Graded Lessons in English / An Elementary English Grammar Consisting of One Hundred Practical Lessons, Carefully Graded and Adapted to the Class-Room - Alonzo Reed; Brainerd Kellogg

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** Transcriber's Notes **

Underscores mark italics; words enclosed in +pluses+ represent boldface; words enclosed in /slashes/ represent underlined words. Words enclosed in ~tildes~ represent a wavy underline.

To represent the sentence diagrams in ASCII, the following conventions are used:

- The heavy horizontal line (for the main clause) is formed with equals
signs (==).
- Other solid vertical lines are formed with minus signs (—).
- Diagonal lines are formed with backslashes (\).
- Words printed on a diagonal line are preceded by a backslash, with no
horizontal line under them.
- Dotted horizontal lines are formed with periods (..)
- Dotted vertical lines are formed with straight apostrophes (')
- Dotted diagonal lines are formed with slanted apostrophes (`)
- Words printed over a horizontally broken line are shown like this:

——, helping
'————-

- Words printed bending around a diagonal-horizontal line are broken like
this:

\wai
\ ting
————-
** End Transcriber's Notes **

GRADED LESSONS IN ENGLISH.

AN

ELEMENTARY

ENGLISH GRAMMAR,

CONSISTING OF

ONE HUNDRED PRACTICAL LESSONS,

CAREFULLY GRADED AND ADAPTED TO THE CLASS-ROOM,

BY

ALONZO REED, A.M.,

FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR OF 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.

A COMPLETE COURSE IN ENGLISH. BY ALONZO REED, A.M., AND BRAINERD KELLOGG, LL.D.

REED'S WORD LESSONS, A COMPLETE SPELLER. Designed to teach the correct spelling, pronunciation, and use of such words only as are most common in current literature, and as are most likely to be misspelled, mispronounced, or misused, and to awaken new interest in the study of synonyms and of word-analysis. 188 pages, 12mo.

REED'S INTRODUCTORY LANGUAGE WORK. A simple, varied, and pleasing, but methodical series of exercises in English to precede the study of technical grammar. 253 pages, 16mo, linen.

REED & KELLOGG'S GRADED LESSONS IN ENGLISH. An elementary English grammar, consisting of one hundred practical lessons, carefully graded and adapted, to the class-room. 215 pages, 16mo, linen.

REED & KELLOGG'S 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. 386 pages, 16mo, cloth.

REED & KELLOGG'S ONE-BOOK COURSE IN ENGLISH. A carefully graded and complete series of lessons in English grammar and composition based on the natural development of the sentence. For schools that have not time to complete more than one book on grammar. 328 pages, 16mo, cloth.

KELLOGG & REED'S WORD-BUILDING. Fifty lessons, combining Latin, Greek, and Anglo-Saxon roots, prefixes, and suffixes, into about fifty-five hundred common derivative words in English; with a brief history of the English language. 122 pages, 16mo, cloth.

KELLOGG & REED'S THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. A brief history of the grammatical changes of the language and its vocabulary, with exercises on synonyms, prefixes, suffixes, word-analysis, and word-building. A text-book for high schools and colleges. 226 pages, 16mo, cloth.

KELLOGG'S TEXT-BOOK ON RHETORIC. Revised and enlarged edition. Supplementing the development of the science with exhaustive practice in composition. A course of practical lessons adapted for use in high schools, academies, and lower classes of colleges. 345 pages, 12mo, cloth.

KELLOGG'S TEXT-BOOK ON ENGLISH LITERATURE. with copious extracts from the leading authors, English and American, and full instructions as to the method in which these books are to be studied. 485 pages, 12mo, cloth.

PREFACE.

The plan of "Graded and Higher Lessons in English" will perhaps be better understood if we first speak of two classes of text-books with which this course 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 course 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.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COMPOSITION EXERCISES

The exercises in composition found in the numbered Lessons of this book are generally confined to the illustration and the practical application of the principles of the science as these principles are developed step by step. To break up the continuity of the text by thrusting unrelated composition work between lessons closely related and mutually dependent is exceedingly unwise.

The Composition Exercises suggested in this revision of "Graded Lessons" are designed to review the regular Lessons and to prepare in a broad, informal way for text work that follows. But since these Exercises go much farther, and teach the pupil how to construct paragraphs and how to observe and imitate what is good in different authors, they are placed in a supplement, and not between consecutive Lessons of the text.

To let such general composition work take the place of the regular grammar lesson, say once a week, will be profitable. We suggest that the sentence work on the selections in the Supplement be made to follow Lessons 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 77; but each teacher must determine for himself when these and the other outlined lessons can best be used. We advise that other selections from literature be made and these exercises continued with the treatment of the parts of speech.

For composition work to precede Lesson 30 we suggest that the teacher break up a short story of one or two paragraphs into simple sentences, making some of these transposed, some interrogative, and some exclamatory. The pupils may be required to copy these, to underline the subject and the predicate, and to tell, in answer to suggestive questions, what some of the other words and groups of words do (the questions on the selections in the Supplement may aid the teacher). The pupils may then write out the story in full form. To vary the exercise, the teacher might read the story and let the pupils write out the short sentences.

A TALK ON LANGUAGE.

The teacher is recommended, before assigning any lesson, to occupy the time of at least two or three recitations, in talking with his pupils about language, always remembering that, in order to secure the interest of his class, he must allow his pupils to take an active part in the exercise. The teacher should guide the thought of his class; but, if he attempt to do all the talking, he will find, when he concludes, that he has been left to do all the thinking.

We give below a few hints in conducting this talk on language, but the teacher is not expected to confine himself to them. He will, of course, be compelled, in some instances, to resort to various devices in order to obtain from the pupils answers equivalent to those here suggested.

LESSON 1.

+Teacher+.—I will pronounce these three sounds very slowly and distinctly, thus: b-u-d. Notice, it is the power, or sound, of the letter, and not its name, that I give. What did you hear?

+Pupil+.—I heard three sounds.

+T.—+Give them. I will write on the board, so that you can see them, three letters—b-u-d. Are these letters, taken separately, signs to you of anything?

+P.—+Yes, they are signs to me of the three sounds that I have just heard.

+T.—+What then do these letters, taken separately, picture to your eye?

+P.—+They picture the sounds that came to my ear.

+T+.—Letters then are the signs of what?

+P.—Letters are the signs of sounds+.

+T+.—I will pronounce the same three sounds more rapidly, uniting them more closely—bud. These sounds, so united, form a spoken word. Of what do you think when you hear the word bud?

+P+.—I think of a little round thing that grows to be a leafy branch or a flower.

+T+.—Did you see the thing when you were thinking of it?

+P+.—No.

+T+.—Then you must have had a picture of it in your mind. We call this +mental picture+ an +idea+. What called up this idea?

+P+.—It was called up by the word bud, which I heard.

+T+.—A spoken word then is the sign of what?

+P.—A spoken word is the sign of an idea+.

+T+.—I will call up the same idea in another way. I will write three letters and unite them thus: bud. What do you see?

+P+.—I see the word bud.

+T+.—If we call the other word bud a spoken word, what shall we call this?

+P+.—This is a written word.

+T+.—If they stand for the same idea, how do they differ?

+P+.—I see this, and I heard that.

+T+.—You will observe that we have called attention to four different things; viz., the +real bud+; your mental picture of the bud, which we have called an +idea+; and the +two words+, which we have called signs of this idea, the one addressed to the ear, and the other to the eye.

If the pupil be brought to see these distinctions, it may aid him to observe more closely and express himself more clearly.

LESSON 2.

+Teacher+.—What did you learn in the previous Lesson?

+Pupil+.—I learned that a spoken word is composed of certain sounds, and that letters are signs of sounds, and that spoken and written words are the signs of ideas.

This question should be passed from one pupil to another till all of these answers are elicited.

All the written words in all the English books ever made, are formed of twenty-six letters, representing about forty sounds. These letters and these sounds make up what is called artificial language.

Of these twenty-six letters, +a, e, i, o, u+, and sometimes +w+ and +y+, are called +vowels+, and the remainder are called +consonants+.

In order that you may understand what kind of sounds the vowels stand for, and what kinds the consonants represent, I will tell you something about the human voice.

The air breathed out from your lungs beats against two flat muscles, stretched like strings across the top of the windpipe, and causes them to vibrate. This vibrating makes sound. Take a thread, put one end between your teeth, hold the other in your fingers, draw it tight and strike it, and you will understand how voice is made.

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 by your palate, tongue, teeth, or lips, one kind of 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. Ex. of both: b, d, g; p, t, k.

The teacher and pupils should practice on these sounds till the three kinds can easily be distinguished.

You are now prepared to understand what I mean when I say that the +vowels+ are the +letters+ which stand for the +open sounds of the voice+, and that the +consonants+ are the +letters+ which stand for the sounds made by the +obstructed voice+ and the +obstructed breath+.

The teacher can here profitably spend a few minutes in showing how ideas may be communicated by Natural Language, the language of sighs, groans, gestures of the hands, attitudes of the body, expressions of the face, tones of the voice, etc. He can show that, in conversation, we sometimes couple this Natural Language of tone and gesture with our language of words, in order to make a stronger impression. Let the pupil be told that, if the passage contain feeling, he should do the same in Reading and Declaiming.

Let the following definitions be learned, and given at the next recitation.

+DEFINITION.—Artificial Language, or Language Proper, consists of the spoken and 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 3

Let the pupils be required to tell what they learned in the previous lessons.

+Teacher+.—When I pronounce the two words star and bud thus: star bud, how many ideas, or mental pictures, do I call up to you?

+Pupil+.—Two.

+T+.—Do you see any connection between these ideas?

+P+.—No.

+T+.—When I utter the two words bud and swelling, thus: bud swelling, do you see any connection in the ideas they stand for?

+P+.—Yes, I imagine that I see a bud expanding, or growing larger.

+T+.—I will connect two words more closely, so as to express a thought: Buds swell. A thought has been formed in my mind when I say, Buds swell; and these two words, in which something is said of something else, express that thought, and make what we call a sentence. In the former expression, bud swelling it is assumed, or taken for granted, that buds perform the act; in the latter, the swelling is asserted as a fact.

Leaves falling. Do these two words express two ideas merely associated, or do they express a thought?

+P+.—They express ideas merely associated.

+T+.—Leaves fall.

Same question.

+P+.—A thought.

+T+.—Why?

+P+.—Because, in these words, there is something said or asserted of leaves.

+T+.—When I say, Falling leaves rustle, does falling tell what is thought of leaves?

+P+.—No.

+T+.—What does falling do?

+P+.—It tells the kind of leaves you are thinking and speaking of.

+T+.—What word does tell what is thought of leaves?

+P+.—Rustle.

+T+.—You see then that in the thought there are two parts; something of which we think, and that which we think about it.

Let the pupils give other examples.

LESSON 4.

Commit to memory all definitions.

+DEFINITION.—A Sentence is the expression of a thought in words+.

Which of the following expressions contain words that have no connection, which contain words merely associated, and which are sentences?

1. Flowers bloom. 2. Ice melts. 3. Bloom ice. 4. Grass grows. 5. Brooks babble. 6. Babbling brooks. 7. Grass soar. 8. Doors open. 9. Open doors. 10. Cows graze. 11. Curling smoke. 12. Sugar graze. 13. Dew sparkles. 14. Hissing serpents. 15. Smoke curls. 16. Serpents hiss. 17. Smoke curling. 18. Serpents sparkles. 19. Melting babble. 20. Eagles soar. 21. Birds chirping. 22. Birds are chirping. 23. Birds chirp. 24. Gentle cows. 25. Eagles are soaring. 26. Bees ice. 27. Working bees. 28. Bees work. 29. Crawling serpents. 30. Landscape piano. 31. Serpents crawl. 32. Eagles clock. 33. Serpents crawling.

LESSON 5.

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

Illustrate, by the use of a, b, and p, the difference between the sounds of letters and their names. Letters are the signs of what? What is an idea? A spoken word is the sign of what? A written word is the sign of what? How do they differ? To what four different things did we call attention in Lesson 1?

How are vowel sounds made? How are the two kinds of consonant sounds made? What are vowels? Name them. What are consonants? What is artificial language, or language proper? What do you understand by natural language? What is English grammar?

What three kinds of expressions are spoken of in Lessons 3 and 4? Give examples of each. What is a sentence?

LESSON 6.

ANALYSIS.

On the following sentences, let the pupils be exercised according to the model.

+Model+.—Intemperance degrades. Why is this a sentence? Ans.—Because it expresses a thought. Of what is something thought? Ans.—Intemperance. Which word tells what is thought? Ans.—Degrades.

1. Magnets attract. 2. Horses neigh. 3. Frogs leap. 4. Cold contracts. 5. Sunbeams dance. 6. Heat expands. 7. Sunlight gleams. 8. Banners wave. 9. Grass withers. 10. Sailors climb. 11. Rabbits burrow. 12. Spring advances.

You see that in these sentences there are two parts. The parts are the +Subject+ and the +Predicate+.

+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+.

Analyze, according to the model, the following sentences.

+Model+.—Stars twinkle. This is a sentence, because it expresses a thought. Stars is the subject, because it names that of which something is thought; twinkle is the predicate, because it tells what is thought.

+To the Teacher+.—After the pupils become familiar with the definitions, the "Models" may be varied, and some of the reasons maybe made specific; as, "Plants names the things we tell about; droop tells what plants do," etc.

Guard against needless repetition.

1. Plants droop. 2. Books help. 3. Clouds float. 4. Exercise strengthens. 5. Rain falls. 6. Time flies. 7. Rowdies fight. 8. Bread nourishes. 9. Boats capsize. 10. Water flows. 11. Students learn. 12. Horses gallop.

LESSON 7.

ANALYSIS AND THE DIAGRAM.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—I will draw on the board a heavy, or shaded, line, and divide it into two parts, thus:

|
===========|============
|

We will consider the first part as the sign of the subject of a sentence, and the second part as the sign of the predicate of a sentence.

Now, if I write a word over the first line, thus—(doing it)—you will understand that that word is the subject of a sentence. If I write a word over the second line, thus—you will understand that that word is the predicate of a sentence.

Planets | revolve
============|===========
|

The class can see by this picture that Planets revolve is a sentence, that planets is the subject, and that revolve is the predicate.

These signs, or illustrations, made up of straight lines, we call
+Diagrams+.

+DEFINITION.—A Diagram is a picture of the offices and relations of the different parts of a sentence+.

Analyze and diagram the following sentences.

1. Waves dash. 2. Kings reign. 3. Fruit ripens. 4. Stars shine. 5. Steel tarnishes. 6. Insects buzz. 7. Paul preached. 8. Poets sing. 9. Nero fiddled. 10. Larks sing. 11. Water ripples. 12. Lambs frisk. 13. Lions roar. 14. Tigers growl. 15. Breezes sigh. 16. Carthage fell. 17. Morning dawns. 18. Showers descended. 19. Diamonds sparkle. 20. Alexander conquered. 21. Jupiter thunders. 22. Columbus sailed, 23. Grammarians differ. 24. Cornwallis surrendered.

* * * * *

LESSON 8.

SENTENCE-BUILDING.

You have now learned to analyze sentences, that is, to separate them into their parts. You must next learn to put these parts together, that is, to build sentences.

We will find one part, and you must find the other and do the building.

+To the Teacher+.—Let some of the pupils write their sentences on the board, while others are reading theirs. Then let the work on the board be corrected.

Correct any expression that does not make good sense, or that asserts something not strictly true; for the pupil should early be taught to think accurately, as well as to write and speak grammatically.

Correct all mistakes in spelling, and in the use of capital letters and the period.

Call attention to the agreement in form of the predicate with the subject.
See Notes, p. 163.

Insist on neatness. Collect the papers before the recitation closes.

+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 expresses a command+.

Construct sentences by supplying a subject to each of the following predicates.

Ask yourself the question, What swim, sink, hunt, etc.?

1. —— swim. 2. —— sinks. 3. —— hunt. 4. —— skate. 5. —— jingle. 6. —— decay. 7. —— climb. 8. —— creep. 9. —— run. 10. —— walk. 11. —— snort. 12. —— kick. 13. —— flashes. 14. —— flutters. 15. —— paddle. 16. —— toil. 17. —— terrifies. 18. —— rages. 19. —— expand. 20. —— jump. 21. —— hop. 22. —— bellow. 23. —— burns. 24. —— evaporates.

This exercise may profitably be extended by requiring the pupils to supply several subjects to each predicate.

LESSON 9.

SENTENCE-BUILDING—Continued.

Construct sentences by supplying a predicate to each of the following subjects.

Ask yourself the question, Artists do what?

1. Artists ——. 2. Sailors ——. 3. Tides ——. 4. Whales ——. 5. Gentlemen ——. 6. Swine ——. 7. Clouds ——. 8. Girls ——. 9. Fruit ——. 10. Powder ——. 11. Hail ——. 12. Foxes ——. 13. Water ——. 14. Frost ——. 15. Man ——. 16. Blood ——. 17. Kings ——. 18. Lilies ——. 19. Roses ——. 20. Wheels ——. 21. Waves ——. 22. Dew ——. 23. Boys ——. 24. Volcanoes ——. 25. Storms ——. 26. Politicians ——. 27. Serpents ——. 28. Chimneys ——. 29. Owls ——. 30. Rivers ——. 31. Nations ——. 32. Indians ——. 33. Grain ——. 34. Rogues ——. 34. Volcanoes ——. 35. Rome ——. 36. Briars ——.

This exercise may be extended by requiring the pupils to supply several predicates to each subject.

LESSON 10.

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

Of what two parts does a sentence consist? What is the subject of a sentence? What is the predicate of a sentence? What is the analysis of a sentence?

What is a diagram? What rule for the use of capital letters have you learned? What rule for the period?

Impromptu Exercise.

Let the pupils "choose sides," as in a spelling match. Let the teacher select predicates from Lesson 8, and give them alternately to the pupils thus arranged. The first pupil prefixes to his word whatever suitable subjects he can think of, the teacher judging of their fitness and keeping the count. This pupil now rises and remains standing until some one else, on his side or the other, shall have prefixed to his word a greater number of apt subjects. The strife is to see who shall be standing at the close of the match, and which side shall have furnished the greater number of subjects. The exercise may be continued with the subjects of Lesson 9. Each pupil is to be limited to the same time—one or two minutes.

LESSON 11.

ANALYSIS.

The +predicate+ sometimes contains +more than one word+.

Analyze and diagram according to the model.

+Model+.—Socrates was poisoned.

Socrates | was poisoned
============|================
|

This is a sentence, because it expresses a thought. Socrates is the subject, because ——; was poisoned is the predicate, because ——. [Footnote: The word because—suggesting a reason—should be dropped from these "+Models+" whenever it may lead to mere mechanical repetition.]

1. Napoleon was banished. 2. Andre was captured. 3. Money is circulated. 4. Columbus was imprisoned. 5. Acorns are sprouting. 6. Bells are tolled. 7. Summer has come. 8. Sentences may be analyzed. 9. Clouds are reddening. 10. Air may be weighed. 11. Jehovah shall reign. 12. Corn is planted. 13. Grammarians will differ. 14. Snow is falling. 15. Leaves are rustling. 16. Children will prattle. 17. Crickets are chirping. 18. Eclipses have been foretold. 19. Storms may abate. 20. Deception may have been practiced. 21. Esau was hated. 22. Treason should have been punished. 23. Bees are humming. 24. Sodom might have been spared.

LESSON 12.

SENTENCE-BUILDING.

+To the Teacher+.—Continue oral and written exercises in agreement. See
Notes, pp. 163,164.

Prefix the little helping words in the second column to such of the more important words in the third column as with them will make complete predicates, and join these predicates to all subjects in the first column with which they will unite to make good sense.

LESSON 13.

Point out the subject and the predicate of each sentence in Lessons 28, 31, 34.

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+.—Most violations of the rules of concord come from a failure to recognize the relation of subject and predicate when these parts are transposed or are separated by other words. Such constructions should therefore receive special attention. See Notes, pp. 164, 165.

Introduce the class to the Parts of Speech before the close of this recitation. See "Hints for Oral Instruction."

See "Suggestions for COMPOSITION EXERCISES," p. 8, last paragraph.

LESSON 14.

CLASSES OF WORDS.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—By the assistance of the few hints here given, the ingenious teacher may render this usually dry subject interesting and highly attractive. By questioning the pupil as to what he has seen and heard, his interest may be excited and his curiosity awakened.

Suppose that we make an imaginary excursion to some pleasant field or grove, where we may study the habits, the plumage, and the songs of the little birds.

If we attempt to make the acquaintance of every little feathered singer we meet, we shall never get to the end of our pleasant task: but we find that some resemble one another in size, shape, color, habits, and song. These we associate together and call them sparrows.

We find others differing essentially from the sparrows, but resembling one another. These we call robins.

We thus find that, although we were unable to become acquainted with each individual bird, they all belong to a few classes, with which we may soon become familiar.

It is so with the words of our language. There are many thousand words, all of which belong to eight classes.

These classes of words are called +Parts of Speech+.

We classify birds according to their form, color, etc., but we group words into classes, called +Parts of Speech+, with respect to their use in the sentence.

We find that many words are names. These we put in one class and call them
+Nouns+.

Each pupil may give the name of something in the room; the name of a distinguished person; a name that may be applied to a class of persons; the name of an animal; the name of a place: the name of a river; the name of a mountain; the name of something which we cannot see or touch, but of which we can think; as, beauty, mind.

Remind the pupils frequently that these names are all nouns.

NOUNS.

+DEFINITION.—A Noun is the name of anything+.

Write in columns, headed nouns, the names of domestic animals, of garden vegetables, of flowers, of trees, of articles sold in a dry goods store, and of things that cannot be seen or touched; as, virtue, time, life.

Write and arrange, according to the following model, the names of things that can float, fly, walk, work, sit, or sing.

Nouns.
Cork |
Clouds |
+Model+.—Wood + floats or float.
Ships |
Boys |

Such expressions as Cork floats are sentences, and the nouns cork, ship, etc., are the subjects. You will find that +every subject+ is a +noun+ or some word or words used for a noun.

Be prepared to analyze and parse the sentences which you have made. Naming the class to which a word belongs is the first step in parsing.

+Model for Analysis+.—This is a sentence, because ——-; cork is the subject, because ——-; floats is the predicate, because ——-.

+Parsing+.—Cork is a noun, because it is the name of a thing—the bark of a tree.

LESSON 15.

Select and write all the nouns in the sentences given in Lessons 28, 31, 34.

Tell why they are nouns.

In writing the nouns, observe the following rule.

+CAPITAL LETTER—RULE.—Every proper or individual name must begin with a capital letter+.

+To the Teacher+.—See Notes, pp. 167-169.

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

With respect to what, do we classify words (Lesson 14)? What are such classes called? Can you illustrate this classification? What are all names? What is a noun? What is the first step in parsing? What is the rule for writing individual names?

LESSON 16.

VERBS.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—We propose to introduce you now to another class of words. (The teacher may here refer to the talk about birds.)

You have learned that one very large class of words consists of names of things. There is another very important class of words used to tell what these things do, or used to express their existence.

When I say, Plants grow, is grow the name of anything? +P+.—No. +T+.—What does it do? +P+.—It tells what plants do. It expresses action.

+T+.—When I say, God is, what does is express? +P+.—It expresses existence, or being.

+T+.—When I say, George sleeps, sleeps expresses being and something more; it tells the condition, or state in which George is, or exists, that is, it expresses state of being.

All the words that assert action, being, or state of being, we call
+Verbs+.

Let the teacher write nouns on the board, and require the pupils to give all the words of which they can think, telling what the things named can do. They may be arranged thus:—

Noun. Verbs.
| grow,
| droop,
Plants + decay,
| flourish,
| revive.

Each pupil may give a verb that expresses an action of the body; as weep, sing; an action of the mind; as, study, love; one that expresses being or state of being.

+DEFINITION.—A Verb is a word that asserts action, being, or state of being+.

The office of the verb in all its forms, except two (the participle and the infinitive, see Lessons 48 and 49), is to +assert+. This it does whether the sentence affirms, denies, or asks a question.

+To the Teacher+.—In the exercises of this and the next two Lessons, let the pupils note the agreement of the verb with its subject. See Notes, pp. 163-165.

Supply, to each of the following nouns, as many appropriate verbs as you can think of.

Let some express being or state of being.

Water ——.
Wind ——.
Pens ——.
Parrots ——.
Vines ——.
Farmers ——.
Trees ——.
Ministers ——.

One verb may consist of two, three, or four words; as, is singing, will be sung, might have been sung.

Form verbs by combining the words in columns 2 and 3, and add these verbs to all the nouns in column 1 with which they appropriately combine.

The examples you have written are sentences; the nouns are subjects, and the verbs are predicates.

As verbs are the only words that assert, +every predicate+ must be a +verb+, or must contain a verb.

Be prepared to analyze and parse five of the sentences that you have written.

+Model+.—Laws are obeyed. Diagram and analyze as in Lesson 11.

+Parsing+.—Laws is a noun, because——; are obeyed is a verb, because it asserts action.

LESSON 17.

Select and write all the verbs in the sentences given in Lessons 28, 31, 34, and tell why they are verbs.

LESSON 18.

SENTENCE-BUILDING.

From the following nouns and verbs, build as many sentences as possible, taking care that every one makes good sense.

Poems, was conquered, lambs, rebellion, stars, forests, shone, were seen, were written, treason, patriots, meteors, fought, were discovered, frisk, Cain, have fallen, fled, stream, have crumbled, day, ages, deer, are flickering, are bounding, gleamed, voices, lamps, rays, were heard, are gathering, time, death, friends, is coming, will come.

+To the Teacher+.—Before this recitation closes, let the teacher open up the subject of Lesson 19. See "Hints for Oral Instruction."

LESSON 19.

PRONOUNS.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—We propose to introduce you now to the third part of speech. +T.—+If I should ask who whispered, and some boy should promptly confess, what would he say? +P.—+I whispered. +T.—+Would he mention his own name? +P.—+No. +T.—+What word would he use instead? +P.—+I.

+T.—+Suppose that I had spoken to that boy and had accused him of whispering, how should I have addressed him without mentioning his name? +P.—+You whispered. +T.—+What word would be used instead of the name of the boy to whom I spoke? +P.—+You.

+T.—+Suppose that, without using his name, I had told you what he did, what should I have said? +P.—+He whispered. +T.—+What word would have been used instead of the name of the boy of whom I spoke? +P.—+He.

(Repeat these questions and suppose the pupil to be a girl.)

+T.—+If I should tell that boy to close his book, when his book was already closed, what would he say without mentioning the word book? +P.—+It is closed.

+T.—+If I should accuse several of you of whispering, and one should speak for himself and for the others whispering with him, what would he say? We whispered.

+T—+Suppose that a boy should inform me that all of the boys on that seat had whispered, what would he say? +P.—+They whispered.

I, you, he, she, it, we, and they are not names, but they are used instead of names. We call such words +Pronouns+.

+DEFINITION.—A Pronoun is a word used for a noun+.

+CAPITAL LETTERS—RULE.—The words I and O should be written in capital letters+.

Analysis and Parsing.

+Model.—+You will be rewarded.

+Oral Analysis—+This is a sentence, because——; you is the subject, because——; will be rewarded is the predicate, because——.

+Parsing.—+You is a pronoun, because it stands for the name of the person spoken to; will be rewarded is a verb, because——.

1. We think. 2. She prattles. 3. We have recited. 4. I study. 5. You have been seen. 6. It has been decided. 7. He was punished. 8. They are conquered. 9. Thou art adored.

Compose nine similar sentences, using a pronoun for the subject of each, and diagram them.

+To the Teacher.—+Call special attention to the agreement of the verb with I and you. See Notes, p. 164.

Before this recitation closes, explain "Modified Subject." See "Hints for
Oral Instruction."

LESSON 20.

MODIFIED SUBJECT.

+Hints for Oral Instruction.—+The Subject and the Predicate may be considered as the foundation on which every sentence is built. No sentence can be constructed without them.

You have already learned that these parts alone, sometimes make a complete structure; but we are about to show you that they are often used as the foundation of a structure, which is completed by adding other parts.

I hold in my hand several pieces of metal, with letters and other characters stamped on them. What do you say I have in my hand? +P+.—Money. +T.—+Yes. What other word can you use? +P.—+Coin. +T.—+Yes. I will write on the board this sentence: Coin is stamped.

The subject coin is a general name for all such pieces of metal. I will write the word the before this sentence. The coin is stamped. I have now made an assertion about one particular coin, so the meaning of the subject is limited by joining the word the.

I can again limit the meaning of the subject by putting the word a before it. The assertion is now about one coin, but no particular one. I point to the piece near me and say, This coin is stamped. I point to the one farther from me and say, That coin is stamped.

When words are joined to the subject to limit its meaning, we say that the subject is modified.

The words the, a, this, and that modify the subject by limiting the word to one coin, or to one particular coin.

We can modify the subject by joining some word which will tell what kind of coin is meant.

Here is a coin dated 18—. We can say, The new coin is stamped. Here the word new tells what kind of coin is meant. What other words can I use to modify coin? +P.—+Beautiful, bright, new, round, silver. +T.—+These words beautiful, bright, new, round, and silver modify the subject by telling the qualities of the coin.

We call the words the, beautiful, etc., +Modifiers+.

+DEFINITION.—A Modifier is a word or 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+.