LESSON XXVII.

Point out the pronouns in the following sentences that do not stand for any particular persons or things:—

1.	Many went home before nine o’clock.
2.	Each has his work to do.
3.	All are here now.

Pronouns which do not stand for particular or definite persons or things, are called indefinite pronouns; as, Few believed him.

The principal words used as indefinite pronouns are all, any, other, another, both, some, such, few, many, one, none, each, either, neither, and words made by joining some, any, every and no to the words one, thing and body.

EXERCISE.

Select the indefinite pronouns in the following sentences, and give the case of each:—

1.	Some have gone home already.
2.	I knew both of the boys.
3.	He has not any to give to me.
4.	Everybody goes to the wharf in the evening.
5.	I told some one to bring it with him.

LESSON XXVIII.

PARSING.

To parse a pronoun is to state the class to which it belongs, its gender, person, number, case, and its grammatical relation to other words in the sentence.

Parse all the pronouns in the following sentences:—

1.	I have the knife which you gave me.
2.	He saw the letter that I wrote.
3.	Who told you they did it?
4.	Few shall meet where many part.—Campbell.
5.	He is the freeman whom the truth makes free.—Cowper.
6.	There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
	Rough-hew them as we will.—Shakespeare.
7.	I have seen him buy such bargains as would amaze one.—Goldsmith.
8.	Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons
	To love it too.—Cowper.
9.	I dare do all that may become a man,
	Who dares do more is none.—Shakespeare.
10.	Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
	Who never to himself hath said,
	This is my own, my native land.—Scott.

Model:—I have the knife which you gave me.

I, a personal pronoun; masculine or feminine gender; first person; singular number; nominative case, subject of have.

which, a relative pronoun; third person; singular number; objective case, direct object of the verb gave.

you, a personal pronoun; masculine or feminine gender; second person; singular or plural number; nominative case, subject of the verb gave.

me, a personal pronoun; masculine or feminine gender; first person; singular number; objective case, indirect object of the verb gave.

LESSON XXIX.

CLASSES OF ADJECTIVES.

ADJECTIVES OF QUALITY.

Point out the adjectives in the following sentences that express quality or kind in the objects named by the nouns with which they are used:—

1.	This is a sweet apple.
2.	I bought an oak table and a silver tray.
3.	These girls are happy.

Adjectives that express quality or kind in the objects named by the nouns with which they are used, are called qualifying adjectives; as, These kind girls took some fresh flowers to a sick woman.

Qualifying adjectives that are formed from proper nouns are called proper adjectives. They begin with capital letters; as, He gave her an English coin.

EXERCISE.

Select the qualifying adjectives in the following sentences, and state the nouns they qualify:—

1.	A wise man considers his words.
2.	Gentle, loving Nell was dead.
3.	Her sleep was beautiful and calm.
4.	Wonderful animals are to be seen in African forests.
5.	With a slow and noiseless footstep
	Comes that messenger divine.—Longfellow.
6.	Like other dull men, the king was all his life suspicious of superior people.—Thackeray.
7.	O Caledonia! stern and wild,
	Meet nurse for a poetic child!
	Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
	Land of the mountain and the flood.—Scott.

LESSON XXX.

ADJECTIVES OF QUANTITY.

Point out the adjectives in the following sentences, that express the quantity or number of the objects named by the nouns with which they are used:—

1.	This man has little strength left.
2.	I wish you much success in your studies.
3.	There are three boys in the yard.

Adjectives that express the quantity or number of the objects named by the nouns with which they are used, are called quantifying adjectives; as, He won the second prize.

EXERCISE.

Select the quantifying adjectives in the following sentences, and state the noun each modifies:—

1.	William has twenty marbles.
2.	Much study is a weariness of the flesh.
3.	My brother has the third place in his class.
4.	This poor man has little coal for the winter.

LESSON XXXI.

PRONOMINAL ADJECTIVES.

Which of the italicized words are used as pronouns and which as adjectives?

1.	This belongs to my brother.
2.	This book belongs to my brother.
3.	Which is your pen?
4.	Which pencil will you have?
5.	All are lying on the bank.
6.	All men are mortal.
7.	Mine are in the house.
8.	My slate is broken.

Adjectives that are sometimes used as pronouns are called pronominal adjectives; as, These books are mine. All boys can learn.

There are five kinds of pronominal adjectives.

1. Possessive adjectives. These are the possessive forms of the personal pronouns used as adjectives. They are given in Lesson XXII., and are as follows:—my or mine, thy or thine, our or ours, your or yours, his, her or hers, its, their or theirs.

2. Interrogative adjectives. These are which and what when used with a noun to ask a question; as, Which poem will you recite? What wrong have you done?

3. Relative adjectives. These are the words which and what used relatively with a noun; as, I know which pen you prefer. I see what course you are taking.

4. Indefinite adjectives. These are the words which, when used without nouns, are indefinite pronouns; as, Few persons believe his story. [See Lesson XXVII.]

5. Demonstrative adjectives. These are this, these; that, those; yon, yonder, when used with nouns; as, That tree is very tall. Yon ship is coming nearer.

To the foregoing list of demonstrative adjectives we may add a, an, and the, since they are demonstrative in their nature, that is they are used to point out, but they have no pronominal use; as, The man is well again. An apple is on the table.

Note.—An is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound; as, An orange is yellow. An hour contains sixty minutes.

A is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound; as, A pencil is on the desk. Many a one has succeeded. (One begins with the consonant sound of w.)

EXERCISE.

Select the pronominal adjectives in the following sentences, give the kind of each and the word it modifies:—

1.	Which way did he go?
2.	That lady explained my lesson.
3.	Any other pen will do.
4.	I do not know what work he did.
5.	Their father bought them some fruit.
6.	Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade,
	Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
	Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
	The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.—Gray.

LESSON XXXII.

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES.

In the following sentences what degree of quality do the different forms of the adjective large express?

1.	John has a large ball.
2.	I have a larger ball than John’s.
3.	James has the largest ball in the yard.

In sentence number 2, two balls are compared. In sentence number 3, three or more balls are compared. Hence the change of form of adjectives to express different degrees of quality is called comparison.

The form of the adjective, which merely expresses the quality, is called the positive degree; as, I have a small pen.

The form of the adjective that expresses a higher or lower degree of the quality, is called the comparative degree; as, Charles has a smaller pen than mine.

The form of the adjective that expresses the highest or the lowest degree of the quality, is called the superlative degree; as, The teacher has the smallest pen in the room.

Most adjectives of one syllable form the comparative by adding er to the simple form, and the superlative by adding est to the same form; as,

Positive.	Comparative.	Superlative.
tall,	taller,	tallest.
fine,	finer,	finest.

Note.—If the simple form ends in e, one e is omitted in the comparison.

Most adjectives of more than one syllable are composed by prefixing more and most, or less and least to the simple form; as,

Positive.	Comparative.	Superlative.
beautiful,	more beautiful,	most beautiful,
worthy,	less worthy,	least worthy.

The following adjectives of two syllables are often compared by adding er and est: happy, pleasant, common, noble, able, narrow.

The following adjectives are compared irregularly:—

Positive.	Comparative.	Superlative.
good,	better,	best,
bad, evil, or ill,	worse,	worst,
little,	less,	least,
much or many,	more,	most,
far,	farther,	farthest,
(forth,)	further,	furthest or furthermost,
near,	nearer,	nearest or next,
late,	later,	latest or last,
fore,	former,	foremost or first,
old,	older or elder,	oldest or eldest.

EXERCISE I.

Name each adjective in the following sentences, state its degree, and give the word it modifies:—

1.	I never saw a brighter sky.
2.	It was a cruel and most unjust sentence.
3.	The shores of this lake are high and rocky.
4.	To-morrow’ll be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
	Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest, merriest day.—Tennyson.
5.	I sat and watched her many a day,
	When her eyes grew dim and her locks were gray.—Eliza Cook.
6.	Small service is true service while it lasts;
	Of friends, however humble, scorn not one.—Wordsworth.
7.	Look. She is sad to miss,
	Morning and night
	His—her dead father’s—kiss;
	Tries to be bright,
	Good to mamma, and sweet.
	That is all. “Marguerite.”—Dobson.

EXERCISE II.

Compare the following adjectives:—

near,	bad,	happy,	wise,	plain,
first,	grateful,	numerous,	brief,	lofty,
rapid,	fortunate,	far,	cloudy,	handsome,
sincere,	hind,	dreary,	pale,	extraordinary.

LESSON XXXIII.

Parse all the adjectives in the following sentences:

1.	Wisdom is more precious than rubies.
2.	This is a wonderful scene.
3.	Let my little story answer this question.
4.	It was lazy, idle work, lying in the tent all day long.
5.	All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
6.	From a shoal of richest rubies
	Breaks the morning clear and cold,
	And the angel on the village spire,
	Frost-touched, is bright as gold.—Aldrich.
7.	Every hour that fleets so slowly,
	Has its task to do or bear;
	Luminous the crown and holy,
	When each gem is set with care.—Adelaide Procter.

Model. These kind girls brought me some flowers.

These, a pronominal adjective; demonstrative; modifying the noun girls.

kind, a qualifying adjective; positive degree; (kind, kinder, kindest), modifying the noun girls.

some, a pronominal adjective; indefinite; modifying the noun flowers.

LESSON XXXIV.

CLASSES OF VERBS.

Name the verbs in the following sentences that express an action or feeling that goes out from the agent or doer to something else, and the verbs that express an action or feeling that does not go out to anything, but remains with the doer:—

1.	James broke his pencil.
2.	This boy found a knife.
3.	Our girls like literature.
4.	The sun shines brightly.
5.	The birds fly into the trees.
6.	The pupils feel cold.

A verb that expresses an action or feeling that goes out from the agent or doer to something else, is called a transitive verb; as, He wrote a letter. We love our friends.

A verb that expresses being, a state, or an action or feeling that does not go out to anything, but remains with the doer, is called an intransitive verb; as, He is here. She sleeps now. The wind blows from the north. This man feels sick.

EXERCISE I.

Classify the verbs in the following sentences:—

1.	My brother sold his knife.
2.	The boys play ball in the yard.
3.	He ran across the street.
4.	This little girl cut her hand.
5.	That tree is very tall.
6.	The window was broken by a stone.
7.	Many birds build their nests in trees.
8.	He told them of the river whose mighty current gave
	Its freshness for a hundred leagues to Ocean’s briny wave.—McGee.
9.	We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
	But we left him alone in his glory.—Charles Wolfe.
10.	I see the wealthy miller yet,
	His double chin, his portly size,
	And who that knew him could forget,
	The busy wrinkles round his eyes?—Tennyson.

EXERCISE II.

Note.—The same verb may be used either transitively or intransitively; as, I see the house. I see through this paper.

Some verbs have only an intransitive use because they do not express action; as, be, seem, appear, remain, become, etc.

1. Write sentences using the following words as transitive verbs:—

	make,	paper,	water,	sharpen,	ran,
	find,	paint,	reprove,	set,	study.

2. Write sentences using the following words as intransitive verbs:—

	ran,	sit,	was,	walks,	read,
	remain,	fall,	writes,	dreams,	move.

LESSON XXXV.

Point out each verb that is used by itself to make a complete statement, and each verb that is not used by itself to make a complete statement:—

1.	The boy sleeps.
2.	My task is done.
3.	This rose smells sweet.
4.	The girls are cold.

When a verb by itself makes a complete statement, it is called a verb of complete predication; as, Birds fly.

When a verb by itself does not make a complete statement, it is called a verb of incomplete predication; as, This man is a merchant.

EXERCISE.

Select the verbs of incomplete predication, and state the word or words that complete the predication:—

1.	This water is warm.
2.	He became a sailor.
3.	My brother studies in the evening.
4.	This man has been sick for a month.
5.	Some murmur when their sky is clear.—French.
6.	A soft answer turneth away wrath.—Bible.
7.	An idler is a watch that wants both hands.—Cowper.
8.	Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening’s close,
	Up yonder hill the village murmur rose.—Goldsmith.

English Grammar and Composition for Public Schools

About This Book

LESSON XXVII.

LESSON XXVIII.

LESSON XXIX.

LESSON XXX.

LESSON XXXI.

LESSON XXXII.

LESSON XXXIII.

LESSON XXXIV.

LESSON XXXV.