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

The myriad objects of nature fall into comparatively few classes. Studying each class, we learn all we need to know of every object in it.

From their likenesses, though not in form, we classify words. We group them according to their similarities in use, or office, in the sentence. Sorting them thus, we find that they all fall into eight classes, which we call Parts of Speech.

We find that many words name things—are the names of things of which we can think and speak. These we place in one class and call them +Nouns+ (Latin nomen, a name, a noun).

PRONOUNS.

Without the little words which we shall italicize, it would be difficult for one stranger to ask another, “Can you tell me who is the postmaster at B?” The one would not know what name to use instead of you, the other would not recognize the name in the place of me, and both would be puzzled to find a substitute for who.

I, you, my, me, what, we, it, he, who, him, she, them, and other words are used in place of nouns, and are, therefore, called +Pronouns+ (Lat. pro, for, and nomen, a noun).

By means of these handy little words we can represent any or every object in existence. We could hardly speak or write without them now, they so frequently shorten the expression and prevent confusion and repetition.

+DEFINITION.—A Noun is the name of anything.+

+DEFINITION.—A Pronoun is a word used for a noun.+

The principal office of nouns is to name the things of which we say, or assert, something in the sentence.

+Direction+.–_Write, according to the model, the names of things that can burn, grow, melt, love, roar, or revolve._

+Model.+— Nouns. Wood | Paper | Oil | Houses + burn or burns. Coal | Leaves | Matches | Clothes |

+Remark.+—Notice that, when the subject adds s or es to denote more than one, the predicate does not take s. Note how it would sound if both should add s.

+Every subject+ of a sentence is a +noun+, or some word or words used as a noun. But not every noun in a sentence is a subject.

+Direction.+—_Select and write all the nouns and pronouns, whether subjects or not, in the sentences given in Lesson_ 18.

In writing them observe the following rules:—

+CAPITAL LETTER—RULE.—_Proper,_ or individual, names and words derived from them begin with capital letters.+

+PERIOD and CAPITAL LETTER—RULE.—_Abbreviations_ generally begin with capital letters and are always followed by the period.+

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LESSON 9.

CAPITAL LETTERS.

+Direction.+—_From the following words select and write in one column those names that distinguish individual things from others of the same class, and in another column those words that are derived from individual names_:—

Observe Rule 1, Lesson 8.

ohio, state, chicago, france, bostonian, country, england, boston, milton, river, girl, mary, hudson, william, britain, miltonic, city, englishman, messiah, platonic, american, deity, bible, book, plato, christian, broadway, america, jehovah, british, easter, europe, man, scriptures, god.

+Direction.+—_Write the names of the days of the week and the months of the year, beginning each with a capital letter; and write the names of the seasons without capital letters._

+Remember+ that, when a class name and a distinguishing word combine to make one individual name, each word begins with a capital letter; as, Jersey City. [Footnote: Dead Sea is composed of the class name sea, which applies to all seas, and the word Dead, which distinguishes one sea from all others.]

But, when the distinguishing word can by itself be regarded as a complete name, the class name begins with a small letter; as, river Rhine.

+Examples+.—Long Island, Good Friday, Mount Vernon, Suspension Bridge, New York city, Harper’s Ferry, Cape May, Bunker Hill, Red River, Lake Erie, General Jackson, White Mountains, river Thames, Astor House, steamer Drew, North Pole.

+Direction+.—_Write these words, using capital letters when needed_:—

ohio river, professor huxley, president adams, doctor brown, clinton county, westchester county, colonel burr, secretary stanton, lake george, green mountains, white sea, cape cod, delaware bay, atlantic ocean, united states, rhode island.

+Remember+ that, when an individual name is made up of a class name, the word of, and a distinguishing word, the class name and the distinguishing word should each begin with a capital letter; as, Gulf of Mexico. But, when the distinguishing word can by itself be regarded as a complete name, the class name should begin with a small letter; as, city of London. [Footnote: The need of some definite instruction to save the young writer from hesitation and confusion in the use of capitals is evident from the following variety of forms now in use: City of New York, city of New York, New York City, New York city, New York State, New York state, Fourth Avenue, Fourth avenue, Grand Street, Grand street, Grand st., Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean sea, Kings County, Kings county, etc.

The usage of newspapers and of text-books on geography would probably favor the writing of the class names in the examples above with initial capitals; but we find in the most carefully printed books and periodicals a tendency to favor small letters in such cases.

In the superscription of letters, such words as street, city, and county begin with capitals.

Usage certainly favors small initials for the following italicized words: river Rhine, Catskill village, the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If river and village, in the preceding examples, are not essential parts of the individual names, why should river, ocean, and county, in Hudson river, Pacific ocean, Queens county, be treated differently? We often say the Hudson, the Pacific, Queens, without adding the explanatory class name.

The principle we suggest may be in advance of common usage; but it is in the line of progress, and it tends to uniformity of practice and to an improved appearance of the page. About a century ago every noun began with a capital letter.

The American Cyclopedia takes a position still further in advance, as illustrated in the following: Bed river, Black sea, gulf of Mexico, Rocky mountains. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Little, Brown, & Co., 9th ed.) we find Connecticut river, Madison county, etc., quite uniformly; but we find Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean, etc.]

+Direction+.—_Write these words, using capital letters when needed:_—

city of atlanta, isle of man, straits of dover, state of Vermont, isthmus of darien, sea of galilee, queen of england, bay of naples, empire of china.

+Remember+ that, when a compound name is made up of two or more distinguishing words, as, Henry Clay, John Stuart Mill, each word begins with a capital letter.

+Direction+.—_Write these words, using capital letters when needed_:—

great britain, lower california, south carolina, daniel webster, new england, oliver wendell holmes, north america, new orleans, james russell lowell, british america.

+Remember+ that, in writing the titles of books, essays, poems, plays, etc., and the names of the Deity, only the chief words begin with capital letters; as, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Supreme Being, Paradise Lost, the Holy One of Israel.

+Direction+.—_Write these words, using capital letters when needed_:—

declaration of independence, clarendon’s history of the great rebellion, webster’s reply to hayne, pilgrim’s progress, johnson’s lives of the poets, son of man, the most high, dombey and son, tent on the beach, bancroft’s history of the united states.

+Direction+.—_Write these miscellaneous names, using capital letters when needed_:—

erie canal, governor tilden, napoleon bonaparte, cape of good hope, pope’s essay on criticism, massachusetts bay, city of boston, continent of america, new testament, goldsmith’s she stoops to conquer, milton’s hymn on the nativity, indian ocean, cape cod bay, plymouth rock, anderson’s history of the united states, mount washington, english channel, the holy spirit, new york central railroad, old world, long island sound, flatbush village.

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LESSON 10.

ABBREVIATIONS.

+Direction+.—_Some words occur frequently, and for convenience may he abbreviated in writing. Observing Rule 2, Lesson 8, abbreviate these words by writing the first five letters_:—

Thursday and lieutenant.

These by writing the first four letters:—

Connecticut, captain, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oregon, professor, president, Tennessee, and Tuesday.

These by writing the first three letters:—

Alabama, answer, Arkansas, California, colonel, Delaware, England, esquire, Friday, general, George, governor, honorable, Illinois, Indiana, major, Monday, Nevada, reverend, Saturday, secretary, Sunday, Texas, Wednesday, Wisconsin, and the names of the months except May, June, and July.

These by writing the first two letters:—

Company, county, credit, example, and idem (the same).

These by writing the first letter:—

East, north, south, and west. [Footnote: When these words refer to sections of the country, they should begin with capitals.]

These by writing the first and the last letter:—

Doctor, debtor, Georgia, junior, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Master, Mister, numero (number), Pennsylvania, saint, street, Vermont, and Virginia.

These by writing the first letter of each word of the compound with a period after each letter:—

Artium baccalaureus (bachelor of arts), anno Domini (in the year of our Lord), artium magister (master of arts), ante meridiem (before noon), before Christ, collect on delivery, District (of) Columbia, divinitatis doctor (doctor of divinity), member (of) Congress, medicinae doctor (doctor of medicine), member (of) Parliament, North America, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, postmaster, post meridiem (afternoon), post-office, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and United States.

+Direction.+—_The following abbreviations and those you have made should be committed to memory_:—

Acct. or acct., account. Bbl. or bbl., barrel. Chas., Charles. Fla., Florida. LL. D., legum doctor (doctor of laws).[Footnote: The doubling of the l to ll and in LL. D., and of p in pp., with no period between the letters, comes from pluralizing the nouns line, lean, and page.] Messrs., messieurs (gentlemen). Mme., madame. Mo., Missouri. Mrs., (pronounced missis) mistress. Mts., mountains. Ph.D., philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy). Recd., received. Robt., Robert. Supt., superintendent. Thos., Thomas. bu., bushel. do., ditto (the same) doz., dozen. e.g., exempli gratia (for example) etc., et caetera (and others). ft., foot, feet. hhd., hogshead. hdkf., handkerchief. i.e., id est (that is). l., line. ll., lines. lb., libra (pound). oz., ounce. p., page. pp., pages. qt., quart. vs., versus (against). viz., videlicet (namely). yd., yard.

+Remark.+—In this Lesson we have given the abbreviations of the states as now regulated by the “U. S. Official Postal Guide.” In the “Guide” Iowa and Ohio are not abbreviated. They are, however, frequently abbreviated thus: Iowa, Ia. or Io.; Ohio, 0.

The similarity, when hurriedly written, of the abbreviations Cal., Col.; Ia., Io.; Neb., Nev.; Penn., Tenn., etc., has led to much confusion.

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LESSON 11.

VERBS.

+Introductory Hints+.—We told you in Lesson 8 how, by noticing the essential likenesses in things and grouping the things thus alike, we could throw the countless objects around us into comparatively few classes.

We began to classify words according to their use, or office, in the sentence; we found one class of words that name things, and we called them nouns.

But in all the sentences given you, we have had to use another class of words. These words, you notice, tell what the things do, or assert that they are, or exist.

When we say Clocks tick, tick is not the name of anything; it tells what clocks do: it asserts action.

When we say