XV. INTERJECTIONS
51. There are certain words like oh, alas, pshaw, ugh, that are used to express strong feeling,—joy, surprise, pain, disgust, anger, etc. These words are called interjections. An interjection is a part of speech.
52. Interjections are no part of the subject or the predicate of a sentence; hence, like terms of address, they are said to be independent. They are set off from the rest of the sentence by some mark of punctuation, usually an exclamation point, sometimes only a comma.
53. We may use a noun or a verb in such a way that it becomes an interjection; as, “Goodness! what a fright you gave me!” “Hurrah! the lake is frozen over!” Such a verb as hark is often used as an interjection, not to express sudden feeling so much as to arrest attention; as, “Hark! hark! the dogs do bark.”
54. The interjection O is often used before a term of address; as, “O Lord, how manifold are thy works!”
Summary.—An interjection is a word used to express sudden or strong feeling.
Exercise.—Select all the interjections in the following sentences, and tell what each one is used for:—
1. Boom! Boom!—two of the guns had gone off together.
2. Alas! Amanda, by mistake, had waked up the little boys an hour too early.
3. Bah! men are blood brothers of the monkey people.
4. Hallelujah! in one day more we shall be sitting in the sunshine on our own doorstep.
5.
O mother dear, Jerusalem,When shall I come to thee?6. Ping! ping! ping! went the rifles; and Boom! boom! boom! answered the waves.
7. Aha! the world is iron in these days.
8. Alas! it was the head of old Silverspot.
9. Scrooge said, “Pooh! Pooh!” and closed the door.
10. Hark! hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings.
11. Alack-a-day! travelers encounter all the unusual bits of weather.
12. Hey! Willie Winkie, are you coming then?
13. O comrades, if we must fight, let us fight for ourselves.
14. Hush! the winds roar hoarse and deep.
15. Lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was.
16. Piff! the packet landed exactly as it was intended, on the corn-husk mat in front of the screen door.
17. Oh, London is a man’s town.