Exercise 4

Note in the following sentences the words which are pure interjections, and those which are other parts of speech used as exclamatory words. Mark those which are used in direct address, those which are used parenthetically, and those which are used as mere introductory words.

  1. Oh, it seems impossible to believe it.
  2. Surely, you will accept my word.
  3. Nonsense, there is not the least truth in the story.
  4. It will be impossible for us to join.
  5. Therefore we urge you to join in this campaign.
  6. There is only one solution to the problem.
  7. It is difficult to discover the true facts.
  8. Well, I have done my best to persuade you.
  9. Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order.
  10. Comrades, come and stand for your rights.
  11. Yes, I have studied that philosophy.
  12. Enough! we have been enslaved too long.
  13. Hark! we hear the tramp of the army of labor.
  14. Alas! that any should refuse to join in this battle.
  15. You have not, it seems, understood the issue.
  16. Indeed, solidarity is our only hope.
  17. Br-r-r-r-r-r-r, thus whirl the machines that grind our children's lives.
  18. Hush! Over the crash of the cannon sounds the wail of Europe's women and children.

EXPLANATORY WORDS

398. We sometimes use words which do not belong in the construction of a sentence to explain other words in the sentence. For example:

In the first sentence, the words, the undersigned, are added to the pronoun we to explain who we means. In the second sentence, the words, the most wonderful woman of this age, are added to explain who Helen Keller is. Words added to other words in this way are called explanatory words. They are placed in apposition to the noun which they explain. Apposition means by the side of, or in position near. You remember that in clauses we found that a clause may be placed in apposition with a noun to explain the meaning of that noun. For example:

These words in apposition may themselves be modified or limited by other words or phrases or clauses. For example: