Higher Lessons in English - Part 15
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Part 15

5. I feel tolerable well.

6. She looks beautifully.

+Direction+.--_Join to each of the nouns below three appropriate adjectives expressing the qualities as a.s.sumed, and then make complete sentences by a.s.serting these qualities_:--

+Model.+ Hard | brittle + gla.s.s.

transparent |

Gla.s.s is hard, brittle, and transparent.

Coal, iron, Niagara Falls, flowers, war, ships.

+Direction+.--_Compose sentences containing these nouns as attribute complements_:--

Emperor, mathematician, Longfellow, Richmond.

+Direction+.--_Compose sentences, using these verbs as predicates, and these p.r.o.nouns as attribute complements_:--

Is, was, might have been; I, we, he, she, they.

+Remark+.--Notice that these forms of the p.r.o.nouns--_I, we, thou, he, she, ye, they_, and _who_--are never used as object complements or as princ.i.p.al words in prepositional phrases; and that _me, us, thee, him, her, them_, and _whom_ are never used as subjects or as attribute complements of sentences.

+Direction+.--_Compose sentences in which each of the following verbs shall have two complements--the one an object complement, the other an objective complement:_--

Let some object complements be p.r.o.nouns, and let some objective complements be introduced by _as_.

+Model+.--They call _me chief_. We regard composition _as_ very _important_.

Make, appoint, consider, choose, call.

LESSON 33.

NOUNS AS ADJECTIVE MODIFIERS.

+Introductory Hints+.--_Solomon's temple was destroyed. Solomon's_ limits _temple_ by telling what or whose temple is spoken of, and is therefore a modifier of _temple_.

The relation of Solomon to the temple is expressed by the apostrophe and _s_ ('_s_) added to the noun _Solomon_. When _s_ has been added to the noun to denote more than one, this relation of possession is expressed by the apostrophe alone ('); as, _boys'_ hats. This same relation of possession may be expressed by the preposition _of_; _Solomon's_ temple = the temple _of Solomon_.

_Dom Pedro, the emperor, was welcomed by the Americans_. The noun _emperor_ modifies _Dom Pedro_ by telling what Dom Pedro is meant. Both words name the same person.

_Solomon's_ and _emperor_, like adjectives, modify nouns; but they are names of things, and are modified by adjectives and not by adverbs; as, _the wise_ Solomon's temple; Dom Pedro, _the Brazilian_ emperor. These are conclusive reasons for calling such words nouns.

They represent two kinds of +Noun Modifiers+--the +Possessive+ and the +Explanatory+.

The Explanatory Modifier is often called an +Appositive+. It identifies or explains by adding another name of the same thing.

a.n.a.lysis.

1. Elizabeth's favorite, Raleigh, was beheaded by James I.

favorite (Raleigh) | was beheaded ====================|============== Elizabeth's | by James I -----------

+Oral a.n.a.lysts+.--_Elizabeth's_ and _Raleigh_ are modifiers of the subject; the first word telling whose favorite is meant, the second what favorite.

_Elizabeth's favorite, Raleigh_ is the modified subject.

2. The best features of King James's translation of the Bible are derived from Tyndale's version.

3. St. Paul, the apostle, was beheaded in the reign of Nero.

4. A fool's bolt is soon shot.

5. The tadpole, or polliwog, becomes a frog.

6. An idle brain is the devil's workshop.

7. Mahomet, or Mohammed, was born in the year 569 and died in 632.

8. They scaled Mount Blanc--a daring feat.

They | scaled | Mount Blanc ( feat ) ======|===================== ======= | a daring

+Explanation+.--_Feat_ is explanatory of the sentence, _They scaled Mount Blanc_, and in the diagram it stands, enclosed in curves, on a short line placed after the sentence line.

9. Bees communicate to each other the death of the queen, by a rapid interlacing of the antennae. [Footnote: For uses of _each other_ and _one another_, see Lesson 124.]

+Explanation+.--_Each other_ may be treated as one term, or _each_ may be made explanatory of _bees_.

10. The lamp of a man's life has three wicks--brain, blood, and breath.

+Explanation.+--Several words may together be explanatory of one.

11. The turtle's back-bone and breast-bone--its sh.e.l.l and coat of armor--are on the outside of its body.

back-bone sh.e.l.l ============= ======== ' /' | are and' ==========(======/ 'and =)=|======= ' / turtle's its ' / | breast-bone '/ The ' coat / =============/ ========/

12. Cromwell's rule as Protector began in the year 1653 and ended in 1658.

+Explanation+.--_As, namely, to wit, viz., i.e., e.g.,_ and _that is_ may introduce explanatory modifiers, but they do not seem to connect them to the words modified. In the diagram they stand like _as_ in Lesson 30.

_Protector_ is explanatory of _Cromwell's_.

13. In the latter half of the eighteenth century, three powerful nations, namely, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, united for the dismemberment of Poland.

14. John, the beloved disciple, lay on his Master's breast.

15. The petals of the daisy, _day's-eye_, close at night and in rainy weather.

LESSON 34.

COMPOSITION--NOUNS AS ADJECTIVE MODIFIERS.

+COMMA--RULE.--An _Explanatory Modifier_, when it does not restrict the modified term or combine closely with it, is set off by the comma.+ [Footnote: See foot-note, Lesson 18]

+Explanation+.--_The words I and O should be written in capital_ _letters_.

The phrase _I and O_ restricts _words_, that is, limits its application, and no comma is needed.