PART I

ELEMENTS OF SYNTAX AND ETYMOLOGY

VIII. SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

What is the subject of the narrative on page 13? What is the subject of the first sentence in that narrative?

Chalk is white.

What is the subject of this sentence?

The subject is that of which something is affirmed.

What is the quality affirmed of "chalk"? Write a sentence affirming some other quality of chalk.

Iron is a metal.

What is the subject? What is affirmed of "iron "? "Metal" denotes, not a quality, but a class or kind. Write a sentence affirming a class of the subject "horses."

"White," which is affirmed of the subject "chalk," and "metal,” which is affirmed of the subject "iron," are called predicates.

The predicate is that which is affirmed of the subject.

Affirm qualities of the following subjects : —

Iron, gold, silver, lead, ink, cork, sugar, vinegar, grass, books, lessons.

Ex. "Iron is heavy."

Affirm the following qualities of appropriate subjects:

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Transparent, hard, round, square, good, bad, bitter, heavy, rough, smooth, red, yellow, green.

Ex. —“ Glass is transparent.”

Affirm class of the following subjects : —

Horses, oxen, coal, wood, hay, oats, wheat, ax, hoe, locomotive, dogs, sheep, copper, gold, apples, trees, wagons, houses.

Affirm qualities of the same subjects.

Point out the subject and the predicate in each sentence which you write.

MODEL.-Wheat is a vegetable.

"Wheat" is the subject.

"A vegetable" is the predicate.

IX. COMPOSITION

THE LAUNCHING OF THE SHIP

¶All is finished! and at length

Has come the bridal day

Of beauty and of strength.

To-day the vessel shall be launched!

With fleecy clouds the sky is blanched,
And o'er the bay,

Slowly in all his splendors dight,

The great sun rises to behold the sight.

The ocean old,

Centuries old,

Strong as youth, and as uncontrolled,

Paces restless to and fro,

Up and down the sands of gold.

His beating heart is not at rest;

And far and wide,

With ceaseless flow,

His beard of snow

Heaves with the heaving of his breast.

He waits, impatient, for his bride.
There she stands,

With her foot upon the sands,

Decked with flags and streamers gay,

In honor of her marriage day,

Her snow-white signals, fluttering, blending,

Round her like a veil descending,

Ready to be

The bride of the gray old sea.

¶Then the master,

With a gesture of command,

Waved his hand;

And at the word,

Loud and sudden there was heard,

All around them and below,

The sound of hammers, blow on blow,

Knocking away the shores and spurs.

And see! she stirs !

She starts, she moves,

- she seems to feel

The thrill of life along her keel,

And, spurning with her foot the ground,

With one exulting, joyous bound

She leaps into the ocean's arms!— H. W. LONGFELLOW.

This narrative, which is a part of Longfellow's poem "The Building of the Ship," tells how a ship is launched as if it were the wedding of the ship to the ocean.

The first four lines tell that the wedding day has come.

The next four lines tell about the chief spectator.

The next eleven lines tell of the impatience of the groom.

COMPOSITION

The third stanza describes the bride.

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The first eight lines of the fourth stanza tell what the wedding ceremony is.

What word is used in each of these sentences to unite the predicate to the subject?

"Is" is called the copula.

The copula is a word or a group of words used to join a predicate to a subject, and thus to make an assertion.

Select the copula from each of the sentences which you wrote in Lesson VIII, and tell its office.

MODEL.-Wheat is a vegetable.

"Is" is the copula, for it unites the predicate "a vegetable" to the subject "wheat."

XI. COMPOSITION

Write a narrative on "The Battle between the Waves and the Cliffs," according to the following topics:

I. Reason for the struggle.

2. Preparation of defenders.

3. Preparation of assailants.

4. Spectators.

5. Attack.

6. Defense.

7. Battle.

8. Result.

Save this composition for use in analysis and parsing.

ADV. GRAM. - 2

XII. THE DIRECT PREDICATE

Horses run.

In this sentence what is the subject? What is the predicate? Is

there any copula?

The predicate "run" is affirmed directly of the subject without the use of the copula. The copula and predicate are united in one word; 'for "Horses run 99 means the same as Horses are running.”

Express a thought about each of the following subjects, first by means of a predicate united to the subject by a copula, and then by a predicate affirmed directly of the subject.

Boys, dogs, flies, birds, snow, wind, men, lessons, flags, water.

XIII. COMPOSITION

Make an outline and write a composition upon the narrative subject, "The Mission of a Benevolent Cloud."

XIV. THE PROPOSITION AND THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

Express a thought about roses by means of a copula and a predicate. Express a thought about the sun by means of a direct predicate.

A proposition is a thought expressed in words.

Find the first sentence in the narrative on page 13. How many propositions does it contain? How many propositions does the third sentence contain? The eighth sentence? The second sentence? What is a sentence?

A sentence may consist of one proposition or of several propositions.

Write in order the propositions contained in the first sentence of the narrative on page 13.

A simple sentence consists of a single proposition.

Ex. "Flowers bloom." "Who is he?" "Tread lightly." "How glad I am!"