Graded Lessons in English Part 5

1. Napoleon was banished.

2. Andre was captured.

3. Money is circulated.

4. Columbus was imprisoned.

5. Acorns are sprouting.

6. Bells are tolled.

7. Summer has come.

8. Sentences may be a.n.a.lyzed.

9. Clouds are reddening.

10. Air may be weighed.

11. Jehovah shall reign.

12. Corn is planted.

13. Grammarians will differ.

14. Snow is falling.

15. Leaves are rustling.

16. Children will prattle.

17. Crickets are chirping.

18. Eclipses have been foretold.

19. Storms may abate.

20. Deception may have been practiced.

21. Esau was hated.

22. Treason should have been punished.

23. Bees are humming.

24. Sodom might have been spared.

LESSON 12.

SENTENCE-BUILDING.

+To the Teacher+.--Continue oral and written exercises in agreement. See Notes, pp. 163,164.

Prefix the little helping words in the _second column_ to such of the more important words in the _third column_ as with them will make complete predicates, and join these predicates to all subjects in the _first column_ with which they will unite to make good sense.

1 | 2 | 3 -------------|-----------------|------------ Burgoyne | are | woven.

Henry Hudson | was | defeated.

Sparrows | can be | condensed.

Comets | is | inhaled.

Time | have been | worn.

Turbans | may be | slacked.

Lime | has been | wasted.

Steam | could have been | seen.

Air | must have been | deceived.

Carpets | were | quarreling.

LESSON 13.

Point out the _subject_ and the predicate of each sentence in Lessons 28, 31, 34.

Look first for the word that a.s.serts, and then, by putting _who_ or _what_ before this _predicate_, the _subject_ may easily be found.

+To the Teacher+.--Most violations of the rules of concord come from a failure to recognize the relation of subject and predicate when these parts are transposed or are separated by other words. Such constructions should therefore receive special attention. See Notes, pp. 164, 165.

Introduce the cla.s.s to the Parts of Speech before the close of this recitation. See "Hints for Oral Instruction."

See "Suggestions for COMPOSITION EXERCISES," p. 8, last paragraph.

LESSON 14.

CLa.s.sES OF WORDS.

+Hints for Oral Instruction+.--By the a.s.sistance of the few hints here given, the ingenious teacher may render this usually dry subject interesting and highly attractive. By questioning the pupil as to what he has seen and heard, his interest may be excited and his curiosity awakened.

Suppose that we make an imaginary excursion to some pleasant field or grove, where we may study the habits, the plumage, and the songs of the little birds.

If we attempt to make the acquaintance of every little feathered singer we meet, we shall never get to the end of our pleasant task: but we find that some resemble one another in size, shape, color, habits, and song. These we a.s.sociate together and call them sparrows.

We find others differing essentially from the sparrows, but resembling one another. These we call robins.

We thus find that, although we were unable to become acquainted with each _individual_ bird, they all belong to a few _cla.s.ses_, with which we may soon become familiar.

It is so with the words of our language. There are many thousand words, all of which belong to eight cla.s.ses.

These cla.s.ses of words are called +Parts of Speech+.

We cla.s.sify birds according to their form, color, etc., but we group words into _cla.s.ses_, called +Parts of Speech+, with respect to their use in the _sentence_.

We find that many words are names. These we put in one cla.s.s and call them +Nouns+.

Each pupil may give the name of something in the room; the name of a distinguished person; a name that may be applied to a cla.s.s of persons; the name of an animal; the name of a place: the name of a river; the name of a mountain; the name of something which we cannot see or touch, but of which we can think; as, _beauty_, _mind_.

Remind the pupils frequently that these _names_ are all _nouns_.

NOUNS.

+DEFINITION.--A _Noun_ is the name of anything+.

Write in columns, headed _nouns_, the names of domestic animals, of garden vegetables, of flowers, of trees, of articles sold in a dry goods store, and of things that cannot be seen or touched; as, _virtue_, _time_, _life_.

Write and arrange, according to the following model, the names of things that can _float_, _fly_, _walk_, _work_, _sit_, or _sing_.

_Nouns_.