Practical Exercises in English Part 10

SECRETION, SECRETING.

151. Jailers are watchful to prevent the ---- of poison in letters sent to condemned prisoners.

153. Saliva is a ----.

SEWAGE, SEWERAGE.

153. The water of rivers that have received ---- is not good to drink.

154. The vast and intricate ---- of Paris is described by Victor Hugo in "Les Miserables."

SITUATION, SITE.

155. The ---- of Samaria is far more beautiful than the ---- of Jerusalem, though not so grand and wild.

156. Dr. Schliemann made excavations to discover the ---- of Troy.

157. Our school buildings have a fine ----.

158. Has the ---- of Professor Richard's house been fixed?

159. One of Nebuchadnezzar's temples is thought to have stood on the ---- of the Tower of Babel.

SPECIALTY, SPECIALITY.

160. It is the ---- of vice that it is selfishly indifferent to the injurious consequences of actions.

161. Diseases of the throat are Dr. Hall's ----.

162. Fountain-pens a ----.

163. "Toughness" is the ---- of Salisbury iron; therefore Salisbury iron is much in demand for car-wheels.

UNION, UNITY.

164. How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in ----.

165. The ---- of soul and body is ended by death.

166. In the temper of Lord Bacon there was a singular ---- of audacity and sobriety.

167. This composition lacks ----; the writer treats of several distinct subjects.

EXERCISE XXIV.

_Tell why the italicized words in the following sentences are misused, and subst.i.tute for them better expressions:_--

1. The West End Railway Company is the _factor_[42] which can remedy all this.

2. Addison's "Cato" was _a success._ 3. Decoration Day is a fitting _observance_ of those who gave their lives for their country.

4. At the end of each day the _teams_[43] are so broken up that they have to go into the repair-shop, where the carpenter and blacksmith are able to fix any part of them.

5. The _majority_ of the news is unfavorable.

6. Search-lights would be an indispensable _factor_ in a night attack.

7. Bishop Hatto lived in a country where all the _productions_ were spoiled by the weather.

8. The _whole_ of the stupid boys in Germany struggle to pa.s.s this test.

9. The police are looking for the guilty _parties_.

10. A _lot_ of men from the country came to town to see the circus.

11. In the shed is a _mixture_[44] of oars, seats, sails, rudders, booms, and gaffs.

12. They had to take the _balance_ of his arm off.

13. Addison's essays were a great _factor_ in improving the morals of his age.

14. General Manager Payson Tucker at once sent detectives to the scene, and every effort will be made to secure the guilty _parties_.

15. For a few days c.o.xey's army was _a success_ as a show.

16. If it were not for him and a few others of his _ilk_ the matter would have been settled long ago.

[42] "Foundations," p. 51.

[43] Ibid., p. 52.

[44] Consult a good dictionary.

EXERCISE XXV.[45]

_Ill.u.s.trate by original sentences the correct use of these words:_--

Home, party, series, statement, verdict, acceptation, actions, advance, advancement, avocation, completion, allusion, illusion, observation, observance, proposal, proposition, solicitude, solicitation, stimulus, stimulant, capacity, adherence, adhesion, amount, quant.i.ty, number, centre, middle, character, complement, compliment, conscience, consciousness, council, counsel, custom, habit, deception, deceit, egoist, emigration, immigration, enormity, enormousness, esteem, estimate, falsity, falseness, import, invention, discovery, limitation, majority, plurality, negligence, neglect, novitiate, organization, organism, produce, product, production, prominence, predominance, recipe, requirement, requisition, requisite, resort, resource, secretion, sewage, sewerage, situation, site, speciality, specialty, union, unity.

[45] TO THE TEACHER.--It is easy to underestimate the difficulty which this exercise presents to pupils. In a.s.signing the lesson care must be taken not to call for more of this kind of work than can be done well.

Constructing a sentence to ill.u.s.trate the correct use of a word is a valuable exercise, but it is a difficult one; and persons who know the correct use of a word may be put to their wit's end to ill.u.s.trate that use. It will be well to a.s.sign this exercise little by little, while the cla.s.s works through the definitions and exercises on pages 23-41; or else to select from the list the words on which the cla.s.s needs most drill.

With some pupils it may be wise to omit the exercise entirely.

CHAPTER IV

OF p.r.o.nOUNS

POSSESSIVE FORMS.[46]--No apostrophe is used in forming the possessive case of personal p.r.o.nouns. We write "ours," "yours," "hers," "its,"

"theirs." "It's" is a contraction for "it is."

[46] "Foundations," p. 60.

EXERCISE XXVI.

_Write from dictation_-- 1. John's hat is old, yours is new.

2. The bear was lying on its side, dead.

3. The Browns' house is larger than ours, but ours is more convenient than theirs.

4. Yours very respectfully, John Smith.

5. See the yacht! it's coining into the harbor under full sail.

6. Show Mary your doll; it should not grieve you that yours is not so pretty as hers.

7. That fault was not yours.

8. Helen's eyes followed the direction of hers.

NOMINATIVE OR OBJECTIVE CASE.[47]--There are only seven words in the English language that now have different forms for the nominative and objective cases; therefore it is only in the use of these words that we need to observe any rules about "nominative" or "objective." Since, however, these seven words are more frequently used than any other words, the possibilities of error in choosing between the nominative and the objective are many. Mistakes of this kind are common, and produce a very unpleasant effect on cultivated people. The seven words that have different forms for the nominative and objective cases are the following p.r.o.nouns[48]:--

_Nominative. Objective._ I me we us thou thee he him she her they them who whom

It is taken for granted that the student has already learned the following principles of syntax:--

1. _Words used absolutely_ and the _subjects of finite verbs_ should in English be put in the NOMINATIVE form.

2. The _subjects of infinitives_ and the _objects_ of verbs and prepositions should be in the OBJECTIVE form.

3. Words in _apposition_ should be in the same case.

4. The verb "_to be,"_ or any of its forms _(am, is, are, were,_ etc.), does not take an object, but, being equivalent in meaning to the symbol "=," takes the same case after it as before it: the nominative, if the form is "finite"; the objective, if the form is "infinitive" and has a subject of its own. "I know it is _he_," "I know it to be _him,"_ and "The stranger is thought to be _he_" are grammatically correct.

Sentences like "She invited Mrs. R. and _I_ to go driving" are common, even among people generally well-informed. Such mistakes will be avoided if the speaker stops to think what the form would be if the p.r.o.noun were not coupled with a noun. No one would think of saying, "She invited _I_ to go driving."