sentence, thus: Where did Blomidon rise? Change this to the declarative and compare it with the original sentence: By this it will be seen that Blomidon is the subject, and did rise where is the complete predicate. The interrogative words of most frequent occurrence are: where, when, why, how, how often, how much, what, who, and what kind of. Exercise 12 Select subject and predicate: 1. Somewhat apart from the village dwelt Benedict Bellefontaine. 2. The wealthiest farmer of Grand-Pré lived nearer the Basin of Minas. 3. Benedict Bellefontaine dwelt on his goodly acres. 4. Where did Evangeline live? 5. Evangeline was the pride of the village. 6. How stalworth the farmer was! 7. Stately in form was the man of seventy winters. 8. The stately old farmer was a man of seventy winters. 9. Hearty and hale was he. 10. White as the snow were his locks. 11. How softly her eyes gleamed beneath her tresses! 12. How old was Evangeline? Exercise 13 1. Select subject and predicate: a. Sweet was the breath of Evangeline. b. What kind of ale did Evangeline bear to the reapers? 2. Form two questions from each of the sentences 1, 2, 3, 11, of Exercise 12. 3. Make a list of the nouns in the text. EVANGELINE AND HER FATHER-Concluded Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell from its turret Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with his hyssop Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings upon them, Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet of beads and her missal, Wearing her Norman cap and her kirtle of blue, and the ear rings Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as an heir loom, Handed down from mother to child, through long generations. But a celestial brightness a more ethereal beauty Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after confes sion, Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction upon her. When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite 75 80 music. Exercise 14 1. What made Evangeline fairer on Sunday than on a weekday? Read lines 78-80 for a suggestion of the answer. 2. What is there about the ringing of a bell to suggest the idea of sprinkling? 3. What is meant by hyssop? chaplet of beads? missal ? heirloom? celestial brightness? ethereal beauty? 4. Imagine yourself one of the earrings and tell your history. (Who in the class can make the most interesting story consistent with the real history of the Acadians ?) 5. Explain the last line. PRONOUNS Certain words called pronouns are used to avoid too frequent repetition of nouns. Were it not for these very useful words, the sentence in lines 74 and 75 would read, Down the long street Evangeline passed, with Evangeline's chaplet of beads and Evangeline's missal, wearing Evangeline's Norman cap and Evangeline's kirtle of blue. The little words she and her refer to Evangeline, and make the sense perfectly clear without the undesirable repetition of the name. Commit Grammar: 43. Exercise 15 Select subject and predicate: 1. Fairer was she on Sunday morn. 2. The bell from its turret sprinkled the air with holy sounds. 3. The priest with his hyssop sprinkles the congregation. 4. Down the long street she passed. 5. What was her chaplet of beads? 6. Her kirtle of blue had been brought in the olden time from France. 7. A more ethereal beauty shone on her face. 8. Homeward serenely she walked. 9. Was God's benediction upon her? Make a list of the nouns in the text. EVANGELINE'S HOME Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and a shady Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it. Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath; and a footpath Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the meadow. Under the sycamore tree were hives overhung by a penthouse, Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the roadside, Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of Mary. Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well with its moss-grown Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for the horses. 85 90 Exercise 16 1. What does commanding mean in the 83d line? 2. Where do sycamores usually grow ? 3. What other name for woodbine? 4. How did it happen that a footpath was made through the orchard? 5. What is a penthouse? 6. What are the "regions remote" mentioned in line 88? 7. Who was Mary? THE ADJECTIVE ELEMENT You have now learned to separate the subject from the predicate. Have you noticed that every subject contains either a noun or pronoun, and that the thought is concerning this noun or pronoun? This is called the simple subject. (Grammar: 116.) This simple subject may be enlarged by having words joined to it to describe or modify in some way its meaning. These enlargements serve to give us a better idea or picture of the thing spoken of, and may be joined to any noun or pronoun. Thus the sentence GrandPré lay in a valley gives the bare picture of a town situated between two hills; but the sentence Grand-Pré lay in a fruitful valley presents a very different picture. We readily suspect from the word fruitful that in the springtime the village of Grand-Pré is full of the scent of apple blooms; that the green wheat is steadily growing up toward the top of the fence; that later in the year we may see the yellow corn peeping out from the husks, and the golden pumpkins lying over the fields. The word fruitful, then, describes the noun valley, telling us what kind of a valley it is. (Grammar: 6.) Not only may a noun be modified by an adjective, but it may also be modified by another noun, which is joined to it by means of a connecting word called a preposition. In the expression "farmers of Acadia," Acadia is made to modify farmers by means of the preposition of, which indicates that the farmers belonged to that part of the country. Farmers of Acadia is equivalent to Acadian farmers. In the one case |