17. The garment _sits_ well.
18. The hen _sits_ on her eggs.
19. He came in and _lay_ down.
20. The Mediterranean _lies_ between Europe and Africa.
Notice that we may speak of _laying_ something or _setting_ something, or may say that something is _laid_ or is _set_; but we cannot speak of _lying_ or _sitting_ something, or of something being _lain_ or _sat_.
_Set_, in some of its meanings, is used without an object; as, "The sun _set_;" "He _set_ out on a journey."
_Lay_, the present of the first verb, and _lay_, the past of _lie_, may easily be distinguished by the difference in meaning and in the time expressed.
POSSESSIVE FORMS.
Pupils may be required to copy such forms as the following:--
The sailor"s story; the farmer"s son; the pony"s mane; the monkey"s tail; a day"s work; James"s book; a cent"s worth; a man"s wages; the child"s toys; the woman"s hat; the sailors" stories; the farmers" sons; the ponies"
manes; the monkeys" tails; three days" work; five cents" worth; two men"s wages; those children"s toys; women"s hats.
This may be continued till the pupils are able to form some such statement as the following:--
(_"s_) and (_"_) are the possessive signs, (_"_) being used when _s_ has been added to denote more than one, (_"s_) in other cases.
Such expressions as the following may be copied:--
Dombey and Son"s business; J. J. Little & Co."s printing-house; William the Conqueror"s reign; Houghton, Mifflin, and Company"s publications.
This may be continued till the pupils learn that, when a group of words may be treated as a compound name, the possessive sign is added to the last word only.
THE OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT.
The treatment of the objective complement may be introduced in a review course, when the cla.s.s is sufficiently mature. The following explanation may aid some teachers:--
In "It made him _sad_," _made_ does not fully express the action performed upon him--not "_made_ him," but "_made sad_ (saddened) him." _Sad_ helps _made_ to express the action, and also denotes a quality which as the result of the action belongs to the person represented by the object _him_.
Whatever completes the predicate and belongs to the object we call an _Objective Complement_.
Nouns, infinitives, and participles may also be used in the same way; as,
"They made Victoria _queen_,"
"It made him _weep_;"
"It kept him _laughing_."
They | made / queen | Victoria ======|========================= |
+Explanation+.--The line that separates _made_ from _queen_ slants toward the object complement to show that _queen_ belongs to the object.
A noun or p.r.o.noun used as objective complement is in the objective case.
The teacher may here explain such constructions as, "I proved it to be _him_," in which _it_ is object complement and _to be him_ is objective complement. _Him_, the attribute complement of _be_, is in the objective case because _it_, the a.s.sumed subject of _be_, is objective. Let the pupils compare "I proved it to be _him_" with "I proved that it was _he;_"
"_Whom_ did you suppose it to be?" with "_Who_ did you suppose it was?"
etc.
NOUNS AS ADVERB MODIFIERS.
The following uses of nouns and p.r.o.nouns, not found in the preceding Lessons, may be introduced in a review course.
1. He gave _John_ a book.
2. He bought _me_ a book.
_John_ and _me_, as here used, are generally called _Indirect Objects_. The "indirect object" names the one _to_ or _for_ whom something is done. We treat these words as phrase modifiers without the preposition. If we change the order, the preposition must be supplied; as, "He gave a book _to John;_" "He bought a book _for me_."
Nouns denoting _measure, quant.i.ty, weight, time, value, distance_, or _direction_ may be used adverbially, being equivalent to phrase modifiers without the preposition; as,
1. We walked four _miles_ an _hour_.
2. It weighs one _pound_.
3. It is worth a _dollar_.
4. The wall is ten _feet_, six _inches_ high.
5. I went _home_ that way.
The following diagram will ill.u.s.trate both the "indirect object" and the "noun of measure:"--
They offered Caesar the crown three times.
They | offered | crown =======|==================== | the times ------ three Caesar ------
+Explanation+.--_Caesar_ (the "indirect object") and _times_ (denoting measure) stand in the diagram on lines representing the princ.i.p.al words of prepositional phrases.
SCHEMES FOR REVIEW.
These schemes will be found very helpful in a general review. The pupils should be able to reproduce them, omitting the Lesson numbers.
Scheme for the Sentence.
(_The numbers refer to Lessons_.)
PARTS.
+Subject+.
Noun or p.r.o.noun (6, 14, 19).
Phrase (49).
Clause (61).
+Predicate+.
Verb (6,16).
+Complements+.
Object.
Noun or p.r.o.noun (39).
Phrase (49).
Clause (61).
Attribute.