Higher Lessons in English Part 6

A verb may consist of two, three, or even four words; as, _is learning, may be learned, could have been learned_. [Footnote: Such groups of words are sometimes called _verb-phrases_. For definition of _phrase_, see Lesson 17.]

+Direction.+--_Unite the words in columns_ 2 _and_ 3 _below, and append the verbs thus formed to the nouns and p.r.o.nouns in column_ 1 _so as to make good sentences_:--

+Remark.+--Notice that _is, was_, and _has_ are used with nouns naming one thing, and with the p.r.o.nouns _he, she_, and _it_; and that _are, were_, and _have_ are used with nouns naming more than one thing, and with the p.r.o.nouns _we, you_, and _they_. _I_ may be used with _am, was_, and _have_.

1 2 3 Words am confused.

Cotton is exported.

Sugar are refined.

Air coined.

Teas was delivered.

Speeches were weighed.

I, we, you has been imported.

He, she, it, they have been transferred.

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

+Naming the cla.s.s+ to which a word belongs is the +first step in parsing.+

+Direction+.--_Pa.r.s.e five of the sentences you have written_.

+Model+.--_Poland was dismembered_.

+Parsing+.--_Poland_ is a noun because ----; _was dismembered_ is a verb because it a.s.serts action.

LESSON 12.

MODIFIED SUBJECT.

ADJECTIVES.

+Introductory Hints+.--The subject noun and the predicate verb are not always or often the whole of the structure that we call the sentence, though they are the underlying timbers that support the rest of the verbal bridge. Other words may be built upon them.

We learned in Lesson 8 that things resemble one another and differ from one another. They resemble and they differ in what we call their qualities.

Things are alike whose qualities are the same, as, two oranges having the same color, taste, and odor. Things are unlike, as an orange and an apple, whose qualities are different.

It is by their qualities, then, that we know things and group them.

_Ripe apples are healthful. Unripe apples are hurtful._ In these two sentences we have the same word apples to name the same general cla.s.s of things; but the prefixed words ripe and unripe, marking opposite qualities in the apples, separate the apples into two kinds--the ripe ones and the unripe ones.

These prefixed words _ripe_ and _unripe_, then, limit the word _apples_ in its scope; _ripe apples_ or _unripe apples_ applies to fewer things than _apples_ alone applies to.

If we say _the, this, that_ apple, or _an, no_ apple, or _some, many, eight_ apples, we do not mark any quality of the fruit; but _the, this,_ or _that_ points out a particular apple, and limits the word _apple_ to the one pointed out; and _an, no, some, many_, or _eight_ limits the word in respect to the number of apples that it denotes.

These and all such words as by marking quality, by pointing out, or by specifying number or quant.i.ty limit the scope or add to the meaning of the noun, +modify+ it, and are called +Modifiers+.

In the sentence above, _apples_ is the +Simple Subject+ and _ripe apples_ is the +Modified Subject+.

Words that modify nouns and p.r.o.nouns are called +Adjectives+ (Lat. _ad_, to, and _jacere_, to throw).

+DEFINITION.--A _Modifier_ is a word or a 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+, or _Logical Subject_.

+DEFINITION.--An _Adjective_ is a word used to modify a noun or a p.r.o.noun+.

a.n.a.lysis and Parsing.

1. The cold November rain is falling.

rain | is falling =========================|============== The cold November |

+Explanation.+--The two lines shaded alike and placed uppermost stand for the subject and the predicate, and show that these are of the same rank, and are the princ.i.p.al parts of the sentence. The lighter lines, placed under and joined to the subject line, stand for the less important parts, the modifiers, and show what is modified. [Footnote: TO THE TEACHER.--When several adjectives are joined to one noun, each adjective does not always modify the unlimited noun. _That old wooden house was burned._ Here _wooden_ modifies _house_, _old_ modifies _house_ limited by _wooden_, and _that_ modifies _house_ limited by _old_ and _wooden_. This may be ill.u.s.trated in the diagram by numbering the modifiers in the order of their rank, thus:--

| ==================|======= 3 2 1 |

Adverbs, and both phrase and clause modifiers often differ in rank in the same way. If the pupils are able to see these distinctions, it will be well to have them made in the a.n.a.lysis, as they often determine the punctuation and the arrangement. See Lessons 13 and 21.]

+TO THE TEACHER.+--While we, from experience, are clear in the belief that diagrams are very helpful in the a.n.a.lysis of sentences, we wish to say that the work required in this book can all be done without resorting to these figures. If some other form, or no form, of written a.n.a.lysis is preferred, our diagrams can be omitted without break or confusion.

When diagrams are used, only the teacher can determine how many shall be required in any one Lesson, and how soon the pupil may dispense with their aid altogether.

+Oral a.n.a.lysis.+--(Here and hereafter we shall omit from the oral a.n.a.lysis and parsing whatever has been provided for in previous Lessons.) _The, cold,_ and _November_ are modifiers of the subject. _The cold November rain_ is the modified subject.

TO THE TEACHER.--While in these "models" we wish to avoid repet.i.tion, we should require of the pupils full forms of oral a.n.a.lysis for at least some of the sentences in every Lesson.

+Parsing.+--_The, cold,_ and _November_ are adjectives modifying _rain_--_cold_ and _November_ expressing quality, and _the_ pointing out.

2. The great Spanish Armada was destroyed.

3. A free people should be educated.

4. The old Liberty Bell was rung.

5. The famous Alexandrian library was burned.

6. The odious Stamp Act was repealed.

7. Every intelligent American citizen should vote.

8. The long Hoosac Tunnel is completed.

9. I alone should suffer.

10. All nature rejoices.

11. Five large, ripe, luscious, mellow apples were picked.

12. The melancholy autumn days have come.

13. A poor old wounded soldier returned.

14. The oppressed Russian serfs have been freed.

15. Immense suspension bridges have been built.

LESSON 13.