Define simple subjects and compound subjects. A simple subject has but one nominative to which the predicate refers; a compound subject has more than one. Ex.-Simple: "The boy learns;" "The boy who is studious, Compound: "The boy and his sister are studious, learn." learns." learn." "The boys and girls who Define simple predicates and compound predicates. A simple predicate has but one finite verb referring to the subject; a compound predicate has more than one. Ex.-Simple: Boys study;" "Boys study the lessons which are given to them." Compound: "Boys study, recite, and play;" "Boys study and recite the lessons which are given to them." Subject, from subjectus, thrown under, because viewed as being the foundation on which the proposition or sentence is based. Predicate, from prædico, I speak or say. What is a phrase? A phrase is two or more words rightly put together, but not making a proposition. Ex.-"In the next place." "To show you the fragrant blossoms of spring." What is a proposition? A proposition is a subject combined with its predicate. Ex.-"Stars shine." "Even if my hopes should perish." A proposition may be a clause, or not; or it may be a sentence, or less than a sentence. It is not necessarily either a clause or a sentence. What is a clause? A clause is any one of two or more propositions which together make a sentence. Ex.-"The morning was pure and sunny, the fields were white with daisies, the hawthorn was covered with its fragrant blossoms, the bee hummed about every bank, and the swallow played high in air about the village steeple."-Irving. This sentence has five clauses, separated by the comma. What is a sentence? A sentence is a thought expressed by words, and comprised between two full pauses. Ex. "Every man is the architect of his own fortune." "Happy is he who finds a true friend, und happy is he who possesses the true qualities to be a friend." How are sentences classified? Into simple and compound. What is a simple sentence? A simple sentence contains but one proposition. Ex.-"Wasps sting." "No man knows his destiny." "Return (thou) quickly." What is a compound sentence? A compound sentence contains two or more clauses. Ex." As every thread of gold is precious, so is every moment of time; and as it would be folly to shoe horses (as Nero did) with gold, so it is to spend time in trifles."-Mason. What is discourse! Discourse is any series of properly related sentences, expressing continuous thought. 2. NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. What is a noun ? A noun is a name. EXAMPLES: God, Mary, man, men, George Washington, instructor, sky, snn, stars, clouds, town, St. Louis, street, flock, flower, soul, feeling, sense, motion, behavior. Names are given to persons, to spiritual beings, to brute animals, and to things. The word objects may be used as a general term for all these classes. Tell me which are the nouns in the following sentences : Lions and ostriches are found in Africa. John and Joseph drove the horses to the pasture. Pinks and roses are blooming in the garden. Apples, peaches, melons, corn, and potatoes, are brought to market. A proper noun is the name given to a particular object, to distinguish it from other objects of the same kind. Ex.-George, Susan, William Shakespeare, London, New York, Mississippi, Monday, January; the Robert Fulton; the Intelligencer; the Azores. A common noun is a name that can be applied to every object of the same kind. Ex.-Boy, tree, house, city, river, road, horse, chair, ink, bird, blackbird. Briefly: A common noun is a generic name; and a proper noun, an individual name. The former rather tells what the object is; and the latter, who or which it is. Generic means belonging to a class; and individual, belonging to one object or group only, as distinguished from others of the same kind. All the objects in the world may be divided into a limited number of classes; as, rivers, valleys, hills, cities, leaves, flowers. A few of these classes-namely, persons, places, months, days, ships, boats, horses, oxen, rivers, mountains, and some others--are of so much importance to us in our daily affairs, that we have an extra name for each object of the class; as, Thomas, Smith, Chicago, Missouri. The names of the former kind are common nouns; those of the latter, proper nouns. A proper noun begins with a capital letter. Ного many kinds of nouns are there, and what are they? What is a pronoun? A pronoun is a word that supplies the place of a noun. Ex.-" William promised Mary that William would lend Mary William's grammar, that Mary might study the grammar," is expressed with greater facility and more agreeably, by saying, "William promised Mary that he would lend her his grammar, that she might study it. Pro means for, or in stead of; hence pronoun means for a noun. The word substantive is often used as a general term to denote either a noun or a pronoun, or whatever is used in the sense of a noun. What is a personal pronoun? A personal pronoun is one of that class of pronouns which are used to distinguish the three grammatical persons. Ex.-"I told you he was not at home." "We told him you were not at home." Persons, in grammar, are properties of words to distinguish the speaker, what is spoken to, and what is spoken of, from one another. Which are the personal pronouns ? I, my, mine, myself, me; we, our, ours, (ourself,) ourselves, us;-thou, thy, thine, thyself, thee; you, ye, your, yours, yourself, yourselves;-he, his, him, himself; she, her, hers, herself; it, its, itself; they, their, theirs, them, and themselves What is a relative pronoun? A relative pronoun is one that makes its clause dependent on another clause or word. Ex. "There is the man whom you saw;" "From the side of a mountain gushed forth a little rivulet, which lay, like a silver thread, across the meadow." "I do not know who took your hat";No one knows what ails the child." Observe that the Italic words with what follows each, can make sense only in connection with the other words, and hence they are said to be dependent. Which are the relative pronouns ? Who, whoever, whosoever; whose, whosever, whosesoever; whom, whomever, whomsoever; which, whichever, whichsoever; what, whatever, whatsoever; that; and as. Whoso and whatso are sometimes found as shortened forms of whosoever and whatsoever. What is an interrogative pronoun? An interrogative pronoun is one used to ask a ques tion. Ex. .-"Who took my hat?" "Which is yours?" "What ails the child?" Which are the interrogative pronouns? Who, whose, whom; which; and what. What other words are frequently used as pronouns? One, ones, oneself, none; other, others; that, those; each other, one another. Which of the foregoing pronouns are compound, or what is a compound pronoun? A compound pronoun is a simple pronoun with self, selves, ever, so, or soever, annexed to it; or it is a pronoun consisting of two words. Ex.-My, myself; your, yourself; them, themselves; who, whoever; each other. How many chief kinds of pronouns are there, and what are they? What properties have nouns and pronouns?! Genders, persons, numbers, and cases. Just as every apple, for instance, must be of some size, have some kind of color, have some kind of flavor, be hard or mellow, &c. a. The pupil should constantly bear in mind, that language is made to suit the world, and not the world to suit language. The properties of words arise generally from the nature or relations of objects. We can readily observe that the objects around us are either males, females, or neither; and to enable us to be sufficiently definite in these respects, words have what grammarians call genders. When is a noun or pronoun of the masculine gender, or what does the masculine gender denote ? The masculine gender denotes males. Ex.-Man, Charles, brother, horse, ox, drake, instructor, he, his, him. When is a noun or pronoun of the feminine gender, or what does the feminine gender denote? The feminine gender denotes females. Ex.-Woman, Susan, niece, cow, duck, instructress, she, her. When is a noun or pronoun of the common gender, or what does this gender denote? The common gender denotes either males or females, or both. Ex.-Parent, child, friend, cousin, people, bird, animal, I, we, our, your, who. Common means applicable to either sex; neuter means applicable to neither sex. When is a noun or pronoun of the neuter gender, or what does the neuter gender denote? The neuter gender denotes neither males nor females. Ex.-Book, rock, rose, wisdom, vice, cloud, happiness, it, what. How many genders are there, and what are they? b. In speaking, we may refer either to ourselves, to something spoken to, or to something spoken of, and there are no other ways of speaking; hence words have what grammarians call persons. When is a noun or pronoun of the first person, or what does the first person denote ? The first person denotes the speaker. Ex.-"I Andrew Jackson, President of the United States." "I Paul have written it." "We, the people of these colonies." When is a noun or pronoun of the second person, or what does the second person denote? The second person represents an object as spoken to. Ex.-"Thomas, come to me." "Gentlemen of the jury." "O Happiness! our being's end and ain." "Thou, thou, art the man." Wave your tops, ye pines." When is a noun or pronoun of the third person, or what does the third person denote ? The third person represents an object as spoken of. Ex.-"Experience and hope, pleasure and pain, life and death, money and power, have a mighty influence on the actions of mankind." "He knew it was what she wanted him to buy." How many persons are there, and what are they? C. There are more than one of almost every kind of objects; and in speaking we are continually referring either to one object or to more, of the different kinds with which we have to do; hence words have what grammarians call numbers. When is a noun or pronoun of the singular number, or what does the singular number denote ? The singular number denotes but one. Ex.-Desk, key, leaf, boy, Arthur, deer, sheep, swarm, army, I, my, me, thou, thee, thyself, yourself, he, him, she, her, it, itself. When is a noun or pronoun of the plural number, or what does the plural number denote? The plural number denotes more than one. Ex.-Desks, keys, leaves, boys, deer, sheep, ashes, swarms, armies, we, our, us, ye, they, them. How is the plural number of nouns generally formed! By adding 8, sometimes es, to the singular. Ex.-Glove, gloves; chair, chairs; church, churches; bush, bushes; fox, foxes; chimney, chimneys; négro, negroes; nation, nations. What is a collective noun? A collective noun is a noun denoting, in the singular form, more than one object of the same kind. Ex.-Family, army, swarm, crowd, multitude, congregation, pair, tribe, class. How many numbers arc thcrc, and what are they? d. If I say, "Your brother's friend sent James to me; Your friend's brother sent me to James; You sent James to my friend's brother;" you can easily see that all these sentences differ much from one another in meaning. The difference of meaning arises from the different relations of the words to one another, and these different relations are called cases. That objects exist or act, that objects are owned, or make parts of other objects, and that objects are acted upon, are the three chief conditions of things, on which cases are based. When is a noun or pronoun in the nominative case, or what does the nominative caso denote ? Ex.-"John is The nominative case denotes the condition of a noun or pronoun that is used as the subject of a predicate. strikes James." "Joseph swims." "The field ploughed." "The rose is beautiful." "Fishes birds fly in the air." "Mary's bunch of flowers A noun or pronoun is also in the nominative case, when it is used independently or absolutely. swim in the sea, and is fading." Ex-Independently: "John, come to me;" "Alas, poor Yorick!" "The Pilgrim Fathers,-where are they?" "Merchant's Bank." Absolutely: "The tree having fallen, we returned;" "Bonaparte being banished, peace was restored; "To become a scholar, requires exertion." Independently; used in addressing persons or other objects, in exclaiming, or in simply directing attention to an object. Absolutely; used before a participle, or after a participle or an infinitive, without being governed by it or controlled by any other word. When is a noun or pronoun in the possessive case, or what does the possessive case denote? The possessive case denotes possession. Ex.-"John's horse;" "My slate;" "The children's books;" "The girls' What is the regular sign of the possessive case? An apostrophe, or comma above the line, followed by the letter s. Ex.-"Mary's slate;" "Burns's poems;" "The soldier's grave;” “Men's affairs." Is the possessive 8 always expressed? It is omitted from plural nouns ending with s, and sometimes also from singular nouns ending with s, or an s-sound. Ex.-"The pigeons' roosting-place;" "The soldiers' camp;" "For conscience' sake." When is a noun or pronoun in the objective case, or what does the objective casu denote ? The objective case denotes the condition of a noun or pronoun that is used as the object of a verb or preposition. Ex.-"The horse EATS hay," "This stream TURNs a mill." "The water flows OVER the dam," "I saw her WITH him" " He SAW me WITH her." The object of a transitive verb or of a preposition, is the noun or pronoun required after it to make sense; as,"I rolled a stone down the hill" Here stone is the object of the verb rolled, and hill is the object of the preposition down. How many cases are there, and what are they? |