Practical Grammar and Composition | Page 2

Articles
V.--VERBS Principal Parts Name-form Past Tense Past Participle Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Active and Passive Voice Mode Forms of the Subjunctive Use of Indicative and Subjunctive Agreement of Verb with its Subject Rules Governing Agreement of the Verb Miscellaneous Cautions Use of Shall and Will Use of Should and Would Use of May and Might, Can and Could Participles and Gerunds Misuses of Participles and Gerunds Infinitives Sequence of Infinitive Tenses Split Infinitives Agreement of Verb in Clauses Omission of Verb or Parts of Verb Model Conjugations To Be To See
VI.--CONNECTIVES: RELATIVE PRONOUNS, RELATIVE ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, AND PREPOSITIONS Independent and Dependent Clauses Case and Number of Relative and Interrogative Pronouns Conjunctive or Relative Adverbs Conjunctions Placing of Correlatives Prepositions QUESTIONS FOR THE REVIEW OF GRAMMAR A GENERAL EXERCISE ON GRAMMAR
VII.--SENTENCES Loose Periodic Balanced Sentence Length The Essential Qualities of a Sentence Unity Coherence Emphasis Euphony
VIII.--CAPITALIZATION AND PUNCTUATION Rules for Capitalization Rules for Punctuation
IX.--THE PARAGRAPH Length Paragraphing of Speech Indentation of the Paragraph Essential Qualities of the Paragraph Unity Coherence Emphasis
X.--LETTER-WRITING Heading Inside Address Salutation Body of the Letter Close Miscellaneous Directions Outside Address Correctly Written Letters Notes in the Third Person
XI.--THE WHOLE COMPOSITION Statement of Subject The Outline The Beginning Essential Qualities of the Whole Composition Unity Coherence The Ending Illustrative Examples Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech Selection from Cranford List of Books for Reading
XII.--WORDS--SPELLING--PRONUNCIATION Words Good Use Offenses Against Good Use Solecisms Barbarisms Improprieties Idioms Choice of Words How to Improve One's Vocabulary Spelling Pronunciation GLOSSARY OF MISCELLANEOUS ERRORS

PRACTICAL GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION
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CHAPTER I
SENTENCES.--PARTS OF SPEECH.--ELEMENTS OF THE SENTENCE.--PHRASES AND CLAUSES
1. In thinking we arrange and associate ideas and objects together. Words are the symbols of ideas or objects. A SENTENCE is a group of words that expresses a single complete thought.
2. SENTENCES are of four kinds:
1. DECLARATIVE; a sentence that tells or declares something; as, That book is mine.
2. IMPERATIVE; a sentence that expresses a command; as, Bring me that book.
3. INTERROGATIVE; a sentence that asks a question; as, Is that book mine?
4. EXCLAMATORY; a declarative, imperative, or interrogative sentence that expresses violent emotion, such as terror, surprise, or anger; as, You shall take that book! or, Can that book be mine?
3. PARTS OF SPEECH. Words have different uses in sentences. According to their uses, words are divided into classes called Parts of Speech. The parts of speech are as follows:
1. NOUN; a word used as the name of something; as, man, box, Pittsburgh, Harry, silence, justice.
2. PRONOUN; a word used instead of a noun; as, I, he, it, that.
Nouns, pronouns, or groups of words that are used as nouns or pronouns, are called by the general term, SUBSTANTIVES.
3. ADJECTIVE; a word used to limit or qualify the meaning of a noun or a pronoun; as, good, five, tall, many.
The words a, an, and the are words used to modify nouns or pronouns. They are adjectives, but are usually called ARTICLES.
4. VERB; a word used to state something about some person or thing; as, do, see, think, make.
5. ADVERB; a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb; as, very, slowly, clearly, often.
6. PREPOSITION; a word used to join a substantive, as a modifier, to some other preceding word, and to show the relation of the substantive to that word; as, by, in, between, beyond.
7. CONJUNCTION; a word used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences; as, and, but, if, although, or.
8. INTERJECTION; a word used to express surprise or emotion; as, Oh! Alas! Hurrah! Bah!
Sometimes a word adds nothing to the meaning of the sentence, but helps to fill out its form or sound, and serves as a device to alter its natural order. Such a word is called an EXPLETIVE. In the following sentence there is an expletive: THERE are no such books in print.
4. A sentence is made up of distinct parts or elements. The essential or PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS are the Subject and the Predicate.
The SUBJECT of a sentence is the part which mentions that about which something is said. The PREDICATE is the part which states that which is said about the subject. Man walks. In this sentence, man is the subject, and walks is the predicate.
The subject may be simple or modified; that is, may consist of the subject alone, or of the subject with its modifiers. The same is true of the predicate. Thus, in the sentence, Man walks, there is a simple subject and a simple predicate. In the sentence, The good man walks very rapidly, there is a modified subject and a modified predicate.
There may be, also, more than one subject connected with the same predicate; as, THE MAN AND THE WOMAN walk. This is called a COMPOUND SUBJECT. A COMPOUND PREDICATE consists of more than one predicate used with the same subject;