deviating from our general principle, give them a place accordingly.

CONVERSATION XIII.

OF THE CONJUNCTIONS.

Scholar. What is a conjunction?

Master. A word which connects words or sentences.
S. How many sorts of conjunctions are there in French?
M. Two, simple and compound.

S. How many simple conjunctions are there?

M. Nine, to wit, et, and; que, that, than, or how! ni, neither, nor; ou, either, or; si, if, whether; mais, but; car, for; or, now; donc, therefore. The five last might, with propriety, be denominated elliptical.

ET or &

Connects nouns and phrases or sentences together, as well as adjectives, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs.

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This conjunction, implying a denial, requires, according to the sense, to be preceded or followed by the negative, ne.

EXAMPLES.

Ne prenez ni cette fleur-ci, ni celle-là.
Ni l'or ni les grandeurs ne nous rendent

heureux.

Take neither this flower nor that. Neither gold nor greatness make us happy.

But, though ni is repeated in an enumeration as often as there are things to which the denial is applied, ne is used but once.

Il n'entend ni les vents qui grondent sur sa tête,
Ni le bruit des rochers battus par la tempête,
Ni ses tristes parens de douleur éperdus,
Ni son amante, hélas! qui meurt, s'il ne vit plus.

Delille.

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This conjunction leaves the liberty of choice, and implies doubt.

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Selon que vous serez puissant ou misérable,
Les jugemens de cour vous rendront blanc ou noir.
LAFONTAINE.

Quelque sujet qu'on traite, ou plaisant ou sublime,
Que toujours le bon sens s'accorde avec la rime.
BOILEAU.

SI

comes from the Latin sit, which means qu'il soit ; and, whereas some verb must be understood before qu'il, as no phrase could begin with it, it follows that si stands for, or is the abridgment of such a conjunctive phrase as Je suppose qu'il soit vrai que, I suppose it is true that.

EXAMPLES.

Pensez bien et parlez peu, si vous voulez qu'on vous regarde comme un homme d'esprit.

Think well and speak little, if you wish to be looked upon as a man of understanding.

*It is to complete the metre that un is used. D'usurpateur (alone) should have been used for the epithets parricide and usurpateur are applied in a general sense.

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