Graded Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (ebook reader with highlight function .txt) 📕

Selections written in the colloquial style and containing frequent quotations and questions may be taken from reading-books, for examination, discussion, and copying. Noun phrases may be expanded, and noun clauses contracted, transposed, etc.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSES.

Frequently independent clauses are contracted by using repeated parts but once and uniting the other parts into a compound term, as in Lesson 67. They are also contracted by omitting such words as may be readily understood; as, “Is it true, or not;” “He is a philosopher, not a poet.” For punctuation, see rules for the comma and the semicolon, p. 141.

REVIEW—COMPOSITION.

We recommend that the teacher select some short article containing valuable information and break up each paragraph into short, disconnected expressions. One paragraph at a time may be put on the board for the pupils to copy. The general subject may be given, and the pupils may be required to find a proper heading for the paragraph. The different ways of connecting the expressions may be discussed in the class. By contracting, expanding, transposing, and by substituting entirely different words, a great variety of forms may be had. (The forms found in the “Example,” p. 144, and the list of connectives, p. 190, may be helpful.) The pupils may then combine the different paragraphs into a composition. For the explanation of paragraph, see p. 145, and Exercises for Composition in the Supplement.

We give below material for one composition:—

Frog’s spawn found in a pond. At first like a mass of jelly. Eggs can be distinguished.

In a few days curious little fish are hatched. These “tadpoles” are lively. Swim by means of long tails. Head very large—out of proportion. Appearance of all head and tail. This creature is a true fish. It breathes water-air by means of gills. It has a two-chambered heart.

Watch it day by day. Two little gills seen. These soon disappear. Hind legs begin to grow. Tail gets smaller. Two small arms, or forelegs, are seen. Remarkable change going on inside. True lungs for breathing air have been forming. Another chamber added to the heart.

As the gills grow smaller, it finds difficulty in breathing water-air. One fine day it pokes its nose out of the water. Astonished (possibly) to find that it can breathe in the air. A new life has come upon it. No particular reason for spending all its time in water; crawls out upon land; sits down upon its haunches; surveys the world. It is no longer a fish; has entered upon a higher stage of existence; has become a frog.

This work of analyzing a composition to find the leading thoughts under which the other thoughts may be grouped is in many ways a most valuable discipline.

It teaches the pupil to compare, to discriminate, to weigh, to systematize, to read intelligently and profitably.

The reading-book will afford excellent practice in finding heads for paragraphs. Such work is an essential preparation for the reading-class.

This composition work should serve as a constant review of all that has been passed over in the text-book.

ADJECTIVE COMPLEMENTS AND ADVERBS.

It is often difficult to distinguish an adjective complement from an adverb modifier. We offer the following explanation:—

“Mary arrived safe.” As we here wish to tell the condition of Mary on her arrival, and not the manner of her arriving, we use safe, not safely. “My head feels bad” (is in a bad condition, as perceived by the sense of feeling). “The sun shines bright” (is bright—quality,—as perceived by its shining).

You must determine whether you wish to tell the quality of the thing named or the manner of the action.

When the idea of being is prominent in the verb, as in the examples above, you see that the adjective, and not the adverb, follows.

Let the pupils show that the following adjectives and adverbs are used correctly:—

1. I feel sad. 2. I feel deeply. 3. I feel miserable. 4. He appeared prompt and willing. 5. He appeared promptly and willingly. 6. She looks beautiful. 7. She sings beautifully.

PAST PARTICIPLES AND PREDICATE VERBS DISTINGUISHED.

When the past tense and the past participle differ in form, they are often confounded in use; as,

I done it; I seen it.

Pupils may be required to construct short sentences, oral or written, using the Past forms found in Lesson 91 as predicates, and the Past Participle forms either as modifiers or as completing words in compound verbs.

They may be led to some such conclusion as the following:—

The Past is always an asserting, or predicate, word; the Past Participle never asserts, but is used as an adjective modifier or as the completing word of a compound verb; the Present may be used as a predicate or as an infinitive.

Exercises like the following may be copied, and repeated aloud:—

1. Lay down your pen. 2. Lie down, Rover. 3. I laid down my pen. 4. The dog then lay down. 5. I have laid down my pen. 6. The dog has lain down. 7. Set the pail down. 8. Sit down and rest. 9. I then set it down. 10. I sat down and rested. 11. I have set it down. 12. I have sat down. 13. My work was laid aside. 14. I was lying down. 15. The trap was set by the river. 16. I was sitting by the river. 17. The garment sits well. 18. The hen sits on her eggs. 19. He came in and lay down. 20. The Mediterranean lies between Europe and Africa.

Notice that we may speak of laying something or setting something, or may say that something is laid or is set; but we cannot speak of lying or sitting something, or of something being lain or sat. Set, in some of its meanings, is used without an object; as, “The sun set;” “He set out on a journey.”

Lay, the present of the first verb, and lay, the past of lie, may easily be distinguished by the difference in meaning and in the time expressed.

POSSESSIVE FORMS.

Pupils may be required to copy such forms as the following:—

The sailor’s story; the farmer’s son; the pony’s mane; the monkey’s tail; a day’s work; James’s book; a cent’s worth; a man’s wages; the child’s toys; the woman’s hat; the sailors’ stories; the farmers’ sons; the ponies’ manes; the monkeys’ tails; three days’ work; five cents’ worth; two men’s wages; those children’s toys; women’s hats.

This may be continued till the pupils are able to form some such statement as the following:—

(_’s_) and (_’) are the possessive signs, (‘_) being used when s has been added to denote more than one, (_’s_) in other cases.

Such expressions as the following may be copied:—

Dombey and Son’s business; J. J. Little & Co.‘s printing-house; William the Conqueror’s reign; Houghton, Mifflin, and Company’s publications.

This may be continued till the pupils learn that, when a group of words may be treated as a compound name, the possessive sign is added to the last word only.

THE OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT.

The treatment of the objective complement may be introduced in a review course, when the class is sufficiently mature. The following explanation may aid some teachers:—

In “It made him sad,” made does not fully express the action performed upon him—not “made him,” but “made sad (saddened) him.” Sad helps made to express the action, and also denotes a quality which as the result of the action belongs to the person represented by the object him.

Whatever completes the predicate and belongs to the object we call an Objective Complement.

Nouns, infinitives, and participles may also be used in the same way; as,

“They made Victoria queen,” “It made him weep;” “It kept him laughing.”

They | made / queen | Victoria ======|========================= |

+Explanation+.—The line that separates made from queen slants toward the object complement to show that queen belongs to the object.

A noun or pronoun used as objective complement is in the objective case.

The teacher may here explain such constructions as, “I proved it to be him,” in which it is object complement and to be him is objective complement. Him, the attribute complement of be, is in the objective case because it, the assumed subject of be, is objective. Let the pupils compare “I proved it to be him” with “I proved that it was he;” “Whom did you suppose it to be?” with “Who did you suppose it was?” etc.

NOUNS AS ADVERB MODIFIERS.

The following uses of nouns and pronouns, not found in the preceding Lessons, may be introduced in a review course.

1. He gave John a book. 2. He bought me a book.

John and me, as here used, are generally called Indirect Objects. The “indirect object” names the one to or for whom something is done. We treat these words as phrase modifiers without the preposition. If we change the order, the preposition must be supplied; as, “He gave a book to John;” “He bought a book for me.”

Nouns denoting measure, quantity, weight, time, value, distance, or direction may be used adverbially, being equivalent to phrase modifiers without the preposition; as,

1. We walked four miles an hour. 2. It weighs one pound. 3. It is worth a dollar. 4. The wall is ten feet, six inches high. 5. I went home that way.

The following diagram will illustrate both the “indirect object” and the “noun of measure:”—

They offered Caesar the crown three times.

They | offered | crown =======|==================== | the times -–— three Caesar -–—

+Explanation+.—Caesar (the “indirect object”) and times (denoting measure) stand in the diagram on lines representing the principal words of prepositional phrases.

SCHEMES FOR REVIEW.

These schemes will be found very helpful in a general review. The pupils should be able to reproduce them, omitting the Lesson numbers.

Scheme for the Sentence.

(_The numbers refer to Lessons_.)

PARTS.

+Subject+. Noun or Pronoun (6, 14, 19). Phrase (49). Clause (61).

+Predicate+. Verb (6,16).

+Complements+. Object. Noun or Pronoun (39). Phrase (49). Clause (61). Attribute. Adjective (39). Noun or Pronoun (42). Phrase. Clause (61).

+Modifiers+. Adjectives (20, 22). Adverbs (24, 27). Participles (48). Nouns and Pronouns (53). Phrases (31, 48, 49). Clauses (57, 59).

+Connectives+. Conjunctions (35, 36, 62). Pronouns (57). Adverbs (59).

+Independent Parts (36, 64)+.

+Classes+—+Meaning+.—Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, Exclamatory (63).

+Classes+—+Form+.—Simple, Complex, Compound (57, 62).

Scheme for the Noun.

(_The numbers refer to Lessons_.)

NOUN (14).

+Uses+. Subject (6). Object Complement (39). Attribute Complement (42). Adjective Modifier (53). Prin. word in Prep. Phrase (34). Independent (64).

+Classes+. Common (71). Proper (71).

+Modifications+. Number Singular (78, 79). Plural (78, 79).

+Gender+. Masculine (80). Feminine (80). Neuter (80).

+Person+. First (81-83). Second (81-83). Third (81-83).

+Case+. Nominative (81-85). Possessive (81-85). Objective (81-85).

Scheme for the Pronoun.

PRONOUNS.

+Uses+.—Same as those of the Noun.

+Classes+. Personal (71, 72). Relative (71, 72). Interrogative (71, 72). Adjective (71, 72).

+Modifications+.—Same as those of the Noun

(78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 95).

Scheme for the Verb.

(_The numbers refer to Lessons_.)

VERB. +Uses+ To assert action, being, or state.—Predicate (6, 16). To assume action, being, or state. Participles (48). Infinitives (49).

+Classes+. Form. Regular (74). Irregular (74, 91). Meaning.