phraseology, shown in the first list below), but are avoided by employing the terms man (men), woman (women), boy, girl, which were originally used appositively (§ 47):

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1. Male (or female) ancestor, attendant, attire, child, citizen, choir, chorus, costume, descendant, dress, garb, heir, inhabitant, issue, line, members of a society, quartette, suffrage (or 'woman's suffrage', § 151; woman suffrage', which is sometimes seen, is no better than · woman dress', woman society', woman party', woman rights', or ' woman curiosity' would be), voice, vote, voter; deer, dog, dove, fish, insect, tiger; fern, plant, tree.

NOTE. Such terms as 'Female Seminary', 'Female College', are now replaced by Seminary for Young Women', 'College for Women'.

2. Man (or woman) acquaintance, chairman, clerk, cook, cousin, critic, doctor, farmer, friend, guest, instructor, lawyer, merchant, musician, nurse, president, professor, reader, saint, secretary, singer, superintendent, surgeon, teacher, treasurer.

Men (or women) acquaintances, chairmen, clerks, cooks, cousins, etc.

But, manservant, menservants; maidservant, maidservants; salesman, salesmen; saleswoman, saleswomen.

3. Boy (or girl) acquaintance, actor, baby, chairman, choir, chorus, clerk, cook, cousin, critic, doctor, farmer, friend, graduate, guest, lawyer, merchant, musician, nurse, page, playmate, president, quartette, reader, saint, schoolmate, scout, secretary, singer, superintendent, treasurer.

Boy (or girl) aquaintances, actors, babies, chairmen, choirs, choruses, clerks, etc.

150. Gentleman, lady. Do not use 'gentleman' and 'lady' to indicate gender (§ 149):

1. His men friends (not 'gentlemen friends'); a man friend; a man cousin; a boy cousin of mine.

2. My women friends (not 'lady friends '); a woman friend (not 'a lady friend'); a woman cousin; a girl cousin.

151. Woman's, women's. Either woman's or women's may be used as an adjective to indicate gender. The singular refers to women collectively or in the abstract; the plural refers to them as individuals:

1. Woman's (or women's) rights; woman's suffrage (see § 149); women's shoes (not 'ladies', § 150).

2. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

3. The Young Women's Christian Association.

152. Lady, madam, mesdames. The word lady should not be used in the nominative of address (§ 471) for madam except in the plural, and in oral address only (Oxford English Dictionary). In letters Madam is the proper formal salutation to a woman, whether she is married or single; the plural now used is Mesdames (§ 544, II, III):

Madam (not Lady'), here is a seat; ladies, here are seats.

153. Makeshifts for adjectives. Care should be taken not to use words indiscriminately as adjectives (§§ 54, 383, 416): 1. They came to a desert place. (This is correct.)

A journey in (into, or through) the desert. (Not 'A desert journey'.)

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2. Their plan of colonization. (Not Their colonizing plan' or 'Their colonization plan '.)

3. The south of France. (Not 'The French south'.)

4. Look at the page on athletics. (Not 'the athletic page'.) (Exercises XV, XVI, §§ 560, 561.).

THE VERB

154. Verb. A verb is a word used to say something about a person or thing:

The boys made a boat.

155. Verb phrase. A phrase (§ 6) may be used as a verb; such a phrase is called a verb phrase:

The boys were making a boat.

156. Transitive; intransitive. When a verb takes an object, it is said to be transitive or to be used transitively (expressing an action that passes over to an object; see trans-, § 405); when it does not take an object, it is said to be intransitive or to be used intransitively:

1. Father built our barn. (Transitive.)

2. The older children walked. (Intransitive.)

In English most verbs may be used either transitively or intransitively, often with different meanings:

1. We rested the horses. We rested.

2. I broke my arm. The ship broke from her moorings. 3. He moved his house. He moved to the country.

4. The farmers grow grass. The grass grows.

NOTE. A verb used intransitively generally has the active voice only (§ 211). A verb used transitively has both the active and the passive voice. When a transitive verb is changed from the active to the passive voice, the direct object becomes the subject or the retained object (§ 213).

157. Auxiliary. In forming verb phrases, a verb receives the help of one or more other verbs, called auxiliaries. The more usual auxiliaries are am, is, are, was, were, have, has, had, do, does, did, can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would:

1. I am reading. The boys were singing.

2. Mother has finished her work.

3. What did you see at the museum?

4. He could have found his way to the post office. 5. We shall not go home until next week.

6. They would have liked to drive by the river.

158. Linking; predicate adjective, etc. An intransitive verb may be used in two ways. It may stand alone in the predicate, and is then called a complete verb; or it may be

followed by an adjective, noun, or pronoun to tell what the subject is declared to be, and is then called a linking verb; the adjective, noun, or pronoun completes the meaning of the verb, but modifies the subject; an adjective so used is called a predicate adjective (§ 113, N.); a noun or pronoun so used is in the nominative case, and is called a predicate nominative (§ 40):

1. The tree grew. (Complete verb.)

2. The tree grew green. (Predicate adjective.)

3. Henry became an engineer. (Predicate nominative.) 4. That was he. (Predicate nominative; § 63.)

The common linking verbs are is (am, are, was, were, has been, will be, etc.; §§ 629, 630), become, feel, get, grow, look, prove, smell, taste, turn, sound, and the like (see §§ 238, 239): 1. At last I got clear of all debts.

2. The timid boy became a great leader. 3. The supplies proved insufficient.

4. The tinkling of the bells sounds sweet.

159. There is, etc. A sentence often begins with There is, There were, There will be, and so forth, in which there has lost its force as an adverb. This order of words adds emphasis to the subject (§ 370), but its excessive use becomes a mannerism. Study the following sentences, observing the agreement of the verb:

1. There was not a man to till the ground. THE BIBLE.

2. There was a little city, and [there were, § 347] few men within it. THE BIBLE. (Observe the comma before and, which separates the two clauses; § 466.)

There was a very cold winter, and a long frost. - DEFOE.

He took me into his box, where there was a fire, a desk, a telegraphic instrument, and the little bell of which he had spoken.

DICKENS.

3. There were giants in the earth in those days. THE BIBLE.

4. There were, besides, the cottager and his wife.

DICKENS.

(The group of two requires the plural were. Compare And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary'; here are two distinct persons, named in two different clauses.)

There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee.. THE BIBLE. (Together requires the plural were.)

5. There are notes and a vocabulary. (Say, rather, 'The editor has added notes and a vocabulary'; or, 'The book is provided with ', etc.)

6. There are one or two other matters to be considered. (One or two = an indefinite small number of. Compare two or three; three or four.)

7. He is one of the best men there are in the world (§ 91; but the omission of there are will improve the sentence).

8. Once upon a time there lived in a dark forest a little old man and a little old woman. (Not 'there were '.)

160. Mood. To denote the manner in which its action or state is expressed, the verb has three different groups of forms, called moods: the indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative. The indicative and the subjunctive are now often alike in form, but their uses are as distinct as ever.

161. Indicative mood. The essential use of the indicative mood is to denote that the action or state expressed by the verb is a fact, or is thought of as a fact (see §§ 334-345 also):

1. He has leisure. Has he leisure?

2. How warm it is today!

3. She learned where the poor woman lived. 4. If he is sleeping, he is getting better.

162. Subjunctive mood. The essential use of the subjunctive mood is to denote that the action or state expressed by the verb is not thought of as a fact, but as something possible or desired (see §§ 163, 334-346 also):