8. Prepositions serve to connect words together, and to show the relation between them: as,
“Off _with_ his head, so much _for_ Buckingham!”
9. A Conjunction is used to connect not only words, but sentences also: as, Smith _and_ Jones are happy _because_ they are single. A miss is _as_ good _as_ a mile.
10. An Interjection is a short word denoting passion or emotion: as, “_Oh_, Sophonisba! Sophonisba, _oh_!” Pshaw! Pish! Pooh! Bah! Ah! Au! Eughph! Yah! Hum! Ha! Lauk! La! Lor! Heigho! Well! There! &c.
Among the foregoing interjections there may, perhaps, be some unhonoured by the adoption of genius, and unknown in the domains of literature. For the present notice of them some apology may be required, but little will be given; their insertion may excite astonishment, but their omission would have provoked complaint: though unprovided with a Johnsonian title to a place in the English vocabulary, they have long been recognised by the popular voice; and let it be remembered, that as custom supplies the defects of legislation, so that which is not sanctioned by magisterial authority may nevertheless be justified by vernacular usage.
The Articles in English are two, _a_ and _the_; _a_ becomes _an_ before a vowel, and before an _h_ which is not sounded: as, _an_ exquisite, _an_ hour-glass. But if the _h_ be pronounced, the _a_ only is used: as, _a_ homicide, _a_ homœopathist, _a_ hum.
This rule is reversed in what is termed the Cockney dialect: as, _a_ inspector, _a_ officer, _a_ object, _a_ omnibus, _a_ individual, _a_ alderman, _a_ honour, _an_ horse, or rather, a _norse_, _an_ hound, _an_ hunter, &c.
It is usual in the same dialect, when the article _an_ should, in strict propriety, precede a word, to omit the letter _n_, and further, for the sake of euphony and elegance, to place the aspirate _h_ before the word; as, a _h_egg, a _h_accident, a _h_adverb, a _h_ox. But sometimes, when a word begins with an _h_, and has the article _a_ before it, the aspirate is omitted, the letter _a_ remaining unchanged: as, a ’ogg, a ’edge, a ’emisphere, a ’ouse.
The slight liberties which it is the privilege of the people to take with the article and aspirate become always most evident in the expression of excited feeling, when the stress which is laid upon certain words is heightened by the peculiarity of the pronunciation: as, “You _h_ignorant _h_upstart! you _h_illiterate ’og! ’ow dare you to _h_offer such a _h_insult to my _h_understanding?--You are a _h_object of contempt, you _h_are, and a _h_insolent _w_agobond! your mother was nothing but a _h_apple-woman, and your father was an ’uckster!”