Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

from the roadside, and struck the ass, which lay down, and crushed all the things which the poor man had purchased. The boys ran away.

LESSON XXXIII.

One cold day in January two little boys were running merrily to school. Their names were Willie and Eddie. When they got near the door of the school, Eddie slipped over a piece of orange-peel, which a careless little girl had thrown on the pavement. He fell heavily, and broke his leg. The poor little boy cried out with pain. A kind man came up at the time, and took Eddie gently in his arms, and carried him to his mother.

LESSON XXXIV.

Sweet is the breath of summer morn,
And sweet the sight of golden corn;
And sweet, at evening's closing hour,
Thę balmy breeze, the fragrant flower.
'Tis sweet when harvest glories shine,
When glowing clusters load the vine;
When bows the heavy tree, and pours
In Autumn's lap its juicy stores.

LESSON XXXV.

There is a flower, a little flower,
With silver crest and golden eye,
That welcomes every changing hour,
And weathers every sky.

The prouder beauties of the field
In gay but quick succession shine;
Race after race their honours yield—
They flourish and decline.

LESSON XXXVI.

Fitz-James was brave:-Though to his heart
The life-blood thrilled with sudden start,
He manned himself with dauntless air,
Returned the Chief his haughty stare,
His back against a rock he bore,
And firmly placed his foot before:-
"Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I ! "

PART THIRD.

INFLECTION OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.

THE NOUN.-NUMBER.

LESSON I.

EXAMINE the Nouns in the following Exercise, and tell what change you observe in each :—

The shoemakers made boots. The
The house fell. The houses fell. The
The horse runs.
The horses run.

The shoemaker made a boot. bird sings. The birds sing. cat mews. The cats mew.

What change has been made on shoemaker, boot, bird, house, cat, horse? Why has the letter s been added in each case? How many does the word shoemaker, boot, bird, &c., mean How many does the word shoemakers, boots, birds, &c., mean?

LESSON II.

Examine the Nouns in the following Exercise, and tell what change you observe in each :

The churches stand on the hills.

The church stands on the hill. The hiss was heard. The hisses were heard. The loaf was good. The loaves were good. The knife was sharp. The knives were sharp. The lady rode a white pony. The ladies rode white ponies. The boy was drowned. The boys were run over. The man slept. The men slept. The tooth was decayed. The teeth fell out. The fat ox was sent to

[blocks in formation]

What change has been made on church, hill, hiss, loaf, knife, lady, pony, boy, man, tooth, ox? Why have these changes been made on these words? How many does the word church, hiss, loaf, &c., mean? How many does the word churches, hisses, loaves, &c.,

mean?

DEFINITION I.-When the Noun is employed to express one object, it is said to be in the SINGULAR number.

DEFINITION II.-When the Noun is employed to express more than one object, it is said to be in the PLURAL number.

LESSON III.

In the following Exercise point out which Nouns are in the singular number, and which in the plural :—

John has six hats. The desk is made of ivory. The cat hunts the rats. Four tables stood in each room. He broke six bottles of wine. Give me paper, pens, and ink. Have you a pencil? He placed several stools in the house. The little birds build their nests in the trees. The sun shines in the blue heavens. James has three sons. The little girls have no father or mother. We obtain milk from cows. The masons built the walls of the house with bricks, and the carpenters laid down the planks. Stones are useful for many purposes.

What have you done in each case to form the plural? What have you added to the singular? As this is the most common way of forming the plural in English, we have this Rule:

RULE I.-In English the PLURAL is generally formed by adding the letter s to the singular.

LESSON IV.

Examine carefully the Nouns in the following Exercise, and then point out how the plural is formed :

Glasgow has many churches. The man sold a brush, and bought five thrushes. The fox is cunning, and has often played many hoaxes. He broke all the dishes. You shall have your wish. Sixteen boxes fell on his crutches. A little miss bought a hutch. Baby sent ten kisses.

What has been these Nouns end?

added in each case? In what letters do Hence we have-

RULE II. When the Noun ends in s, sh, ch (soft), x, or o, the PLURAL is generally formed by adding the letters es to the singular.

LESSON V.

Write down all the Nouns in your reading-lesson which form the plural by adding s or es to the singular.

LESSON VI

Write down the plural of these words:

Lady, pony, day, ray, beauty, duty, fray, lay, pay, boy, body, story injury, quality, society, party, century, joy, theory, way.

Arrange in one column those which simply add the letters, and in another those which change the final y into i and then add es. What kind of letter have all those which add s got before the final y? Hence we can form this Rule:—

RULE III-Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant* form the PLURAL by changing the y into i and adding the letters es.

LESSON VII.

In the following Exercise point out some Nouns the plural of which is not formed according to the three Rules already given:

John bought a knife, and began to cut the loaf. The man took his wife to see London. They say a cat has nine lives. They came against him with staves in their hands. He fell among thieves. The leaves of the forest were green. He arranged his books upon the shelves. The man lost his teeth. Four mice were caught in the trap. The dog chased the geese. All the women fled away. His feet sunk in the mire. The ox knoweth his owner.

What do you observe in regard to those Nouns which end in for fe? How is their plural formed? What do you observe in regard to these words: man, tooth, mouse, goose, woman, foot? Hence we may form these two Rules:

RULE IV. Some Nouns, ending in for fe, change the ƒ or fe into v, and add the letters es, so as to form the PLURAL.

RULE V. Some Nouns form the PLURAL, not by addition, but by an internal change.

LESSON VIII.

:

Tell the number of each Noun in the following passage:

It was the schooner Hesperus

That sailed the wintry sea;

And the skipper had taken his little daughter

To bear him company.

* Explain this word, and the word vowel.

Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax,

Her cheeks like the dawn of day,
And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds
That ope in the month of May.

The skipper he stood beside the helm,

His pipe was in his mouth,

And he watched how the veering flaw did blow

The smoke now west, now south.*

LESSON IX.

Write in one column all the singular Nouns, and in another all the plural Nouns in the following passage:

The swallows in their torpid state

Compose their useless wing;

And bees in hives as idly wait

The call of early spring.

The keenest frost that binds the stream,
The wildest wind that blows,

Are neither felt nor feared by them,
Secure of their repose.

But man, all feeling and awake,

The gloomy scene surveys;

With present ills his heart must ache,

And pant for brighter days.

LESSON X.

Arrange the Nouns in this Exercise as in last Lesson:

'Twas in the prime of summer time,

An evening calm and cool,

And four-and-twenty happy boys

Came bounding out of school;

There were some that ran, and some that leapt,

Like troutlets in a pool.

*The pupil should not be confined to number in these Exercises, but made to parse each word in so far as we have yet gone. They thus form Revisal Lessons.

« AnteriorContinuar »