LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED "English Synonyms," by George Crabb. "Synonyms Discriminated," by Charles John Smith. "The Verbalist," by Alfred Ayres. "Words, Their Use and Abuse," by William Mathews. "Words and Their Uses," by Richard Grant White. "A School Grammar of the English Language," by Edward A. Allen. "Exercises in English," by H. I. Strang. "Grammar of English Grammars," by Goold Brown. "Grammar of the English Sentence," by Jonathan Rigdon. "Language Reading Lessons," by William M. Giffin. "Manual of Grammar," by W. M. Evans. "Practical Exercises in English," by Huber Gray Buehler. "Steps in English," by A. C. McLean, Thomas C. Blaisdell, and John Morrow. "Guide to Business English," by Hervey D. Vories. "Practical Journalism," by Edwin L. Shuman. "The Practice of Typography," by Theodore Low DeVinne. Each of the foregoing expressions conveys some thought or judgment. A group of words expressing a thought or a judgment is a sentence. It will also be seen that every thought or judgment has three essential elements: I. The main idea, or the idea about which the mind thinks or asserts something. 2. The attributive idea, or an idea that the mind thinks or asserts of the main idea. 3. The relation that the mind sees as existing between these two elements, thereby uniting them into one thought or judgment. SUBJECT The word or group of words that expresses the main idea is the subject of the sentence. PREDICATE The word or group of words that expresses the attributive idea is the predicate of the sentence. COPULA The word that asserts the relation between the subject and the predicate is the copula. The copula is usually some form of the verb "be," and is considered by most grammarians a part of the predicate. Observation. On first reading the fifth sentence it may seem that there is no asserting word. Compare the fifth with the sixth sentence, however, and you will see that the verbs "teach" and "learn" are of a two-fold nature in that they express the attributive idea and make the assertion as well. In the sixth sentence the same idea is conveyed, but the words "teacher" and "learner" express the attributive idea, and the word "are" serves to make the assertion. MODIFIERS To the three essential elements of every thought or judgment may be added subordinate elements represented by words called modifiers. I. What sentences in the foregoing list give you information? 2. 3. What sentences express strong feeling or emotion? 4. What sentences command or entreat you to do something? DEFINITIONS A declarative sentence is a sentence that gives you information. An interrogative sentence is a sentence that asks you for information. An exclamatory sentence is a sentence that expresses strong feeling or emotion. An imperative sentence is a sentence that commands or entreats you to do something. |