Dear Miss Hall,

Mother and I are hoping that you can spend Thursday evening with us. Of course we shall expect you to dinner. You have not forgotten that our dinner hour is half past six?

25 Gray Street, Dorchester,

Cordially yours,

Ella W. Parker.

Tuesday, November fifth.

EXERCISES

186. Accept the invitation in writing; decline it.

187. What characteristics of the writer come out in the following invitation? How many indications are there that she wished her guests to come and to come with the utmost ease? Consider the note addressed to you, and write a reply.

My dear Mr. Brown,

We should be happy to have you and your brother come down next Wednesday and stay with us over Sunday. A train that leaves Boston at three o'clock in the afternoon reaches Providence about four and gives ample time to take the train for Woodville in the same station at twenty minutes past four. Woodville is the terminus of the road, and our cottage is close to the station.

we

The best way is to buy a five-trip ticket to Providence, can easily take the extra ticket, then a round-trip ticket from Providence to Woodville. You will need your tennis racquets, and the bicycles will not come amiss. We have at least one extra bathing suit. . . . You may be sure of a hearty welcome.

Woodville, Rhode Island,

July fifteenth.

Very sincerely yours,

Mary Davis Leighton.

188. Invite your teacher to dine with you and spend the evening at your home. Make it clear in your note that you have consulted your mother in regard to the invitation.

189. Write a friend in order to show him that you appreciate the good time he gave you during your visit at his home.

190. Write a note to accompany a Christmas gift which is to be sent through the mail.

191. Write a letter of appreciation to a friend who has sent you a birthday gift.

CHAPTER IX

THE CORRECT SENTENCE: A REVIEW OF GRAMMAR

"It is not so much a merit to know English as it is a shame not to know it."

Why is it that a boy enjoys taking a bicycle apart? Possibly one reason is that some day it may be convenient to know how the parts go together. Now a boy's sentences, like his bicycle, sometimes need repairs; and if he is to do his own repairing, he must know how the parts of the sentence go together. Should he have occasion to make bicycles, he would need to study with the utmost patience the construction of such machines. He is bound to make sentences, and the sensible way to learn how to make them is to see how the best writers have made them. The study of the forms and the constructions of words is called Grammar.

Grammar deals with inflection and syntax. Inflection is a change in the form of a word to show its construction. Syntax treats of the constructions of words in the sentence.

65. The Parts of Speech. Words are divided according to their uses into eight classes called parts of speech.

Noun. A noun is a word used as a name of a person, place, or thing.

Pronoun.

1 A pro-noun 1 is a word which stands for a noun.

1 Your teacher will explain how the etymology reveals the meaning of these words.

Adjective. An ad-jective is a word used to describe or a description added to a noun or

limit a noun or pronoun

pronoun.

Verb. A verb is a word used to assert something of a person, place, or thing.

Adverb. An ad-verb is a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Preposition. A pre-position is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to show the relation between it and some other word or words in the sentence.

Conjunction. A con-junction is a word used to join sentences or parts of sentences.

Interjection. An inter-jection is a word used to express surprise, anger, pleasure, or some other feeling or emotion. It is thrown into the midst of other words, but has little connection with them.

EXERCISES

192. Make separate lists of the following: the nouns and adjectives in the first selection in Exercise 430; the verbs in the selection on pages 292-293; the adverbs and conjunctions in the selection on pages 243-244; the words on pages 1, 2, and 3 that end in -ing, stating what part of speech each word is (see sects. 87 and 88).

193. Classify, by arranging in columns, the italicized words in the following selection :

THE TRAINING OF FIREMEN

Firemen are athletes as a matter of course. They have to be, or they could not hold their places for a week, even if they could get into them at all. The mere handling of the scaling ladders, which, light though they seem, weigh from sixteen to forty pounds, requires unusual strength. No particular skill is needed. A man need only

have steady nerve, and the strength to raise the long pole by its narrow end, and jam the iron hook through a window which he cannot see but knows is there. Once through, the teeth in the hook and the man's weight upon the ladder hold it safe, and there is no real danger unless he loses his head. Against that possibility the severe drill in the school of instruction is the barrier. Any one to whom climbing at dizzy heights, or doing the hundred and one things of peril to ordinary men which firemen are constantly called upon to do, causes the least discomfort, is rejected as unfit. About five per cent of all appointees are eliminated by the ladder test, and never get beyond their probation service. A certain smaller percentage takes itself out through loss of "nerve generally. The first experience of a room full of smothering smoke, with the fire roaring overhead, is generally sufficient to convince the timid that the service is not for him. No cowards are dismissed from the department, for the reason that none get into it.

-JACOB A. RIIS, "Heroes Who Fight Fire."

194. In the paragraph in Exercise 601, page 316, arrange the ⚫following words in columns, according to their use as parts of speech :

Zealous, assistant, pertained, training, her (1. 2), all (1. 3), that (1.3), directly, having, indeed, administer, correction, two, through, infancy, she (1. 7), affection (1. 8), between, her (1.8), marked, that (1. 9), own (1. 9), may, been, anything, tender, with (1. 11), others, for (l. 12), unquestionable, their (1. 14), from (1. 14), again, separation, same, as (1. 15), childhood, smiling, at, shielding, yet, up, accountability, always, good, as (1. 20), but, honored, universally (1. 22), cared, for (1. 22).

66. The Flexibility of Parts of Speech. In our study of the relation between words we must not forget that a word is sometimes one part of speech, sometimes another. For example, in the sentences that follow notice the part of speech of each word in italics: