  Title: Higher Lessons in English Author: Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg Edition: 10 Language: English Produced by Karl Hagen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. ** Transcriber's Notes ** Underscores mark italics; words enclosed in +pluses+ represent boldface; Vowels followed by a colon represent a long vowel (printed with a macron in the original text). To represent the sentence diagrams in ASCII, the following conventions are used: - The heavy horizontal line (for the main clause) is formed with equals ——, helping - Words printed bending around a diagonal-horizontal line are broken like \wai HIGHER LESSONS IN ENGLISH.A WORK ON ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION,IN WHICH THE SCIENCE OF THE LANGUAGE IS MADE TRIBUTARY TO THE ART OF EXPRESSION.A COURSE OF PRACTICAL LESSONS CAREFULLY GRADED, AND ADAPTED TO EVERY-DAY USE IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM.BY ALONZO REED, A.M.,FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN THE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, BROOKLYN,AND BRAINERD KELLOGG, LL.D.,PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN THE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, BROOKLYN.Revised Edition, 1896. PREFACE.The plan of "Higher Lessons" will perhaps be better understood if we first speak of two classes of text-books with which this work is brought into competition. +Method of One Class of Text-books+.—In one class are those that aim chiefly to present a course of technical grammar in the order of Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody. These books give large space to grammatical Etymology, and demand much memorizing of definitions, rules, declensions, and conjugations, and much formal word parsing,—work of which a considerable portion is merely the invention of grammarians, and has little value in determining the pupil's use of language or in developing his reasoning faculties. This is a revival of the long-endured, unfruitful, old-time method. +Method of Another Class of Text-books.+—In another class are those that present a miscellaneous collection of lessons in Composition, Spelling, Pronunciation, Sentence-analysis, Technical Grammar, and General Information, without unity or continuity. The pupil who completes these books will have gained something by practice and will have picked up some scraps of knowledge; but his information will be vague and disconnected, and he will have missed that mental training which it is the aim of a good text-book to afford. A text-book is of value just so far as it presents a clear, logical development of its subject. It must present its science or its art as a natural growth, otherwise there is no apology for its being. +The Study of the Sentence for the Proper Use of Words.+—It is the plan of this book to trace with easy steps the natural development of the sentence, to consider the leading facts first and then to descend to the details. To begin with the parts of speech is to begin with details and to disregard the higher unities, without which the details are scarcely intelligible. The part of speech to which a word belongs is determined only by its function in the sentence, and inflections simply mark the offices and relations of words. Unless the pupil has been systematically trained to discover the functions and relations of words as elements of an organic whole, his knowledge of the parts of speech is of little value. It is not because he cannot conjugate the verb or decline the pronoun that he falls into such errors as "How many sounds have each of the vowels?" "Five years' interest are due." "She is older than me." He probably would not say "each have," "interest are," "me am." One thoroughly familiar with the structure of the sentence will find little trouble in using correctly the few inflectional forms in English. +The Study of the Sentence for the Laws of Discourse.+—Through the study of the sentence we not only arrive at an intelligent knowledge of the parts of speech and a correct use of grammatical forms, but we discover the laws of discourse in general. In the sentence the student should find the law of unity, of continuity, of proportion, of order. All good writing consists of good sentences properly joined. Since the sentence is the foundation or unit of discourse, it is all-important that the pupil should know the sentence. He should be able to put the principal and the subordinate parts in their proper relation; he should know the exact function of every element, its relation to other elements and its relation to the whole. He should know the sentence as the skillful engineer knows his engine, that, when there is a disorganization of parts, he may at once find the difficulty and the remedy for it. +The Study of the Sentence for the Sake of Translation.+—The laws of thought being the same for all nations, the logical analysis of the sentence is the same for all languages. When a student who has acquired a knowledge of the English sentence comes to the translation of a foreign language, he finds his work greatly simplified. If in a sentence of his own language he sees only a mass of unorganized words, how much greater must be his confusion when this mass of words is in a foreign tongue! A study of the parts of speech is a far less important preparation for translation, since the declensions and conjugations in English do not conform to those of other languages. Teachers of the classics and of modern languages are beginning to appreciate these facts. +The Study of the Sentence for Discipline+.—As a means of discipline nothing can compare with a training in the logical analysis of the sentence. To study thought through its outward form, the sentence, and to discover the fitness of the different parts of the expression to the parts of the thought, is to learn to think. It has been noticed that pupils thoroughly trained in the analysis and the construction of sentences come to their other studies with a decided advantage in mental power. These results can be obtained only by systematic and persistent work. Experienced teachers understand that a few weak lessons on the sentence at the beginning of a course and a few at the end can afford little discipline and little knowledge that will endure, nor can a knowledge of the sentence be gained by memorizing complicated rules and labored forms of analysis. To compel a pupil to wade through a page or two of such bewildering terms as "complex adverbial element of the second class" and "compound prepositional adjective phrase," in order to comprehend a few simple functions, is grossly unjust; it is a substitution of form for content, of words for ideas. +Subdivisions and Modifications after the Sentence.+—Teachers familiar with text-books that group all grammatical instruction around the eight parts of speech, making eight independent units, will not, in the following lessons, find everything in its accustomed place. But, when it is remembered that the thread of connection unifying this work is the sentence, it will be seen that the lessons fall into their natural order of sequence. When, through the development of the sentence, all the offices of the different parts of speech are mastered, the most natural thing is to continue the work of classification and subdivide the parts of speech. The inflection of words, being distinct from their classification, makes a separate division of the work. If the chief end of grammar were to enable one to parse, we should not here depart from long-established precedent. +Sentences in Groups—Paragraphs+.—In tracing the growth of the sentence from the simplest to the most complex form, each element, as it is introduced, is illustrated by a large number of detached sentences, chosen with the utmost care as to thought and expression. These compel the pupil to confine his attention to one thing till he gets it well in hand. Paragraphs from literature are then selected to be used at intervals, with questions and suggestions to enforce principles already presented, and to prepare the way informally for the regular lessons that follow. The lessons on these selections are, however, made to take a much wider scope. They lead the pupil to discover how and why sentences are grouped into paragraphs, and how paragraphs are related to each other; they also lead him on to discover whatever is most worthy of imitation in the style of the several models presented. +The Use of the Diagram+.—In written analysis, the simple map, or diagram, found in the following lessons, will enable the pupil to present directly and vividly to the eye the exact function of every clause in the sentence, of every phrase in the clause, and of every word in the phrase—to picture the complete analysis of the sentence, with principal and subordinate parts in their proper relations. It is only by the aid of such a map, or picture, that the pupil can, at a single view, see the sentence as an organic whole made up of many parts performing various functions and standing in various relations. Without such map he must labor under the disadvantage of seeing all these things by piecemeal or in succession. But if for any reason the teacher prefers not to use these diagrams, they may be omitted without causing the slightest break in the work. The plan of this book is in no way dependent on the use of the diagrams. +The Objections to the Diagram+.—The fact that the pictorial diagram groups the parts of a sentence according to their offices and relations, and not in the order of speech, has been spoken of as a fault. It is, on the contrary, a merit, for it teaches the pupil to look through the literary order and discover the logical order. He thus learns what the literary order really is, and sees that this may be varied indefinitely, so long as the logical relations are kept clear. The assertion that correct diagrams can be made mechanically is not borne out by the facts. It is easier to avoid precision in oral analysis than in written. The diagram drives the pupil to a most searching examination of the sentence, brings him face to face with every difficulty, and compels a decision on every point. +The Abuse of the Diagram+.—Analysis by diagram often becomes so interesting and so helpful that, like other good things, it is liable to be overdone. There is danger of requiring too much written analysis. When the ordinary constructions have been made clear, diagrams should be used only for the more difficult sentences, or, if the sentences are long, only for the more difficult parts of them. In both oral and written analysis there is danger of repeating what needs no repetition. When the diagram has served its purpose, it should be dropped. AUTHORS' NOTE TO REVISED EDITION.During the years in which "Higher Lessons" has been in existence, we have ourselves had an instructive experience with it in the classroom. We have considered hundreds of suggestive letters written us by intelligent teachers using the book. We have examined the best works on grammar that have been published recently here and in England. And we have done more. We have gone to the original source of all valid authority in our language— the best writers and speakers of it. That we might ascertain what present linguistic usage is, we chose fifty authors, now alive or living till recently, and have carefully read three hundred pages of each. We have minutely noted and recorded what these men by habitual use declare to be good English. Among the fifty are such men as Ruskin, Froude, Hamerton, Matthew Arnold, Macaulay, De Quincey, Thackeray, Bagehot, John Morley, James Martineau, Cardinal Newman, J. R. Green, and Lecky in England; and Hawthorne, Curtis, Prof. W. D. Whitney, George P. Marsh, Prescott, Emerson, Motley, Prof. Austin Phelps, Holmes, Edward Everett, Irving, and Lowell in America. When in the pages following we anywhere quote usage, it is to the authority of such men that we appeal. Upon these four sources of help we have drawn in the Revision of "Higher In this revised work we have given additional reasons for the opinions we hold, and have advanced to some new positions; have explained more fully what some teachers have thought obscure; have qualified what we think was put too positively in former editions; have given the history of constructions where this would deepen interest or aid in composition; have quoted the verdicts of usage on many locutions condemned by purists; have tried to work into the pupil's style the felicities of expression found in the lesson sentences; have taught the pupil earlier in the work, and more thoroughly, the structure and the function of paragraphs; and have led him on from the composition of single sentences of all kinds to the composition of these great groups of sentences. But the distinctive features of "Higher Lessons" that have made the work so useful and so popular stand as they have stood—the Study of Words from their Offices in the Sentence, Analysis for the sake of subsequent Synthesis, Easy Gradation, the Subdivisions and Modifications of the Parts of Speech after the treatment of these in the Sentence, etc., etc. We confess to some surprise that so little of what was thought good in matter and method years ago has been seriously affected by criticism since. The additions made to "Higher Lessons"—additions that bring the work up to the latest requirements—are generally in foot-notes to pages, and sometimes are incorporated into the body of the Lessons, which in number and numbering remain as they were. The books of former editions and those of this revised edition can, therefore, be used in the same class without any inconvenience. Of the teachers who have given us invaluable assistance in this Revision, we wish specially to name Prof. Henry M. Worrell, of the Polytechnic Institute; and in this edition of the work, as in the preceding, we take pleasure in acknowledging our great indebtedness to our critic, the distinguished Prof. Francis A. March, of Lafayette College. * * * * * LESSON 1.A TALK ON LANGUAGE.Let us talk to-day about a language that we never learn from a grammar or from a book of any kind—a language that we come by naturally, and use without thinking of it. It is a universal language, and consequently needs no interpreter. People of all lands and of all degrees of culture use it; even the brute animals in some measure understand it. This Natural language is the language of cries, laughter, and tones, the language of the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the whole face; the language of gestures and postures. The child's cry tells of its wants; its sob, of grief; its scream, of pain; its laugh, of delight. The boy raises his eyebrows in surprise and his nose in disgust, leans forward in expectation, draws back in fear, makes a fist in anger, and calls or drives away his dog simply by the tone in which he speaks. But feelings and desires are not the only things we wish to communicate. Early in life we begin to acquire knowledge and learn to think, and then we feel the need of a better language. Suppose, for instance, you have formed an idea of a day; could you express this by a tone, a look, or a gesture? If you wish to tell me the fact that yesterday was cloudy, or that the days are shorter in winter than in summer, you find it wholly impossible to do this by means of Natural language. To communicate, then, your thoughts, or even the mental pictures we have called ideas, you need a language more nearly perfect. This language is made up of words. These words you learn from your mothers, and so Word language is your mother-tongue. You learn them, also, from your friends and teachers, your playmates and companions, and you learn them by reading; for words, as you know, may be written as well as spoken. This Word language we may, from its superiority, call +Language Proper+. Natural language, as was said, precedes this Word language, but gives way as Word language comes in and takes its place; yet Natural language may be used, and always should be used, to assist and strengthen Word language. In earnest conversation we enforce what we say in words, by the tone in which we utter them, by the varying expression of the face, and by the movements of the different parts of the body. The look or the gesture may even dart ahead of the word, or it may contradict it, and thus convict the speaker of ignorance or deception. The happy union of the two kinds of language is the charm of all good reading and speaking. The teacher of elocution is ever trying to recall the pupil to the tones, the facial expression, and the action, so natural to him in childhood and in animated conversation. +DEFINITION.—Language Proper consists of the spoken and the written words used to communicate ideas and thoughts+. +DEFINITION.—English Grammar is the science which teaches the forms, uses, and relations of the words of the English language.+ * * * * * LESSON 2.A TALK ON THOUGHTS AND SENTENCES.To express a thought we use more than a single word, and the words arranged to express a thought we call a sentence. But there was a time when, through lack of words, we compressed our thought into a single word. The child says to his father, up, meaning, Take me up into your lap; or, book, meaning, This thing in my hand is a book. These first words always deal with the things that can be learned by the senses; they express the child's ideas of these things. We have spoken of thoughts and sentences; let us see now whether we can find out what a thought is, and what a sentence is. A sentence is a group of words expressing a thought; it is a body of which a thought is the soul. It is something that can be seen or heard, while a thought cannot be. Let us see whether, in studying a sentence, we may not learn what a thought is. In any such sentence as this, Spiders spin, something is said, or asserted, about something. Here it is said, or asserted, of the animals, spiders, that they spin. The sentence, then, consists of two parts,—the name of that of which something is said, and that which is said of it. The first of these parts we call the +Subject+ of the sentence; the second, the +Predicate+. Now, if the sentence, composed of two parts, expresses the thought, there must be in the thought two parts to be expressed. And there are two: viz., something of which we think, and that which we think of it. In the thought expressed by Spiders spin, the animals, spiders, are the something of which we think, and their spinning is what we think of them. In the sentence expressing this thought, the word spiders names that of which we think, and the word spin tells what we think of spiders. Not every group of words is necessarily a sentence, because it may not be the expression of a thought. Spiders spinning is not a sentence. There is nothing in this expression to show that we have formed a judgment, i.e., that we have really made up our minds that spiders do spin. The spinning is not asserted of the spiders. Soft feathers, The shining sun are not sentences, and for similar reasons. Feathers are soft, The sun shines are sentences. Here the asserting word is supplied, and something is said of something else. The shines sun is not a sentence; for, though it contains the asserting word shines, the arrangement is such that no assertion is made, and no thought is expressed. * * * * * LESSON 3.A TALK ON SOUNDS AND LETTERS.We have already told you that in expressing our ideas and thoughts we use two kinds of words, spoken words and written words. We learned the spoken words first. Mankind spoke long before they wrote. Not until people wished to communicate with those at a distance, or had thought out something worth handing down to aftertimes, did they need to write. But speaking was easy. The air, the lungs, and the organs of the throat and mouth were at hand. The first cry was a suggestion. Sounds and noises were heard on every side, provoking imitation, and the need of speech for the purposes of communication was imperative. Spoken words are made up of sounds. There are over forty sounds in the English language. The different combinations of these give us all the words of our spoken tongue. That you may clearly understand these sounds, we will tell you something about the human voice. In talking, the air driven out from your lungs beats against two flat muscles, stretched, like bands, across the top of the windpipe, and causes them to vibrate up and down. This vibration makes sound. Take a thread, put one end between your teeth, hold the other with thumb and finger, draw it tight and strike it, and you will understand how voice is made. The shorter the string, or the tighter it is drawn, the faster will it vibrate, and the higher will be the pitch of the sound. The more violent the blow, the farther will the string vibrate, and the louder will be the sound. Just so with these vocal bands or cords. The varying force with which the breath strikes them and their different tensions and lengths at different times, explain the different degrees of loudness and the varying pitch of the voice. If the voice thus produced comes out through the mouth held well open, a class of sounds is formed which we call vowel sounds. But if the voice is held back or obstructed by the palate, tongue, teeth, or lips, one kind of the sounds called consonant sounds is made. If the breath is driven out without voice, and is held back by these same parts of the mouth, the other kind of consonant sounds is formed. The written word is made up of characters, or letters, which represent to the eye these sounds that address the ear. You are now prepared to understand us when we say that +vowels+ are the +letters+ that stand for the +open sounds+ of the +voice+, and that +consonants+ are the +letters+ that stand for the sounds made by the +obstructed voice+ and the +obstructed breath+. The alphabet of a language is a complete list of its letters. A perfect alphabet would have one letter for each sound, and only one. Our alphabet is imperfect in at least these three ways:— 1. Some of the letters are superfluous; c stands for the sound of s or of k, as in city and can; q has the sound of k, as in quit; and x that of ks, gz, or z, as in expel, exist, and Xenophon. 2. Combinations of letters sometimes represent single sounds; as, th in thine, th in thin, ng in sing, and sh in shut. 3. Some letters stand each for many sounds. Twenty-three letters represent over forty sounds. Every vowel does more than single duty; e stands for two sounds, as in mete and met; i for two, as in pine and pin; o for three, as in note, not, and move; u for four, as in tube, tub, full, and fur; a for six, as in fate, fat, far, fall, fast, and fare. W is a vowel when it unites with a preceding vowel to represent a vowel sound, and y is a vowel when it has the sound of i, as in now, by, boy, newly. W and y are consonants at the beginning of a word or syllable. The various sounds of the several vowels and even of the same vowel are caused by the different shapes which the mouth assumes. These changes in its cavity produce, also, the two sounds that unite in each of the compounds, ou, oi, ew, and in the alphabetic i and o. 1. 2. The consonants in column 1 represent the sounds made by the obstructed voice; those in column 2, except h (which represents a mere forcible breathing), represent those made by the obstructed breath. The letters are mostly in pairs. Now note that the tongue, teeth, lips, and palate are placed in the same relative position to make the sounds of both letters in any pair. The difference in the sounds of the letters of any pair is simply this: there is voice in the sounds of the letters in column 1, and only whisper in those of column 2. Give the sound of any letter in column 1, as b, g, v, and the last or vanishing part of it is the sound of the other letter of the pair. TO THE TEACHER.—Write these letters on the board, as above, and drill the pupils on the sounds till they can see and make these distinctions. Drill them on the vowels also. In closing this talk with you, we wish to emphasize one point brought before you. Here is a pencil, a real thing; we carry in memory a picture of the pencil, which we call an idea; and there are the two words naming this idea, the spoken and the written. Learn to distinguish clearly these four things. TO THE TEACHER.—In reviewing these three Lessons, put particular emphasis on Lesson 2. * * * * * LESSON 4.ANALYSIS AND THE DIAGRAM.TO THE TEACHER.—If the pupils have been through "Graded Lessons" or its equivalent, some of the following Lessons may be passed over rapidly. +DEFINITION.—A Sentence is the expression of a thought in words+. +Direction+.—Analyze the following sentences:— +Model+.—Spiders spin. Why is this a sentence? Ans.—Because it expresses a thought. Of what is something thought? Ans.—Spiders. Which word tells what is thought? Ans.—Spin. [Footnote: The word spiders, standing in Roman, names our idea of the real thing; spin, used merely as a word, is in Italics. This use of Italics the teacher and the pupil will please note here and elsewhere.] 1. Tides ebb. 2. Liquids flow. 3. Steam expands. 4. Carbon burns. 5. Iron melts. 6. Powder explodes. 7. Leaves tremble. 8. Worms crawl. 9. Hares leap. In each of these sentences there are, as you have learned, two parts—the +DEFINITION.—The Subject of a sentence names that of which something is thought.+ +DEFINITION.—The Predicate of a sentence tells what is thought.+ +DEFINITION.—The Analysis of a sentence is the separation of it into its parts.+ +Direction+.—Analyze these sentences:— +Model+.—Beavers build. This is a sentence because it expresses a thought. Beavers is the subject because it names that of which something is thought; build is the predicate because it tells what is thought. [Footnote: When pupils are familiar with the definitions, let the form of analysis be varied. The reasons may be made more specific. Here and elsewhere avoid mechanical repetition.] 1. Squirrels climb. 2. Blood circulates. 3. Muscles tire. 4. Heralds proclaim. 5. Apes chatter. 6. Branches wave. 7. Corn ripens. 8. Birds twitter. 9. Hearts throb. +Explanation+.—Draw a heavy line and divide it into two parts. Let the first part represent the subject of a sentence; the second, the predicate. If you write a word over the first part, you will understand that this word is the subject of a sentence. If you write a word over the second part, you will understand that this word is the predicate of a sentence. Love " conquers You see, by looking at this figure, that Love conquers is a sentence; that love is the subject, and conquers the predicate. Such figures, made up of straight lines, we call Diagrams. +DEFINITION.—A Diagram is a picture of the offices and the relations of the different parts of a sentence.+ +Direction+.—Analyze these sentences:— 1. Frogs croak. 2. Hens sit. 3. Sheep bleat. 4. Cows low. 5. Flies buzz. 6. Sap ascends. 7. Study pays. 8. Buds swell. 9. Books aid. 10. Noise disturbs. 11. Hope strengthens. 12. Cocks crow. * * * * * LESSON 5.COMPOSITION—SUBJECT AND PREDICATE.+CAPITAL LETTER—RULE.—The first word of every sentence must begin with a capital letter+. +PERIOD—RULE.—A period must be placed after every sentence that simply affirms, denies, or commands.+ +Direction+.—Construct sentences by supplying a subject to each of the following predicates:— Ask yourselves the questions, What tarnishes? Who sailed, conquered, etc.? 1. ——- tarnishes. 2. ——- capsize. 3. ——- radiates. 4. ——- sentence. 5. ——- careen. 6. ——- sailed. 7. ——- descends. 8. ——- glisten. 9. ——- absorb. 10. ——- corrode. 11. ——- conquered. 12. ——- surrendered. 13. ——- refines. 14. ——- gurgle. 15. ——- murmur. +Direction+.—Construct sentences by supplying a predicate to each of the following subjects:— Ask yourselves the question, Glycerine does what? 1. Glycerine ——-. 2. Yankees ——-. 3. Tyrants ——-. 4. Pendulums ——-. 5. Caesar ——-. 6. Labor ——-. 7. Chalk ——-. 8. Nature ——-. 9. Tempests ——-. 10. Seeds ——-. 11. Heat ——-. 12. Philosophers ——-. 13. Bubbles ——-. 14. Darkness ——-. 15. Wax ——-. 16. Reptiles ——-. 17. Merchants ——-. 18. Meteors ——-. 19. Conscience ——-. 20. Congress ——-. 21. Life ——-. 22. Vapors ——-. 23. Music ——-. 24. Pitch ——-. TO THE TEACHER.—This exercise may profitably be extended by supplying several subjects to each predicate, and several predicates to each subject. * * * * * LESSON 6.ANALYSIS.The predicate sometimes contains more than one word. +Direction+.—Analyze as in Lesson 4. 1. Moisture is exhaled. 2. Conclusions are drawn. 3. Industry will enrich. 4. Stars have disappeared. 5. Twilight is falling. 6. Leaves are turning. 7. Sirius has appeared. 8. Constantinople had been captured. 9. Electricity has been harnessed. 10. Tempests have been raging. 11. Nuisances should be abated. 12. Jerusalem was destroyed. 13. Light can be reflected. 14. Rain must have fallen. 15. Planets have been discovered. 16. Palaces shall crumble. 17. Storms may be gathering. 18. Essex might have been saved. 19. Caesar could have been crowned, 20. Inventors may be encouraged. +Direction+.—Point out the subject and the predicate of each sentence in Look first for the word that asserts, and then, by putting who or what before this predicate, the subject may easily be found. TO THE TEACHER.—Let this exercise be continued till the pupils can readily point out the subject and the predicate in ordinary simple sentences. When this can be done promptly, the first and most important step in analysis will have been taken. * * * * * LESSON 7.COMPOSITION—SUBJECT AND PREDICATE.+Direction+.—Make at least ten good sentences out of the words in the three columns following:— The helping words in column 2 must be prefixed to words in column 3 in order to make complete predicates. Analyze your sentences. 1 2 3 Review Questions. What is language proper? What is English grammar? What is a sentence? What are its two parts? What is the subject of a sentence? The predicate of a sentence? The analysis of a sentence? What is a diagram? What rule has been given for the use of capital letters? For the period? May the predicate contain more than one word? Illustrate. TO THE TEACHER.—Introduce the class to the Parts of Speech before the close of this recitation. See "Introductory Hints" below. * * * * * LESSON 8.CLASSES OF WORDS.NOUNS.+Introductory Hints+.—We have now reached the point where we must classify the words of our language. But we are appalled by their number. If we must learn all about the forms and the uses of a hundred thousand words by studying these words one by one, we shall die ignorant of English grammar. But may we not deal with words as we do with plants? If we had to study and name each leaf and stem and flower, taken singly, we should never master the botany even of our garden-plants. But God has made things to resemble one another and to differ from one another; and, as he has given us the power to detect resemblances and differences, we are able to group things that have like qualities. From certain likenesses in form and in structure, we put certain flowers together and call them roses; from other likenesses, we get another class called lilies; from others still, violets. Just so we classify trees and get the oak, the elm, the maple, etc. The myriad objects of nature fall into comparatively few classes. Studying each class, we learn all we need to know of every object in it. From their likenesses, though not in form, we classify words. We group them according to their similarities in use, or office, in the sentence. Sorting them thus, we find that they all fall into eight classes, which we call Parts of Speech. We find that many words name things—are the names of things of which we can think and speak. These we place in one class and call them +Nouns+ (Latin nomen, a name, a noun). PRONOUNS.Without the little words which we shall italicize, it would be difficult for one stranger to ask another, "Can you tell me who is the postmaster at B?" The one would not know what name to use instead of you, the other would not recognize the name in the place of me, and both would be puzzled to find a substitute for who. I, you, my, me, what, we, it, he, who, him, she, them, and other words are used in place of nouns, and are, therefore, called +Pronouns+ (Lat. pro, for, and nomen, a noun). By means of these handy little words we can represent any or every object in existence. We could hardly speak or write without them now, they so frequently shorten the expression and prevent confusion and repetition. +DEFINITION.—A Noun is the name of anything.+ +DEFINITION.—A Pronoun is a word used for a noun.+ The principal office of nouns is to name the things of which we say, or assert, something in the sentence. +Direction+.—-Write, according to the model, the names of things that can burn, grow, melt, love, roar, or revolve. +Model.+— Nouns. +Remark.+—Notice that, when the subject adds s or es to denote more than one, the predicate does not take s. Note how it would sound if both should add s. +Every subject+ of a sentence is a +noun+, or some word or words used as a noun. But not every noun in a sentence is a subject. +Direction.+—Select and write all the nouns and pronouns, whether subjects or not, in the sentences given in Lesson 18. In writing them observe the following rules:— +CAPITAL LETTER—RULE.—Proper, or individual, names and words derived from them begin with capital letters.+ +PERIOD and CAPITAL LETTER—RULE.—Abbreviations generally begin with capital letters and are always followed by the period.+ * * * * * LESSON 9.CAPITAL LETTERS.+Direction.+—From the following words select and write in one column those names that distinguish individual things from others of the same class, and in another column those words that are derived from individual names:— Observe Rule 1, Lesson 8. ohio, state, chicago, france, bostonian, country, england, boston, milton, river, girl, mary, hudson, william, britain, miltonic, city, englishman, messiah, platonic, american, deity, bible, book, plato, christian, broadway, america, jehovah, british, easter, europe, man, scriptures, god. +Direction.+—Write the names of the days of the week and the months of the year, beginning each with a capital letter; and write the names of the seasons without capital letters. +Remember+ that, when a class name and a distinguishing word combine to make one individual name, each word begins with a capital letter; as, Jersey City. [Footnote: Dead Sea is composed of the class name sea, which applies to all seas, and the word Dead, which distinguishes one sea from all others.] But, when the distinguishing word can by itself be regarded as a complete name, the class name begins with a small letter; as, river Rhine. +Examples+.—Long Island, Good Friday, Mount Vernon, Suspension Bridge, New +Direction+.—Write these words, using capital letters when needed:— ohio river, professor huxley, president adams, doctor brown, clinton county, westchester county, colonel burr, secretary stanton, lake george, green mountains, white sea, cape cod, delaware bay, atlantic ocean, united states, rhode island. +Remember+ that, when an individual name is made up of a class name, the word of, and a distinguishing word, the class name and the distinguishing word should each begin with a capital letter; as, Gulf of Mexico. But, when the distinguishing word can by itself be regarded as a complete name, the class name should begin with a small letter; as, city of London. [Footnote: The need of some definite instruction to save the young writer from hesitation and confusion in the use of capitals is evident from the following variety of forms now in use: City of New York, city of New York, New York City, New York city, New York State, New York state, Fourth Avenue, Fourth avenue, Grand Street, Grand street, Grand st., Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean sea, Kings County, Kings county, etc. The usage of newspapers and of text-books on geography would probably favor the writing of the class names in the examples above with initial capitals; but we find in the most carefully printed books and periodicals a tendency to favor small letters in such cases. In the superscription of letters, such words as street, city, and county begin with capitals. Usage certainly favors small initials for the following italicized words: river Rhine, Catskill village, the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If river and village, in the preceding examples, are not essential parts of the individual names, why should river, ocean, and county, in Hudson river, Pacific ocean, Queens county, be treated differently? We often say the Hudson, the Pacific, Queens, without adding the explanatory class name. The principle we suggest may be in advance of common usage; but it is in the line of progress, and it tends to uniformity of practice and to an improved appearance of the page. About a century ago every noun began with a capital letter. The American Cyclopedia takes a position still further in advance, as illustrated in the following: Bed river, Black sea, gulf of Mexico, Rocky mountains. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Little, Brown, & Co., 9th ed.) we find Connecticut river, Madison county, etc., quite uniformly; but we find Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean, etc.] +Direction+.—Write these words, using capital letters when needed:— city of atlanta, isle of man, straits of dover, state of Vermont, isthmus of darien, sea of galilee, queen of england, bay of naples, empire of china. +Remember+ that, when a compound name is made up of two or more distinguishing words, as, Henry Clay, John Stuart Mill, each word begins with a capital letter. +Direction+.—Write these words, using capital letters when needed:— great britain, lower california, south carolina, daniel webster, new england, oliver wendell holmes, north america, new orleans, james russell lowell, british america. +Remember+ that, in writing the titles of books, essays, poems, plays, etc., and the names of the Deity, only the chief words begin with capital letters; as, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Supreme Being, Paradise Lost, the Holy One of Israel. +Direction+.—Write these words, using capital letters when needed:— declaration of independence, clarendon's history of the great rebellion, webster's reply to hayne, pilgrim's progress, johnson's lives of the poets, son of man, the most high, dombey and son, tent on the beach, bancroft's history of the united states. +Direction+.—Write these miscellaneous names, using capital letters when needed:— erie canal, governor tilden, napoleon bonaparte, cape of good hope, pope's essay on criticism, massachusetts bay, city of boston, continent of america, new testament, goldsmith's she stoops to conquer, milton's hymn on the nativity, indian ocean, cape cod bay, plymouth rock, anderson's history of the united states, mount washington, english channel, the holy spirit, new york central railroad, old world, long island sound, flatbush village. * * * * * LESSON 10.ABBREVIATIONS.+Direction+.—Some words occur frequently, and for convenience may he abbreviated in writing. Observing Rule 2, Lesson 8, abbreviate these words by writing the first five letters:— Thursday and lieutenant. These by writing the first four letters:— Connecticut, captain, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, These by writing the first three letters:— Alabama, answer, Arkansas, California, colonel, Delaware, England, esquire, These by writing the first two letters:— Company, county, credit, example, and idem (the same). These by writing the first letter:— East, north, south, and west. [Footnote: When these words refer to sections of the country, they should begin with capitals.] These by writing the first and the last letter:— Doctor, debtor, Georgia, junior, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, These by writing the first letter of each word of the compound with a period after each letter:— Artium baccalaureus (bachelor of arts), anno Domini (in the year of our Lord), artium magister (master of arts), ante meridiem (before noon), before Christ, collect on delivery, District (of) Columbia, divinitatis doctor (doctor of divinity), member (of) Congress, medicinae doctor (doctor of medicine), member (of) Parliament, North America, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, postmaster, post meridiem (afternoon), post-office, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and United States. +Direction.+—The following abbreviations and those you have made should be committed to memory:— Acct. or acct., account. Bbl. or bbl., barrel. Chas., Charles. Fla., Florida. LL. D., legum doctor (doctor of laws).[Footnote: The doubling of the l to ll and in LL. D., and of p in pp., with no period between the letters, comes from pluralizing the nouns line, lean, and page.] Messrs., messieurs (gentlemen). Mme., madame. Mo., Missouri. Mrs., (pronounced missis) mistress. Mts., mountains. Ph.D., philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy). Recd., received. Robt., Robert. Supt., superintendent. Thos., Thomas. bu., bushel. do., ditto (the same) doz., dozen. e.g., exempli gratia (for example) etc., et caetera (and others). ft., foot, feet. hhd., hogshead. hdkf., handkerchief. i.e., id est (that is). l., line. ll., lines. lb., libra (pound). oz., ounce. p., page. pp., pages. qt., quart. vs., versus (against). viz., videlicet (namely). yd., yard. +Remark.+—In this Lesson we have given the abbreviations of the states as now regulated by the "U. S. Official Postal Guide." In the "Guide" Iowa and Ohio are not abbreviated. They are, however, frequently abbreviated thus: Iowa, Ia. or Io.; Ohio, 0. The similarity, when hurriedly written, of the abbreviations Cal., Col.; * * * * * LESSON 11.VERBS.+Introductory Hints+.—We told you in Lesson 8 how, by noticing the essential likenesses in things and grouping the things thus alike, we could throw the countless objects around us into comparatively few classes. We began to classify words according to their use, or office, in the sentence; we found one class of words that name things, and we called them nouns. But in all the sentences given you, we have had to use another class of words. These words, you notice, tell what the things do, or assert that they are, or exist. When we say Clocks tick, tick is not the name of anything; it tells what clocks do: it asserts action. When we say Clocks are, or There are clocks, are is not the name of. anything, nor does it tell what clocks do; it simply asserts existence, or being. When we say Clocks hang, stand, last, lie, or remain, these words hang, stand, last, etc., do not name anything, nor do they tell that clocks act or simply exist; they tell the condition, or state, in which clocks are, or exist; that is, they assert state of being. All words that assert action, being, or state of being, we call +Verbs+ (+Lat+. verbum, a word). The name was given to this class because it was thought that they were the most important words in the sentence. Give several verbs that assert action. Give some that assert being, and some that assert state of being. +DEFINITION+.—+A Verb is a word that asserts action, being-, or state of being+. There are, however, two forms of the verb, the participle and the infinitive (see Lessons 37 and 40), that express action, being, or state of being, without asserting it. +Direction.+—Write after each of the following nouns as many appropriate verbs as you can think of:— Let some express being and some express state of being. +Model.—Noun. +Remark.+—Notice that the simple form of the verb, as, burn, melt, scorch, adds s or es when its subject noun names but one thing. Lawyers, mills, horses, books, education, birds, mind. A verb may consist of two, three, or even four words; as, is learning, may be learned, could have been learned. [Footnote: Such groups of words are sometimes called verb-phrases. For definition of phrase, see Lesson 17.] +Direction.+—Unite the words in columns 2 and 3 below, and append the verbs thus formed to the nouns and pronouns in column 1 so as to make good sentences:— +Remark.+—Notice that is, was, and has are used with nouns naming one thing, and with the pronouns he, she, and it; and that are, were, and have are used with nouns naming more than one thing, and with the pronouns we, you, and they. I may be used with am, was, and have. 1 2 3 As verbs are the only words that assert, +every predicate+ must be a verb, or must contain a verb. +Naming the class+ to which a word belongs is the +first step in parsing.+ +Direction+.—Parse five of the sentences you have written. +Model+.—Poland was dismembered. +Parsing+.—Poland is a noun because ——; was dismembered is a verb because it asserts action. * * * * * LESSON 12.MODIFIED SUBJECT.ADJECTIVES.+Introductory Hints+.—The subject noun and the predicate verb are not always or often the whole of the structure that we call the sentence, though they are the underlying timbers that support the rest of the verbal bridge. Other words may be built upon them. We learned in Lesson 8 that things resemble one another and differ from one another. They resemble and they differ in what we call their qualities. Things are alike whose qualities are the same, as, two oranges having the same color, taste, and odor. Things are unlike, as an orange and an apple, whose qualities are different. It is by their qualities, then, that we know things and group them. Ripe apples are healthful. Unripe apples are hurtful. In these two sentences we have the same word apples to name the same general class of things; but the prefixed words ripe and unripe, marking opposite qualities in the apples, separate the apples into two kinds—the ripe ones and the unripe ones. These prefixed words ripe and unripe, then, limit the word apples in its scope; ripe apples or unripe apples applies to fewer things than apples alone applies to. If we say the, this, that apple, or an, no apple, or some, many, eight apples, we do not mark any quality of the fruit; but the, this, or that points out a particular apple, and limits the word apple to the one pointed out; and an, no, some, many, or eight limits the word in respect to the number of apples that it denotes. These and all such words as by marking quality, by pointing out, or by specifying number or quantity limit the scope or add to the meaning of the noun, +modify+ it, and are called +Modifiers+. In the sentence above, apples is the +Simple Subject+ and ripe apples is the +Modified Subject+. Words that modify nouns and pronouns are called +Adjectives+ (Lat. ad, to, and jacere, to throw). +DEFINITION.—A Modifier is a word or a group of words joined to some part of the sentence to qualify or limit the meaning+. The +Subject+ with its +Modifiers+ is called the +Modified Subject+, or Logical Subject. +DEFINITION.—An Adjective is a word used to modify a noun or a pronoun+. Analysis and Parsing. 1. The cold November rain is falling. rain " is falling +Explanation.+—The two lines shaded alike and placed uppermost stand for the subject and the predicate, and show that these are of the same rank, and are the principal parts of the sentence. The lighter lines, placed under and joined to the subject line, stand for the less important parts, the modifiers, and show what is modified. [Footnote: TO THE TEACHER.—When several adjectives are joined to one noun, each adjective does not always modify the unlimited noun. That old wooden house was burned. Here wooden modifies house, old modifies house limited by wooden, and that modifies house limited by old and wooden. This may be illustrated in the diagram by numbering the modifiers in the order of their rank, thus:— " Adverbs, and both phrase and clause modifiers often differ in rank in the same way. If the pupils are able to see these distinctions, it will be well to have them made in the analysis, as they often determine the punctuation and the arrangement. See Lessons 13 and 21.] +TO THE TEACHER.+—While we, from experience, are clear in the belief that diagrams are very helpful in the analysis of sentences, we wish to say that the work required in this book can all be done without resorting to these figures. If some other form, or no form, of written analysis is preferred, our diagrams can be omitted without break or confusion. When diagrams are used, only the teacher can determine how many shall be required in any one Lesson, and how soon the pupil may dispense with their aid altogether. +Oral Analysis.+—(Here and hereafter we shall omit from the oral analysis and parsing whatever has been provided for in previous Lessons.) The, cold, and November are modifiers of the subject. The cold November rain is the modified subject. TO THE TEACHER.—While in these "models" we wish to avoid repetition, we should require of the pupils full forms of oral analysis for at least some of the sentences in every Lesson. +Parsing.+—The, cold, and November are adjectives modifying rain—cold and November expressing quality, and the pointing out. 2. The great Spanish Armada was destroyed. 3. A free people should be educated. 4. The old Liberty Bell was rung. 5. The famous Alexandrian library was burned. 6. The odious Stamp Act was repealed. 7. Every intelligent American citizen should vote. 8. The long Hoosac Tunnel is completed. 9. I alone should suffer. 10. All nature rejoices. 11. Five large, ripe, luscious, mellow apples were picked. 12. The melancholy autumn days have come. 13. A poor old wounded soldier returned. 14. The oppressed Russian serfs have been freed. 15. Immense suspension bridges have been built. * * * * * LESSON 13.COMPOSITION—ADJECTIVES.+Caution.+—When two or more adjectives are used with a noun, care must be taken in their arrangement. If they differ in rank, place nearest the noun the one most closely modifying it. If of the same rank, place them where they will sound best—generally in the order of length, the shortest first. +Explanation.+—Two honest young men were chosen, A tall, straight, dignified person entered. Young tells the kind of men, honest tells the kind of young men, and two tells the number of honest young men; hence these adjectives are not of the same rank. Tall, straight, and dignified modify person independently—the person is tall and straight and dignified; hence these adjectives are of the same rank. Notice the comma after tall and straight; and may be supplied; in the first sentence and cannot be supplied. See Lesson 21. +Direction.+—Arrange the adjectives below, and give your reasons:— 1. A Newfoundland pet handsome large dog. 2. Level low five the fields. 3. A wooden rickety large building. 4. Blind white beautiful three mice. 5. An energetic restless brave people. 6. An enlightened civilized nation. +Direction.+—Form sentences by prefixing modified subjects to these predicates:— 1. ——— have been invented. 2. ——— were destroyed. 3. ——— are cultivated. 4. ——— may be abused. 5. ——— was mutilated. 6. ——— were carved. 7. ——— have been discovered. 8. ——— have fallen. 9. ——— will be respected. 10. ——— have been built. +Direction.+—Construct ten sentences, each of which shall contain a subject modified by three adjectives—one from each of these columns:— Let the adjectives be appropriate. For punctuation, see Lesson 21. The dark sunny +Direction+.—Prefix to each of these nouns several appropriate adjectives:— River, frost, grain, ships, air, men. +Direction+.—Couple those adjectives and nouns below that most appropriately go together:— Modest, lovely, flaunting, meek, patient, faithful, saucy, spirited, violet, dahlia, sheep, pansy, ox, dog, horse, rose, gentle, duck, sly, waddling, cooing, chattering, homely, chirping, puss, robin, dove, sparrow, blackbird, cow, hen, cackling. * * * * * LESSON 14.MODIFIED PREDICATE.ADVERBS.+Introductory Hints+.—You have learned that the subject may be modified; let us see whether the predicate may be. If we say, The leaves fall, we express a fact in a general way. But, if we wish to speak of the time of their falling, we can add a word and say, The leaves fall early; of the place of their falling, The leaves fall here; of the manner, The leaves fall quietly; of the cause, Why do the leaves fall? We may join a word to one of these modifiers and say, The leaves fall very quietly. Here very modifies quietly by telling the degree. Very quietly is a group of words modifying the predicate. The predicate with its modifiers is called the +Modified Predicate+. Such words as very, here, and quietly form another part of speech, and are called +Adverbs+ (Lat. ad, to, and verbum, a word, or verb). Adverbs may modify adjectives; as, Very ripe apples are healthful. Adverbs modify verbs just as adjectives modify nouns—by limiting them. The horse has a proud step = The horse steps proudly. The +Predicate+ with its +Modifiers+ is called the +Modified +Predicate, or Logical Predicate. +DEFINITION.—An Adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb.+ [Footnote: See Lesson 92 and foot-note.] Analysis and Parsing. 1. The leaves fall very quietly. leaves " fall +Oral Analysis+.—Very quietly is a modifier of the predicate; quietly is the principal word of the group; very modifies quietly; the leaves is the modified subject; fall very quietly is the modified predicate. |
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