Infinitives, and some other terms not called nouns, may be taken abstractly or substantively, so as to admit of what may be considered a regular definition; thus the question, "What is it _to read ?_" is nearly the same as, "What is _reading ?_" "What is it _to be wise ?_" is little different from, "What is _wisdom ?_" and a true answer might be, in either case, a true definition.

Nor are those mere translations or explanations of words, with which our dictionaries and vocabularies abound, to be dispensed with in teaching: they prepare the student to read various authors with facility, and furnish him with a better choice of terms, when he attempts to write.

And in making such choice, let him remember, that as affectation of _hard_ words makes composition ridiculous, so the affectation of _easy_ and _common_ ones may make it unmanly.

But not to digress.

With respect to grammar, we must sometimes content ourselves with such explications of its customary terms, as cannot claim to be perfect definitions; for the most common and familiar things are not always those which it is the most easy to define.