Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

seen;

Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow
withered and strown.

RULE 7.

(4) There can be no verb without a nominative case, except the infinitive mood; nor can there be a nominative case without a verb, except the case absolute,* and a noun of address.

EXAMPLES.

It is a great error to imagine | atmosphere must be below the that bodily labour is injurious to level of its summit. health.

Chili being situated between

Beauty, to have a good grace, the parallels of 24° and 44°, its must be neglected. climate must be free from the extremes of heat and cold.

When the peacock spreads his tail to admire himself, he ruffles the rest of his feathers and discovers his deformities.

Mount Blanc being nearly sixteen thousand feet high, half the

Achab

O Art! wide and extensive is the reach of thy dominion.

Paul, thou art beside thyself: much learning doth make thee mad.

And shouted but once more aloud,

[ocr errors]

My father! must I stay?"

While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,
The wreathing fires made way.

desired

EXERCISES.

Naboth's vineyard justly, which
Naboth more justly desired to

keep.
Scipio
conquered
Hannibal, Africa became a Ro-
man province.

[blocks in formation]

* The case absolute is formed by a nominative, and a participle occupying the place of the verb; as, Virtue being lost, faith is endangered. Such sentences may be easily changed into the ordinary form; as, When virtue is lost, faith is endangered.

He taught us how to live; and oh, too high,
The price of knowledge, taught us how to

RULE S.

(1) The subject or nominative precedes the verb in all cases except—

I. When the sentence is either interrogative or imperative;

II. When the subjunctive form of the verb begins the sentence;

III. When the verb is accompanied by the adverbs here, there, then, thence, thus, yet, so, &c.

IV. When the expression is emphatic.

EXAMPLES.

I. Are there not many who linger under indigence, sickness, and trouble?

Were not the charter of British freedom and the common law of England established in Catholic times?

II. Were we as ready to excuse our neighbours as ourselves, we would truly love them.

Had not copper vessels been lined with tin, the food prepared in them might be impregnated with that poisonous metal.

III. Here is true virtue to be found.

There is nothing that interests man more than eternal salvation. Thus has it ended.

So varied are opinions that it is hard to decide.

There are three species of bear in America: the brown, the black, and the white.

IV. Great was his thirst for knowledge.

How wonderful is the power by which the universe exists!

EXERCISES.

not water expand by cold from forty degrees to the freezing point?

ature preserved by Catholics during the middle ages?

not ashamed of prac

not science and liter- tising virtuous actions.

Acknowledge frankly that you rather die than commit a

mortal sin.

not St. Stephen prayed, would St. Paul have been in the Church?

good news.

has it occurred?
are two hundred and

forty-eight bones in the human
body.

rapidly do some trains go, that they equal the speed of comes John with a racer, or at the rate of 40 miles

[blocks in formation]

(2) A noun or pronoun in the possessive case is governed by the substantive which denotes the thing possessed.

I. When the name of the possessor is a compound word; or when the names of several possessors follow each other, the sign of the possessive case is attached only to the last mentioned word. But when other words intervene, or common property is to be expressed, the sign of the possessive case is annexed to each.

(3) II. When a sentence consists of a name and an office, the possessive case is affixed to the name.

III. When the apostrophe causes a hissing or unpleasant sound, or conveys an ambiguous meaning; or when a noun of multitude is used, the possessive case may be better expressed by the preposition of.

(4) IV. When a sentence, or clause of a sentence, beginning with a present participle, is used to express one name or circumstance, the noun or pronoun may be put in the genitive case.

EXAMPLES.

From the time of Constantine's conversion, Christianity became at Powell's, the printer. the religion of the Roman empire.

II. The manuscript was left

Heresies spring from the pride and perversity of man's

heart.

The scorpion's oil is deemed an infallible remedy for its sting. Two drachms by weight of a spider's web, would reach from London to Edinburgh.

He left the printed sheets at Bellew's, the book-binder.

III. The rod of Moses was turned into a serpent.

The juice of apples is called cider.

The will of the people was manifested on that occasion.

IV. The blow of a hammer is not heard in a vacuum, if care

I. Julius Cæsar's commenta-be taken to prevent the shock's ries were written by himself. I followed my father, mother,

and sister's advice.

He recorded the judge's, the barrister's, and the solicitor's opinion.

being communicated through the adjacent solid bodies.

The report occasioned by a cannon's being placed on ice, is carried much farther by the ice than by the air around.

EXERCISES.

The draft of a chimney is becomes an uninterrupted pray

[blocks in formation]

But lo! the dome! the vast and wondrous dome,
To which Diana's marvel was a cell;

Christ's mighty shrine above his mar-
I have beheld the Ephesian miracle.

tomb!

RULE 10.

Pronouns agree with their antecedents or correlatives, and with the nouns for which they stand, in gender, number, and person.

(1) I. When the correlative is a sentence or part of a sentence, the pronoun it is used.

II. When nouns or personal pronouns are added to other words to explain them, they are put in the same case, and said to be in apposition to them.

(2) III. The relative should point out its antecedent or correlative so explicitly, as to prevent ambiguity or confusion in referring to it.

IV. No relative can be without a correlative expressed or understood.

EXAMPLES.

[blocks in formation]

some supposed to have invented letters.

III. Pride, which is the beginning of all sin, is also the con summation of it.

Smoke consists of the dust and visible particles which are separated from the fuel without being burnt.

One of the Persian kings, who was very vain, is said to have worn a golden beard.

IV. There are boats used in China, called-snake boats, which are only a foot or two in breadth, and perhaps a hundred feet in length.

What is the life of a sinner but an anticipated hell!

To man-gay, smiling, thoughtless man-I went,
And asked him next: he turned a scornful eye,
Shook his proud head, and deigned me no reply.

« AnteriorContinuar »