"Tramp, tramp, across the land they speed, Splash, splash, across the sea."—Burger.
OBS. 5.—As other parts of speech seem sometimes to take the nature of adverbs, so adverbs sometimes, either really or apparently, assume the nature of other parts of speech. (1.) Of NOUNS: as, "A committee is not needed merely to say Yes or No; that will do very little good; the yes or the no must be accompanied and supported by reasons."—Dr. M'Cartee. "Shall I tell you why? Ay, sir, and wherefore; for, they say, every why hath a wherefore."—Shak. (2.) Of ADJECTIVES: as, "Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, and reduced it to an almost desert."—Wood's Dict., w. Moab. "The then bishop of London, Dr. Laud, attended on his Majesty."—Clarendon. "With upward speed his agile wings he spread."—Prior. "She lights the downward heaven, and rises there."—Dryden. (3.) Of PRONOUNS: as, "He liked the ground whereon she trod."—Milton. "Wherein have you been galled by the king?"—Shak. "O how unlike the place from whence they fell!"—Par. Lost, B. i, l. 75. Here whereon is exactly equivalent in sense to on which; wherein, to in what; and whence, to which: but none of them are actually reckoned pronouns. (4.) Of VERBS: as, "If he be hungry, more than wanton, bread alone will down."—Locke. "To down proud hearts that would not willing die."—Sidney. "She never could away with me."—Shak. "Away, and glister like the god of war."—Id. "Up, get ye out of this place."—Gen., xix, 14. (5.) Of CONJUNCTIONS: as, "I, even I, am he."—Isaiah, xliii, 25. "If I will that he tarry till I come."—John, xxi, 22. "I will go and see him before I die."—Gen., xlv, 28. "Before I go whence I shall not return."—Job, x, 21. (6) Of PREPOSITIONS: as, "Superior to any that are dug out the ground."—Eames's Lect., p. 28. "Who act so counter heavenly mercy's plan."—Burns. Better perhaps, "out of" and "counter to." (7.) Of INTERJECTIONS: as, "Up, up, Glentarkin! rouse thee, ho!"—Scott. "Down, down, cried Mar, your lances down!"—Id. "Off! or I fly for ever from thy sight."—Smith.
OBS. 6.—In these last examples, up, and down, and off, have perhaps as much resemblance to imperative verbs, as to interjections; but they need not be referred to either of these classes, because by supplying a verb we may easily parse them as adverbs. I neither adopt the notion of Horne Tooke, that the same word cannot belong to different parts of speech, nor refer every word to that class to which it may at first sight appear to belong; for both of these methods are impracticable and absurd. The essential nature of each part of speech, and every important peculiarity of its individual terms, it is hoped, will be sufficiently explained in some part or other of this work; but, as the classification of words often depends upon their construction, some explanations that go to determine the parts of speech, must be looked for under the head of Syntax.
OBS. 7.—The proper classification, or subdivision, of adverbs, though it does not appear to have been discovered by any of our earlier grammarians, is certainly very clearly indicated by the meaning and nature of the words themselves. The four important circumstances of any event or assertion, are the when, the where, the how-much, and the how; or the time, the place, the degree, and the manner. These four are the things which we usually express by adverbs. And seldom, if ever, do we find any adverb the notion of which does not correspond to that of sometime, somewhere, somewhat, or somehow. Hence, the general classes of this sort of words ought to be formed under these four heads. The classification heretofore most commonly adopted in English grammar, has every fault which the spirit of awkwardness could possibly give it. The head of it is this: "Adverbs, though very numerous, may be reduced to certain classes, the chief of which are those of Number, Order, Place, Time, Quantity, Manner or Quality, Doubt, Affirmation, Negation, Interrogation, and Comparison."—Murray's Gram., p. 115; Comly's, 66; Kirkham's, 86; R. C. Smith's, 34; Hall's, 26; and others.
CLASSES.
Adverbs may be reduced to four general classes; namely, adverbs of time, of place, of degree, and of manner. Besides these, it is proper to distinguish the particular class of conjunctive adverbs.
I. Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question, When? How long? How soon? or, How often? including these which ask.
OBS.—Adverbs of time may be subdivided as follows:—
1. Of time present; as, Now, yet, to-day, nowadays, presently, instantly, immediately, straightway, directly, forthwith.
2. Of time past; as, Already, just now, lately, recently, yesterday, formerly, anciently, once, heretofore, hitherto, since, till now, long ago, erewhile, erst.