Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (small books to read TXT) 📖

distinctly to speak. 7. All that glitters is not gold. 8. His sagacity almost appears miraculous.

+Caution+.—Unless you wish to affirm, do not use two negative words so that they shall contradict each other. [Footnote: Not infrequently we use two negatives to make an affirmation; as, He is not unjust; No man can do nothing.]

+Examples+.—No one has (not hasn’t) yet reached the North Pole. No unpleasant circumstance happened (proper, because it is intended to affirm).

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution and the Examples, and correct these errors_:—

1. No other reason can never be given. 2. He doesn’t do nothing. 3. He isn’t improving much, I don’t think. 4. There must be something wrong when children do not love neither father nor mother. 5. He isn’t no sneak. 6. Charlie Ross can’t nowhere be found.

+Caution+.—Do not use adverbs for adjectives or adjectives for adverbs.

+Examples+.—The moon looks calm and peaceful (not calmly and peacefully, as the words are intended to describe the moon). The moon looks down calmly and peacefully on the battlefield (not calm and peaceful, as the words are intended to tell how she performs the act). I slept soundly (not good or sound).

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution and the Examples, and correct these errors_:—

1. It was a softly blue sky. 2. The river runs rapid. 3. You must read more distinct. 4. It was an uncommon good harvest. 5. She is most sixteen. 6. The discussion waxed warmly. 7. The prima donna sings sweet. 8. She is miserable poor. 9. My head feels badly. 10. He spoke up prompt. 11. He went most there. 12. He behaved very bad. 13. This is a mighty cold day.

+Direction+.—_Write correct sentences illustrating every point in these four Cautions_.

 

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LESSON 94.

CONSTRUCTION OF ADVERBS-CONTINUED.

Miscellaneous Errors.

+Direction+.—_Give the Cautions which these sentences violate, and correct the errors_:—

1. Begin it over again. 2. This can be done easier. 3. The house is extra warm. 4. Most every one goes there. 5. I have a pencil that long. 6. He hasn’t his lesson, I don’t believe. 7. A circle can’t in no way be squared. 8. This is a remarkable cold winter. 9. The one is as equally deserving as the other. 10. Feathers feel softly. 11. It is pretty near finished. 12. Verbosity is when too many words are used. 13. It is a wonderful fine day. 14. He is some better just now. 15. Generally every morning we went to the spring. 16. I wish to simply state this point. 17. He tried to not only injure but to also ruin the man. 18. The lesson was prodigiously long. 19. The cars will not stop at this station only when the bell rings. 20. He can do it as good as any one can. 21. Most everybody talks so. 22. He hasn’t yet gone, I don’t believe. 23. He behaved thoughtlessly, recklessly, and carelessly. 24. That ‘ere book is readable. 25. I will not go but once. 26. I can’t find out neither where the lesson begins nor where it ends. 27. They were nearly dressed alike. 28. The tortured man begged that they would kill him again and again. 29. The fortune was lavishly, profusely, and prodigally spent. 30. I am real glad to see you. 31. We publish all the information, official and otherwise.

LESSON 95.

PREPOSITIONS.

+DEFINITION.—A Preposition is a word that introduces a phrase modifier, and shows the relation, in sense, of its principal word to the word modified.+

Composition.

+Direction+.—_We give below a list of the prepositions in common use. Make short sentences in which each of these shall be aptly used. Use two or three of them in a single sentence if you wish_:—

Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, amidst, among, amongst, around, at, athwart, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, betwixt, beyond, but, by, down, ere, for, from, in, into, of, on, over, past, round, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward, towards, under, underneath, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.

+Remarks+.—_Bating_, concerning, during, excepting, notwithstanding, pending, regarding, respecting, saving, and touching are still participles in form and sometimes are such in use. But in most cases the participial meaning has faded out of them, and they express mere relations.

But, except, and save, in such a sentence as, All but or except or save him were lost, are usually classed with prepositions.

The phrases aboard of, according to, along with, as to, because of (by cause of), from among, from between, from under, instead of (in stead of), out of, over against, and round about may be called compound prepositions. But from in these compounds; as, He crawled from under the ruins, really introduces a phrase, the principal term of which is the phrase that follows from.

Many prepositions become adverbs when the noun which ordinarily follows them is omitted; as, He rode past; He stands above.

 

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LESSON 96.

CONSTRUCTION OF PREPOSITIONS.

+To the Teacher+.—Most prepositions express relations so diverse, and so delicate in their shades of distinction that a definition of them based upon etymology would mislead. A happy and discriminating use of prepositions can be acquired only by an extended study of good authors. We do below all that we think it prudent or profitable to do with them. He should he a man of wide and careful reading who assumes to teach pupils that such prepositions, and such only, should be used with certain words. Nowhere in grammar is dogmatism more dangerous than here. That grammarian exceeds his commission who marks out for the pupils’ feet a path narrower than the highway which the usage of the best writers and speakers has cast up. [Footnote: Take a single illustration. Grammarians, in general, teach that between and betwixt “refer to two,” are used “only when two things or sets of things are referred to.” Ordinarily, and while clinging to their derivation, they are so used, but are they always, and must they be? “There was a hunting match agreed upon betwixt a lion, an ass, and a fox.”— L’Estrange. “A Triple Alliance between England, Holland, and Sweden.”— J. B. Green. “In the vacant space between Persia, Syria, Egypt, and Ethiopia.”—_Gibbon_. “His flight between the several worlds.”—_Addison_. “The identity of form between the nominative, accusative, and vocative cases in the neuter.” —_G. P. Marsh_. “The distinction between these three orders has been well expressed by Prof. Max Mueller.”—_W. D. Whitney_. “Between such dictionaries as Worcester’s, The Imperial, and Webster’s.”— B. G. White. “Betwixt the slender boughs came glimpses of her ivory neck.”—_Bryant_. With what clumsy circumlocutions would our speech be filled if prepositions could never slip the leash of their etymology! What simple and graceful substitute could be found for the last phrase in this sentence, for instance: There were forty desks in the room with ample space between them?

“We observe that between is not restricted to two.”—_Imperial Dictionary_. “In all senses between has been, from its earliest appearance, extended to more than two. It is still the only word available to express the relation of a thing to many surrounding things severally and individually—_among_ expressing a relation to them collectively and vaguely: we should not say, ‘The choice lies among the three candidates,’ or ‘to insert a needle among the closed petals of a flower.’”—_The New English Dictionary_.

We have collected hundreds of instances of between used by good writers with three or more.

Guard against such expressions as between each page; a choice between one of several.]

+Direction+.—_We give below a few words with the prepositions which usually accompany them. Form short sentences containing these words combined with each of the prepositions which follow them, and note carefully the different relations expressed by the different prepositions_:—

(Consult the dictionary for both the preposition and the accompanying word.)

Abide at, by, with; accommodate to, with; advantage of, over; agree to, with; angry at, with; anxious about, for; argue against, with; arrive at, in; attend on or upon, to; careless about, in, of; communicate to, with; compare to, with; consists in, of; defend against, from; die by, for, of; different from; disappointed in, of; distinguish by, from; familiar to, with; impatient for, of; indulge in, with; influence on, over, with; insensible of, to; sat beside; many besides.

 

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LESSON 97.

CONSTRUCTION OF PREPOSITIONS—CONTINUED.

+Direction+.—_Do with the following words as with those above_:—

Inquire after, for, into, of; intrude into, upon; joined to, with; liberal of, to; live at, in, on; look after, for, on; need of; obliged for, to; part from, with; placed in, on; reconcile to, with; regard for, to; remonstrate against, with; sank beneath, in, into; share in, of, with; sit in, on or upon; smile at, on; solicitous about, for; strive for, with, against; taste for, of; touch at, on or upon; useful for, in, to; weary of, in, with; yearn for, towards.

 

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LESSON 98.

CONSTRUCTION OF PREPOSITIONS—CONTINUED.

+Caution+.—Great care must be used in the choice of prepositions.

+Direction+.—_Correct these errors_:—

1. This book is different to that. 2. He stays to home. 3. They two quarreled among each other. 4. He is in want for money. 5. I was followed with a crowd. 6. He fell from the bridge in the water. [Footnote: In denotes motion or rest in a condition or place; into, change from one condition or place into another. “When one is outside of a place, he may be able to get into it; but he cannot do anything in it until he has got into it.”] 7. He fought into the Revolution. [See previous footnote] 8. He bears a close resemblance of his father. 9. He entered in the plot. 10. He lives at London. 11. He lives in the turn of the road. 12. I have need for a vacation. 13. The child died with the croup. 14. He took a walk, but was disappointed of it. 15. He did not take a walk; he was disappointed in it. 16. He was accused with felony. 17. School keeps upon Monday. 18. Place a mark between each leaf. 19. He is angry at his father. 20. He placed a letter into my hands. 21. She is angry with your conduct. 22. What is the matter of him? 23. I saw him over to the house. 24. These plants differ with each other. 25. He boards to the hotel. 26. I board in the hotel. 27. She stays at the North. 28. I have other reasons beside these. [Footnote: Beside = by the side of; besides = in addition to.] 29. You make no use with your talents. 30. He threw himself onto the bed. 31. The boys are hard to work. 32. He distributed the apples between his four brothers. 33. He went in the park. 34. You can confide on him. 35. He arrived to Toronto. 36. I agree with that plan. 37. The evening was spent by reading. 38. Can you accommodate me in one of those? 39. What a change a century has produced upon our country! 40.