G. H. Armstrong

“ If we know the present tense form, the past, and the perfect participle of any verb, we can tell to which conjugation it belongs, and can give all its inflections of person, number, tense, and mode, therefore the present tense form, the past and the perfect participle, are called the principal parts of the verb. When we give all the inflections of a verb, or indicate them by the principal parts, we conjugate it. ”

“ THE INFINITIVE.
Select from the following sentences forms of verbs that are used (1) as a noun, (2) as an adverb, and (3) as an adjective:—
The form of the verb that does not make an assertion, and that is not limited as to person and number is called the infinitive.
The infinitive may be used as a noun; as, To forgive is divine.
The infinitive may be used as an adverb; as, I came to call you back.
The infinitive may be used as an adjective; as, He has no pen to write with.
The infinitive may be used as the complement of verbs of incomplete predication ”

“ Big fish mope motionless in its corners, as if they had something on their minds. Little fish leap through its duck-weed, almost covered with the green scum, not as if they did it for the fun of the jump and splash, but to keep for a moment out of the jaws of the shark-like pike that is waiting for them. The pond’s great pike—it has only one, according to village report—is said to have dragged into its waters a dog that came to lap them. No one ever bathes in the pond. ”

“ There are a number, an increasing number, of books that are decidedly to him not useful. But he will learn also that a certain number of books were written by a supreme, noble kind of people—not a very great number—but a great number adhere more or less to that side of things. In short, as I have written it down somewhere else, I conceive that books are like men’s souls—divided into sheep and goats. Some of them are calculated to be of very great advantage in teaching—in forwarding the teaching of all generations. Others are going down, down, doing more and more, wilder and wilder mischief. ”

“ If ever I should wish for a retreat, whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley. ”

“ If you will believe me, you who are young, yours is the golden season of life. As you have heard it called, so verily it is the seed-time of life, in which if you do not sow, or if you sow tares instead of wheat, you cannot expect to reap well afterwards, and you will arrive at, indeed, little, while in the course of years, when you come to look back, and if you have not done what you have heard from your advisers—and among many counsellors there is wisdom—you will bitterly repent when it is too late. ”

“ All winter long the little thing must have slumbered with dreams, at least, of spring. It has waited for no pioneer or guide, but started of its own self and led the way for all the flowers on the hillside. ”

“ There is a higher aim lies at the rear of all that, especially among those who are intended for literary, for speaking pursuits—the sacred profession. You are ever to bear in mind that there lies behind that, the acquisition, of what may be called wisdom—namely, sound appreciation and just decision as to all the objects that come round about you, and the habit of behaving with justice and wisdom. ”

“ Before me lay a large portion of the city—houses descended beneath houses, sinking almost precipitously to a fearful depth beneath me, whose frameworks, covered over with vines of delicate green, broke the ascent like prodigious steps, by which a giant might scale the eminence. ”

“ Note.—The verb to be (am, is, are, was, were, shall be, will be, have been, had been, etc.,) expresses being, never action, and hence cannot take a grammatical object.
A noun that is added to another noun to explain it, is said to be in the appositive (apposition) nominative case; as Brown, the merchant, is here.
A noun that is used as the name of a person or thing addressed is said to be in the nominative of address; as I wish you long life, my friend.
A noun that has no relation to any word in the sentence is said to be in the nominative absolute ”

“ To parse a noun is to state the class to which it belongs, its gender, number, case, and its grammatical relation to other words in the sentence.
The changes in meaning and use which nouns undergo with or without a change in form, are called their inflections.
The inflections of the noun are number and case.
EXERCISE.
Parse all the nouns in the following sentences:—
Model.—John, a proper, concrete noun; masculine gender; singular number; nominative case, subject of lost.
Teacher’s, a common, concrete noun; masculine or feminine gender; singular number; possessive case, possessing book. ”

“ It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, but is unconsciously imbibed by everyone who resides there for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, to inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow imaginative—to dream dreams, and see apparitions.—Washington Irving. ”

“ Select the words in the following sentences that are used to modify nouns, and also imply action or being:—
A word that participates in the nature of the verb and the adjective is called a participle; as, Leaving the room, we walked into the garden. I found a treasure hidden in the ground.
A participle qualifies a noun or pronoun, like an adjective, and takes modifiers like a verb. A participle formed from a transitive verb takes an object. ”

“ It is fitted by situation to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Seated, or rather enthroned, on such a spot, commanding a magnificent harbor, and overlooking one of the noblest rivers of Europe, it might be more distinguished for external beauty than Athens in the days of her freedom. ”

“ Labor to be effective must be steady. Energy must be under the guidance of purpose. It is the resolute concentration, and not the fitful ebullition of effort, which surmounts all obstacles. The fabled contest of speed between the hare and the tortoise expresses in a homely way the truth which is patent to general observation, that the cause of failure in any pursuit is more commonly to be found in want of perseverance than in want of ability.
Most readers are familiar with the incident in the life of Robert Bruce, strongly illustrative of the virtue of perseverance. ”

“ Mere capacity of working carries with it no guarantee of ultimate success. For one may be always working, and yet may achieve little. “One thing to-day, another to-morrow,” indicates a fickleness of temper which has rendered many an active life well-nigh useless. ”

“ The clause that depends on some other part of the sentence for its meaning is called a dependent or subordinate clause; as, My brother found the ball which he lost.
A word that relates to a preceding noun or pronoun, and connects a dependent clause with that noun or pronoun, is called a relative pronoun.
The word to which a pronoun relates is called its antecedent.
The relative pronouns are, who, which, that, what, as, and but.
1. Who is applied to persons; as, He knew the man who did it.
2. Which is applied to animals and to things without life ”

“ A sentence that is so constructed that the complete meaning is delayed till the close, is called a periodic sentence; as, From many lands, comes the cry for help. Even on the driest day this vapor is never absent from our atmosphere. ”

“ Note (a) .—The object in the active voice becomes the subject in the passive voice, so that only transitive verbs can properly be used in the passive voice. There are, however, some exceptions to this principle. When an intransitive verb is followed by a phrase made up of a preposition and noun, the intransitive verb may often be used passively with the preposition as an adverbial adjunct; as, I despair of success. Success is despaired of by me. He shot at a bird. ”

“ Now, it seems rather to be the theatre in which the two great powers of deformity and loveliness are perpetually struggling for the mastery. The highest admiration and the most sickening disgust alternately prevail in the mind of the beholder. ”

“ Certain it is that the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvellous beliefs; are subject to trances and visions; and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions. Stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country ”

“ There is such a thing as a man endeavoring to persuade himself, and endeavoring to persuade others, that he knows about things when he does not know more than the outside skin of them, and he goes flourishing about with them. ”

“ The rich harvest which rewards the husbandman is the fitting sequel to a year of watchful and provident exertion; the successful merchant reaches his envied fortune by the closest vigilance combined with the most skilful calculation ”

“ When a man is reading on any kind of subject, in most departments of books—in all books, if you take it in a wide sense—you will find that there is a division of good books and bad books—there is a good kind of book and a bad kind of book. ”

“ In which of the following sentences is have an independent verb, and in which is it an auxiliary:—
LESSON XLVI. THE FORMS OF THE VERBS SHALL AND WILL.
SHALL.
WILL.
The auxiliaries shall and will are used with the infinitive to form the future tense of a verb. To denote simple futurity shall is used in the first person, and will in the second and third persons; as, I shall go to-morrow; You will go again; He will go next year.
To make a promise or to denote determination, will is used in the first person, and shall in the second and third persons; as, I will get it for you; You shall not go ”

“ Ye who still are young, lingering on the threshold of life doubting which fate to choose, remember that when years are passed and your feet stumble on the dark mountains, you will cry bitterly, but cry in vain, “O youth, return! ”

“ Shall be, a verb, intransitive; strong conjugation (am, was, been) ; indicative mode; future tense; first person; singular number, agreeing with its subject I.
Model.—Being provided with tools, they planted a row of stakes within their palisade, to form a double fence.
Being provided, a present participle; passive form, modifying they.
Planted, a verb, transitive; weak conjugation (plant, planted, planted) ; active voice; indicative mode; past tense; third person; plural number, agreeing with its subject they.
To form, a present infinitive; active voice ”

“ If, then, perseverance is the secret of success in life, it is surely worth while for all to cultivate this virtue. The effort may be trying and painful at first, but repetition gradually makes it easy, and even pleasant. ”

“ A noun that is used like an adverb to express time, distance, weight, or value, is called an adverbial objective; as, He walked five miles. It is worth eight dollars.
11. Retained object. When an active verb, taking two objects, is changed into the passive voice, one object becomes the subject of the passive verb, but the other is retained as object ”