Higher Lessons in English Part 54

41. No sooner did I arrive when he called.

LESSON 109.

VARIOUS USES OF WHAT, THAT, AND BUT.

+What+ may be used as a +relative p.r.o.noun+, an +interrogative p.r.o.noun+, a +definitive adjective+, an +adverb+, and an +interjection+.

+Examples+.--He did _what_ was right. _What_ did he say? _What_ man is happy with the toothache? _What_ with confinement and _what_ with bad diet, the prisoner found himself reduced to a skeleton (here _what_ = _partly_, and modifies the phrase following it). _What_! you a lion?

+That+ may be used as a +relative p.r.o.noun+, an +adjective+ +p.r.o.noun+, a +definitive adjective+, a +conjunction+, and a +conjunctive adverb+.

+Examples+.--He _that_ does a good deed is instantly enn.o.bled. _That_ is heroism. _That_ man is a hero. We eat _that_ we may live. It was so cold _that_ the mercury froze.

+But+ may be used as a +conjunction+, an +adverb+, an +adjective+, and a +preposition+.

+Examples+.--The ostrich is a bird, _but_ (adversative conjunction) it cannot fly. Not a sparrow falls _but_ (= unless--subordinate conjunction) G.o.d wills it. He was all _but_ (conjunction or preposition) dead = He was all dead, _but_ he was not dead, or He was all (anything in that line) _except_ (the climax) dead. No man is so wicked _but_ (conjunctive adverb) he loves virtue = No man is wicked _to that degree in which_ he loves _not_ virtue (_so_ = _to that degree_, _but_ = _in which not_). We meet _but_ (adverb = _only_) to part. Life is _but_ (adjective = _only_) a dream. All _but_ (preposition = _except_) him had fled. The tears of love were hopeless _but_ (preposition = _except_) for thee. I cannot _but_ remember = I cannot do anything _but_ (preposition = _except_) remember. There is no fireside _but_ (preposition) has one vacant chair (_except the one which_ has); or, regarding _but_ as a negative relative = _that not_, the sentence = There is no fireside _that_ has _not_ one vacant chair.

+Direction+.--_Study the examples given above, point out the exact use of what, that, and but in these sentences, and then a.n.a.lyze the sentences_:--

1. He did nothing but laugh.

2. It was once supposed that crystal is ice frozen so hard that it cannot be thawed.

3. What love equals a mother's?

4. There is n.o.body here but me.

5. The fine arts were all but proscribed.

6. There's not a breeze but whispers of thy name.

7. The longest life is but a day.

8. What if the bee love not these barren boughs?

9. That life is long which answers life's great end.

10. What! I the weaker vessel?

11. Whom should I obey but thee?

12 What by industry and what by economy, he had ama.s.sed a fortune.

13. I long ago found that out.

14. One should not always eat what he likes.

15. There's not a white hair on your face but should have its effect of gravity.

16. It was a look that, but for its quiet, would have seemed disdain.

17. He came but to return.

LESSON 110.

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

_Lesson_ 85.--Define a noun. What is the distinction between a common and a proper noun? Why is _music_ a common noun? What is a collective noun? An abstract noun? Define a p.r.o.noun. What are the cla.s.ses of p.r.o.nouns? Define them. What is an antecedent?

_Lesson_ 86.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the Cautions respecting _he_, _it_, and _they_; the needless use of p.r.o.nouns; the two styles of the p.r.o.noun; the use of _them_ for _those_, and of _what_ for _that_; and the use of _who_, _which_, _that_, and _what_.

_Lesson_ 87.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the Cautions respecting connected relative clauses; the relative in clauses not restrictive; the use of _that_ instead of _who_ or _which_; the position of the relative clause; and the use of _this_ and _that_, _the one_ and _the other_.

_Lesson_ 89.--Define an adjective. What two cla.s.ses are there? Define them.

What adjectives do not limit? Ill.u.s.trate.

_Lesson_ 90.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the Cautions respecting the use of the adjectives _an_, _a_, and _the_; and the use of _a few_ and _few_, _a little_ and _little_.

_Lesson_ 91.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the Cautious respecting the choice and the position of adjectives.

Lesson_ 93.--Define a verb. What are transitive verbs? Intransitive?

_Ill.u.s.trate. What distinction is made between the object and the object complement? What are regular verbs? Irregular? Ill.u.s.trate. What are the several cla.s.ses of adverbs? Define them. What is a conjunctive adverb?

_Lesson_ 93.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the Cautions respecting the choice and the position of adverbs, the use of double negatives, and the use of adverbs for adjectives and of adjectives for adverbs.

LESSON 111.

REVIEW QUESTIONS--CONTINUED.

_Lesson_ 95.--Define a preposition. Name some of the common prepositions.

What is said of some prepositions ending in _ing_? Of _but_, _except_, and _save_? Of certain compound prepositions? When do prepositions become adverbs?

_Lesson_ 98.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the Caution as to the choice of prepositions. What, in general, is the difference between _in_ and _into_?

_Lesson_ 99.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the two Cautions relating to the use of prepositions.

_Lesson_ 100.--Define a conjunction. What are the two great cla.s.ses of conjunctions, and what is their difference? What other parts of speech besides conjunctions connect? What are adverbs that connect called? Into what three cla.s.ses are co-ordinate connectives subdivided? Give some of the conjunctions and the conjunctive adverbs of each cla.s.s. What three kinds of clauses are connected by subordinate connectives? The connectives of adverb clauses are subdivided into what cla.s.ses? Give a leading connective of each cla.s.s.

_Lessons_ 104, 105.--Ill.u.s.trate two or more offices of each of the connectives _as_, _if_, _lest_, _since_, _that_, _when_, _where_, and _while_.

_Lesson_ 107.--Give and ill.u.s.trate the four Cautions relating to the construction of connectives.

_Lesson_ 109.--Ill.u.s.trate the offices of _what_, _that_, and _but_.

GENERAL REVIEW.

Schemes for the Conjunction, Preposition, and Interjection.

(_The numbers refer to Lessons_.)

| Co-Ordinate. | THE CONJUNCTION. +Cla.s.ses+. + Subordinate + 106-107.

THE PREPOSITION. No Cla.s.ses (95, 98, 99).

THE INTERJECTION. No Cla.s.ses (20, 21).