THE SMITH-MCMURRY LANGUAGE SERIES Second Book PART I LANGUAGE LESSONS CHAPTER I THE SENTENCE Think of something you would like to tell a classmate. Write your thought on a sheet of paper. Think of a question you would like to ask. Write it. You have written three groups of words, each group expressing a complete thought. What is each of these groups called? Your teacher will see whether your sentences are correctly written. If they are, she will let you write them in your notebook. After each one, write what kind of sentence it is, whether it is a statement, a question, or a command. A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought. EXERCISES I Read the following and tell which are sentences: 1. Hamelin Town was troubled with rats. 2. A piper came to the town. 3. The mayor told the piper to take the rats away. 4. The piper stept into the street. 5. Out of the house. 6. The rats came tumbling. 7. They followed, step by step. 8. Smiling first. 9. And green and blue. 10. The muttering grew to a grumbling. II. The rats came tumbling out of the house. 12. They came to the river. 13. They all perished. II Change into sentences the groups of words that do not give a complete thought. CHAPTER II SUBJECT AND PREDICATE Write on the board these sentences: The rats came tumbling. The pipe was in the man's hands. What is spoken of in the first sentence? What is said or asserted about them? As you see, there are two parts in the sentence. Draw a line between the two parts. What is spoken of in the second sentence? What is asserted about it? Divide the sentence into two parts. Every sentence may be divided in this way. Divide the following sentences into two parts: The piper stept into the street. His lips were wrinkled. His sharp eyes twinkled. What is spoken of in the first sentence? Read that part of the sentence. It is the subject. Find the subject of each of the other sentences. What is asserted of the subject of the first sentence? Read that part of the sentence. You have read the predicate of the sentence. Find the predicate in each of the other sentences. Every sentence is divided into two parts, subject and predicate. The subject of a sentence is the part that names what is spoken of. The predicate of a sentence is the part that tells what is asserted of the subject. How to Find Subject and Predicate. The subject of a sentence can usually be found by asking' certain questions, as: What came tumbling? Who stept into the street? The predicate of a sentence may also be found by asking questions, as: What is asserted of the rats? What is asserted of the piper? Find the subjects and predicates in the following sentences by asking yourself questions like the above: 1. The bells rocked the steeples. EXERCISES I Find the subjects and predicates of these sentences: 1. Hamelin Town is in Brunswick. 2. The river washes its walls. 3. The rats bit the babies. 4. They ate the cheese. 5. The people came to the town hall. 6. The mayor spoke. 7. He heard a knock at the door. 8. A strange figure entered. 9. He was tall and thin. IO. He had blue eyes. II Write on the board four sentences, placing lines under the subjects and predicates. Napoleon sat in his tent; before him lay the map of Italy. He stuck four pins into the map, measured, moved the pins, and measured again. "Now," said he, "I shall capture him there." "Who, sire?" asked an officer. "Melais, the old fox of Austria. He will retire from Genoa, pass through Turin, and fall back on Alexandria. I shall cross the river Po, force him to fight on the plains beyond, and capture him there," said Napoleon, laying his finger on Marengo. Two months later the campaign of 1800 had begun. So far all had gone well with Napoleon. He had forced the Austrians |