15. +The Letters that represent Gutturals.+-- The English guttural has been quite Protean in the written or printed forms it takes. It appears as an +i+, as a +y+, as a +w+, as a +ch+, as a +dge+, as a +j+, and-- in its more native forms-- as a +g+, a +k+, or a +gh+. The following words give all these forms: ha+i+l, da+y+, fo+w+l, tea+ch+, e+dge+, a+j+ar, dra+g+, truc+k+, and trou+gh+. Now _hail_ was _hagol_, _day_ was _daeg_, _fowl_ was _fugol_, _teach_ was _taecan_, _edge_ was _egg_, _ajar_ was _achar_. In +seek+, +beseech+, +sought+-- which are all different forms of the same word-- we see the guttural appearing in three different forms-- as a hard +k+, as a soft +ch+, as an unnoticed +gh+. In +think+ and +thought+, +drink+ and +draught+, +sly+ and +sleight+, +dry+ and +drought+, +slay+ and +slaughter+, it takes two different forms. In +dig+, +ditch+, and +dike+-- which are all the same word in different shapes-- it again takes three forms. In +fly+, +flew+, and +flight+, it appears as a +y+, a +w+, and a +gh+. But, indeed, the manners of a guttural, its ways of appearing and disappearing, are almost beyond counting. 16. +Grammatical Result of the Loss of Inflexions.+-- When we look at a Latin or French or German word, we know whether it is a verb or a noun or a preposition by its mere appearance-- by its face or by its dress, so to speak. But the loss of inflexions which has taken place in the English language has resulted in depriving us of this advantage-- if advantage it is. Instead of +looking+ at the +face+ of a word in English, we are obliged to +think+ of its +function+,-- that is, of what it does. We have, for example, a large number of words that are both nouns and verbs-- we may use them as the one or as the other; and, till we have used them, we cannot tell whether they are the one or the other. Thus, when we speak of “a +cut+ on the finger,” +cut+ is a +noun+, because it is a name; but when we say, “Harry cut his finger,” then +cut+ is a +verb+, because it tells something about Harry. Words like +bud+, +cane+, +cut+, +comb+, +cap+, +dust+, +fall+, +fish+, +heap+, +mind+, +name+, +pen+, +plaster+, +punt+, +run+, +rush+, +stone+, and many others, can be used either as +nouns+ or as +verbs+. Again, +fast+, +quick+, and +hard+ may be used either as +adverbs+ or as +adjectives+; and +back+ may be employed as an +adverb+, as a +noun+, and even as an +adjective+. Shakespeare is very daring in the use of this licence. He makes one of his characters say, “But me no buts!” In this sentence, the first _but_ is a +verb+ in the imperative mood; the second is a +noun+ in the objective case. Shakespeare uses also such verbs as _to glad_, _to mad_, such phrases as _a seldom pleasure_, and _the fairest she_. Dr Abbott says, “In Elizabethan English, almost any part of speech can be used as any other part of speech. An adverb can be used as a verb, ‘they _askance_ their eyes’; as a noun, ‘the _backward_ and abysm of