Part Two — Inflection and Syntax
Chapter I Inflection
52. Inflection is a change of form in a word indicating some change in its meaning. A word thus changed in form is said to be inflected.
Thus the nouns man, wife, dog, may change their form to man’s, wife’s, dog’s, to express possession; or to men, wives, dogs, to show that two or more are meant.
The pronouns I, she, may change their form to our, her.
The adjectives large, happy, good, may change their form to larger, happier, better, to denote a higher degree of the quality; or to largest, happiest, best, to denote the highest degree.
The verbs look, see, sing, may change their form to looked, saw, sang, to denote past time.
The examples show that a word may be inflected (1) by the addition of a final letter or syllable (dog, dogs; look, looked), (2) by the substitution of one letter for another (man, men), or (3) by a complete change of form (good, better, best).
53. The inflection of a substantive is called its declension; that of an adjective or an adverb, its comparison; that of a verb, its conjugation.
Note. Some forms which we regard as due to inflection are really distinct words. Thus we is regarded as a form of the pronoun I, but it is in fact an altogether different word. Such irregularities, however, are not numerous, and are properly enough included under the head of inflection.
The table below gives a summary view of inflection, and may be used for reference with the following chapters.
Substantives (Nouns and Pronouns) Gender
Masculine (male)
Feminine (female)
Neuter (no sex) Number
Singular (one)
Plural (more than one) Person
First (speaker)
Second (spoken to)
Third (spoken of) Case
Nominative (subject case)
Possessive (ownership)
Objective (object case)
Adjectives and Adverbs Comparison
Positive Degree
Comparative Degree
Superlative Degree
Verbs Number (Verb agrees with Subject)
Singular
Plural Person (Verb agrees with Subject)
First
Second
Third Tense Simple Tenses
Present
Past
Future Compound Tenses
Perfect (or Present Perfect)
Pluperfect (or Past Perfect)
Future Perfect Mood
Indicative (all six tenses)
Imperative (Present Tense only)
Subjunctive (Present, Past, Perfect, Pluperfect) Voice
Active (Subject acts)
Passive (Subject receives the action) Infinitives (Present and Perfect) Participles (Present, Past, and Perfect)