How to parse. ...

180

IRREGULARITIES.

[Par. i98.

the Inflection in each word became lost, new Inflections were added:
(1) "Near-er." (2) "Song-stress."
In this way may be explained the use of " yours"
in "i a friend of yours." (See Par. 434). The use
of " yours "1 for " your," is in part explained by
"confusion," and in part by Law III.
Law III., the " Desire to avoid harshness," accounts for the irregular retention of the following
old forms for emphasis: —
(1) "I want a book, give me one (emphatic form of
a, an, ane)."
(2) " Give me a book, for I have no(ne)."
(3) "Keep my book, and I will keep your(s),l till
you have done with li(ne)."
i98 How to Explain Irregularities.
Just as the attraction of the earth makes a bullet
deviate from the straight line in which it is discharged, so some attracting cause makes language
deviate from the straight path, i.e. from regularity,
into a path that is not straight, i.e. into irregularity.
1 "Yours " was early used in the Northern Dialects.