We have now reached the point where we must classify the words of our language.
But we are overwhelmed by their shear number.
If we must learn all about the forms and the uses of a hundred thousand words by studying these words one by one, we shall die ignorant of English grammar.
But may we not deal with words as we do with plants?
If we had to study and name each leaf and stem and flower, taken singly, we should never master the botany even of our garden plants.
But the processes of growth, evolution, and change, have made things to resemble one another and to differ from one another;
and as we have the ability to discriminate, to detect resemblances and differences, we are able to group things that have like qualities.
From certain likenesses in form and in structure, we put certain flowers together and call them roses; from other likenesses, we get another class called lilies; from others still, violets.
Just so we classify trees and get the oak, the elm, the maple, etc.
The myriad objects of nature fall into comparatively few classes.
Studying each class, we learn all we need to know of every object in it.
From their likenesses, though not usually in form, we classify words.
We group them according to their similarities in use, or office, in the sentence.
Sorting them thus, we find that they all fall into eight major classes, which we call Parts of Speech.
We find that many words may serve as the subject or topic of a sentence.
These we place in one class and call them Nouns (Latin nomen, a name, a noun).
Without the little words which we shall italicize, it would be difficult for one stranger to ask another,
“Can you tell me who is the postmaster at B?”
The one would not know what name to use instead of you, the other would not recognize the name in the place of me, and both would be puzzled to find a substitute for who.*
I, you, my, me, what, we, it, he, who, him, she, them, and other words are used in place of nouns, and are, therefore, called Pronouns (Lat. pro, for, and nomen, a noun).
By means of these handy little words we can represent any or every object in existence.
We could hardly speak or write without them now, they so frequently shorten the expression and prevent confusion and repetition.
*Of course this is a feature of English.
Other languages might easily get along without pronouns, “The postmaster at B.: can the addressee reply to the questioner with the name?”
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DEFINITION.—A Noun is the name5 of anything.
The principal office of nouns is to name the things of which we say, or assert, something in the sentence.
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| Direction.—Write, according to the model, the names of things that can b u r n, g r o w, m e l t, l o v e, or r e v o l v e. |
| Model.— |
Nouns. | |
Remark:— Notice that, when the subject adds s or es to denote more than one, the predicate does not take s.
The predicate is said to agree with the noun subject. |
Wood
Paper
Oil
Houses
Coal
Leaves
Matches
Clothes |
burn or burns |
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DEFINITION.—A Pronoun is a word used6 for a noun.
Every subject of a sentence is a noun, or some word or words used as a noun. |
We told you in Lesson 8 how, by noticing the essential likenesses in things and grouping the things thus alike, we could throw the countless objects around us into comparatively few classes.
We began to classify words according to their use, or office, in the sentence;
we found one class of words that are used to name things, and we called them nouns.
But in all the sentences given you, we have had to use another class of words.
These words, you notice, tell what the things do, or assert that they are, or exist in some state.
When we say, “Clocks tick,” tick is not the name of anything; it tells what clocks do; it asserts action.
When we say, “Clocks are,” or “There are clocks,” are is not the name of anything, nor does it tell what clocks do; it simply asserts existence, or being.
When we say, “Clocks hang, stand, last, lie, or remain,” these words hang, stand, last, etc., do not name anything, nor do they tell that clocks act or simply exist;
they tell the condition, or state, in which clocks are, or exist; that is, they assert state of being.
All words that assert action, being, or state of being, we call Verbs (Lat. verbum, a word).
The name was given to this class because it was thought that they were the most important words in the sentence.
[This made sense because the corresponding words in Latin could form a sentence all by themselves!]
Give several verbs that assert action.
Give some that assert being, and some that assert state of being.
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DEFINITION.—A Verb is a word that asserts7 action, being, or state of being.
There are, however, two forms of the verb, the participle and the infinitive (including the gerund, see Lessons 37 and 40), that express action, being, or state of being, without asserting it.
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| Direction.—Write after each of the following nouns as many appropriate verbs as you can think of:— |
| Model.— |
Noun. | |
Remark:— Notice that the simple form of the verb, as, burn, melt, scorch adds s or es when its subject noun names but one thing. |
| Fire (or) Fires |
burns.
melt.
scorches.
keep.
spreads.
glow.
rages.
heat.
exists. |
| Lawyers, factories, cars, books, education, birds, mind. |
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A simple predicate may consist of two, three, or even four verbs; as, is learning, may be learned, could have been learned.
Such groups of verbs are called Verb Phrases.
For a definition of phrase see Lesson 17.
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| Direction.—Unite the words in columns 2 and 3 below, and append the verbs thus formed to the nouns and pronouns in column 1 so as to make good sentences:— |
1.
Words
Wheat
Sugar
Air
Coffees
Speeches
I, we, you
He, she, it, they |
2.
am
is
are
was
were
has been
have been |
3.
confused.
exported.
refined.
coined.
delivered.
weighed.
imported.
transferred. |
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As verbs are the only words that assert, every predicate that asserts must be a verb, or must contain a verb.
Naming the class to which a word belongs is the first step in parsing.
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| Direction.—Parse five of the sentences you have written. |
| Model.—Korea was divided. |
| Parsing.—Korea is a noun because ———; was divided is a verb because it asserts action. |
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.
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 to the extent that their qualities are the same, as, two oranges having the same color, taste, and odor.
Things are unlike, as, an orange and an apple, to the extent that their 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 class of things; but the preposed words ripe and unripe, marking opposite qualities in the apples, separate the apples into two kinds—the ripe ones and the unripe ones.
These preposed 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 quantity 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 pronouns are called Adjectives (Lat. ad, to, and jacere, to throw).
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DEFINITION.—A Modifier is a word or a group of words joined to some part of the sentence to qualify or limit the meaning.8
The Subject with its Modifiers is called the Logical Subject.
DEFINITION.—An Adjective is a word used to modify a noun or a pronoun.
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| 1. | The cold November rain is falling. |
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 principal 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.*
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TO THE TEACHER.—
While we, from experience, are clear in the belief that diagrams are very helpful in the analysis 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 analysis 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.
*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 illustrated in the diagram by numbering the modifiers in the order of their rank, thus:—
The reader will discover that my use of colors effectively serves the same purpose and more by distinguishing their use more clearly
(See my Paraphrastic Grammar Chapter 10, §5, ¶2).
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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 analysis, as they often determine the punctuation and the arrangement.
See Lessons 13 and 21.
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| 1i. | The rain may be in November. |
Sentence expressing proposition of adverbial noun as adjective (see Lesson 33).
The proposition expressed is an imbed (i) to its matrix (m), which is the proposition of the next sentence. |
| 1mi. | The November rain may be cold. |
Sentence expressing proposition of a descriptive adjective.
This proposition becomes an imbed to the matrix of the proposition in the sentence to follow. |
| 1mi. | A rain of this kind is falling. |
Sentence referring to the proposition of the previous sentence as serving to describe or qualify the rain. |
| 1m. | This rain is falling. |
In (1) the use of a definite article the as an identifier is fundamental.
The imbed is indefinite and the definite article paradoxically preserves the non-restrictive nature of the qualifying modification.
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Oral Analysis.—(Here and hereafter we shall omit from the oral analysis 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 repetion, we should require of the pupils full forms of oral analysis for at least some of the sentences in every Lesson.
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Parsing.—The, cold, and November are adjectives modifying rain—cold and November expressing quality, (cold classifying and November identifying) and the pointing out (specifying).
The cold November rain is the modified subject.
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| Exercises (Lesson 12) Diagram the following: |
| 2. | The great Spanish Armada was destroyed. | 8. | I alone should suffer. |
| 3. | A free people should be educated. | 10. | All nature rejoices. |
| 4. | The old Liberty Bell was rung. | 11. | Five large, ripe, luscious, mellow apples were picked. |
| 5. | The famous Alexandrian library was burned. | 12. | The melancholy autumn days have come. |
| 6. | The odious Stamp Act was repealed. | 13. | A poor old wounded soldier returned. |
| 7. | Every intelligent American citizen should vote. | 14. | The oppressed Kurdish people have been freed. |
| 8. | The enormous Aswan Dam is completed. | 15. | Immense suspension bridges have been built. |
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| Answers |
Caution.—When two or more adjectives are used with a noun, care must be taken in their arrangement.
If they differ in rank, place nearest the noun the one most closely modifying it.
If of the same rank, place them where they will sound best — generally in the order of length, the shortest first.
Explanation.—Two honest young men were chosen.
A tall, straight, dignified person entered.
Young tells the kind of men, honest tells the kind of young men, and two tells the number of honest young men; hence these adjectives are not the same rank.
Tall, straight, and dignified modify person independently—the person is tall and straight and dignified; hence these adjectives are of the same rank.
Notice the comma after tall and straight; and may be supplied; in the first sentence and cannot be supplied.
See Lesson 21.
The specifying adjectives come first, the classifying next, and the identifying last, these last often forming a compound with the noun.
The conjunction and optionally appears between classifying adjectives of the same rank.
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Direction.—Arrange the adjectives below, and give your reasons:—
1. A Newfoundland pet handsome large dog.
2. Level low five the fields.
3. A wooden rickety large building.
4. Blind white beautiful three mice.
5. An energetic restless brave people.
6. An enlightened civilized nation.
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Direction.—Form sentences by preposing modified subjects to these predicates:—
| 1. | ————— have been invented. | 6. | ————— were carved. |
| 2. | ————— were destroyed. | 7. | ————— have been discovered. |
| 3. | ————— are developed. | 8. | ————— have fallen. |
| 4. | ————— may be abused. | 9. | ————— will be respected. |
| 5. | ————— was mutilated. | 10. | ————— have been built. |
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Direction.—Construct ten sentences, each of which shall contain a subject modified by three adjectives—one from each of these columns:—
Let the adjectives be appropriate.
For punctuation, see Lesson 21.
| The | | dark | | sunny |
| That | bright | wearisome |
| This | dingy | commercial |
| Those | short | blue |
| These | soft | adventurous |
| Five | brave | fleecy |
| Some | tiny | parallel |
| Several | important | cheerless |
| Many | long | golden |
| A | warm | turbid |
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Direction.—Prepose to each of these nouns several appropriate adjectives:—
River, frost, grain, airplanes, air, men.
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Direction.—Couple those adjectives and nouns below that most appropriately go together:—
Modest, lovely, flaunting, meek, patient, faithful, saucy, spirited,
violet, dahlia, sheep, pansy, ox, dog, horse, rose, gentle, duck,
sly, waddling, cooing, chattering, homely, chirping,
cat, robin, dove, sparrow, blackbird, cow, hen, cackling.
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