An English Grammar Part 72

I do with my friends _as_ I do with my books.--EMERSON.

NOTE.--Very rarely _like_ is found with a verb following, but this is not considered good usage: for example,--

A timid, nervous child, _like_ Martin _was_.--MAYHEW.

Through which they put their heads, _like_ the Gauchos _do_ through their cloaks.--DARWIN.

_Like_ an arrow shot From a well-experienced archer _hits_ the mark.--SHAKESPEARE.

INTERJECTIONS.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

334. Interjections are exclamations used to express emotion, and are not parts of speech in the same sense as the words we have discussed; that is, entering into the structure of a sentence.

Some of these are imitative sounds; as, tut! buzz! etc.

_Humph_! attempts to express a contemptuous nasal utterance that no letters of our language can really spell.

[Sidenote: _Not all exclamatory words are interjections._]

Other interjections are _oh_! _ah_! _alas_! _pshaw_! _hurrah_! etc.

But it is to be remembered that almost any word may be used as an exclamation, but it still retains its ident.i.ty as noun, p.r.o.noun, verb, etc.: for example, "Books! lighthouses built on the sea of time [noun];" "Halt! the dust-brown ranks stood fast [verb]," "Up! for shame! [adverb]," "Impossible! it cannot be [adjective]."

PART II.

_a.n.a.lYSIS OF SENTENCES._

CLa.s.sIFICATION ACCORDING TO FORM.

[Sidenote: _What a.n.a.lysis is._.]

335. All discourse is made up of sentences: consequently the sentence is the unit with which we must begin. And in order to get a clear and practical idea of the structure of sentences, it is necessary to become expert in a.n.a.lysis; that is, in separating them into their component parts.

A general idea of a.n.a.lysis was needed in our study of the parts of speech,--in determining case, subject and predicate, clauses introduced by conjunctions, etc.

[Sidenote: _Value of a.n.a.lysis._]

A more thorough and accurate acquaintance with the subject is necessary for two reasons,--not only for a correct understanding of the principles of syntax, but for the study of punctuation and other topics treated in rhetoric.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

336. A sentence is the expression of a thought in words.

[Sidenote: _Kinds of sentences as to form._]

337. According to the way in which a thought is put before a listener or reader, sentences may be of three kinds:--

(1) Declarative, which puts the thought in the form of a declaration or a.s.sertion. This is the most common one.

(2) Interrogative, which puts the thought in a question.

(3) Imperative, which expresses command, entreaty, or request.

Any one of these may be put in the form of an exclamation, but the sentence would still be declarative, interrogative, or imperative; hence, _according to form_, there are only the three kinds of sentences already named.

Examples of these three kinds are, declarative, "Old year, you must not die!" interrogative, "Hath he not always treasures, always friends?" imperative, "Come to the bridal chamber, Death!"

CLa.s.sIFICATION ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF STATEMENTS.

SIMPLE SENTENCES.

[Sidenote: _Division according to number of statements._]

338. But the division of sentences most necessary to a.n.a.lysis is the division, not according to the form in which a thought is put, but according to how many statements there are.

The one we shall consider first is the simple sentence.

[Sidenote: _Definition._]

339. A simple sentence is one which contains a single statement, question, or command: for example, "The quality of mercy is not strained;" "What wouldst thou do, old man?" "Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."

340. Every sentence must contain two parts,--a subject and a predicate.

[Sidenote: _Definition: Predicate._]