in any other; or describe the picture on this page. Your description, with a copy of the picture chosen, would be good material for your class magazine.1 It is interesting to memorize pictures as you have learned poems by heart. A person who forms the habit of doing this always has his own private art gallery with him. BOYHOOD OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. (BY MILLAIS) If you choose, you may put this description in a letter and send it to some friend who is interested in such things, or to a former teacher, or to your father or mother, or to anyone who would care to have it. Be sure that the form of your letter is perfect. 1 This exercise may be made part of a larger project. See Appendix G. PROBLEM X UNDERSTANDING SENTENCES: PREDICATING You must have discovered by this time that everything is a bundle of characteristics, of which some people see more than others. This problem is meant to help you understand how all our thinking and talking depend on our attention to these characteristics. If you really grasp the ideas explained here, you will find them useful in all your further study of English or of any other language that you are likely to learn, for all languages in which the sentence is used are based on the same principle. EXERCISE 1 UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF PREDICATE ९९ A. What is a sentence? Which of the following groups of words are sentences? 'Venus is the evening star in July." "Venus, the evening star of July." "A railroad in the Rocky Mountains climbs to the height of 11,660 feet." "A railroad in the Rocky Mountains reaching the height of 11,660 feet.” "Reaching the height of 11,660 feet, a railroad in the Rocky Mountains." You know that the expression of a complete thought in words is a sentence. To have a complete thought you must (1) have something to think about, (2) tell or ask yourself something about it. If you speak the first sentence quoted above, you are thinking and talking about Venus. If you speak the second, you are thinking and talking about a railroad in the Rocky Mountains. What do you say about Venus? What about the railroad? Every sentence says something about something. B. Every sentence thus has two parts. One part stands for what is thought and spoken about; the other part is used to say something about it. The part of a sentence that stands for what is talked about is called the subject; for example, the words "Venus" and "a railroad in the Rocky Mountains in the sentences above. The subject of a sentence represents that about which something is said. The rest of the sentence, which is used to say something about Venus or the railroad or whatever the subject stands for, is called the predicate. The predicate is the part of a sentence which says something about some person, thing, or idea. The complete subject of a sentence may be one word, as "Venus," or a group of words, as "a railroad in the Rocky Mountains." It is all the words used to make clear what is talked about. The predicate is all the rest of the sentence. Sometimes the subject comes first, sometimes last, sometimes in the middle. When you try to distinguish subject from predicate, remember that you must judge not by position but by meaning. It is all a matter of common sense. Learn the definitions of subject and predicate. (Be sure that you pronounce these words distinctly and spell them correctly.) C. In each of the following sentences point out what you are talking about and what you say about it, and find the complete subject and the complete predicate. Remember that as a sentence is the expression of a complete thought in words, so the subject of a sentence is words and the predicate of a sentence is words. Say, "The complete subject is the words so-and-so" and "The complete predicate is the words so-and-so." If you find a group of words that is not a sentence, you will of course see that it does not have a subject and predicate. Make it into a sentence and then point out its parts. 1. The children were planning a surprise for their mother's birthday. 2. An important part of an education is training in the use of tools. 3. Words are among the most valuable tools of man. 4. Under the tree lay a handsome collie. 5. Trained eyes see interesting things everywhere. 6. Ants help each other in making their city successful. 7. The flying-machine is useful in prospecting for good timber, 8. French boys near the American lines learned to play baseball. 9. Gas masks give valuable protection to firemen in fighting most kinds of fires. 10. Being sure is not always the same as being right. 11. Serbia lost one fifth of its population in the war. 12. People were hurrying past him toward the cloud of black smoke. 13. In the midst of its farms reposed the Acadian village. 14. On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. 15. Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go. 16. Three children sliding on the ice upon a winter's day. 17. The blue spruce has sharp, stiff needles about half an inch long. 18. The tiniest chipmunk was sitting in the half rind of cantaloupe eating eagerly. 19. The most wonderful invention of modern times. 20. In June a snowslide blocked the mountain passes of Argentina. The predicate is the part of a sentence that says or tells something. To predicate is to say or tell or assert. A study of what your minds do in predicating will make the study of sentences mean more to you. When we really think, we focus our minds on something as we might focus the lens of a camera. We not only give attention to whatever particularly interests us or suits our purpose but out of all the many characteristics of that thing we single out one or more. We think, for example, that the room is warm and close, that somebody is opening a window, that the air feels refreshing, that seven from twelve leaves five, or a thousand other thoughts. We may be a half or a quarter conscious of many other things at the same time, but we are not really giving attention to them. However, at any moment one of them might claim our attention, if it happened to fit in with our thoughts or to become interesting in itself. The things or ideas that are only dimly noticed are said to be in the fringe of consciousness. They are like the blurred background of a picture when the camera is focused on some face in the foreground. As you have seen, we are interested in all sorts of characteristics of things according to our purpose. Most often, perhaps, we care about the actions of people and things, whatever they are doing, have done, or may do; as, for instance, running, standing, biting, stinging, bubbling, laughing, crying, even having, wanting, or keeping still, and hundreds of other actions. If we are wide awake we notice also the colors, forms, sizes, textures, sounds, scents, of things; their condition, their uses, their kinds, and their names; and, if made by man, what they are made of. Sometimes merely the fact that a thing is or has been or |