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605654

C

COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY.

SYMS. THIRD YEAR IN FRENCH

W. P. 2

PREFACE

THIS third volume makes, with the first two, a complete course in French, intended to meet all the requirements of preparatory schools, academies, and colleges.

The plan of the whole work is simple. The "First Year in French," designed to be a book for children, is made up of easy lessons, which will give the pupils such grammatical knowledge and practice in conversation as will enable them. to begin with ease the regular and systematic study of the language.

In the "Second Year in French," an almost equal time is given to reading, conversation, translation, and grammar. By means of reading lessons and various oral and written exercises, both in French and English, the pupils will acquire at the same time the ability to speak the language and a knowledge of its grammar. Such a system, combining the two hitherto conflicting methods of translation and conversation, cannot fail to give good results, and its approval by so many prominent teachers only confirms the author's personal experience in the classroom.

The "Third Year in French" deviates in no way from the plan adopted in the first two volumes. The study of verbs, the basis of the whole method, is still given the same importance. The Conditional, Subjunctive, and Infinitive moods, with the Participle, are treated with as much thoroughness as a book of this grade can permit; at the same time, the

study of French syntax is continued and completed, ar special attention is given to all points which may prove be specially difficult for English-speaking students.

In the various parts which constitute each lesson, this vo ume, compared with the preceding one, shows a marked pr gression. Many of the anecdotes or historic extracts, i French and English, bear the names of well-known author such as Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Lamartine, Voltaire, th Duc de Saint-Simon, Hawthorne, Irving, etc., thus initiatin the students into the style of classic and modern writers, and preparing them for the reading of the masterpieces of French literature.

The translation given at the end of the reading lessons and, under the title of "Gallicismes," the renderings of ex pressions and constructions that are peculiar to the French language, plainly suggest the necessity of familiarizing the students with the use of the idioms. It is also highly advisable to exercise them early in composition. This may be done by asking them to reproduce, without any previous preparation, the whole or parts of one of the old reading lessons or translations. There can be no better test of the pupils' work and proficiency.

Besides tables of regular and irregular verbs, a list of French proverbs, and the usual vocabularies, this volume contains, under the title of "Poems for Memorizing," selections from various French poets, taken from the list issued by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. The students of the third year, who are required to write from memory, as a part of the French examination, such of these poems as are chosen every year by the university, will find them on that account a useful addition to this book.

NEW YORK, May, 1897.

L. C. S.

CONTENTS

A review of the indicative and imperative moods of the passive
verb être aimé. - Reading: Les Deux Frères. - The plural of
compound nouns, continued. Exercises

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A review of the indicative and imperative moods of the pronominal

verb se flatter. - Reading: Une Leçon de Probité. - The plural

of proper nouns, and nouns taken from foreign languages.

Exercises

CONDITIONAL MOOD: rules of formation; the present and past con-
ditional of avoir and être. - Reading: Châteaux en Espagne.
The two plural forms of aïeul, ciel, œil. — Exercises
The present and past conditional of aimer and finir; meaning and
use of the conditional mood. - Reading: Athènes Sauvée par
Euripide. - The double gender of gens, aigle, amour, délice,
orgue, hymne, foudre. — Exercises. - Irregular verbs .

The present and past conditional of recevoir and rompre.

Reading: La Fileuse de Folgoat. - Use of the articles le, la,

les, before the adverbs plus, moins, mieux.

Irregular verbs

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