First, then, there are objects real things. Next, there are mental pictures of these objects, called ideas, each made up of a number of attributes. Third, there is a union of the two ideas named by the subject and the predicate attribute, making a thought. The union is made by the copula. And fourth, there is a statement of this thought in words, making a sentence. A SENTENCE IS THE EXPRESSION OF A COMPLETE THOUGHT IN WORDS.1 Every thought is made of three parts; and every sentence, representing a thought, must contain these three elements: subject, copula, and predicate attribute. THE SUBJECT OF A SENTENCE NAMES THAT OF WHICH SOMETHING IS ASSERTED. THE PREDICATE ATTRIBUTE OF A SENTENCE NAMES THAT WHICH IS ASSERTED OF THE SUBJECT. THE COPULA OF A SENTENCE ASSERTS THE RELATION BETWEEN THE SUBJECT AND THE PREDICATE ATTRIBUTE. EXERCISE. 5. In each of the following sentences, select the subject, predicate attribute, and copula. 1. The Amazon is broad. 2. Plains are level. 3. The Himalaya Mountains are high. 4. The Indians were friendly. 5. The settlers became suspicious. 6. Their arrows were poisoned. 7. The colonists grew fearful. 8. Flowers are beautiful. 9. The rose is fragrant. 10. Pines are healthful. 11. The forest is peaceful. 12. The sea looks rough. 13. Sea-breezes are refreshing. 14. The frost is here. 1 For the rule for the use of capitals, see page 219, I, 1. Tell 8. In Section 5, think what each subject names. which subjects name persons; actions; qualities of mind; objects in nature. Though these words are not all names of things which we can see, hear, or know through the senses, they are all names of things about which we can think. They are names of objects.1 These words are nouns. A NOUN IS A WORD THAT NAMES AN OBJECT. Which of the nouns in Section 5 point out one particu 1 An object is "anything that is perceived, known, thought of, or signified." Century Dictionary. lar person, one individual? Which name any one of a large class of objects? In the sentence "Victoria was a beloved queen," the "Victoria" points out one individual; the word "Victoria" is a proper noun. The word " noun queen" is the name common to all persons of that class; the word "" queen is a common noun. 66 A COMMON NOUN IS A WORD THAT NAMES ANY ONE OF A CLASS. A PROPER NOUN IS A WORD THAT NAMES AN INDIVIDUAL TO DISTINGUISH IT FROM OTHERS OF THE CLASS TO WHICH IT BELONGS.1 EXERCISE. 9. In Sections 5 and 6, select and classify the nouns. Give the reason for calling each word a noun, and the reason for placing it in the class you do. This exercise may be continued with other lessons, until you are certain of nouns and their classification. PRONOUNS. 10. (a) Watt invented the steam engine, but he did not perfect it. (b) To be honest under all circumstances is difficult, but it always pays. (c) It had been proved that the earth is round, and this led adventurers to seek their fortunes in unknown seas. (d) Blessed is that man who has found his work. What word in (a) represents the noun Watt without naming it ? What word means steam engine, but does not name it? Neither of the words you have named is a noun, because neither names an object, though each represents an object. In (b) what word stands for the words "To be honest under all circumstances"? This little word does not name the idea which it represents. State the fact which the word this represents in (c). What word in (d) represents an object without naming it as a noun does? These words are all pronouns.2 The difference between nouns and pronouns may be understood if 1 For the use of capitals, see page 219, I, 2. 2 Look in a dictionary for the primary meaning of the prefix pro. you keep in mind the fact that when a noun stands all alone, it names a definite idea. "Football," for example, names a very popular game; "Benedict Arnold" names a very unpopular man. These words are nouns. "It" or "that 99 or "they" does not suggest immediately any definite object. "I do not care for it " may mean "I do not care for some dish at table, or for football, or for one of a thousand other things." If the word "it" should be seen in a letter about a play, the word would probably stand for the "play.” A noun names an object; but a pronoun does not name an object; it only represents it. A PRONOUN IS A WORD THAT REPRESENTS AN OBJECT, BUT DOES NOT NAME IT. The pronouns most often used are the different forms of I, you, he, she, it, who, which, what, and that. (See section 151.) EXERCISE. 11. Select the nouns and pronouns in the following sentences. 1. If you would be well served, you must serve yourself. 2. Placing her hand on the cushion, her foot in the hand of her husband, Gayly, with joyous laugh, Priscilla mounted her palfrey. 3. Drive thy business, or it will drive thee. 4. "Nothing is wanting now," he said, with a smile, "but the distaff; Then you would be in truth my queen, my beautiful Bertha." 5. Every hour has its task or pleasure. 6. Down through the golden leaves the sun was pouring his splendor. 7. The little meadow violet lifts its cup of blue. 8. We deceive ourselves oftener than others deceive us. 9. The stream wears a smooth bed for itself. 10. Onward the bridal procession now moved to their new habitətion. 11. For he who fights and runs away May live to fight another day. 12. Oh, sleep! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole. 13. Here's a sigh to those who love me, And a smile to those who hate. 14. He, who ascends to mountain-tops, shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow. 15. He was chubby and plump — a right jolly old elf; He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, EXERCISE. 12. Frame ten sentences, using the following words as pronouns I, themselves, that, which, whom, it, her, this, my, him. NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 13. Classify the nouns in the next paragraph as common or proper, giving the reason for your classification. Select the pronouns, and name the word which each repre sents. Finally, however, among these hunters one arose whose wanderings were to bear fruit; who was destined to lead through the wilderness the first body of settlers that ever established a community in the far west, completely cut off from the seaboard colonies. This was Daniel Boone. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1734, but when only a boy had been brought with the rest of the family to the banks of the Yadkin in North Carolina. Here he grew up; and as soon as he came of age he married, built a log hut, and made a clearing, whereon to farm like the rest of his backwoods neighbors. They all tilled their own clearings, guiding the plough among the charred stumps left when the trees were chopped down and the land burned over, and they were all, as a matter of course, hunters. With Boone hunting and exploration were passions, and the lonely life of the wilderness, with its bold, wild freedom, the only existence for which he cared. He was a tall, spare, sinewy man, with eyes like an eagle's and muscles that never tired; the toil and hardship of his life made no impress on his iron frame, unhurt by intemperance of any kind, and he lived for eighty-six years, a backwoods hunter to the end of his days. His thoughtful, quiet, pleasant face, so often portrayed, is familiar to every one; it was the face of a man who never blustered |