The leaf

dark smoke rises in the air from the tall chimney.
fell from the tree to the ground. The night is dark with clouds.
He rides on his horse. A hot fire of coals is burning. The dogs
barked loudly in the distant village. A clock of wood ticked on
the wall. The clouds are heavy with rain. Ice melts soon in
the heat of the fire. The happy children of our teacher sing
sweetly enough from their book of hymns. The winds of winter
are cold.

V. With conjunctions: §§ 47-48.

In writing out and dividing into subject and predicate such sentences as are connected by conjunctions, the dividing lines of the two (or more) sentences may be set one above the other, and the conjunction between them: thus,

we laughed loudly,

but

they were silent.

the bright stars | twinkle

when

the sky is clear.

till

I went to school and she stayed at home. The dog barked at the boy, and he ran away. They listened with attention while I spoke to them. The day is warm if the sun shines. He sang he v was hoarse and we were tired. The smoke /rises in the air because it is light. The boy went to the playground when the bell rang. He and I go to school together. lies on the high hills and in the deep valleys. road, but we walk through the fields.

The white snow
You ride on the

Scholars should be made to form, by themselves or under the direction of the teacher, many illustrative sentences of the same kind as those given here. Especially, they should be practised in making a bare sentence of two words as a starting-point, and filling it out by adding other parts of speech to its subject and predicate, defining the character and purpose of each addition as made. VI. Miscellaneous examples on the chapter.

In order that the sentences may be properly divided into subject and predicate, they should, if necessary, be re-arranged, the words being put into the more usual order. Thus:

The glimmering landscape | fades now on the sight;

Tumult and affright was by the yellow Tiber.

The borrower is servant to the lender.
Procrastination is the thief of time.
Grace was in all her steps.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

No work is a disgrace; the true disgrace is idleness.

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. The child is father to the man.

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight.

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

By the yellow Tiber was tumult and affright.

Industry is the road to wealth.

Above it stood the seraphs.

The morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted

for joy.

We silently gazed on the face of the dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

Soft and pale is the moony beam,
Moveless still is the glassy stream;
The wave is clear; the beach is bright
With snowy shells and sparkling stones;
The shore-surge comes in ripples light.
An hour passed on; the Turk awoke;
That bright dream was his last.

The way was long; the wind was cold;
The minstrel was infirm and old.

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF

CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER III.

INFLECTION.

56. We have learned now to distinguish the parts of speech, according to the different ways in which they are used when we put words together to make a sentence.

Next we have to notice certain changes of form which some of them undergo, according to differences in their meaning, or differences in the connection in which they are used.

57. Let us take as examples the little sentences:

Here man and horse are nouns (32), and I and he are pronouns (34), and each noun has before it an article (52); and each noun or pronoun is the subject (27) of the sentence in which it is used. And learns, runs, go, was are verbs (29), and each is the predicate (27) in its own sentence.

Now every one of these words may change its form a little, in order to mean something a little different from what it now means.

58. Thus, if we want to speak not of one man only, but of more than one, we alter the sound of it (and hence also the spelling), and say men.

If we want to speak of more than one horse, we add another syllable, ending with s, and say horses.

If, instead of myself alone, I speak of a number of persons of whom I am one, I change I to we, and say we go. And in the same way we change he to they.

Here, then, is a set of changes in the form of nouns and pronouns, made in order to show a difference in the number of objects meant, whether a single one or more than one. Hence we call it a change for NUMBER; and we say that man, horse, I, and he are of the SINGULAR number (singular means 'single'), and that men, horses, we, and they are of the PLURAL number (plural comes from the Latin word plus, 'more,' and so means 'more than one').

What is true of these nouns and pronouns is true also of nearly all the rest; we do not use precisely the same word when we mean one and when we mean more than one. Other examples are

book, books; mind, minds; eye, eyes; beauty, beauties; ox, oxen; foot, feet; mouse, mice; she or it, they;

this, these; that, those.

That is to say, our nouns and pronouns in general have two number-forms, one singular and the other plural.

59. But if in these little sentences we use the plural forms as subjects instead of the singular, we cannot always use the same forms of the verb as predicates: thus, compare

the man learns;

the horse runs;

he was;

the men learn;

the horses run;
they were;

although, in the other case, we say both

I go

and we go.

This change in the verb, when it is made, does not, it is true, show a difference of meaning in the same sense as the change in the noun; for we cannot really say that the act of learning or running, or the condition of being, is in itself different according as one person or thing, or more than one, take part in it. The change is, rather, a mere consequence of the change of meaning We have sometimes (not by any means always)

of the nouns.

different forms of our verbs, one of which we are accustomed to use along with a singular subject, and another along with a plural subject. It would be just as much a violation of good English usage to say

and the like, as to use man and he and I when we mean more than one person, or men and they and we when we mean only

one.

60. We say, therefore, that the verb also has sometimes two forms, one for use with a subject that is singular, and the other for use with a subject that is plural; and these forms we call the singular and plural number-forms of the verb itself.

And, as the distinction of their use does not depend on anything in the meaning of the verb itself, but only on the character of the subject, we speak of the subject, whether noun or pronoun, as directing or GOVERNING in the matter; the subject being given, the verb is compelled to AGREE with it in respect to number.

These words, GOVERNMENT and AGREEMENT, are much used in grammar, and this is their simple meaning.

There is yet another matter in relation to which they have to be used about the verb and its subject.

61. If we use as subjects the three pronouns, I, thou, he (or she or it), the verb used along with each is generally different: thus,

Here, again, there is nothing changed in the action of learning signified by the verb; the real change is only in the character of its subject. I is always used by a person speaking, to signify himself; thou, to signify the person to