Graded Lessons in English, Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg [books on motivation .txt] 📗

LESSON 33.

SENTENCE-BUILDING.

Re-write the following sentences, changing the italicized words into equivalent phrases.

+Model+.—A golden image was made. An image of gold was made.

You will notice that the adjective golden was placed before the subject, but, when changed to a phrase, it followed the subject.

1. The book was carefully read. 2. The old soldiers fought courageously. 3. A group of children were strolling homeward. 4. No season of life should be spent idly. 5. The English ambassador has just arrived. 6. That generous act was liberally rewarded.

Change the following adjectives and adverbs into equivalent phrases, and employ the phrases in sentences of your own building.

Wooden, penniless, eastward, somewhere, here, evening, everywhere, yonder, joyfully, wintry.

Make a sentence out of the words in each line below.

Boat, waves, glides, the, the, over. He, Sunday, church, goes, the, on, to. Year, night, is dying, the, the, in. Qualities, Charlemagne, vices, were alloyed, the, great, of, with. Indians, America, intemperance, are thinned, the, out, of, by.

LESSON 34.

PREPOSITIONS.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—In the preceding Lessons, the little words that were placed before nouns, thus forming phrases, belong to a, class of words called +Prepositions+. You noticed that these words, which you have now learned to call prepositions, served to introduce phrases. The preposition shows the relation of the idea expressed by the principal word of the phrase to that of the word which the phrase modifies. It serves also to connect these words.

In the sentence, The squirrel ran up a tree, what word shows the relation of the act of running, to the tree? Ans. Up.

Other words may be used to express different relations. Repeat, nine times, the sentence above given, supplying, in the place of up, each of the following prepositions: Around, behind, down, into, over, through, to, under, from.

Let this exercise be continued, using such sentences as, The man went into the house; The ship sailed toward the bay.

+DEFINITION.—A Preposition is a word that introduces a phrase modifier, and shows the relation, in sense, of its principal word to the word modified+.

+Analysis and Parsing+.

+Model+.—_Flowers preach to us_.

For +Analysis+ and +Diagram+, see Lesson 31.

For +Written Parsing+, see Lesson 22. Add the needed columns.

+Oral Parsing+.—_Flowers_ is a noun, because–-; preach is a verb, because–-; to is a preposition, because it shows the relation, in sense, between us and preach; us is a pronoun, because it is used instead of the name of the speaker and the names of those for whom he speaks.

1. The golden lines of sunset glow. 2. A smiling landscape lay before us. 3. Columbus was born at Genoa. 4. The forces of Hannibal were routed by Scipio. 5. The capital of New York is on the Hudson. 6. The ships sail over the boisterous sea. 7. All names of the Deity should begin with capital letters. 8. Air is composed chiefly of two invisible gases. 9. The greater portion of South America lies between the tropics. 10. The laurels of the warrior must at all times be dyed in blood. 11. The first word of every entire sentence should begin with a capital letter. 12. The subject of a sentence is generally placed before the predicate.

Impromptu Exercise.

(The teacher may find it profitable to make a separate lesson of this exercise.)

Let the teacher write on the board a subject and a predicate that will admit of many modifiers. The pupils are to expand the sentence into as many separate sentences as possible, each containing one apt phrase modifier. The competition is to see who can build the most and the best sentences in a given time. The teacher gathers up the slates and reads the work aloud, or has the pupils exchange slates and read it themselves.

LESSON 35.

COMPOUND SUBJECT AND COMPOUND PREDICATE.

When two or more subjects united by a connecting word have the same predicate, they form a +_Compound Subject;_+ and, when two or more predicates connected in like manner have the same subject, they form a +_Compound Predicate_+.

In the sentence, Birds and bees can fly, the two words birds and bees, connected by and, have the same predicate; the same action is asserted of both birds and bees. In the sentence, Leaves fade and fall, two assertions are made of the same things. In the first sentence, birds and bees form the compound subject; and, in the second, fade and fall form the compound predicate.

Analyze and parse the following sentences.

+Models+.—_Napoleon rose, reigned, and fell_.

Frogs, antelopes, and kangaroos can jump.

rose Frogs

,=,===== ======.=.

‘ ‘ Napoleon| X ‘ reigned antelopes ‘ X | can jump ========|==| ‘======== ==========’ |==|========= | and’ ‘and/ | ‘ fell kangaroos ‘ / `-‘====== ==========’=’

+Explanation of the Diagram+.—The short line following the subject line represents the entire predicate, and is supposed to be continued in the three horizontal lines that follow, each of which represents one of the parts of the compound predicate. These three lines are united by dotted lines, which stand for the connecting words. The +X+ denotes that an and is understood.

Study this explanation carefully, and you will understand the other diagram.

+Oral Analysis+ of the first sentence.

This is a sentence, because –-; Napoleon is the subject, because –-; rose, reigned, and fell form the compound predicate, because they belong in common to the same subject, and say something about Napoleon. And connects reigned and fell.

1. The Rhine and the Rhone rise in Switzerland. 2. Time and tide wait for no man. 3. Washington and Lafayette fought for American Independence. 4. Wild birds shrieked, and fluttered on the ground. 5. The mob raged and roared. 6. The seasons came and went. 7. Pride, poverty, and fashion cannot live in the same house. 8. The tables of stone were cast to the ground and broken. 9. Silver or gold will be received in payment. 10. Days, months, years, and ages will circle away.

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

What is a phrase? A phrase modifying a subject is equivalent to what? Illustrate. A phrase modifying a predicate is equivalent to what? Illustrate.

What are prepositions? What do you understand by a compound subject? Illustrate. What do you understand by a compound predicate? Illustrate.

LESSON 36.

CONJUNCTIONS AND INTERJECTIONS.

The words and and or, used in the preceding Lesson to connect the nouns and the verbs, belong to a class of words called +_Conjunctions_+.

Conjunctions may also connect words used as modifiers; as,

A daring but foolish feat was performed.

They may connect phrases; as,

We shall go to Saratoga and to Niagara.

They may connect clauses, that is, expressions that, standing alone, would be sentences; as,

He must increase, but I must decrease.

+DEFINITION.—A Conjunction, is a word used to connect words, phrases, or clauses+.

The +Interjection+ is the eighth and last part of speech. Interjections are mere exclamations, and are without grammatical relation to any other word in the sentence.

+DEFINITION.—An Interjection is a word used to express strong or sudden feeling+.

Examples:—

Bravo! hurrah! pish! hush! ha, ha! alas! hail! lo! pshaw!

Analyze and parse the following sentences.

+Model+.—_Hurrah! that cool and fearless fireman has rushed into the house and up the burning stairs_.

Hurrah

––

fireman | has rushed ===================|======================= That and | and .…. .……. up cool fearless into stairs –––- house the burning

––

the

+Explanation of the Diagram+.—The line representing the interjection is not connected with the diagram. Notice the dotted lines, one standing for the and which connects the two word modifiers; the other, for the and connecting the two phrase modifiers.

+Written Parsing+.

N. Pro. Adj. Vb. Adv. Prep. Conj. Int. | | | | | | | fireman | | the | has rushed | | into | and | hurrah house | | that | | | up | and | stairs | | cool | | | | | | | fearless | | | | | | | burning | | | | |

+Oral Parsing+ of the conjunction and the interjection.

The two ands are conjunctions, because they connect. The first connects two word modifiers; the second, two phrase modifiers. Hurrah is an interjection, because it expresses a burst of sudden feeling.

1. The small but courageous band was finally overpowered. 2. Lightning and electricity were identified by Franklin. 3. A complete success or an entire failure was anticipated. 4. Good men and bad men are found in all communities. 5. Vapors rise from the ocean and fall upon the land. 6. The Revolutionary war began at Lexington and ended at Yorktown. 7. Alas! all hope has fled. 8. Ah! I am surprised at the news. 9. Oh! we shall certainly drown. 10. Pshaw! you are dreaming. 11. Hurrah! the field is won.

LESSON 37.

PUNCTUATION AND CAPITAL LETTERS.

+COMMA—RULE.—Phrases that are placed out of their natural order [Footnote: A phrase in its natural order follows the word it modifies.] and made emphatic, or that are loosely connected with the rest of the sentence, should be set off by the comma+.

PUNCTUATE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

+Model+.—The cable, after many failures, was successfully laid. Upon the platform ‘twixt eleven and twelve I’ll visit you. To me this place is endeared by many associations. Your answers with few exceptions have been correctly given. In English much depends on the placing of phrases.

+COMMA—RULE.—Words or phrases connected by conjunctions are separated from each other by the comma unless all the conjunctions are expressed+.

PUNCTUATE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

+Model+.—Caesar came, saw, and conquered. Caesar came and saw and conquered.

He travelled in England, in Scotland, and in Ireland.

(The comma is used in the first sentence, because a conjunction is omitted; but not in the second, as all the conjunctions are expressed.)

A brave prudent and honorable man was chosen.

Augustus Tiberius Nero and Vespasian were Roman emperors.

Through rainy weather across a wild country over muddy roads after a long ride we came to the end of our journey.

+PERIOD and CAPITAL LETTER—RULE.—_Abbreviations_ generally begin with capital letters and are always followed by the period+.

CORRECT THE FOLLOWING ERRORS. +Model.—+_Mr., Esq., N. Y., P. M_.

gen, a m, mrs, no, u s a, n e, eng, p o, rev, prof, dr, gram, capt, coi, co, va, conn.

+EXCLAMATION POINT—RULE.—All exclamatory expressions must be followed by the exclamation point+.

PUNCTUATE THE FOLLOWING EXPRESSIONS.

+Model.—+_Ah! Oh! Zounds! Stop pinching!_

Pshaw, whew, alas, ho Tom, halloo Sir, good-bye, welcome.

LESSON 38.

SENTENCE-BUILDING.

+To the Teacher.—+Call attention to the agreement of verbs with compound subjects. Require the pupils to justify the verb-forms in Lesson 36 and elsewhere. See Notes, pp. 165-167.

Write predicates for the following compound subjects.

Snow and hail; leaves and branches; a soldier or a sailor; London and Paris.

Write compound predicates for the following subjects.

The sun; water; fish; steamboats; soap; farmers; fences; clothes.

Write subjects for the following compound predicates.

Live, feel, and grow; judges and rewards; owes and pays; inhale and exhale; expand and contract; flutters and alights; fly, buzz, and sting; restrain or punish.

Write compound subjects before the following predicates.

May be seen; roar; will be appointed; have flown; has been recommended.

Write compound predicates after the following compound subjects.

Boys, frogs, and horses; wood, coal, and peat; Maine and New Hampshire; Concord, Lexington, and