ENGLISH GRAMMAR

PART ONE

CHAPTER I

THE SENTENCE

1. Language is thought expressed in words.

In speaking or writing, however, we do not utter our thoughts in single words, but in groups of words which are so put together as to express connected ideas. Thus,—

Birds fly. Iron sinks.

Wood floats. Lions roar.

These are very simple groups, but each of them expresses a thought and is complete in itself.

2. If we study a longer passage, we see at once that itmay be broken up into a number of such groups, some largerand some smaller.Thus,一

The soldier awoke at break of day. | He sprang up from his hardcouch on the ground. | The drums were beating. | It was time to fallin for the day's march.

This passage falls into four of these groups, each standingby itself and expressing a single thought.Such groups of words are sentences of a very simple kind.3. A sentence is a group of words which expresses a completethought.

1 The simple declarative (or assertive) sentence is taken as the type.1

EXERCISE

Make a short statement about each of the persons andthings mentioned in the list below.Thus,一

Lions. Lions are found in Africa.Tree. A large tree grew in the square.

Each of your statements will be a sentence.

Ball, kite, top, doll, carriage, dogs, cats, schoolhouse, John, Mary,tigers, fisherman, carpenters, book, history, sugar, leather, vinegar,apples, plums, melon, salt, hay, catamount, newspaper.

CHAPTER IISUBJECT AND PREDICATE

4. Every sentence, however short, consists of two parts.

Fire | burns. Snow | is falling.

Water | freezes.

John | is captain.Philip | was king.

The king | reigns.

In each of these sentences we find-(1) a word or words designating the person or thing thatis spoken of (fire, water, the king, snow, John, Philip);(2) a word or words telling something about the person orthing (burns, freezes, reigns, is falling, is captain, was king).The first of these parts is called the subject of the sentence,and the second is called the predicate.

Accordingly, we have the following rules:--5. Every sentence consists of a subject and a predicate.

The subject of a sentence designates the person, place, or thingthat is spoken of; the predicate is that which is said of the subject.6. The subject usually precedes the predicate; but notalways. Thus,-Down came the rain. Away went the balloon.

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE 3

EXERCISE

In each of the following sentences, the subject and thepredicate are separated by a vertical line.

1. The fire | blazed.

2. The fire | blazed vigorously.

3. The great fire | burned furiously.

4. The dog | is very fierce.

5. The peacock | strutted over the lawn.

6. Pure water | is necessary to health.

7. Robert Fulton | invented the steamboat.

8. The book on the table | belongs to me.

9.We| rode ten miles before breakfast.

Divide each of the following sentences into subject andpredicate by means of a vertical line.Mention the subjectby itself, then the predicate.

1. The old clock ticked soberly.

2. The bird was hawking briskly after flies.

3. Rip now resumed his old walks and habits.

4. They silently slunk in.

5. The self-important man in the cocked hat restored order.

6. We had plenty of exercise and recreation after school hours.

7. Children love to listen to stories about their elders.

8. He thought of her often that morning.

9. The little carriage is creeping on at a mile an hour.

10. Countless mosquitoes droned overhead.

11. The steep slope was strewn with lopped branches.

12. Yells of rage and horror rose from the crowd.

13. The canoes of the islanders gradually approached our vessel.

14. My uncle Philip had always been a wanderer.

7. The exercise above is an exercise in analysis.

Analysis is a Greek word which means “ the act of break-ing up.” In grammar the term is applied to the “ breakingup" or separation of a sentence into its parts. To dissect asentence in this way is to analyze it.

CHAPTER III

SUBSTANTIVES (NOUNS AND PRONOUNS)

8. In order to express our thoughts in sentences, we must,as the saying is, “ call things by their right names." One ofthe first duties of language, therefore, is that of naming per-sons and things.

In the following passage the italicized words are the namesof various objects.Such words are called nouns.

A little cottage stood in the valley, close to the bank: of the river.Smoke rose lazily from the chimney. A young girl sat on the doorstep.A big dog lay at her feet, dozing.Bees were humming in the garden.

The word noun is derived from the French word for “ name.”

9. A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.

Examples : Charles, Mary, man, woman, boy, girl, horse, cow, cat, camel, city, town, village, kitchen, shop, Chicago, Texas, California, house, box, stable, car, boat, curtain, hatchet.

Use each of the nouns in the list above in a sentence.

Thus, —-

Charles | skates uncommonly well.

The frightened cow | jumped over the stone wall.

In each of your sentences separate the subject from thepredicate by a vertical line.

10. The English word “ thing ” is not used only of objects that we can see, hear, taste, or touch. We may say, for example: —

Patriotism is a good thing.

Cowardice is a contemptible thing.

I wish there were no such thins: as sorrow.

Such words as patriotism, cowardice, and sorrow, then, come under the general heading of names of things, and are therefore nouns.

11. When a name consists of a number of words, thewhole group may be regarded as a single noun. Thus,-Charles Allen is my brother.

William Shakspere is the author of “ Hamlet.”

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ”was written by Samuel TaylorColeridge.

North America is connected with South America by the Isthmus of Panama,

12. In expressing our thoughts in sentences we oftenneed to mention a person, place, or thing without namingit. Thus,一John found a ball on the ground. He picked it up and put it inhis pocket.

Here John and the ball are mentioned at the outset, but we do not wish to keep repeating the nouns John and ball.Hence we use he and his to designate John, and it to desig-nate the ball. These words are not nouns, for they do notname anything.They are called pronouns, because they standin the place of nouns (pro being a Latin word for “instead of ”).

13. A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

It designates a person, place, or thing without naming it.

14. In the first of the two sentences in the example in § 12, the subject is the noun John. In the second, the subject is the pronoun he. So in each of the following sentences, the subject is a pronoun : —

I | left home last Friday.

You | asked me to lend you a book.

We | never worked so hard before.

They | fell out of the boat

Some of the most important pronouns are I, my, me, we,our, us, you, he, his, him, she, her, it, its, they, their, them.

15. Nouns and pronouns are called substantives.

EXERCISES

I

In the following sentences pick out what nouns and pro-nouns you can find.

When you can, tell what noun is replaced by each pronoun.

1. Bassanio took the ring and vowed never to part with it.

2. The foor of their cave was dry and level, and had a sort ofsmall loose gravel upon it.

3. Goneril, the elder, declared that she loved her father morethan words could express, and that he was dearer to her than thelight of her own eyes.

4. Having now brought all my things on shore, and securedthem, I went back to my boat, and rowed or paddled her along theshore to her old harbor, where I laid her up.

5. Tom declared it was of no use to work on his farm ; it was

the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; every-thing about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him.6. When Portia parted with her husband, she spoke cheeringlyto him, and bade him bring his dear friend along with him whenhe returned.

7. Drake with his one ship and eighty men held boldly on; and,passing the Straits of Magellan, untraversed as yet by any English-man, swept the unguarded coast of Chile and Peru, and loaded hisbark with gold-dust and silver-ingots of Potosi, and with the pearls,emeralds, and diamonds which formed the cargo of the great galleonthat sailed once a year from Lima to Cadiz.

8. In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which,to tell the precise truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten),there lived many years since, while the country was yet a provinceof Great Britain, a simple, good-natured fellow, of the name of RipVan Winkle. He was a descendant of the Van Winkles who figuredso gallantly in the chivalrous days of Peter Stuyvesant and accom-panied him to the siege of Fort Christina.

9. An inhabitant of Truro told me that about a fortnight afterthe St. John was wrecked at Cohasset, he found two bodies on theshore at the Clay Pounds.

CHAPTER IV VERBS AND VERB-PHRASES

16. In order to express our thoughts, we must be able notonly to name objects but also to make statements,--that is,to assert.

17. Examine the following sentences :一

Birds fly. Fishes swim.

The boy played ball well.

The predicate of each of these sentences contains a word (fly, swim, played) which expresses action.Thus, fly expressesthe action of the birds; swim, that of the fishes; played,that of the boy.

But these thre words (fly, swim, and played) not only

express action, they also state or assert the action. Thus, inthe sentence “ Birds fly,” it is the word fly which makes theassertion that the birds act in a certain way.

Such words are called verbs.

18. A verb is a word which asserts.1

No sentence can be made without a verb.

In each of the following sentences pick out the wordwhich states or asserts some act:--The travellers climb the mountain.Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.The snow fell in great flakes all day long.The tiger sprang out of the jungle.The whale seized the boat in his jaws.

1 This is the usual brief definition of the verb. It is not strictly accurate,however, for it applies only to verbs in declarative sentences and does notcover the participle and the infinitive.A more accurate definition is:-A verbis a word which can assert something (usually an action) concerning a person,place, or thing.

19. Most verbs express action. Some, however, merely expressstate or condition.Thus,一

I feel sorry.

You lack energy.

This lake abounds in fish.

The soldier lay dead on the battlefield.

20. More than a single word may be needed to make anassertion.

Thus,-

The child is crying.

I shall fall.Our friends will wait.

Thomas can swim.

The work must be finished.

Ten men have been killed.

The train must have been delayed.

In the first of these sentences the assertion is made bymeans of the verb-phrase is crying; in the second it is theverb-phrase shall fall that asserts, and so on.

Each of these verb-phrases is formed by combining is, shall,will, can, etc., with some word that expresses action,--cry-ing, fall, wait, swim, etc.

21. A verb-phrase is a group of words that is used as a verb.

22. Is (are, was, were, etc.), shall, will, may, can, must,might, could, would, should, have, had, do, did, are often usedin verb-phrases.

EXERCISES

In each of the following sentences pick out all the verbsand verb-phrases that you can find.

Divide each sentence into subject and predicate by meansof a vertical line.

1. The wind is blowing.

2. A brook runs across the road.

3. My barn was struck by lightning.

4. The dogs do bark.

5. Patience will work wonders.

6. That rock weighs a ton.

7. That lesson must be learned.

8. You might give me your help.

9. Cheerfulness throws sunlight on all the paths of life.

10. The canoe was drifting down the river.

11. A new hope filled men's minds.

12. John can speak French.

13. A bear had been caught in the trap.

14. I may have made a mistake.

15.Major André was sentenced to death.

16. We should have been delighted at the news.

17. Iron will float in mercury.

18.A storm had risen on the lake.

19. Perseverance will overcome all difficulties.

20. The sledge was drawn by dogs.

21. The gas exploded in the cellar.

22. The girl's eyes sparkled with delight.

23. A sleeping fox catches no poultry.

CHAPTER V

COMPLETE AND SIMPLE SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

23. Divide the following sentence into subject and predicateby means of a vertical line :--The old chief of the Mohawks | fought desperately.

The complete subject is the old chief of the Mohawks, andthe complete predicate isfought desperately.

The most important word in the subject is the noun chief;

the most important word in the predicate is the verb fought.If we omit old, the sentence still makes sense.So we mayomit of the Mohawks, or desperately, without destroying thesentence. But if we omit either chief or fought, the remain-ing words no longer make any statement.

The old A of the Mohawks | fought desperately; — or

The old chief of the Mohawks | A desperately,

would be nonsense, for it would not express a thought.In this sentence, then, a single noun, chief, names the per-son concerning whom the assertion is made, and a singleverb, fought, declares or asserts the action.

The noun chief is therefore called the simple subject, andthe verb fought is called the simple predicate.

The other words which go to make up the complete sub-ject -- the, old, and of the Mohawks --define more exactlythe meaning of the simple subject chief. The noun chief byitself may refer to any chief; but the old chief is more defi-nite, and the old chief of the Mohawks is a very definite per-son indeed.

Similarly the meaning of the simple predicate, the verbfought, is further explained by the word desperately (tellinghow he fought).

24. The simple subject may be a pronoun : as,一

I | fell into the river.

We | walked ten miles yesterday.

He | lives in San Francisco.

It | lay upon the table.

They | escaped from the burning house.

25. The simple predicate may be a verb-phrase. Thus, —

Fire | will burn. John ] is running.

You | may go. Thomas | has found your hat.

The horseman | was riding through the woods.

The burglar | might have been caught without difficulty.

26. The simple subject of a sentence is a noun or pronoun.The simple predicate of a sentence is a verb or verb-phrase.The simple subject, with such words as explain or complete its meaning, forms the complete subject.

The simple predicate, with such words as explain or completeits meaning, forms the complete predicate.

27. In this book the simple subject and the simple predicate

will generally be called the subject and the predicate.Whenthe whole or complete subject or predicate is referred to, theterms complete subject and complete predicate will be used.

28. In each of the following sentences the complete subjectand the complete predicate are separated by a vertical line, andthe simple subject and the simple predicate are printed in smallcapitals:一

Vast meadows | stretched to the eastward.

The farmer of Grand Pre | lived on his sunny farm.

The rude forefathers of the hamlet | sleep.

Each horseman | drew his battle-blade.

A large crop of weeds | grew in the neglected garden.

The old doctor | was sitting in his arm-chair.

The clock | has struck the hour of midnight.

The banks of the river | were marked with the tracks of deer.

The angry king | had threatened the general with death

EXERCISES

I

By means of a vertical line divide each sentence into itscomplete subject and complete predicate.Analyze each sentence by mentioning (1) the complete sub-ject and the complete predicate, (2) the simple subject (nounor pronoun) and the simple predicate (verb or verb-phrase).

1. The clock in the belfry struck.

2. Ten thousand warblers cheer the day.

3. Thou climbest the mountain-top.

4. The river glideth at his own sweet will.

5. The rings of iron sent out a jarring sound.

6. The bolted gates flew open at the blast.

7. The streets ring with shouts.

8. The courser pawed the ground with restless feet.

9. Envy never dwells in noble hearts.

10. His whole frame was trembling.

11. Solitude has many a dreary hour.

CHAPTER VI

THE COPULA “IS”

29.One peculiar verb which we often use in making sen-tences has so little meaning in itself that we might easilyfail to recognize it as a verb at all.

This is the verb is (in its different forms), as seen in thefollowing sentences:--I am your friend. Tom was tired.The road is rough. You were merry.The soldiers were brave.

These apples are mellow.

In all these examples the verb-forms am, is, are, was, were,do not in themselves tell us anything about the subject. Themeaning of the predicate is really contained in the words thatfollow the verb (your friend, rough, mellow, etc.).

Yet if we omit the verb, we no longer have sentences:一

I your friend. Tomtired.The road rough. You n merry.These apples mellow.

The soldiersbrave.

30. The verb is, then, does two things :一

(1) It asserts, or makes the statement (for, omitting it, wehave no statement);

(2) It connects the subject with the word or words in thecomplete predicate that have a distinct meaning.Hence the verb is (in its various forms) is called the copula,that is, the “ joiner ”or “link.”

31. The forms of the verb is are very irregular.They willbe more fully studied in later chapters.

Meantime we should recognize am, is, are, was, were, asforms of this verb, and has been, have been, had been, shall be,and will be, as verb-phrases belonging to it.

32. In sentences like those in § 29, the simple predicatesare the verbs am, is, are, etc.133. The verb is (in its various forms) is not always amere copula. It is sometimes emphatic and has the sense ofexist. Thus,-I think. Therefore I am. [That is, I exist.]

Whatever is, is right. [That is, Whatever exists.]

Find the copula. Tell what it connects.

1. The stranger is an Austrian.

2. Your friends will be glad to see you.

3. We shall be too tired to walk home.

4. Seals are amphibious animals.

5. I am an American citizen.

6. The streets were wet and muddy.

7. Platinum is a very heavy metal.

8. Washington had been an officer under Braddock.

9. The Indians on Cape Cod were friendly.

10. We have been careless.

11. Sidney Lanier was a native of Georgia.

1 Many grammarians regard is and the noun or adjective that follows it(is rough, are mellow, etc.) as the simple predicate; but the nomenclaturehere adopted is equally scientific and more convenient.

CHAPTER VII

KINDS OF SENTENCES

34. All the sentences that we have so far studied are de-clarative sentences; that is, they declare or assert something.35. A declarative sentence declares or asserts something as a fact.

John is at home.

My boat won the race.

The President lives in the White House.

36. But we do not use language merely to make statements.We often ask questions, give orders or make requests, andexpress our feelings in exclamations.

37. An interrogative sentence asks a question.

Is John at home ?

Who was the winner?

Where is my football ?

Did the boy break the window ?

38. An imperative sentence expresses a command or a request.

Come with me.

March forward.

Drive the dog out.

Sharpen my pencil for me.

Fill your mind with good thoughts.

The only difference between a command and a requestconsists in the tone of voice in which the sentence is spoken.

39. An exclamatory sentence expresses surprise, grief, or someother emotion in the form of an exclamation or cry.