You can not fail to see the importance of the knowledge on which we here insist.  The meaning you attach to words is exceedingly diverse; and hence you are not always able to think alike, or understand each other, nor derive the same sentiment from the same language.  The contradictory opinions which exist in the world may be accounted for, in a great measure, in this way.  Our knowledge of many things of which we speak, is limited, either from lack of means, or disposition to employ them.  People always differ and contend most about things of which they know the least.  Did we all attach the same meaning to the same words, our opinions would all be the same, as true as the forty-fifth problem of Euclid.  How important, then, that children should always be taught the same meaning of words, and learn to use them correctly.  Etymology, viewed in this light, is a most important branch of science.

Whenever a word is sufficiently understood, no adjective should be connected with it.  There is a ridiculous practice among many people, of appending to every noun one or more adjectives, which have no other effect than to expose their own folly.  Some writers are so in the habit of annexing adjectives to all nouns, that they dare not use one without.  You will not unfrequently see adjectives different in form, added to a noun of very similar meaning; as, sad melancholy, an ominous sign, this mundane earth, pensive thoughts.

When words can be obtained, which not only name the object, but also describe its properties, it should be preferred to a noun with an adjective; as pirate, for sea robber; savan, for a learned or wise man.[4]

In relation to that class of adjectives derived from verbs, we will be brief.  They include what have been termed participles, not a distinct “part of speech,” but by some included in the verbs.  We use them as adjectives to describe things as standing in some relation to other things on the account of the action expressed by the verb from which they are derived.  “The man is respected.” Respected, in this case, describes the man in such a relation to those who have become acquainted with his good qualities, that he now receives their respect.  He is respect_able_, (able to command, or worthy of respect,) and of course, respected for his respectability.  To avoid repetition, we select different words to assist in the expression of a complex idea.  But I indulge in phrases like the above, to show the nice shades of meaning in the common use of words, endeavoring to analyze, as far as possible, our words and thoughts, and show their mutual connexion and dependencies.

What has been termed the “present participle” is also an adjective, describing things in their present condition in reference to actions.  “The man is writing.”  Here, writing describes the man in his present employment.  But the consideration of this matter more properly belongs to the construction of sentences.