N.B.-The question, " Who (or what) is mentioned ?” will always suggest the Subject as its answer. And, "What is said of the Subject?" will give the Predicate.

4. In the sentence, "Columbus discovered America," who is mentioned? Ans. Columbus. What is said of him? Ans. Discovered America.

Hence in this sentence, Columbus is the Subject, and discovered America is the Predicate.

5. In the sentence, "The squirrel eyes the browning chestnuts," what is the Subject? The squirrel. The Predicate? Eyes the browning chestnuts.

Make sentences, with suitable pairs, of the following:

Subjects.........

A dog, robin, crow, horse, baby.

The boy, the girl, the jockey, the coachman, the doctor, the teacher, the musician

taught the class, will play the fiddle, shall win the race, worried a cat, will sing a song, built a

Predicates.......nest, upset the carriage, cured the man, trundles a hoop, shall toss a ball, wants its rattle, broke the fence.

*

Each Subject must be paired with the Predicate that suits its meaning; as, A dog worried a cat.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Supply suitable Subjects:

revolves around the sun in a year.
is the season of snow and ice.
are drawn over the snow in sledges.
suffered terribly at Valley Forge.
is called the father of his country.
sail across the Atlantic Ocean.

Supply suitable Predicates:

1. New York

2. Coal

3. Sounds of music

4. Vessels

5. The source of the Nile

6. The children

Exercise 1.

A.

Write a sentence on each of the following words. Underline all the words in the Subject, and doubly underline all the words in the Predicate.

Exchange papers, and see if the Subjects and Predicates are correctly underlined.

B.

Compose two or more sentences upon cach of the following subjects:

1. Cotton.

2. Dog. 3. Patrick Henry.

Let these sentences be written on the blackboard, and be made the basis of class-criticism. Correct according to the following directions:

1. Draw a line under each misspelled word.

2. Draw a line through each small letter that should be a capital, or capital that should be small.

3. Mark a cross where a period is omitted.

TEACHER'S NOTE.-The matter of Subject and Predicate should not be left until it is perfectly understood by every member of the class. Of course, at this stage no attempt is to be made to discriminate between grammatical and logical Subject and Predicate. It will be enough for the present if the pupil clearly understands that the Subject consists of all the words naming the person or thing spoken about; and the Predicate, of all the words used in making the statement.

IV. A LESSON IN CRITICISING.

1. We are now to take a lesson in criticising Sentences, which means pointing out their faults.

2. To show the pupil how this is done, we will take a number of examples from the last exercise as written by a class of young scholars. [See the subjects in Exercise 1, page 7.]

Example 1.-THE DOG.

The dog runs fast. The dog got runed over by a cart. The dog got out of the pound.

You see that this exercise is not well done. True, each sentence begins with a capital, and ends with a period. But the writer says the dog got runed over. There is no such word as runed. He meant that the dog was run over. Each sentence begins with the same words-the

dog: this is not agreeable to the ear.

Example 2.-THE DOG.

A dog is a quadruped with four legs some dogs are very wild and some are not wild some dogs do not like to be tied all day.

Here the writer has three sentences, for there are three separate statements; yet these are all run together without periods or capitals. Correcting the exercise with regard to these things, we have

A dog is a quadruped with four legs. Some dogs are very wild, and some are not wild. Some dogs do not like to be tied all day.

This makes it better; but why need the pupil say a quadruped with four legs?

Example 3.-The Dog.

I have had some dogs that I have been very fond of Once I had a big Newfoundland Dog. He would take

my Lunch to school. Now I have a little Dog that will fetch me the newspaper when I send him after it.

This is much better. The pupil tells something he knows about. Still, there are some mistakes in the piece. The word dog is written twice with a capital, where a small letter should be used, and the word lunch once.

Example 4.-COTTON.

Cotton grows on a bush the cotton is gathered by nigors mostly and packed in bails and sent away.

There is no period anywhere but at the end, though the writer plainly uses two sentences. His spelling of negroes and bales is surely not the best. Would not the piece be better thus? "Cotton grows on a bush. It is usually picked by negroes. Then it is packed in bales and sent away."

Example 5.-COTTON.

Cotton is largely grown in our country, being raised in Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina. Last winter my mother was in Texas, and she brought home some cotton pods. I did not know what they were until she told me. Our Geography has a picture of a cotton-field, with the negroes picking, and the cotton-press and the gin-house. Such a field must be a very interesting sight. I read in the newspaper a little while ago that the value of the cotton crop of 1870 was three hundred millions of dollars.

This exercise, you see, is well done. The spelling, capitalizing, and punctuation are all correct. Then what is said is not silly. The facts stated are interesting and true. This piece was written by a school-girl twelve years old. It is not quite so fine writing as Daniel Webster's, but it is probably as good as Daniel Webster could have written at twelve years of age.

Example 6.-PATRICK HENRY.

Patrick Henry lectured for his country. Patrick Henry was a nobleman. He was honored by his Country.

The periods are correctly put in, and each sentence begins with a capital. In the first sentence country is correctly written with a small let

ter; but in the third, it is incorrectly written with a capital. The writer says Patrick Henry was a nobleman: he means a noble man. the difference?

What is

REMARK TO THE PUPILS.-When you see what ignorance it shows to make mistakes in spelling and capitalizing, and to omit the period at the end of a sentence, you should be very careful to avoid all such errors. And when you feel the superiority of a piece containing sensible and interesting statements over one that is foolish or commonplace, you will surely try to do your very best.

Exercise 2.

The following sentences are printed exactly as they were written. They are on the subjects given in Exercise 1. You are to correct them with reference to1. Spelling. 2. Capitals. 3. The Period. thing else that seems to need correction.

4. Any

1. Some dogs are very nice some are very useful they are a good watch at night they keep all harm away from the house.

2. Dog is a very useful animal a round the house. worth a lot of money.

a good dog is

3. The dog is very prety He's very savage He is very large.

4. Cotton is very use-full & callico is made from it which grows in Mississippi.

5. Thred is made of Cotton. Cotton cloth is made of cotton. Cotton growes in California.

6. New Orleans is the greatest cotton market in the world. Cotton is used for a great many different things we all wear cotton.

7. The Eagle is the bird of pray. He bilds his nest in a lofty mountain.

8. The cagle is a larg Bird. It is the emblem of the united States. A eagle flys high.

9. From the Steam Engine many people are killed and wounded it runs very fast. they run on rails.

10. Steam Engines are very useful thing they are a great deal better than Steam boats some people like the steamboat the best.

11. Pateric Henry was a great orator. Pateric Henry was an irishman. Pateric Henry was born in Ireland.

12. Patrick Henry is a very Funny name.

Patrick Henry is Dead.