Many abstract nouns are formed from verbs; as, The names of actions, such as dancing, roaring, to love, to be are called verbal nouns. To nouns belong person, number, gender and case. Nouns are of the first, the second, or the third person; of the singular or the plural number; of the masculine or the feminine gender; in the nominative, the objective, the possessive, or the independent case. PECULIAR USES OF NOUNS. A word has a peculiar use when it varies, in construction, from its usual classification, meaning, or relation. 1. A noun so related to a verb as to show to whom or for whom an act was performed is called an indirect object; as, I gave my friend a book. He paid the men their wages. - NOTE. A noun used to show to whom or for whom an act was performed is equivalent to the objective after to or for. 2. A noun so related to the object of a verb as to describe it, is called an objective attribute; as, They chose her queen. They elected her teacher. They call the Emperor father. The boys call him a coward. 3. A noun used like an adverb to denote time, dis tance, value, weight, etc., is called an adverbial objective; as, He sat an hour. She walked a mile. The fish was worth a dollar. The hay weighed a ton. 4. A noun used with a participle and known as the nominative absolute is always the subject of an abridged adverbial clause; as, The war being over, the army was disbanded -When the war was over, the army was disbanded. The storm having ceased, we started-When the storm had ceased, we started. 5. A noun used as the object of an intransitive verb is called a cognate object; as, He ran a race. She dreamed a dream. He looked a last look. 6. A noun or pronoun used to explain or identify another noun or pronoun is put by apposition in the same case; as, Peter, the hermit. The patriarch Abraham was accounted faithful. William, the Conqueror, defeated Harold, the Saxon king. James, the royal Scottish poet, was imprisoned in Windsor Castle. NOTE. The explanatory noun or pronoun must denote the same person or thing it explains or identifies. A noun or a pronoun in apposition with another noun or pronoun is usually the equivalent of an adjective clause; as, Peter, who was a hermit. William, who was Conqueror. NOTE. A noun may be in apposition with a sentence, and a sentence with a noun; as, You write carelessly—a habit you must correct. The maxim, enough is as good as a feast, has silenced many a vain wish. A part may be in apposition with the whole; as, The whole army fled, some one way, some another. In this sentence, some is in apposition with army. EXERCISE. 1. Use three common nouns as subjects of verbs. 2. Use three proper nouns as subjects of verbs. 3. In each of three sentences, use a different collective noun. 4. In each of three sentences, use a different abstract noun. 5. State concisely the difference between a collective noun and an abstract noun. 6. In each of three sentences, use a noun as a cognate object. 7. In each of three sentences, use a noun to modify the object of a verb. 8. Use a noun to show to whom an act was performed. 9. Use a noun to show for whom an act was performed. 10. In each of two sentences, use a noun in apposition with the subject of a verb. 11. In each of two sentences, use a noun in the nominative case, absolute. 12. Derive five abstract nouns from adjectives. 13. Derive three abstract nouns from common nouns. 14. Derive five abstract nouns from verbs. 15. Form an abstract noun from each of the following adjec conceal judge read please 16. Form an abstract noun from each of the following verbs: 17. Form an abstract noun from each of the following common LESSON VI. PARSING. Parsing a word is giving a complete description of it as it is used in the sentence. TO THE TEACHER: Drills in parsing should be more than formal recitations. They should train pupils in the correct and economic use of words. The use of language, good or bad, is a growth. Teachers should ever be on the alert in regard to the language used by their pupils in the recitation. Accuracy of expression depends upon clearness of thought. The time to correct a pupil's speech is when it needs correcting. The only cure for the use of bad English is revision until the incorrect statement or illustration is changed into a clean, concise statement. Teachers should constantly bear in mind the fact that one lesson in the reflective use of words in the expression of original thought is worth to the pupil many text-book recitations of grammatical facts. In parsing a noun tell: NOUNS. 1. The class to which it belongs. 2. The person, gender (if a gender noun), number, 3. and case. The use in the sentence. EXERCISE. Parse the nouns in the following sentences: 1. Cowards die many times before their death. 2. In the lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail. 3. No noble thought, however buried in the dust of ages, can ever come to naught. 4. Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. 5. The lightest wave of influence, set in motion, extends and widens to the eternal shore. 6. Many people know the value of a dollar who do not appreciate the value of one hundred cents. 7. The warbling of birds, the murmuring of streams, the coolness of woods, the fragrance of flowers, contribute greatly to the pleasures of the mind. 8. Industry is the demand of nature, of reason, and of God. 9. James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy, a tyrant, a murderer, and a usurper. 10. Herodotus is called the Father of History. 11. In Thackeray's characters we see our own faults reflected; in Dickens', we see our neighbors'. 12. The jury has rendered a just verdict. 13. Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul! 14. Books give to all who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race. 15. The door-step to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance. 16. America, our proud and happy home, we love thee! 17. He walked a mile, then waited an hour. 18. The heights by great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight; But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night. 19. It is the greatest courage to be able to bear the imputation of the want of courage. 20. We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. 21. The wit whose vivacity condemns slower tongues to silence, the scholar whose knowledge allows no man to fancy that he instructs him, the critic who suffers no fallacy to pass undetected, and the reasoner who condemns the idle to thought and the negligent to attention, are generally praised and feared, reverenced and avoided. |