12. You must tell me about what things you see. 13. Medicine only made the patient worse. 14. To be prodigal in youth is to be needy in age. 15. Which course would you advise him to take? 16. Whatever efforts you make will be rewarded. 17. Fortune may make a man famous, but it cannot make him great. 18. It finds him poor; it makes him rich. SUMMARY: ADJECTIVES. 410. To sum up: An adjective is a word that adds to. the meaning of a noun or a pronoun, without asserting anything nor standing by itself as a name. 1. Modifies the noun (or pronoun) 2. Subjective Complement of the verb (inf. or part.) 3. Objective Complement of the verb (inf. or part.) · D. ERRORS IN THE USE OF ADJECTIVES. 412. A or An. A should be used only before words beginning with consonant sounds, and an before words beginning with vowel sounds. Thus: A house, an honor; a wonder, a one, an onion, an ounce; a yew, a ewe, a ūse, a unit, a eulogy, an ürchin, an uncle. NOTE. One begins with the consonant sound of w, and long u begins with the con sonant sound of y. A pink and a white dahlia (two f 414. Agreement. An adjective that de than one, must agree in number with the n Thus we should say, "This kind," not "these kind"; "three feet w wide"; "that sort," not "those sort"; "six pour pound." 415. Such expressions as a few, a dozen, a great m sand, three hundred sixty-five, two and a half, may be con when they modify nouns. 416. Them. Never use them as an ad Expressions like "them books,” "them thin worst errors. EXERCISE 277. 1. Fill the blanks with a, an, or the when nee 1. Brutus was truth. 3. He was honorable man. 2. Thị kind and indulgen 5. poor and dignified and first and second stanzas. rights. 6. She was married to 2. Select the proper form, giving your reaso 1. I prefer (these, this) kind of rugs. 2. 1 those) hose at the fire? 3. You must avoid ( people. 4. I haven't seen him for (these, this) must catch (them, those) horses. 417. Adjectives not compared. Do n tives so as to make ill-sounding or meaningl Say the most awkward fellow, not the awkward 418. Double Comparison. Do not modify compara tives by more nor superlatives by most. For "They could not find a more worthier man," say, a worthier a more worthy man." In "This is the most unwisest man" or 66 course," omit either most or st. 419. Forms Confused. Use the comparative form in comparing two objects, the superlative in comparing more than two. Thus: Which is better, - health or wealth? Which is best, health, wealth, or learning? 420. OTHER misused. Do not spoil a comparison by wrongly inserting or omitting the word other. 66 Thus: "New York is larger than any city in America," should of course be "than any other city in America"; and "Rhode Island is the smallest of all the other States," should be "of all the States." 421. Adverbs for Adjectives. Do not use an adjective where an adverb is needed. Not "move slow," but "move slowly"; not real good," but "really or very good." EXERCISE 278. Correct the following sentences, giving your reason:— 1. Go very quick. 2. I never heard a more truer remark. 3. Which is largest, the numerator or the denominator? 4. Which is the best actor, Booth or Irving? 5. Speak loud and distinct. 6. This is the most quietest part of the city. 7. Let such an one rise, if present. 8. I never saw anything neater done. 9. Which is nearest the north pole, Europe or Asia? 10. This copy is very perfect. 11. Were you — weighed on that scales? 12. He is the awkwardest skater on the pond. 14. Brother Charles is 13. Of all my other friends, I like him best. taller than any member of our family. CHAPTER XVIII. VERBS. [Review pages 126-137.] 422. The life of a sentence is the verb that it con tains; if we take that away, no matter how many words remain, the meaning is generally gone. A. KINDS. 423. We have already found that the verb alone is sometimes quite enough to make a finished predicate; as in The earth revolves. The sun rises. But sometimes it seems only to have begun what another word must finish; as in The sun gives-light. The earth is a sphere. Hence we class verbs as Complete and Incomplete. 424. Incomplete verbs, or those that need complements, are again divided into classes as follows: Copulative verbs that need a complement to describe what the subject names; as, -- Fire is hot. We were without food. Heat is a force. Transitive verbs that need an object to show what the action affects; as, 425. Of these three kinds of verbs, complete, copulative, and transi tive, the two that are not complete may, of course, be called incomplete, and the two that are not transitive may be called intransitive. EXERCISE 279. 1. Supply subjects to these verbs, and complements where they seem to be needed: Screamed; stays; fly; ate; cut; punished; grew; drink; seek; depart; talked; tears; looks; seemed; saw; were; became; found; arm; wore; feels; had; spoke; are; was. 2. Explain the difference between the two kinds of complements that you have added. 426. Copulative Verbs. No verb is always copulative, and only a small number are ever so; one of them however is extremely common, namely, be, which—with its various forms, am, is, was, were, etc. — helps to make many verb-phrases; as in (a) Be is sometimes used like "exist" as a complete verb with more of its original meaning; as in The time was, when no one lived here; There is a God; but generally it seems only to connect the subject to what is asserted of it. (b) Be enters into the meaning of all other copulative verbs. Thus: He appeared wise = was wise in appearance. = are distant to the sight. = So with feel, sound, smell, become, seem, etc. EXERCISE 280. Point out the verbs the meaning of which is completed by some expression that is descriptive of what the subject names. |