_Anne._ Fine is an adjective because it is a quality, black because it is a colour, coarse is an adjective in its positive state, brighter is the comparative degree, and youngest is the superlative. _Mrs. Harley._ A _verb_ is a word which signifies _to be_, _to do_, or _to suffer_. Verbs are divided into _neuter_, _active_, and _passive_. Neuter verbs merely signify being, or that kind of action which has no effect upon any thing beyond the performer, as, _I am_, _I sit_, _I walk_. (You may distinguish those neuter verbs that seem to imply action from active verbs by their making a complete sense by themselves, whereas active verbs always require a noun or pronoun after them to finish the sense.) _Active verbs_, denote action as, I eat, I love, I work. _Passive verbs_, denote suffering, they are only the _participle passive_ of an active verb with a tense of the neuter verb _to be_ before it; as, _I am loved_, _you are dressed_. Any word is a verb before which you can place a _noun_, a _pronoun_, or the word _to_, as _Mary talks_, _he works_, _to be_. The different times when actions are performed are called _tenses_, there are properly only three, the present, as _I am_, the past as _I was_, and the future as _I shall be_; but these are subdivided into others; and there are a great many other things relating to verbs, which you shall learn when you are a little older. _Anne._ Thank you, mamma, I believe I understand all that you have told me about verbs, except the meaning of _participle passive_. _Mrs. Harley._ A _participle passive_, my dear, is that part of a verb which follows a tense of either of the verbs _to have_, or _to be_. Some people consider it a distinct part of speech. _Adverbs_ denote _time_, _place_, _manner_, and _quantity_; therefore you may always know them by recollecting their meaning: _to-day_, _there_, _prettily_, _much_, are adverbs. Prepositions serve to connect words with one another and to shew the relation between them. They require some word after them to complete the sense; as, come _to_ me, _up_, _down_, _to_, _from_, _for_, are prepositions. Conjunctions join words and sentences together, as you _and_ I are going, _but_ she stays at home. Interjections express some emotion of the mind as, Alas! Oh! Ah! I am afraid, my dear, you are quite tired of this long lesson, but I don't expect you to remember all I have told you; we will talk over a _very_ small portion of it every day, and then in time you will be able to tell me what part of speech any word is that I may ask you.--I will give you a little example to shew you what I mean and then you shall run away. The rose in your nosegay was very beautiful a little while ago; but alas! it is now quite dead!