Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (popular books to read TXT) 📕

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 analyze 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 nobody 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 amassed 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.

 

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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 pronoun. What are the classes of pronouns? Define them. What is an antecedent?

Lesson 86.—Give and illustrate the Cautions respecting he, it, and they; the needless use of pronouns; the two styles of the pronoun; the use of them for those, and of what for that; and the use of who, which, that, and what.

Lesson 87.—Give and illustrate 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 classes are there? Define them. What adjectives do not limit? Illustrate.

Lesson 90.—Give and illustrate 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 illustrate the Cautious respecting the choice and the position of adjectives.

Lesson_ 93.—Define a verb. What are transitive verbs? Intransitive? _Illustrate. What distinction is made between the object and the object complement? What are regular verbs? Irregular? Illustrate. What are the several classes of adverbs? Define them. What is a conjunctive adverb?

Lesson 93.—Give and illustrate 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.

 

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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 illustrate the Caution as to the choice of prepositions. What, in general, is the difference between in and into?

Lesson 99.—Give and illustrate the two Cautions relating to the use of prepositions.

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

Lessons 104, 105.—Illustrate two or more offices of each of the connectives as, if, lest, since, that, when, where, and while.

Lesson 107.—Give and illustrate the four Cautions relating to the construction of connectives.

Lesson 109.—Illustrate the offices of what, that, and but.

 

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GENERAL REVIEW.

Schemes for the Conjunction, Preposition, and Interjection.

(_The numbers refer to Lessons_.)

 

| Co-Ordinate. | THE CONJUNCTION. +Classes+. + Subordinate + 106-107. | |

THE PREPOSITION. No Classes (95, 98, 99).

THE INTERJECTION. No Classes (20, 21).

MODIFICATIONS OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.

 

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LESSON 112.

+Introductory Hints+.—You have learned that two words may express a thought, and that the thought may be varied by adding modifying words. You are now to learn that the meaning or use of a word may be changed by simply changing its form. The English language has lost most of its inflections, or forms, so that many of the changes in the meaning and the use of words are not now marked by changes in form. These changes in the form, the meaning, and the use of the parts of speech we call their +Modifications+. [Footnote: Those grammarians that attempt to restrict number, case, mode, etc.—what we here call Modifications—to form, find themselves within bounds which they continually overleap. They define number, for instance, as a form, or inflection, and yet speak of nouns “plural in form but singular in sense,” or “singular in form but plural in sense;” that is, if you construe them rigorously, plural or singular in form but singular or plural form in sense. They tell you that case is a form, and yet insist that nouns have three cases, though only two forms; and speak of the nominative and the objective case of the noun, “although in fact the two cases are always the same in form”—the two forms always the same in form!

On the other hand, those that make what we call Modifications denote only relations or conditions of words cannot cling to these abstract terms. For instance, they ask the pupil to “pronounce and write the possessive of nouns,” hardly expecting, we suppose, that the “condition” of a noun will be sounded or written; and they speak of “a noun in the singular with a plural application,” in which expression singular must be taken to mean singular form to save it from sheer nonsense.

We know no way to steer clear of Scylla and keep out of Charybdis but to do what by the common use of the word we are allowed; viz., to take Modifications with such breadth of signification that it will apply to meaning and to use, as well as to form. Primarily, of course, it meant inflections, used to mark changes in the meaning and use of words. But we shall use Modifications to indicate changes in meaning and use when the form in the particular instance is wanting, nowhere, however, recognizing that as a modification which is not somewhere marked by form.]

Modifications of Nouns and Pronouns.

 

NUMBER.

The boy shouts. The boys shout. The form of the subject boy is changed by adding an s to it. The meaning has changed. Boy denotes one lad; boys, two or more lads. This change in the form and the meaning of nouns is called +Number+; the word boy, denoting one thing, is in the +Singular Number+; and boys, denoting more than one thing, is in the +Plural Number+. Number expresses only the distinction of one from more than one; to express more precisely how many, we use adjectives, and say two boys, four boys, many or several boys.

 

+DEFINITIONS+.

+_Modifications of the Parts of Speech_ are changes in their form, meaning, and use+.

+_Number_ is that modification of a noun or pronoun which denotes one thing or more than one.+

+The Singular Number denotes one thing+.

+The Plural Number denotes more than one thing+.

NUMBER FORMS.

+RULE.—The plural of nouns is regularly formed by adding s to the singular+.

To this rule there are some exceptions.

When the singular ends in a sound that cannot unite with that of s, es is added and forms another syllable.[Footnote: In Anglo-Saxon, as was the plural termination for a certain class of nouns. In later English, as was changed to es, which became the regular plural ending; as, bird-es, cloud-es. In modern English, e is dropped, and s is joined to the singular without increase of syllables. But, when the singular ends in an s-sound, the original syllable es is retained, as two hissing sounds will not unite.]

+Remark+.—Such words as horse, niche, and cage drop the final e when es is added. See Rule 1, Lesson 137.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each of the following nouns, and note what letters represent sounds that cannot unite with the sound of +s+_:—

Ax or axe, arch, adz or adze, box, brush, cage, chaise, cross, ditch, face, gas, glass, hedge, horse, lash, lens, niche, prize, race, topaz.

The following nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant add es without increase of syllables.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each of the following nouns_:—

Buffalo, calico, cargo, echo, embargo, grotto, hero, innuendo, motto, mosquito, mulatto, negro, portico (oes or os), potato, tornado, torpedo, veto, volcano.

The following nouns in o preceded by a consonant add s only.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each of the following nouns_:—

Canto, domino (os or oes), duodecimo, halo, junto, lasso, memento, octavo, piano, proviso, quarto, salvo, solo, two, tyro, zero (os or oes).

Nouns in o preceded by a vowel add s.

Bamboo, cameo, cuckoo, embryo, folio, portfolio, seraglio, trio.

Common nouns [Footnote: See Rule 2, Lesson 127. In old English, such words as lady and fancy were spelled ladie, fancie. The modern plural simply retains the old spelling and adds s,] in y after a consonant change y into i and add es without increase of syllables. Nouns in y after a vowel add s.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each of the following nouns_:—

Alley, ally, attorney, chimney, city, colloquy, [Footnote: U after q is a consonant] daisy, essay, fairy, fancy, kidney, lady, lily, money, monkey, mystery, soliloquy, turkey, valley, vanity.

The following nouns change f or fe into ves.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each of the following nouns_:—

Beef, calf, elf, half, knife, leaf, life, loaf, self, sheaf, shelf, staff, [Footnote: Staff (a stick or support), staves or staffs; staff (a body of officers), staffs. The compounds of staff are regular; as, flagstaffs.] thief, wharf, [Footnote: In England, generally wharfs.] wife, wolf.

The following nouns in f and fe are regular.

+Direction+.—_Form the plural of each