Phrases and Prepositions

37. Read the following sentences:

1. Wise men act carefully. 2. Men of wisdom act with care. 3. The German lady speaks our language fluently. 4. The lady from Germany speaks our language with fluency. 5. Toward the earth's center is called down.

What group of words in the second sentence is used in place of the adjective in the first sentence? In place of the adverb? Compare the third and fourth sentences. How do they differ? In the fifth sentence, what is the subject of is called? What word introduces the phrase of wisdom? What word is used with the noun Germany to form a phrase?

38. A phrase is a combination of words that does not contain a subject and a predicate, and is used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

39. A preposition is a word used with a noun or a pronoun to form a phrase, which it joins to the word that the phrase modifies.

40. The noun or the pronoun with which a preposition is used to form a phrase is called the object of the preposition.

41. After, at, behind, below, for, from, of, in, into, over, to, and up are among the prepositions most commonly used.

42. A preposition generally shows the relation of an object, an action, or a quality, to an object.

EXERCISES

43. Point out the phrases in the following sentences, and the words that they modify:

1. A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers. 2. Ariosto tells a pretty story of a fairy, who, by some mysterious law of her nature, was condemned to appear at certain seasons in the form of a foul and poisonous smoke. -Macaulay.

44. Point out the prepositions and their objects in the following sentences :

The new South is enamored of her new work. Her soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light of a grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrilling with the consciousness of growing power and prosperity.

– H. W. Grady.

Coördinate Conjunctions

45. Read the following sentences:

1. Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers. 2. Lake Superior and Lake Michigan are large. 3. Which is nearer the sun, Mars or Venus? 4. The brave troops at Santiago rushed through ditches and across ravines.

What words

What two sentences are joined by but? are joined by and in the second sentence? By or in the third? In the fourth sentence how are the phrases joined?

46. A conjunction is a word used to join sentences, or parts of a sentence.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY

TEACHERS' LIBRARY

47. A coördinate conjunction is a conjunction used to join sentences, or parts of a sentence that have the same construction.

48. The chief coördinate conjunctions are and, but, or, and nor.

EXERCISE

49. Point out the coördinate conjunctions in the following

sentences:

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. — Bacon.

Clauses

50. Read the following sentences:

1. Thoughtful persons consider the future. 2. Persons who are thoughtful consider the future. 3. Did you hear the news? 4. Did you hear that peace was declared? 5. The old forest tree lies there. 6. The old forest tree lies where it fell.

What words in the second sentence are equivalent to the adjective thoughtful in the first sentence? In the sixth sentence what combination of words is used in place of the adverb there in the fifth?

51. A clause is a combination of words containing a subject and a predicate, and used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

EXERCISE

52. Point out the clauses in the following sentences:

I. A French scientist, who accompanied an expedition in search of the lost navigator, La Perouse, about 1790, first described a tree which had before this time been unknown, and which constituted the chief part of the forests around Botany Bay, Australia.

Because the flower

bud has on it a cover like the lid of a tiny sugar bowl, he called the tree Eucalyptus, which means

Subordinate Conjunctions

well covered."

53. In the following sentences, the combinations of words printed in italics are clauses.

1. The troops surrendered because the commander was killed. 2. Performance is better than promising (is). 3. If we resolve to succeed, we take the first steps toward success. What word introduces the clause in the first sentence? In the second? In the third?

54. A subordinate conjunction is a conjunction used with a subject and a predicate to form a clause, which it joins to the word that the clause modifies.

55. Among the chief subordinate conjunctions are as, because, if, than, and that.

EXERCISE

56. Use a coördinate or subordinate conjunction in place of each of the blanks in the following sentences:

I.

the moon should pass between the earth sun, there would be an eclipse of the sun;

LYTE'S ADV. GR. AND COMP.-2

the

the

57. Read the following sentences:

1. Learn to write business papers before attempting to transact business. 2. General Miles sought for an opportunity to review the troops commanded by General Lee. 3. I came to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.

In the first sentence the words in italics are used as nouns do they express action? In the second sentence the italicized words are used as adjectives. In the third sentence they are used as adverbs.

58. A verbal is a word that is derived from a verb and partakes of its nature, and is used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

EXERCISES

59. Point out the verbals used as nouns :

evil.

- Mohammed.

3.

1. To err is human. - Pope. 2. To resist evil by evil is To have ideas is to gather flowers. To think is to weave them into garlands. Madame Swetchine. 4. Reading without purpose is unprofitable. 5. He objected to being defeated.

60. Point out the verbals used as adjectives:

1. Have they the courage to try? 2. Wealth acquired dishonestly is frequently a curse. 3. A noun is a word