LANGUAGE LESSONS.

I. INTRODUCTORY.

This Lesson is not to be committed to memory. It should be read aloud in the class, each scholar reading one paragraph.

1. We have learned to speak the English language so as to understand what others say to us, and to make oth ers understand what we say to them. True, we have not learned syntax and analysis, as the scholars in the First Grade have; but in real talk we are able to use common words very well.

2. We can not only speak our language, but we have made some progress in writing it. We have written letters and short compositions. All this knowledge we have gained by hearing others talk, by talking ourselves, and by studying the lessons in our Readers.

3. But our letters and compositions are not perfect. We make mistakes in spelling and in using capitals; we often employ the wrong word, or we do not put the right words together in the right way. We also often express ourselves badly in talking.

4. Yesterday Mary Smith said to Robert Adair, "What boys is the best scholars in your class ?" and Robert answered, "Me and Willie Brown are the best." [Teacher: Who can tell what is wrong in these sentences?]

5. If Mary and Robert had known more about language, they would not have made these errors. So, if

Katy Lee had known more about our mother-tongue, she would not have declared, as she did the other day, that "she did not like grammar nohow," and that it was the hatefullest study she ever seen."

6. The most useful, as well as the most beautiful, knowledge that we can acquire in school is the knowledge of how to express ourselves, whether in conversation or on paper-how to say in correct English what we have to say, to begin with; then how to say it so that the reader shall understand exactly our meaning; then how to say it so as to give pleasure by the form in which we put what we have to say.

7. Nowadays we must all be writers. There are what we may call professional writers-that is, persons whose business it is to write; and these address a public audience, through books, magazines, and newspapers. Now it may not be our business to write; yet we shall all have frequent occasion to handle the pen. A good part of our intercourse with others is necessarily carried on by writing; and even if we wrote only letters, we should still be practicing the art of writing.

8. It would be very unfortunate-would it not?—for one to be tongue-tied, or to have an impediment in his speech. Well, in this writing age, it is equally unfortunate for one not to have a ready use of the pen.

9. It is not very difficult for a pupil to learn to speak and to write correctly and clearly. And if you who are beginning the study of this book will faithfully work out the exercises here given, you will find that you will be able to express yourselves well both with the tongue and with the pen.

10. The study that teaches us to use the English language correctly in speaking and in writing is called English Grammar.

II. THE SENTENCE.

The teacher will dictate, and the pupils will write on slates or on paper, the following story:

Two young bears left their native woods. They came to a bee-hive well stored with honey. At this discovery the bears were greatly delighted. They hastily overturned the hive. They began to eat voraciously. The bees, however, were not to be deprived of the fruit of their labor with impunity. They flew about the bears. They stung them severely in the ears and eyes. The bears tried in vain to repel the attacks of their nimble foes. They were at last forced to retreat, maddened with pain and blinded with rage. But after a while their sufferings subsided. They had leisure to reflect upon their conduct, and resolved to profit by their sad experience. Pleasure is often bought with pain.

1. In the story that you have copied there are two things to be noticed

I. The piece is marked off into separate statements by a punctuation-mark, called the period, or full stop. II. The first word of a statement begins with a capital letter.

2. RULE.—Begin every statement with a capital, and end it with a period.

done.

Exchange papers, and see if this has been correctly

3. Each of these separate statements is called a Sentence.

In the copied story, number the sentences 1, 2, 3, etc. What is the first sentence? The second? The third? etc. 4. DEFINITION.-A Sentence is a set of words making a complete statement.

5. All our talk consists of sentences. Whenever we say any thing we make a sentence. We can not say any thing without using a sentence.

6. A sentence is made up of words; but words thrown together at random will not be a sentence: they must express something before they can be a sentence.

7. A pupil was told to write a sentence on air. She wrote these words: "The air that we breathe."

Now these words are not a sentence, for the reason that they do not by themselves make any complete statement. They might easily be worked into a sentence by saying "The air that we breathe is sweet," or "The air that we breathe is a fluid."

8. Is this a sentence?

Little drops of water, little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.

9. Is this a sentence?

Full many a gem of purest ray serene—

Here are some sets of words which are not sentences, because they do not make statements. Put in such words as will make them sentences.

1. In 1492 Columbus

2. The life of a farmer is

3. The earth, in 365 days

4. A band of robbers

5. The story of Robinson Crusoe

6. When Washington had cut the cherry-tree

7. The City of New York

8. The Empire of China
9. The study of Grammar

10.

11.

12.

13.

was a great patriot.
gives milk.

is the largest city in the world.
tells us the time of day.

TEACHER'S NOTE.-The lessons in the Reader should be turned to account in thoroughly grounding pupils in the real nature of the Sentence. In this and the subsequent exercises, the work of one or more pupils may be written on the blackboard, and made the basis of class-criticism.

III. SUBJECT AND PREDICATE.

1. In every sentence there are two important things to be noticed

I. That there is something stated, or said.

II. That there is something named about which the statement is made.

Birds fly.

Here the thing stated is the action denoted by the word fly. The thing named about which the statement fly is made, is birds.

Music soothes.

Here what is talked about is music; the thing stated is that it soothes.

Rivers flow to the sea.

Here what is talked about is rivers; what is said about them is that they flow to the sea.

In the following sentences tell WHO or WHAT is talked about, and what is the thing STATED.

1. Columbus discovered America.

2. Leaves have their time to fall.

3. Iron is the most useful metal.

4. The lawyer hummed an old love-tune.

5. The squirrel eyes the browning chestnuts.

2. In every sentence the thing talked about is called the Subject. The thing stated is called the Predicate.

cate.

Every sentence must contain a Subject and a Predi-. The reason of this is that every sentence must be a statement; for if there were not something stated, and something about which a statement is made, there would not be any statement at all.