Higher Lessons in English Part 60

+Examples+.--They made him _speaker_. He made it _all_ it is.

A noun or p.r.o.noun used as attribute complement of a participle or an infinitive is in the same case (_Nom._ or _Obj._) as the word to which it relates as attribute.

+Examples+.--Being an _artist_, _he_ appreciated it. I proved _it_ to be _him_.

+Remark+.--When the a.s.sumed subject of the participle or the infinitive is a possessive, the attribute complement is said to be in the nominative case; as, Its _being he_ [Footnote: The case of _he_ in these examples is rather doubtful. The nominative and the objective forms of the p.r.o.noun occur so rarely in such constructions that it seems impossible to determine the usage. It is therefore a matter of no great practical importance.

Some, reasoning from the a.n.a.logy of the Latin, would put the attribute complement of the abstract infinitive in the objective, supposing _for_ and some other word to be understood; as, _For one to be him_, etc. Others, reasoning from the German, to which our language is closely allied, would put this complement in the nominative.

The a.s.sumed subject of the infinitive being omitted when it is the same in sense as the princ.i.p.al subject, _him_, in the sentence _I wish_ (_me_ or _myself_) _to be him_, is the proper form, being in the same case as _me_.]

should make no difference. When the participle or the infinitive is used abstractly, without an a.s.sumed subject, its attribute complement is also said to be in the nominative case; as, To _be he_ [Footnote: See footnote above.] is to be a scholar; _Being_ a _scholar_ is not _being_ an _idler_.

+Direction+.--_Study carefully the Definitions and the Remark above, and then compose sentences in which a noun or a p.r.o.noun shall be put in the nominative case in four ways; in the objective in five ways; in the possessive in two ways_.

LESSON 120.

a.n.a.lYSIS AND PARSING.

+Direction.+--_a.n.a.lyze the following sentences, and give the case of each noun and p.r.o.noun:_--

1. Not to know what happened before we were born is to be always a child.

2. His being a Roman saved him from being made a prisoner.

3. I am this day weak, though anointed king.

+Explanation.+--Nouns used adverbially are in the objective case because equivalent to the princ.i.p.al word of a prepositional phrase. (See Lesson 35.)

4. What made Cromwell a great man was his unshaken reliance on G.o.d.

5. Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, was not a prophet's son.

6. Arnold's success as teacher was remarkable.

+Explanation.+--_Teacher_, introduced by _as_ and used without a possessive sign, is explanatory of _Arnold's_.

7. Worship thy Creator, G.o.d; and obey his Son, the Master, King, and Saviour of men.

8. Bear ye one another's [Footnote: For the use of _one another_, see Lesson 124.] burdens.

+Explanation.+--The singular _one_ is explanatory of the plural _ye_, or _one another's_ may be treated as a compound.

9. What art thou, execrable shape, that darest advance?

10. O you hard hearts! you cruel men of Rome!

11. Everybody acknowledges Shakespeare to be the greatest of dramatists.

12. Think'st thou this heart could feel a moment's joy, thou being absent?

13. Our great forefathers had left him naught to conquer but his country.

(For the case of _him_ see explanation of (3) above.)

14. I will attend to it myself.

+Explanation+.--_Myself_ may be treated as explanatory of _I_.

15. This news of papa's puts me all in a flutter. [Footnote: See second foot-note, page 247.]

16. What means that hand upon that breast of thine? [Footnote: See second foot-note, page 247.]

LESSON 121.

PARSING.

+TO THE TEACHER+.--We do not believe that the chief end of the study of grammar Is to be able to pa.r.s.e well, or even to a.n.a.lyze well, though without question a.n.a.lysis reveals more clearly than parsing the structure of the sentence, and is immeasurably superior to it as intellectual gymnastics. We would not do away with parsing altogether, but would give it a subordinate place.

But we must be allowed an emphatic protest against the needless and mechanical quoting, in parsing, of "Rules of Syntax." When a pupil has said that such a noun is in the nominative case, subject of such a verb, what is gained by a repet.i.tion of the definition in the Rule: "A noun or a p.r.o.noun which is the subject of a finite verb is in the nominative case"? Let the reasons for the disposition of words, when given at all, be specific.

+Parsing+--a word is giving its cla.s.sification, its modifications, and its syntax, _i.e._, its relation to other words.

+Direction+.--_Select and pa.r.s.e in full all the nouns and p.r.o.nouns found in the first ten sentences of Lesson_ 120. _For the agreement of p.r.o.nouns, see Lesson_ 142.

+Model for Written Parsing+.--_Elizabeth's favorite, Raleigh, was beheaded by James I_.

CLa.s.sIFICATION. | MODIFICATIONS. | SYNTAX.

-----------------|-----------------------|------------------------------ |_Per- Num- Gen-_ | _Nouns. Kind_.|_son. ber. der. Case_.| -----------------|-----------------------|------------------------------ Elizabeth's Prop.| 3d Sing. Fem. Pos. | Mod. of _favorite_.

favorite Com. | 3d Sing. Mas. Nom. | Sub. of _was beheaded_.

Raleigh Prop.| 3d Sing. Mas. Nom. | Expl. Mod. of _favorite_.

James I. Prop.| 3d Sing. Mas. Obj. | Prin. word of Prep. phrase.

TO THE TEACHER.--For exercises in parsing nouns and p.r.o.nouns, see Lessons 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 44, 46, 59, 60, 71, 73, 78, 80, and 81. Other exercises may be selected from examples previously given for a.n.a.lysis, and parsing continued as long as you think it profitable.

LESSON 122.

CASE FORMS--NOUNS.

Nouns have two case forms, the simple form, common to the nominative and the objective case, and the possessive form.

+RULE.--The _Possessive Case_ of nouns is formed in the singular by adding to the nominative the apostrophe and the letter _s_ (_'s_); in the plural by adding (_'_) only. If the plural does not end in _s_, (_'s_) are both added. [Footnote: In Anglo-Saxon, _es_ was a genitive (possessive) ending of the singular; as, _sta:n_, genitive _sta:n-es_. In old English, _es_ and _is_ were both used. In modern English, the vowel is generally dropped, and (') stands in its place. The use of the apostrophe has been extended to distinguish the possessive from other forms of the plural.

Some have said that our possessive ending is a remnant of the p.r.o.noun _his_. Phrases like, "Mars _his_ sword," "The Prince _his_ Players," "King Lewis _his_ satisfaction" are abundant in Early, and in Middle, English.

But it has been proved that the _his_ in such expressions is an error that gained its wide currency largely through the confusion of early English orthography.

Professor Hadley has clearly shown that the Saxon termination has never dropped out of the language, but exists in the English possessive ending to-day.]

+Examples+.--_Boy's, boys', men's_.

+Remark+.--To avoid an unpleasant succession of hissing sounds, the _s_ in the possessive singular is sometimes omitted; as, _conscience' sake_, _goodness' sake_, _Achilles' sword_, _Archimedes' screw_ (the _s_ in the words following the possessive here having its influence). In prose this omission of the _s_ should seldom occur. The weight of usage inclines to the use of _s_ in such names as _Miss Rounds's_, _Mrs. Hemans's_, _King James's_, _witness's_, _prince's_. Without the _s_ there would be no distinction, in spoken language, between _Miss Round's_ and _Miss Rounds'_, _Mrs. Heman's_ and _Mrs. Hemans'_.

+Remark+.--p.r.o.nounce the ('_s_) as a separate syllable (= _es_) when the sound of _s_ will not unite with the last sound of the nominative.