Part 48 (1/2)

3. _Action_, and not words, _is_ needed.

4. _Bread and milk is_ good food.

5. The _committee are_ unable to agree on _their_ report.

6. The _committee has_ made _its_ report.

Other examples may be given till the pupils are led to discover that in examples like (1) and (2) the verb agrees with its nearest subject, and that the plural subject is usually placed next to the verb; that in (3) the verb agrees with the affirmative subject, another verb being understood with the negative subject; that in (4) ”bread and milk” represents one article of food; and that in (5) the individuals of the committee are thought of, while in (6) the committee as a whole is thought of. In (5) and (6) the agreement of the p.r.o.noun may also be noted. p.r.o.nouns may be introduced into many of the preceding exercises and the pupils led to apply to the agreement of the p.r.o.noun with its antecedent what has been learned of the agreement of the verb with its subject. Let the pupils determine why the following connected subjects are arranged in the proper order:--

1. You and I are invited.

2. Mary and I are invited.

3. You and Mary are invited.

4. You and Mary and I are invited.

WRITING NAMES--CAPITALS AND ABBREVIATIONS. [Footnote: For list of abbreviations see p. 191.]

Pupils may copy the following list of names, and note all peculiarities in form:--

Texas, state, river, Red River, city, Albany, New Orleans, Kansas City, statesman, Thomas Jefferson, Thos. Jefferson, author, Charles d.i.c.kens, Chas. d.i.c.kens, writer, George William Curtis, Geo. Wm. Curtis, Geo. W.

Curtis, poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, John G. Whittier, J. G. Whittier, gulf, sea, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, lake, Lake Erie, general, General Robert Edmund Lee, Gen. Robt. E. Lee, doctor, Doctor Valentine Mott, Dr. V. Mott, professor, Prof. Goldwin Smith.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote ”The Song of Hiawatha.”

John Bunyan wrote ”The Pilgrim's Progress.”

The subject for composition was ”A Day in the Woods.”

We give the following questions to ill.u.s.trate our method of conducting an

+Observation Lesson+.--Are _city_ and _Albany_ both names? What difference can you discover in meaning? What in form? Which of the names just written are _cla.s.s_ names? Which are _individual_ names? Mention an individual name made up of two names; one of three names; one of four. How many capitals do you find in each of the names just mentioned? Mention seven words that are written without capitals as cla.s.s names, and again with capitals as parts of individual names. Mention a word that is shortened, or _abbreviated_, by omitting all but the first, or _initial_, letter. Mention an _abbreviation_ containing two letters; one containing three; one containing four. What new use of the period have you discovered in this exercise? What three words in this exercise are used together as the t.i.tle of a book? What four as the t.i.tle of a poem? What five as the subject of a school composition? Each of these groups may be regarded as a kind of individual name. Besides the first word, what words begin with capitals in each of these three groups?

Notice that these are the princ.i.p.al words.

For another exercise the pupils may copy the following sentences, noting carefully capitals and punctuation marks:--

1. The city of Chicago is on Lake Michigan.

2. The steamer _City of Chicago_ sails from Jersey City.

3. The island of Cuba is under Spanish rule.

4. The Isle of Man is in the Irish Sea.

5. The Hon. Wm. E. Gladstone is an English statesman.

6. The subject for composition was ”The View from my Window.”

7. In the evening Aunt Mary entertained my cousin and me with stories of Uncle Remus.

8. Miss Evans--afterward Mrs. Lewes--was the author of ”The Mill on the Floss.”

9. We may call the Supreme Being our Heavenly Father.

10. The Old Testament points to the coming of a Messiah.

11. George I., George II., George III., George IV., and William IV.

preceded Victoria.