Definition.—A modifier is any word or expression used with another word to narrow its application and to denote its meaning more exactly-to reduce or lessen the measure or extent in which its sense is to be taken.

Other words besides class names may take modifiers. Thus, with glad or sour we may use very, extremely, moderately, always, too, never, and many others.

So, also, a person may swim well, fast, slowly, in the ocean, up stream, for life, when he goes to the seashore, if the day is pleasant, etc.

19. The Modified Subject.-In speaking or writing, we usually employ more than one word to denote the subject of a sentence. Descriptive words are added, so that the thing denoted by the subject may not be mistaken for something else. As has been explained, these added words are called modifiers. Without modifiers, the subject is simple or unmodified; or more briefly, it is the subject. With the modifiers, the subject is called the entire or modified subject. For example, modifiers such as those shown below, might be used with such subjects as boy and horse.

The, my, a,

good, studious, boy learns

bright, diligent)

That, his, our,

the grocer's black, horse runs
sorrel, young

With these modifiers we can form such sentences as the following:

The diligent studious boy learns.

The grocer's young sorrel horse runs.

EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE

Copy the following sentences, and as shown in (a) below, enclose the simple subject in marks of parenthesis and underscore the modifiers of the subject:

(a) A studious (boy) will succeed.

(b) A beautiful black horse neighs.

(c) My pretty little blue-eyed sister is calling.

(d) Will the far-off icy pole ever be reached?

(e) Can an idle, careless, uneducated man succeed?

(f) A gentle, loving, little fairy came.

(g) A beautiful, high-stepping, black horse led the herd. (h) A large piece of buttered bread made his breakfast.

20. The Modified Predicate.-By means of modifiers, the predicate of a sentence may be made to denote differences of many kinds in what it declares or asks or commands concerning the subject. When such modifying words are added, we have the entire or modified predicate; without them, there remains only the simple predicate, or more briefly the predicate. These modifiers denote time, place, manner, direction, and various other circumstances.

1. Copy the following sentences; underscore modifiers of the predicate, and decide what each modifier denotes, whether time, place, manner, etc.; enclose the simple predicate in brackets and the simple subject in marks of parenthesis.

(a) Pronounce your words distinctly and correctly.

(b) Never speak angrily or hastily.

(c) My book lay here yesterday.

(d) Do you now know clearly and precisely my meaning?

(e) He frequently strokes the cat's fur gently and lovingly.

(f) Gayly and sweetly sang the little bird today.

(g) You should act promptly, wisely, and firmly.

(h) Yesterday a vicious dog attacked me fiercely and suddenly.

(i) When and why do you leave us?

(1) Where will you go tomorrow?

2. Copy the following sentences, and as in (a) below, enclose the simple subjects in parentheses and the simple predicates in brackets. Then underscore the modifiers of the subjects and overscore the modifiers of the predicates.

(a) [Will] the beautiful (birds) [return] to us again in the spring? (b) Many dark clouds of threatening appearance gathered along the mountain.

(c) Did you ever read about the Sleeping Beauty?

(d) All the idle boys of the village roamed about with Rip Van Winkle.

(e) Great quantities of gold have been found in Alaska.

(f) The natural fear of children is greatly increased by ghost stories.

(g) How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood.

(h) The President of the United States will certainly come to the city tomorrow in the morning.

(i) At last her pretty pleasure boat was seen far away at sea. (j) The two windows on the west peeped down between the willow branches into the orchard.

CLASSES OF WORDS

21. Eight Parts of Speech.-All the words in our language are included in eight classes called parts of speech. These classes of words correspond to the eight ways in which words are used in expressing thought. The class in which a word belongs cannot generally be known until that word is actually used in a sentence. Even then we can know only what part of speech the word is in that particular sentence, for it may be used in some other way the next time we meet it. One of the chief things that the student must learn to do quickly and with certainty is to tell what each word does in the sentences he studies-to determine its use or function. When he has rightly decided this in the case of any word, he can be sure in which one of the eight classes the word belongs; that is, he can say what part of speech the word is. It is this necessity for constantly and carefully discriminating the functions of words-what they do and how they are related-that makes the study of grammar so valuable a means of mental discipline.

THE NOUN

22. Function of the Noun.-We cannot look in any direction without seeing things that have names. All words that are used as the names of things are called nouns. Some names of things that we can see are sky, tree, house, star, boy. Some other things we learn about by touching, or feeling; as, coldness, heat, air, weight, warmth, dampness. The sense of

hearing enables us to learn about other things that have names; as, music, laughter, conversation, singing, speech. In like manner, by tasting and smelling we become acquainted with sweetness, bitterness, fragrance, odor, and many other things.

Besides the thousands of things that we may learn about by using our eyes and our other senses, there is a multitude of things that we cannot touch or hear or see; we find out about them by thinking. Some examples are truth, honor,

love, kindness, hatred.

Most nouns consist of but one word, but many others are made up of two or more words taken together; as, railroad, steamboat, sky-rocket, paper-weight. Indeed, any collection of two or more words that can be used as the subject of a sentence may be regarded as a noun, for it is the name of something. Thus, in the following sentences the expressions in Italics are used as nouns:

Sawing wood made him tired.

To have tried and failed was no disgrace.
Why he went was a great mystery.

To do one's duty is sometimes not easy.

Definition.—A noun is any word or expression used as the name of something, and capable of being the subject of a sentence.

EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE

1. Make lists of nouns as follows:

(a) Five names of things good for food.

(b) Five names of trees.

(c) Five names of tools used by workmen.

(d) Five names of flowers.

(e) Five names of animals.

(h) Five names of objects that you have seen on the dinner table. (i) Five subjects that are studied in school.

(j) Five names of trades or occupations.

2. Write two sentences, each of which shall contain three nouns. 3. Write sentences, each of which shall contain three of the following words used as nouns: wagon, window, watch, lesson, honesty, snow, milk, sky, city, patience, life, sport, village, light, crowd, difficulty, success, fort.

4. Make a list of the thirty-five nouns in the following sentences: (a) Some animals sleep all through the winter in a tree or a cave and wake up in the warm days of spring.

(b) Kind hearts are more than coronets.

(c) I see the lights of the village gleam through the rain and mist, And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me that my soul cannot resist;

A feeling of sadness and longing that is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only as the mist resembles the rain.

(d) We should not lose courage from failure, nor should success be followed by boasting; for life is too short for any kind of fortune to have long continuance.

(e) Laziness goes so slowly in the race of life that poverty is sure to be ahead long before the end is reached.

5. Write a list of the fifty-two nouns to be found in the following selections:

(a) Great thoughts, like great deeds, need no trumpet.

(b) The truth, the real life and sunshine, lay far out in regions beyond the horizon.

(c) Tell me not, in mournful numbers, life is but an empty dream. (d) That divine unrest, that old stinging trouble of humanity, that makes all high achievement and all miserable failure, inspired and supported these barbarians on their perilous march.

(e) "They are worlds like ours," said the young man; "and some of the least sparkles that you see are not only worlds, but whole clusters of worlds turning about one another in the midst of space. In them is perhaps the answer to all our difficulties or the cure of all our sufferings; and yet we can never reach them; not all the skill and craft of men can fit out a ship for the nearest of these our neighbors, nor would the life of the most aged suffice for such a journey."

(f) "I am a natural law,” the visitor replied, “and people call me Death. I am a physician; the best healer that ever was, for I cure both mind and body with the same prescription. I take away all pain and forgive all sins, and where my patients have gone wrong in life, I smooth out all complications and set them free again upon their feet."