Graded Lessons in English Part 52

17. The garment _sits_ well.

18. The hen _sits_ on her eggs.

19. He came in and _lay_ down.

20. The Mediterranean _lies_ between Europe and Africa.

Notice that we may speak of _laying_ something or _setting_ something, or may say that something is _laid_ or is _set_; but we cannot speak of _lying_ or _sitting_ something, or of something being _lain_ or _sat_.

_Set_, in some of its meanings, is used without an object; as, "The sun _set_;" "He _set_ out on a journey."

_Lay_, the present of the first verb, and _lay_, the past of _lie_, may easily be distinguished by the difference in meaning and in the time expressed.

POSSESSIVE FORMS.

Pupils may be required to copy such forms as the following:--

The sailor's story; the farmer's son; the pony's mane; the monkey's tail; a day's work; James's book; a cent's worth; a man's wages; the child's toys; the woman's hat; the sailors' stories; the farmers' sons; the ponies'

manes; the monkeys' tails; three days' work; five cents' worth; two men's wages; those children's toys; women's hats.

This may be continued till the pupils are able to form some such statement as the following:--

(_'s_) and (_'_) are the possessive signs, (_'_) being used when _s_ has been added to denote more than one, (_'s_) in other cases.

Such expressions as the following may be copied:--

Dombey and Son's business; J. J. Little & Co.'s printing-house; William the Conqueror's reign; Houghton, Mifflin, and Company's publications.

This may be continued till the pupils learn that, when a group of words may be treated as a compound name, the possessive sign is added to the last word only.

THE OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT.

The treatment of the objective complement may be introduced in a review course, when the cla.s.s is sufficiently mature. The following explanation may aid some teachers:--

In "It made him _sad_," _made_ does not fully express the action performed upon him--not "_made_ him," but "_made sad_ (saddened) him." _Sad_ helps _made_ to express the action, and also denotes a quality which as the result of the action belongs to the person represented by the object _him_.

Whatever completes the predicate and belongs to the object we call an _Objective Complement_.

Nouns, infinitives, and participles may also be used in the same way; as,

"They made Victoria _queen_,"

"It made him _weep_;"

"It kept him _laughing_."

They | made / queen | Victoria ======|========================= |

+Explanation+.--The line that separates _made_ from _queen_ slants toward the object complement to show that _queen_ belongs to the object.

A noun or p.r.o.noun used as objective complement is in the objective case.

The teacher may here explain such constructions as, "I proved it to be _him_," in which _it_ is object complement and _to be him_ is objective complement. _Him_, the attribute complement of _be_, is in the objective case because _it_, the a.s.sumed subject of _be_, is objective. Let the pupils compare "I proved it to be _him_" with "I proved that it was _he;_"

"_Whom_ did you suppose it to be?" with "_Who_ did you suppose it was?"

etc.

NOUNS AS ADVERB MODIFIERS.

The following uses of nouns and p.r.o.nouns, not found in the preceding Lessons, may be introduced in a review course.

1. He gave _John_ a book.

2. He bought _me_ a book.

_John_ and _me_, as here used, are generally called _Indirect Objects_. The "indirect object" names the one _to_ or _for_ whom something is done. We treat these words as phrase modifiers without the preposition. If we change the order, the preposition must be supplied; as, "He gave a book _to John;_" "He bought a book _for me_."

Nouns denoting _measure, quant.i.ty, weight, time, value, distance_, or _direction_ may be used adverbially, being equivalent to phrase modifiers without the preposition; as,

1. We walked four _miles_ an _hour_.

2. It weighs one _pound_.

3. It is worth a _dollar_.

4. The wall is ten _feet_, six _inches_ high.

5. I went _home_ that way.

The following diagram will ill.u.s.trate both the "indirect object" and the "noun of measure:"--

They offered Caesar the crown three times.

They | offered | crown =======|==================== | the times ------ three Caesar ------

+Explanation+.--_Caesar_ (the "indirect object") and _times_ (denoting measure) stand in the diagram on lines representing the princ.i.p.al words of prepositional phrases.

SCHEMES FOR REVIEW.

These schemes will be found very helpful in a general review. The pupils should be able to reproduce them, omitting the Lesson numbers.

Scheme for the Sentence.

(_The numbers refer to Lessons_.)

PARTS.

+Subject+.

Noun or p.r.o.noun (6, 14, 19).

Phrase (49).

Clause (61).

+Predicate+.

Verb (6,16).

+Complements+.

Object.

Noun or p.r.o.noun (39).

Phrase (49).

Clause (61).

Attribute.