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

the +Complimentary Close+ and the +Signature+. The forms of the Complimentary Close are many, and are determined by the relations of the writer to the one addressed. In letters of friendship you may use, Your sincere, friend; Yours affectionately; Your loving son or daughter, etc. In business letters you may use, Yours; Yours truly; Truly yours; Yours respectfully; Very respectfully yours, etc. In official letters you should be more deferential. Use, I have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant; Very respectfully, your most obedient servant; etc., etc.

The Signature consists of your Christian name and your surname. In addressing a stranger write your Christian name in full. A lady addressing a stranger should prefix to her signature her title, Mrs. or Miss (placing it within marks of parenthesis), unless in the letter she has indicated which of these titles her correspondent is to use in reply.

+How Written+.—The Conclusion should begin near the middle of the first line below the Body of the Letter, and, if occupying two or more lines, should slope to the right like the Heading and the Address. Begin each line of it with a capital letter, and punctuate as in other writing, following the whole with a period. The Signature should be very plain.

+Direction+.—_Write two formal notes—one inviting a friend to a social party, and one declining the invitation._

+Direction+.—_Write the Conclusion of a letter of friendship, of a letter of business, and of an official letter, carefully observing all that has been said above._

+Direction+.—_Write a letter of two or three lines to your father or your mother, and another to your minister, talcing care to give properly the Heading in its two parts, the Introduction in its two parts, and the Conclusion in its two parts. Let the Address in the letter to your father or your mother stand at the bottom._

 

*

 

LESSON 168.

LETTER-WRITING—CONTINUED.

THE SUPERSCRIPTION.

+Parts+.—The Superscription is what is written on the outside of the envelope. It is the same as the Address, consisting of the Name, the Title, and the full Directions of the one addressed.

+How Written+.—The Superscription should begin just below the middle of the envelope and near the left edge—the envelope lying with its closed side toward you—and should occupy three or four lines. These lines should slope to the right as in the Heading and the Address, the spaces between the lines should be the same, and the last line should end near the lower right-hand corner. On the first line the Name and the Title should stand. If the one addressed is in a city, the door-number and name of the street should be on the second line, the name of the city on the third, and the name of the state on the fourth. If he is in the country, the name of the post-office should be on the second line, the name of the county on the third, the name of the state on the fourth. The number of the post office box may take the place of the door-number and the name of the street, or, to avoid crowding, the number of the box or the name of the county may stand at the lower left-hand corner. The titles following the name should be separated from it and from each other by the comma, and every line should end with a comma except the last, which should be followed by a period. [Footnote: Some omit punctuation after the parts of the Superscription. ] The lines should be straight, and every part of the Superscription should be legible. Place the stamp at the upper right-hand corner.

+Direction+.—_Write six Superscriptions to real or imaginary friends or acquaintances in different cities, carefully observing all that has been said above._

+Direction+.—_Write two snort letters—one to a friend at the Astor House, New York, and one to a stranger in the country._

[Illustration: Envelope with stamp in upper-right corner. Addressed to

Master H. Buckman, Andover, Mass.]

[Cursive Text:

Ithaca, N. Y, June 15, ‘96. My dear Friend,

You tell me that you begin the study of English Literature next term. Let me assume the relation of an older brother, and tender you a word of counsel.

Study literature, primarily, for the thoughts it contains. Attend to these thoughts until you understand them and see their connection one with another. Accept only such as seem to you just and true, and accept these at their proper value.

Notice carefully the words each author uses, see how he arranges them, whether he puts his thought clearly, what imagery he employs, what allusions he makes, what acquaintance with men, with books, and with nature he shows, and in what spirit he writes.

Your study of the author should put you in possession of his thought and his style, and should introduce you to the man himself.

Pardon me these words of unsought advice, and believe me.

Your true friend, John Schuyler.

Master H. Buckman, Andover, Mass.]

A SUMMARY OF THE RULES OF SYNTAX.

We here append a Summary of the so-called Rules of Syntax, with references to the Lessons which treat of Construction.

I. A noun or pronoun used as subject or as attribute complement of a predicate verb, or used independently, is in the nominative case.

II. The attribute complement of a participle or an infinitive is in the same case (Nom. or Obj.) as the word to which it relates.

III. A noun or pronoun used as possessive modifier is in the possessive case.

IV. A noun or pronoun used as object complement, as objective complement, as the principal word in a prepositional phrase, or used adverbially [Footnote: See Lesson 35.] is in the objective case.

V. A noun or pronoun used as explanatory modifier is in the same case as the word explained.

 

+For Cautions, Principles, and Examples respecting the cases of nouns and pronouns, see Lessons 119, 122, 123, 123. For Cautions and Examples to guide in the use of the different pronouns, see Lessons 86, 87.+

VI. A pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person, number, and gender.

+For Cautions, Principles, and Examples, see Lessons 118,142.+

VII. A verb agrees with its subject in person and number.

+For Cautions, Examples, and Exceptions, see Lesson 142.+

VIII. A participle assumes the action or being, and is used like an adjective or a noun.

+For Uses of the Participle, see Lessons 37, 38, 39.+

IX. An infinitive is generally introduced by to, and with it forms a phrase used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

+For Uses of the Infinitive, see Lessons 40, 41, 42.+

X. Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns.

+For Cautions and Examples respecting the use of adjectives and of comparative and superlative forms, see Lessons 90, 91, 128.+

XI. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.

+For Cautions and Examples, see Lesson 93.+

XII. A preposition introduces a phrase modifier, and shows the relation, in sense, of its principal word to the word modified.

+For Cautions, see Lessons 98, 99.+

XIII. Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses.

+For Cautions and Examples, see Lessons 100, 107.+

XIV. Interjections are used independently.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB.

+Remarks+.—The scheme of conjugation presented below is from English text-books. In some of these books the forms introduced by should are classed, not as Future, but as Secondary Past Tense forms of the Subjunctive.

If we substitute this scheme of conjugation for the simpler one given in the preceding pages, we still fail to get a classification in which every form corresponds in use to its name. The following examples will illustrate:—

He returns to-morrow. (Present = Future.)

When I have performed this, I will come to you. (Present Perfect = Future Perfect.)

If any member absents himself, he shall pay a fine. (Indicative = Subjunctive.)

You shall go. (Indicative = Imperative.)

After memorizing all the terms and forms belonging to the conjugation here outlined, the student will find that he has gained little to aid him in the use of language. For instance, in this synopsis of the Subjunctive are found nineteen forms. As there are three persons in the singular and three in the plural, we have one hundred and fourteen subjunctive forms! How confusing all this must be to the student, who, in his use of the subjunctive, needs to distinguish only such as these: If he be, If he were, If he teach! Beyond these, the subjunctive manner of assertion is discovered from the structure of the sentence or the relation of clauses, not from the conjugation of the verb.

Those English authors and their American copyists who eliminate the Potential Mode from their scheme of conjugation tell us that the so-called potential auxiliaries are either independent verbs in the indicative or are subjunctive auxiliaries. With the meager instruction given by any one or by all of these authors, the student will find it exceedingly difficult to determine when these auxiliaries are true subjunctives. To illustrate:—

1. May you be happy. 2. I learn that I may be able to teach. 3. He might have done it if he had liked. 4. If he should try, he would succeed. 5. I would not tell you if I could. 6. I could not do this if I were to try.

The forms italicized above are said to be subjunctive auxiliaries; those below are said to be independent verbs in the indicative.

7. He may be there. 8. He might ask you to go. 9. You should not have done that. 10. He would not come when called. 11. I could do this at one time.

We are told that can and must are always independent verbs in the indicative, and that may, might, could, would, and should are either subjunctive auxiliaries or independent verbs parsed in the indicative, separately from the infinitives with which they seem to combine. But in parsing these words as separate verbs the student is left in doubt as to whether they are transitive or intransitive, and as to the office of the infinitives that follow.

Shall (to owe) and will (to determine) are, in their original meaning, transitive. May, can, and must denote power (hence potential); and, as the infinitive with which they combine names the act on which this power is exercised, some philologists regard them as originally transitive. Among these is our distinguished critic, Prof. Francis A. March. May denotes power from without coming from a removal of all hindrance,—hence permission or possibility. Can denotes power from within,—hence ability. Must denotes power from without coming from circumstances or the nature of things,—hence necessity or obligation. Should, would, might, and could are past forms of shall, will, may, and can.

The auxiliaries take different shades of meaning. In some constructions the meaning is fainter or less emphatic than in others. To say just how little of its common or original meaning may, can, must, shall, or will must have to be an auxiliary, and how much to be a “notional,” or independent, verb would be extremely venturesome For instance, could in (6) above expresses power or ability to do, as does could in (11), yet we are told that the former could is a mere auxiliary, while the latter is an independent verb. May in (1) denotes a desired removal of all hindrance; may in (7) denotes a possible removal of hindrance. It is hard to see why the former may is necessarily a mere auxiliary, and the latter a “notional,” or independent, verb. These are some of the difficulties—not to say inconsistencies—met by the student who is taught that there is