The part of speech to which any word belongs, is ascertained, not by the original signification of that word, but by its present manner of meaning, or, rather, the office which it performs in a sentence.

The various ways in which a word is applied to the idea which it represents, are called its manner of meaning.  Thus, The painter dips his paint brush in paint, to paint the carriage.  Here, the word paint, is first employed to describe the brush which the painter uses; in this situation it is, therefore, an adjective; secondly, to name the mixture employed; for which reason it is a noun; and, lastly, to express the action performed; it therefore, becomes a verb; and yet, the meaning of the word is the same in all these applications.  This meaning, however, is applied in different ways; and thus the same word becomes different parts of speech.  Richard took water from the water pot, to water the plants.

ETYMOLOGY.

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.