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TEACHER'S HANDBOOK 
 
 TO 
 
 GROUNDWORK OF 
 ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 J. WELTON, D.LiT., M.A. 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 
 ST. MARTIN'S STREET. LONDON 
 
TEACHER'S HANDBOOK TO GROUNDWORK 
 OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA • MADRAS 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO 
 DALLAS • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
TEACHER'S HANDBOOK 
 
 TO 
 
 GROUNDWORK OF 
 ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 BY 
 
 J. WELTON, D.LiT., M.A. 
 
 SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 'principles and METHODS OF TEACHING,' ' THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION,* 
 
 *THE LOGICAL BASES OF EDUCATION,' ' WHAT DO WE MEAN BY EDUCATION,' 
 
 'groundwork of logic,' ETC 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 
 
 ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 
 
 1920 
 
COPYRIGHT 
 
 GLASGOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD. 
 

 / 
 
 i 
 
 ZCL. 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 The course here outlined gives the plan and substance 
 of the author's teaching of the subject for a number of 
 years. The results were satisfactory, both in the interest 
 evoked and in the linguistic power acquired. It is now 
 offered to the scholastic public in the hope that it may do 
 something to promote the intelligent teaching of the 
 English language in our schools. 
 
 107 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 PART I 
 SIMPLE ANALYSIS - 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Sentences - 13 
 
 II. Subjects and Predicates 16 
 
 III. Nouns . - - - 17 
 
 IV. Pronouns - - - 19 
 
 V. Adjectives 22 
 
 VI. Verbs 25 
 
 VII. Tenses - - - - - - - - 27 
 
 VIII. Numbers 30 
 
 IX. Agreement of Subject and Verb - . - - 32 
 
 X. Single and Compound Subjects - - - - 33 
 
 XI. Statements, Questions, and Commands - - - 35 
 
 XII. Verbs which cannot form Predicates ... 37 
 
 XIII. Cases 39 
 
 XIV. Active and Passive Forms of Sentences - - 42 
 XV. Adverbs 44 
 
 XVI. Interjections - - 47 
 
 XVII. Analysing Sentences 48 
 
 vii 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 PART II 
 COMPLEX ANALYSIS 
 
 OHAPTKR p^Qjj 
 
 I. Groups of Words 53 
 
 II. Prepositions 56 
 
 TIL Compound Sentences - - . . _ 5g 
 
 IV. Complex Sentences - - 60 
 
 V. Conjunctions 62 
 
 VI. Adverb Clauses 65 
 
 VII. Adjective Clauses 69 
 
 VIII. Relative Pronouns ------- 72 
 
 IX. Noun Clauses - - - 75 
 
 X. Combinations of Clauses 80 
 
 XL Complex Subordinate Clauses 82 
 
 XII. Chains of Sentences 86 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The importance of teaching English composition is now 
 generally recognized, but for some years there has been a 
 tendency to minimize — if not to deny — the value of English 
 grammar as a school subject. Yet a little reflexion shows 
 that, as grammar is an examination of the construction 
 of sentences and so is implicit in all composition, such a 
 study of it as will make that construction explicit should 
 be of value in composition itself. 
 
 Further, composition is the expression of thought in 
 language. Consequently, an examination of modes of 
 expression involves an examination of thought itself. 
 The study of grammar has, thus, a directly logical, as 
 well as an instrumental linguistic, value. 
 
 Nor need such a study be uninteresting to children. 
 To think, and to express thoughts clearly and unambigu- 
 ously, are forms of skill. And>no skill is acquired without 
 carefully examined practice. It is never enough merely 
 to practise, for if the activity, no matter what it is, be 
 badly done, practice will simply strengthen the faults. 
 If children are to be taught both to think clearly and to 
 express their thoughts precisely, they must be led to con- 
 sider both thought and expression — to form the habits 
 of knowing exactly what they mean and of putting that 
 meaning unambiguously into words. The doing this 
 
 W,G. T. A 2 
 
2 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 gives a growing sense of power, and the realization of all 
 acquisition of power is delightful. Nor is any power 
 felt to be more personal than that of thinking and talking. 
 Once children recognize that they are developing such a 
 power there is no lack of interest. 
 
 Moreover, speech is communication, and that is two- 
 sided. It involves not only expressing our own thoughts, 
 but grasping the thoughts of others. Even the limited 
 experience of children supplies evidence that we may fail 
 in the latter as easily as in the former. That at times 
 we misunderstand others, and at times are ourselves mis- 
 understood by them, comes home to all of us early in life. 
 In both cases the underlying defects are the same — either 
 the thought is not clear or the expression is not adequate. 
 Slipshod expression is so common that we all frequently 
 disregard what is actually said, and fix our attention on 
 what we think to be meant. But such going behind the 
 actual expression to the supposed thought is obviously 
 liable to error ; hence the frequent misunderstandings 
 that mar human intercourse. In any case, it is plain 
 that it would be much better did we all say exactly what 
 we mean. That we do not do so is partly due to a careless 
 habit of expressing ourselves in speech, partly to our 
 thought being frequently hazy and confused. The latter 
 is not always avoidable, but a study of grammar should 
 help to cure the former. 
 
 There can be no justification for publishing to the world, 
 either in book or in newspaper, confused and nebulous 
 thoughts. But we cannot always refrain from com- 
 municating with our fellows until our own thought is 
 perfectly clear. Indeed, it is by talking over a matter 
 with others that we often succeed in getting definite thoughts 
 
INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 about it. To help children in this way is surely the main 
 object of oral teaching. With them confusion of thought 
 is generally made evident by confusion of statement. 
 With adults, unhappily, that is not so uniformly the case ; 
 at any rate the confusion frequently does not lie on the 
 surface. The statement is often clear enough in itself, 
 and it is only when we examine it that we feel sure that 
 if we take it literally we reach a meaning quite other than 
 that the speaker or writer had in mind. It would be a 
 great gain to intercourse, and many misunderstandings 
 would be avoided, if confusion of thought were always 
 at once made apparent, as commonly with children, 
 by confusion of statement. As it is, the detection of 
 confused statement, the re-arrangement of the sentence 
 so as to make evident what thought it is intended to express, 
 and the consequent discovery of whether that is a clear or a 
 confused idea, is as interesting and stimulating an exercise 
 of mental activity as is the solution of any other riddle. 
 And this is one of the functions of grammar. 
 
 It would be futile to deny that the teaching of grammar 
 has often succeeded in making the subject dull. That 
 fate grammar has shared with its companions in the cur- 
 riculum. But the dullness has been in the mode of teach- 
 ing, not in the subject itself. Undue emphasis has been 
 laid on formal distinctions, marked by much strange 
 terminology ; and many of those distinctions have been 
 borrowed from the grammar of such a synthetic language 
 as Latin, so different in its genius from our own analytic 
 tongue. Grammar has, in short, been confined to an 
 examination of the forms of language, as far as practicable 
 divorced from thought. On the contrary, the aim should be 
 an examination of thought and expression as indissolubly 
 
4 GEOUNDWOEK OF ENGLISH GEAMMAE 
 
 connected — to reach the thought of another through 
 examination of the language which expresses it ; to get 
 our own thought clear, and then to find the clearest 
 verbal expression for it. In the first, grammar prepon- 
 derates ; in the second, composition. But there is no 
 rigid line of demarcation. We learn to do things by- 
 imitation of others ; and this is as true of the more complex 
 forms of activity of later years as of the embryonic attempts 
 of the baby. But imitation is only the foundation of 
 the development of personal power. What were at first 
 models to be copied should gradually become suggestions 
 to be worked out. This transition of imitation into 
 suggestion is made by the gradual recognition of the 
 principles of activity involved. And such recognition is 
 most readily and surely attained by analytic examination 
 of examples of the activity. As each principle is laid 
 bare, we use it in our own personal forms of action. And 
 as we use it, it tends to become automatic. This is all as 
 true of thought and of speech as it is of skating, of playing 
 the piano, or of learning a skilled handiwork. So, in 
 relation both to thinking and to expressing thought in 
 composition, the ultimate purpose of studying grammar is 
 that correct articulation of thought and clear and precise 
 expression in speech may become habitual. 
 
 School grammar, then, is intended to be instrumental. 
 Its aim is so to modify habits of thought and speech that 
 the learners think more clearly, and communicate their 
 thoughts more exactly, than they otherwise would do. 
 
 It follows that grammar should be so taught that all 
 analysis of the speech of others is immediately attended 
 by application in personal speech of each principle dis- 
 covered. In other words, grammar and composition 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 should go hand in hand. The whole method should be 
 analysis attended by synthesis. The analysis should be 
 inductive. By examination of examples general principles 
 should be reached. But it will not do to stop there. As 
 soon as a general principle is established it should be 
 consciously a'pplied in practice. And this application is 
 composition. Such a method is in harmony with the 
 general trend of modern thought. 
 
 The scheme here set forth is an attempt to work out 
 the teaching of general school grammar on these lines. 
 It deliberately omits all grammatical refinements which 
 do not advance the purpose of making plain the structure 
 of thought and its clear expression in -speech. So, too, 
 it deals with composition only in its grammatical aspect. 
 Other important elements in the teaching of composition — 
 such as the selection and arrangement of matter, the use 
 of figure and simile, the adaptation of expression to the 
 general character and emotional tone of the subject, the 
 writing of verse, etc., are omitted as outside this one aim. 
 Of course, these should by no means be ignored in the 
 complete school course in English. 
 
 As to the time taken by such a course as this, it has been 
 found that one ostensible lesson a week is sufficient, pro- 
 vided that incidental practice is given in other lessons — 
 in reading, in composition — wherever an obscurity of 
 thought or expression presents itself. Such using the 
 grammar to smooth away difficulties brings home to the 
 pupils its practical value, and so stimulates their interest 
 in it. Moreover, many of the lessons in grammar should 
 themselves be given to practice. This is most profitably 
 done orally, as the pupils' efforts can then be at once 
 examined critically by themselves under the leadership 
 
6 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 of the teacher. Reasons should always be required for 
 all that is offered, and those reasons should be freely dis- 
 cussed, and any weakness in them laid bare. Written 
 exercises — preferably done at home — should be set to 
 develop self-reliance and to keep the teacher in touch with 
 the progress in mastery of each individual pupil. 
 
 In selecting examples for practice the general rule 
 should be followed that each should call for the best efforts 
 of every pupil, but should never be beyond the power 
 already developed. This involves that though similar 
 written exercises should be set to all the pupils in a class, 
 they should often differ in difficulty according to the 
 power of each individual. The common practice of giving 
 exactly the same exercises to all the pupils of a class en- 
 sures that the abler among them never learn to work at 
 full pressure, for they never feel the need to do so. At 
 the same time it usually means that the least able 
 pupils are discouraged by finding most of their tasks 
 beyond them. So they also never learn to do their best 
 work, for they are never stimulated to effort by the con- 
 sciousness of success. Teaching is effective in developing 
 power in the exact proportion as it constantly calls out 
 the best efforts of every pupil, and this involves individual 
 adaptation of the tasks to be done independently. 
 
 It is well not to say at once all that is to be said on any 
 part of grammar — e.g. the verb — but to deal with the 
 various aspects as they are needed, and to ignore those 
 that are not required. This explains the omission of the 
 subjunctive mood. Many writers and most speakers now 
 do not use it, and, in any case, the need for it is not likely 
 to be felt by children, for it involves a nicety of expression 
 which is beyond their comprehension, just because it is 
 
INTEODUCTION 7 
 
 outside their practice. Indeed, the scheme throughout 
 is evolutionary, not classificatory. For example, Eelative 
 Pronouns are not treated with the other pronouns, but 
 the consideration of them is postponed till their function 
 is made apparent in the consideration of Adjective Clauses. 
 
 The chapters do not necessarily represent single lessons. 
 Whether one lesson, or several lessons, be given to any 
 one topic should depend upon the readiness with which 
 it is grasped, and the facility with which it is applied, by the 
 pupils. Usually also it has been found that several lessons 
 may profitably be devoted to practice after each lesson of 
 investigation. In this the teaching of grammar should be 
 approximated to that of arithmetic. 
 
 Though the method of investigation is essentially ana- 
 lytic it is not merely what is commonly known as " gram- 
 matical analysis," but includes a further application of 
 the analytic process to the examination of words and their 
 relations. So it covers as much of *' parsing " as is per- 
 tinent to the purpose of making clear the principles of 
 the construction of English sentences. 
 
 The course is divided into an elementary and an advanced 
 part. In each, sentences of all degrees of complexity 
 are equally dealt with. This is an essential feature of 
 the scheme. The difference made is in the point to which 
 the analysis is pushed, not in the matter to which it is 
 applied. Nothing more tends to make grammar unreal — 
 and therefore dull — to children than to restrict the earlier 
 examples to what are commonly called " simple sentences," 
 consisting of a single noun and a single verb. Such re- 
 striction is in the highest degree artificial, for the children 
 themselves constantly use " complex sentences," and find 
 such sentences in everything they read and hear. The 
 
8 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 distinction needed for teaching is that between simple and 
 complex analysis. That only the former is applicable to 
 certain elementary forms of speech is of no importance, and 
 will become evident as the course advances. This involves 
 that in the elementary course of simple analysis the dis- 
 tinction between word, phrase, and clause, is ignored ; 
 and the examples used should always include specimens 
 of all three. This first course may profitably be taken 
 with pupils of not less than twelve or thirteen years of 
 age, and will be found sufficient for at least a year. The 
 advanced course of complex analysis, in which the func- 
 tions of phrases and clauses are investigated, is capable of 
 indefinite extension in the complexity of the practice, 
 both analytic and synthetic, to which it gives rise, but the 
 relations involved can be made clear in another year, 
 and in that most of the lessons should be given to practice. 
 This advanced course is of the utmost importance. The 
 relation of clauses is the articulation of speech, and clear- 
 ness of expression depends more on the correct arrangement 
 of clauses than on any other element of expression, with 
 the possible exception of the using of words in their proper 
 meanings. Great care and patience are needed to make 
 clear the distinctions of clauses, and to cultivate a critical 
 attitude towards their arrangement. Much practice should 
 be given, both in the analysis of examples found in books 
 and newspapers, and in the use of the various kinds of clauses 
 in synthetic composition. The teacher should also provide 
 himself with many examples of badly articulated sentences, 
 and get his pupils to examine them critically under his 
 guidance, and so to rearrange them that they correctly 
 express the intended meaning. Punch usually gives some 
 gems of faultily constructed sentences, and a teacher may 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 spend a few hours with both profit and entertainment 
 in turning over some numbers of that periodical and accumu- 
 lating a good store of examples suitable for his purpose. 
 As these are all taken from the newspapers of the day, 
 they have a reality which must be lacking to artificially 
 composed specimens. Nor need he fear dearth of material. 
 He would, indeed, be an inventive genius who could de- 
 liberately construct more striking examples of " how not 
 to say it " than he will find pilloried there. 
 
 It will be found well to take the three kinds of subor- 
 dinate clauses in as close connexion as possible, for the 
 decision as to the nature of any particular clause is often 
 made much easier and surer by comparison. The first 
 ten chapters of Part II should, therefore, be covered as 
 quickly as is consistent with sound progress. Then should 
 come a long break for practice, in which a complex subor- 
 dinate clause is still treated as a whole. The further 
 analysis developed in the last two chapters should not be 
 undertaken till the pupils can analyse readily any ordinary 
 sentence to the point reached in Chapter X. 
 
 Perhaps it may not be out of place to insist on the 
 necessity of using the words " sentence " and " clause " 
 quite strictly. It is far too common a practice to speak 
 of a clause as a " sentence " — a practice based on con- 
 fusion of terms, if not of thought, on the part of the teacher, 
 and certain to lead to confusion both of terms and of 
 thought on that of the pupils. It would be as justifiable 
 to speak of a head, an arm, or a leg, as a '^ man " — and 
 probably less likely to confuse counsel — as it is to call a 
 clause, which is only a part of a sentence, a " sentence." 
 
 The teaching should be based on examination of examples. 
 The children may in some cases be led to furnish them, 
 
 W.G. T. A 3 
 
10 GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 But this is a point of very small importance. The essential 
 thing is that the examples be pertinent and suitable, 
 and if this can best be secured by the teacher supplying 
 them, he should do so. The vital matter is not who 
 suggests the examples, but how they are used. Always 
 the teacher should come to the lesson supplied with a 
 really good stock of examples of various degrees of com- 
 plexity. He should gather them from actual life : from 
 newspapers and from the books the children read, and 
 not mainly confine himself to artificially simplified sen- 
 tences, though for these, too, a place will at times be found. 
 
 He should also be careful to make a list of the kind of 
 grammatical errors which appear most frequently in the 
 speech and writings of his pupils, and should see that at 
 appropriate places in the course of lessons on grammar 
 special attention is given to investigation of the nature 
 of these, with a view to their gradual elimination. 
 
 Technical terms should be introduced only when need is 
 felt to distinguish the functions they denote, but after 
 they have been introduced they should be regularly used 
 in connexion with those functions. 
 
 The teacher should make himself thoroughly familiar 
 with the whole course before entering upon it with his 
 class. Only by such preparation can it be assured that, 
 in the answering of questions and the solving of difficulties 
 incidentally raised by the pupils, and in the relative 
 importance given to various topics, the way is being con- 
 sistently and persistently prepared for further advance 
 along the pre-determined road towards the pre-determined 
 goal. 
 
 The Groundwork of English Grammar is the pupils' book. 
 It contains summaries of the results reached in the examina- 
 
INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 tion of each topic, and should be studied after the lessons 
 have been given. These synopses need not be learnt by 
 heart, but their substance should be thoroughly memorized, 
 and this should be tested by searching examination and 
 copious application. Much of present-day teaching in 
 all subjects is ephemeral because such thoroughness of 
 learning has gone out of fashion on the ground that it is 
 " uninteresting." It is forgotten that in true interest is a 
 sense of power, and that, unless each new advance is 
 thoroughly secured this sense does not grow. So long 
 as children feel that they are learning to do something 
 worth doing, thoroughness of acquisition is by no means 
 repugnant to them. Moreover, the incidental inculcation 
 of the importance of taking pains is in itself no despicable 
 element in the educative value of instruction. 
 
 No exercises are added to these summaries ; first, 
 because an important feature of the scheme is that these 
 should be largely selected from the literature current in the 
 class ; and second, because the teacher's own interest — ever 
 an indispensable condition of interest in the pupils — is made 
 much more real and vital by the search for suitable ex- 
 amples than it can be when everything is provided ready- 
 made. Then the teacher is apt to set his pupils to work, 
 but to omit working with them, neglecting the truth that 
 all living and inspiring teaching is a co-operative activity 
 of teacher and taught. 
 
 The Teachers' Handbook contains brief hints and 
 suggestions on the teaching of each topic. These are to 
 be regarded as only hints and suggestions ; by no means 
 as dogmatic injunctions. No teacher can rigidly follow in 
 detail the method of another without deadening his teach- 
 ing. Moreover, the life of every piece of teaching depends 
 
12 GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 on those to whom it is given as much as on him who gives 
 it. All educative teaching is the inter-action of the minds 
 of teacher and learner. So, each true lesson works out 
 its own salvation. But this it will fail in doing unless the 
 teacher, who leads in the interchange of thought, is clear 
 as to where he wants the lesson to arrive and as to the 
 general lines of its progress. It is on these points that 
 suggestions are offered, but every teacher should feel at 
 liberty to make such modifications as the trend of his 
 own thought and his knowledge of the mental activities 
 of his pupils may lead him to think desirable. The main 
 lines of method — i.e. the order of topics — should be closely 
 followed ; all else should be treated freely by each teacher 
 who uses the book. Cut and dried second-hand teaching 
 is worse than a mere beating of the air ; it is deadening 
 to the intellectual life of all concerned, both teacher and 
 pupils. Let no one, then, imagine that here is set forth 
 a code of the laws of the " Medes and Persians, which 
 altereth not." 
 
 Analytic Exercises should always precede corresponding 
 Synthetic Exercises, but it is not generally advisable to 
 work all the varieties of analytic exercises suggested at 
 the end of each chapter before beginning synthetic exer- 
 cises. Let each synthetic process be attempted as soon 
 as all the elements it requires have been made explicit by 
 analysis. 
 
PART I 
 SIMPLE ANALYSIS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SENTENCES 
 
 {a) The initial necessity is to evoke interest by leading 
 the pupils to see that there is something to be learnt even 
 about so familiar a matter as speech, and that that some- 
 thing is worth learning. The first step is secured when 
 it is brought home to them that talking may be done 
 well or ill ; the second when the essential conditions of 
 doing it well are laid bare. 
 
 {h) The general mode of teaching may be somewhat as 
 follows, but success will be relative to the freshness and 
 resource with which the teacher leads the conversation. 
 He should be provided with amusing and striking examples 
 of badly constructed sentences, but in using them he should 
 bear in mind the definite grammatical purpose : 
 
 1. By guided conversation lead the pupils to see that 
 talking is not mere utterance of words, but expression 
 of thoughts. 
 
 2. By examples lead them to see that when sentences 
 are badly constructed we may misunderstand what is 
 meant, or may be in doubt as to the meaning. In each 
 lead them to discover : 
 
 13 
 
14 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 (i) what is meant ; 
 (ii) what is really said ; 
 
 (iii) how the sentence may be re-arranged so as to 
 make (ii) coincide with (i) ; 
 so it is made clear that 
 
 (i) in cases of obviously mistaken expression the 
 order of words needs to be changed ; 
 
 (ii) in ambiguous sentences each possible meaning 
 may be expressed definitely by re-arrangement of the 
 words. 
 
 Hence lead the pupils to make explicit to themselves 
 that order of words is important, and should be governed 
 by the meaning to be conveyed. 
 
 3. Call upon the pupils to develop a line of thought 
 on a given topic ; examine this, and lead them to see 
 that it is done in steps each of which gives a separate 
 thought, and that these steps should follow each other 
 in an appropriate order. 
 
 Here occasion may be found to make clear the incon- 
 venience of the common childish practice of binding 
 sentences together by a succession of such conjunctions 
 as " and so." 
 
 Give the term '' Sentence," and secure that it is 
 clearly understood that each sentence makes a definite 
 statement, and that the appropriate combination of 
 sentences gives the whole train of thought. 
 
 4. By examples lead the pupils to see that an error 
 in any one step destroys the value of the whole sequence. 
 Perhaps arithmetic furnishes the most easily appre- 
 ciated examples, but it should be shown by illustrations 
 that the same rule holds in all subjects of thought. 
 
 5. The result of the teaching should be that the pupils 
 
SENTENCES 15 
 
 see both that order of words is important in each sentence, 
 and that order of sentences is important in all discourse. 
 
 (c) Analytic Exercises (oral) : 
 
 1. Examine a passage in a Reading Book, and divide 
 it into sentences. Note that sentences often end with 
 a full stop. 
 
 2. Correct faultily constructed sentences furnished 
 by the teacher. 
 
 3. Correct the order of sentences in faultily con- 
 structed passages furnished by the teacher, or chosen 
 by him from a Reading Book or newspaper. 
 
 (d) Ssmthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Make single sentences expressing single thoughts 
 on a given topic. Examine them to make sure that 
 the words are correctly arranged. 
 
 2. Give a set of words — e.g. boy, girl, dog, river, hat, 
 bravely — and ask the pupil to construct a short story 
 bringing them all in. Require reasons for the order 
 of sentences, and set the pupils to inquire whether it 
 can be improved. 
 
 3. Give a topic, and set the pupils to compose a 
 short passage about it. Discuss their efforts with 
 respect to 
 
 (i) order of sentences ; 
 
 (ii) choice and order of words. 
 
 4. Such exercises having been done orally and freely 
 discussed, similar ones may be set to be done independ- 
 ently in writing. 
 
 N.B. The various synthetic exercises, here and elsewhere, 
 may immediately follow the corresponding analytic exercises. 
 But no written exercises should ever be given until a good 
 deal of oral work has been done. 
 
16 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 SUBJECTS AND PREDICATES 
 
 (a) This topic is closely connected with that of the 
 preceding chapter, and should be treated very soon after it. 
 
 (b) The point to be made here is that every sentence, 
 no matter what its length, consists of these two parts. 
 The examples used will naturally be graded in complexity, 
 and the teacher should be careful not to pass in this matter 
 beyond the comprehension of his pupils. 
 
 (c) Avoid saying that the subject is " that of which 
 we think or speak," for in such sentences as " I have a 
 tooth-ache " it is evident that the main thing of which 
 the speaker is thinking is his tooth-ache. But the pupils 
 can be led to see that it is not of tooth-ache in general, 
 but of the tooth-ache which now afflicts him, that he is 
 talking. So they see that the statement is made of him- 
 self, and that '* having tooth-ache " is what is stated of 
 him. 
 
 (d) Guard always against identifying the predicate with 
 the verb, which is only its effective part. 
 
 {e) The general order of teaching may be somewhat as 
 follows : 
 
 1. Lead the pupils to see that merely to name a thing 
 does not express any thought ; that many thoughts 
 may be expressed about any one thing ; . that each 
 such expression is a sentence ; and that every sentence 
 must have the two parts — the statement made {predi- 
 cate), and that about which it is made (subject). Give 
 the terms " Predicate " and '' Subject," and elicit 
 simple definitions from the pupils. 
 
NOUNS 17 
 
 (f) Analytic Exercises (oral) : 
 
 1. Examine a number of single sentences, graded in 
 complexity, and divide each into subject and predicate. 
 See that the whole sentence is always included. 
 
 2. Divide given passages into sentences, and each 
 sentence into subject and predicate. 
 
 (g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Adding suitable predicates to given subjects. 
 
 2. Finding appropriate subjects for given predicates 
 of increasing degrees of complexity. 
 
 3. Similar exercises to those in Chap. I (d) separating 
 predicate from subject. 
 
 4. These having been done orally, written exercises 
 on similar lines may be set. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 NOUNS 
 
 {a) The matter of this chapter will probably require 
 two lessons — the first dealing with 1-4, the second with 5. 
 
 (b) The aim is to lead the pupils to see that every word, 
 or group of words, which names an object of thought is 
 a noun in function. Later in the course, noun phrases 
 and noun clauses will be distinguished from simple nouns 
 and from each other. It is important that the way be 
 prepared for this by a thorough grasp of the truth that, 
 despite such distinctions, they are all fundamentally 
 nouns, as each names an object of thought. The teacher 
 should, therefore, be careful to deal with such groups of 
 words here, as well as with word-nouns, securing by 
 
 VV.G.T, A 4 
 
18 GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 abundant examples that the pupils thoroughly grasp the 
 noun function. But he should not at present use the terms 
 " Phrase " and " Clause," nor should he draw any dis- 
 tinction between them. He should treat each instance as 
 a whole under the name Noun Group. 
 
 (c) The pupils have learnt to distinguish between the 
 subject and the predicate of a sentence. The remainder 
 of the elementary course is the further analysis of these 
 two fundamental parts. The,noun is most easily approached 
 through examination of the subject, but care should be 
 taken that the examples used show that nouns also occur 
 in predicates. 
 
 (d) The general mode of proceeding may be somewhat as 
 follows : 
 
 1. By examination of examples show that we cannot 
 make statements without naming things. All names 
 are called Nouns : give and explain derivation of word. 
 
 2. By guided conversation lead the pupils to see that 
 as the subject of a sentence is that about which the 
 predicate makes a statement, the chief part of every 
 subject must be a noun or a substitute for a noun, and 
 that this may be either a single word or a group of words. 
 
 3. Similarly lead them to see that nouns and noun- 
 groups may occur in predicates. 
 
 4. By examination of examples show that we name 
 not only things we can apprehend by the senses, but 
 also things we can imagine, etc. ; in short, anything 
 about which we can think and talk. 
 
 5. By examination of examples show distinction 
 between Proper and Comynon (or General) names, making 
 clear that the former are only marks of identification, 
 and that the latter imply tlie presence of some quality. 
 
NOUNS 19 
 
 Give and use the terms, getting simple definitions from 
 
 the pupils. 
 
 {e) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Choose a passage containing only single- worded 
 nouns, and require the pupils to pick them out. 
 
 2. Proceed similarly with passages containing also 
 noun groups. Secure that the pupils grasp that each 
 such group names a single object of thought. 
 
 3. Distinguish ' between Proper and Common Nouns 
 in given passages. 
 
 4. When these can be well done orally, set similar 
 exercises to be done in writing. 
 
 (/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Fill the blanks in given sentences with suitable 
 Nouns (both single words and noun-groups), and say 
 whether each occurs in subject or in predicate. 
 
 2. Change the Proper Nouns in given passages into 
 suitable Common Nouns, and show what difference is 
 made in the meaning. 
 
 3. Compose a chain of sentences on a given topic, 
 using both Proper and Common Nouns correctly. 
 
 4. When these can be done orally with readiness and 
 accuracy, set similar exerc!ises to be written. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PRONOUNS 
 
 (a) The matter of this chapter may well be taken in 
 two lessons, the first dealing with 1 and 2, the second 
 with 3 and 4. 
 
20 GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 (6) Do not deal here with distinctions of case or number. 
 They will come later. Distinctions of gender are of no 
 grammatical importance, and are sufficiently familiar to 
 children ; so these need not be specifically taught. Take 
 each example simply as a pronoun, because it stands for 
 a noun, without inquiring in what relations it is used. 
 
 (c) Avoid all mention of Relative Pronouns at this 
 stage. They also will be dealt with later. Treat the 
 clauses they introduce as adjective groups of words. 
 
 (d) The order of teaching may be somewhat as 
 follows : 
 
 1. Rewrite on the black-board a suitable passage 
 from a class Reading Book, with all Personal Pronouns 
 replaced by nouns. Let the pupils compare this with 
 the original passage, and so see the convenience of 
 pronouns. Give the name " Pronoun," and get a 
 simple definition from the pupils. 
 
 2. By examination of examples lead the pupils to 
 make distinctions of Person. Give and explain terms 
 First, Second, and Third Persons. 
 
 3. By examination of examples of suitable questions 
 and answers lead the pupils to see that pronouns are 
 used, not only to avoid too frequent repetition of nouns 
 when they are known, but for unknown nouns. 
 
 4. By further reference to these examples lead the 
 pupils to see that pronouns are used in questions to 
 ask the name ; bring out that '^ who," " which," " what " 
 are such Interrogative Pronouns. 
 
 5. By comparison of the same examples lead the 
 pupils to see that when pronouns stand for nouns in 
 questions, the noun may be either known or unknown. 
 In the latter case the pronoun directs attention to a 
 
PRONOUNS 21 
 
 thing without giving its name. This pronoun is repeated 
 in the answer to indicate exactly what is there named. 
 Have this copiously illustrated, and let it be noted that 
 " this," " that," '' these," " those " are such Demon- 
 strative Pronouns. 
 
 6. By further examination of the examples lead the 
 pupils to see that " who " is used for persons, " which " 
 for things, and " that " for both persons and things. 
 
 (e) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Pick out the pronouns in selected passages, and 
 say for what noun or noun-group each stands. 
 
 2. Among these distinguish those used for a known 
 noun and those used for an unknown noun. 
 
 3. Distinguish in the latter those used to ask questions 
 and those which point out the object referred to. 
 
 4. Name the kind of each pronoun picked out. 
 
 5. Choose (or compose) a passage in which personal 
 pronouns are used with an ambiguous reference, and 
 require such nouns to be substituted as will make the 
 meaning clear. 
 
 6. After oral practice has given facility, set similar 
 exercises to 5 to be done in writing. 
 
 (/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Substitute pronouns for nouns and noun-groups in 
 given passages where this can be done without am- 
 biguity. 
 
 2. Substitute a pronoun for every noun and noun- 
 group in a carefully selected passage, and show what 
 ambiguities hence arise. 
 
 3. Turn direct statements made with nouns into 
 questions with pronouns, and give appropriate answers. 
 
22 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 4. Compose a chain of senteDces on a given topic, 
 using pronouns appropriately, and introducing ques- 
 tions and answers. 
 
 5. After copious oral practice, set similar exercises 
 to be done in writing. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ADJECTIVES 
 
 (a) The matter in this chapter may well be spread over 
 three lessons, the first embracing 1-3, the second 4-6, the 
 third a revision and summary as in 7. 
 
 (b) As in the case of nouns, the way should be prepared 
 for the later treatment of phrases and clauses by dis- 
 tinguishing between Adjective Words and Adjective Groups 
 of Words, and the examples used should embrace both. 
 
 (c) Henceforward the pupils should always analyse the 
 subjects of the sentences they deal with, by determining 
 whether its chief word is a noun or a pronoun, and by 
 separating from it any adjectives that may appear with it. 
 But it must be borne in mind that the whole group is the 
 subject, and that this step is only a sub-division of that, 
 not a primary division of the sentence. 
 
 (d) The general order followed in teaching may be some- 
 what on these lines : 
 
 1. Ask the pupils to describe an object before them — 
 it may be one of themselves — so definitely that no 
 mistake can arise as to which is meant, and lead them 
 on by objections to their suggestions till the desired 
 point is reached. 
 
ADJECTIVES 23 
 
 2. Require them to distinguish by descriptive words 
 or groups of words between two objects, of the same 
 kind and having the same common name, present before 
 them. 
 
 3. Give name " Adjective," explain origin and mean- 
 ing of term, distinguish between Demonstrative Adjec- 
 tives and Adjectives of Quality, and lead the pupils to 
 sum up in a simple definition what has so far been 
 learnt. 
 
 4. Examine sentences containing words expressing 
 number, lead the pupils to see that these are also adjec- 
 tives, as they describe another aspect of the objects 
 named. 
 
 5. Examine difference between exact and approxi- 
 mate statement of number. Give and explain terms 
 Definite and Indefinite Adjectives of Number. 
 
 6. By examples lead pupils to see both the difference 
 and the connexion between Cardinal and Ordinal num- 
 bers ; give and explain those terms. 
 
 7. By suitable examples compare number and quan- 
 tity ; e.g. some boys, some pudding. Lead pupils to 
 see that these latter adjectives are appropriately termed 
 Adjectives of Quantity. 
 
 8. Revise, complete the definition, and summarize in 
 table. 
 
 (e) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Pick out from given passages Adjectives of Quality 
 and Demonstrative Adjectives, and the nouns to which 
 each is attached. Distinguish between them, and 
 examine the definiteness with which each of the former 
 marks out the object. 
 
24 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 2. Pick out from given passages Adjectives of Number 
 and the nouns to which they severally refer ; distin- 
 guish those that are Definite from those that are In- 
 definite. 
 
 3. Pick out from given passages Adjectives of Quantity 
 and the nouns to which they severally refer, and show 
 why they are not Adjectives of Number. 
 
 4. Select and classify all the adjectives in given 
 passages, and refer each to its related noun. 
 
 5. After sufficient oral practice, give exercises similar 
 to 4 to be done in writing. 
 
 (/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. So describe a given object by a number of adjectives 
 (words and groups of words) that the description is 
 applicable to nothing else. 
 
 2. Distinguish between two objects of the same kind 
 by appropriate adjectives of quality. 
 
 3. Add suitable adjectives of quality to nouns in 
 given passages. 
 
 4. Substitute for general adjectives of quality — e.g. 
 green — others of more precise signification — e.g. olive- 
 green, green-like-grass, pea-green, etc. 
 
 N.B. Discuss such examples carefully and illustrate copi- 
 ously, thus leading the pupils to see that vividness of descrip- 
 tion depends on the precision of the descriptive adjectives 
 used. 
 
 5. Add suitable adjectives of number and of quantity 
 to nouns in given passages, distinguish between them, 
 and say which of the former is definite, and which 
 indefinite. 
 
 6. Give a description of a given thing — e.g. a sunset, 
 a river, a well-known man, a game of cricket or hockey — 
 
VERBS 25 
 
 using appropriate adjectives (words and groups) of all 
 kinds. Find which of these adjectives belong to the 
 subject, and which to the predicate. 
 
 7. After much oral practice, set similar exercises to 
 be written. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 VERBS 
 
 (a) The consideration of nouns, pronouns, and adjec- 
 tives, completes the analysis of the subject. As those 
 parts of speech also occur in many predicates, the analysis 
 of the predicate has, to that extent, been incidentally 
 begun. The next step is to undertake that analysis 
 methodically, and to that the next ten chapters are devoted. 
 
 (b) The teacher should be careful not to limit the predi- 
 cate to the verb, which is its most characteristic part, 
 but which is the complete predicate only in the simplest 
 form of sentence. " Objects '"' and " Adverb Adjuncts " 
 are not independent parts of sentences co-ordinate with 
 subjects and predicates, but are subordinate elements in 
 the whole predicate, added to the verb to make the state- 
 ment more complete. The first step in analysing a sen- 
 tence is always to divide it into subject and predicate. All 
 further analysis of either, or both, of these should follow 
 this and be based on it. 
 
 (c) The first consideration of the verb should be con- 
 fined to the separation of it from the rest of the predicate. 
 No distinction should here be made between single-worded 
 
 W.G. T. A 5 
 
26 GROUNDWOEK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 verbs and verbs expressed by several words : further study 
 of these will be the work of subsequent lessons. 
 
 (d) From the first it should be made evident that while 
 some verbs can stand alone as predicates, others cannot, 
 but the full discussion of these latter should also be left 
 to later lessons. The general idea of a verb must be clear 
 before any analysis of the forms of verbs can profitably 
 be undertaken. It is to this preliminary task that the 
 present chapter is devoted. 
 
 (e) The general line of procedure may be somewhat as 
 follows : 
 
 1. By varied examples lead the pupils to see that a 
 predicate may consist of one word or of several words, 
 and that in the latter case there is a word, or insepar- 
 able group of words, which shows the kind of statement 
 made. Give the name " Verb," and elicit from the 
 pupils some such preliminary definition as "Verbs are 
 words that tell.^^ 
 
 2. By comparison of sentences, some containing 
 verbs of complete, and others verbs of incomplete, 
 predication, lead the pupils to see that while some verbs 
 can do the whole telling, others require other words to 
 be added to complete the statement ; as, John talks, 
 John bought — , John is — . The teacher must provide 
 these examples, though the pupils should be asked to 
 add other similar ones. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises (oral): 
 
 1. Pick out the verbs from given passages, connect 
 them with their subjects, and say which are single 
 words and which groups of words. 
 
 2. Distinguish in given passages the verbs which are 
 
VERBS 27 
 
 complete predicates from those that are not, and note 
 in the latter cases how each statement is completed. 
 
 (g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Prefix suitable subjects to given verbs (both single 
 words and groups of words). 
 
 2. Add suitable verbs to given subjects. 
 
 3. Change verbs of one word into verbs of several 
 words without changing the meaning ; e.g. I write — 
 I am writing, He wrote — He was writing. 
 
 4. Change verb-groups into single verbs without 
 changing the meaning. 
 
 5. Give the pupils a number of subjects followed by 
 verbs of incomplete predication and require those verbs 
 to be completed. 
 
 6. Give the pupils a number of subjects and com- 
 pletions of predicates, leaving blanks for the verbs, 
 and require those blanks to be filled. 
 
 7. Compose a series of four or five sentences on a 
 given topic and point out the verb in each. 
 
 8. After oral practice has given facility in such exer- 
 cises, similar ones may be set to be done in writing. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TENSES 
 
 (a) After having learnt to recognize verbs, the next 
 step is to deal with how distinctions of time are marked 
 by their form, i.e. with Tenses. These distinctions the 
 pupils are accustomed to make, so that all that is now 
 
28 GROUND WOEK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 needed is to lead them to give explicit attention to forms 
 they habitually use without thinking of why they use them. 
 (6) As time is marked by adverbs as well as by tense, 
 the way is here prepared for a later study of adverbs. All 
 that should be done now is to bring out that such " time 
 words " require certain forms of the verb to be used, and 
 that they only make the general reference to time more 
 precise. Do not yet use the term " Adverb." 
 
 (c) The distinction between the use of " shall " and 
 " will " may be drawn from the pupils if they are accus- 
 tomed to use those words correctly in their ordinary 
 speech. If they are not, it should be carefully explained, 
 and illustrated by many examples drawn from their Read- 
 ing Books, so as to make them realize that the distinction 
 is one commonly accepted. 
 
 (d) It will be found advisable to relegate the matter 
 of 6-8 to a later lesson, which should, however, be taken 
 as soon as possible after that dealing with 1-5. 
 
 (e) The general line of teaching may be somewhat as 
 follows : 
 
 1. By examination of such examples as "I work 
 to-day as hard as I can," " I worked hard yesterday," 
 ** I shall ivorh better to-morrow," draw out that in each 
 the time referred to is broadly shown by the form of the 
 verb, and that the other words indicating time (to-day, 
 etc.) only make that reference more exact. 
 
 2. Lead the pupils to note that the simplest form of 
 the verb expresses present time, and to examine the 
 changes made to indicate past and future times. 
 
 3. Tabulate these forms under headings Past, Present, 
 Future : give name '' Tense," its meaning and origin. 
 
 4. By examination of carefully selected examples 
 
TENSES 29 
 
 show the shades of meaning expressed by the Simple, 
 Progressive, and Perfect, Forms of each tense. 
 
 5. From consideration of the possibilities of time 
 lead the pupils to see that there are only three tenses, 
 though each can be expressed in several ways according 
 to shades of differences in meaning. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Determine the tense of each verb in selected passages. 
 
 2. Examine all the past tenses in given passages, 
 and note how each is formed from the present. 
 
 3. Examine all cases of " shall " and " will " in given 
 passages, and determine whether future time or present 
 determination is expressed in each case. 
 
 4. Determine the form of the tense of each verb in 
 given passages. 
 
 5. After sufficient oral practice, similar exercises may 
 be set to be written. 
 
 (g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Give the other two simple tenses of a number of 
 selected verbs (in all tenses). 
 
 2. Change selected predications made in each tense 
 into predications made in other tenses, and show in each 
 case what difference is thus made in the meaning. 
 
 3. Change predications made in one form of each 
 tense into those made with other forms. 
 
 4. Make sentences containing given /orms of verbs. 
 
 5. Make sentences on set topics which express given 
 meanings by appropriate /orms of verbs. 
 
 6. Combine the results of 5 into continuous passages. 
 
 7. When facility is attained in oral practice, set similar 
 exercises to be done in writing. 
 
30 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 NUMBERS 
 
 (a) The consideration of Number is taken here instead 
 of with the noun because it belongs to the verb as well as 
 to the noun and pronoun. As with Tense, the distinction 
 is practically familiar to children, and only needs to be 
 made explicit. The main object of doing this is to make 
 the pupils conscious of the concord of subject and verb. 
 It follows that the matter of this and the two following 
 chapters should be taken in as close a time connexion as is 
 found feasible. 
 
 (b) The matter of 4 may be taken in a separate lesson 
 if the rate of apprehension and response shows it to be 
 advisable. In dealing with the pronouns say nothing at 
 present about Case. Use all the forms, but simply fix 
 attention on distinctions of Number. 
 
 (c) The teaching may proceed somewhat as follows : 
 
 1. Write on the black-board in a column to the left 
 a series of sentences beginning with " a " or " one " ; 
 and in a column to the right corresponding sentences 
 in which these are changed to various plural signs ; in 
 both cases leaving blanks for the nouns. Require the 
 pupils to fill those blanks, and from the way they fill 
 them infer that a different form is used when the refer- 
 ence is to any number greater than one. Give and 
 explain the names " Singular " and " Plural." 
 
 2. From examination of these examples lead the pupils 
 to gather the chief modes of forming plurals of nouns. 
 Tabulate the results on the black-board with examples. 
 
NUMBERS Si 
 
 3. Write on the black-board the Personal Pronouns 
 and ask the pupils to make a set of statements containing 
 each ; add these on the black-board, and from examina- 
 tion of them discover the plural forms : tabulate them. 
 
 4. From examination of examples elicit the plural 
 forms of the demonstrative pronouns. 
 
 5. From examination of examples lead the children 
 to find that interrogative pronouns have no distinctive 
 plural forms. 
 
 (d) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Determine the number of each noun in given 
 passages. 
 
 2. Note the way in which each of those that are 
 plural form the plural number. Give other examples 
 of each. 
 
 3. Select all the pronouns in given passages, say what 
 kind of pronoun each is and state its number. 
 
 4. After these have been sufhciently practised orally, 
 similar exercises may be set to be done in writing. 
 
 (e) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Give the plural forms of selected singular nouns. 
 
 2. Give the singular forms of selected plural nouns. 
 
 3. These having been sufficiently practised orally, 
 set similar exercises to be written. 
 
 4. Rewrite selected narratives given in the singular 
 number changing each singular noun and pronoun into 
 the corresponding plural. 
 
 5. Similarly, change narratives from the plural into 
 
 the singular. 
 
 N.B. In the last two exercises the corresponding changes 
 in the verbs should be made, but they should not be discussed 
 at this stage. 
 
32 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 AGREEMENT OF SUBJECT AND VERB 
 
 (a) The amount of teaching and practice needed will 
 depend upon the degree to which the pupils automatically 
 observe the concord in speech and writing. 
 
 (6) The teaching may proceed on some such lines as 
 these : 
 
 1. Use the same sentences as in the last chapter, 
 but now to direct attention to the changes in the verbs. 
 Give plenty of oral practice in supplying verbs to singular 
 and plural subjects. 
 
 2. By examination of many examples work out the 
 agreement in person. 
 
 3. Get from the pupils the summarized statement 
 that a verb always agrees with its subject in number 
 and person. 
 
 (c) Analytic Exercises (oral) : 
 
 1. Note and accoimt for differences in verbal forms in 
 selected passages. 
 
 2. Detect, explain, and correct, violations of concord 
 in given incorrect sentences. 
 
 {d) Sjmthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Supply verbs to given subjects in various numbers 
 and persons {oral). 
 
 2. Supply suitable subjects to given verbal forms, 
 and note what different numbers and persons each of 
 those forms may have as subject (oral). 
 
SINGLE AND COMPOUND SUBJECTS 33 
 
 3. Rewrite passages as in Chap. VIII (e) 4, 5, with 
 conscious attention to the verbs. 
 
 4. Write two accounts of the same event, one referred 
 to a singular, the other to a plural, subject. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SINGLE AND COMPOUND SUBJECTS 
 
 (a) The matter of this chapter is a special case of the 
 concord of subject and verb, so here, as there, the amount 
 of teaching and practice required will depend on the habits 
 of speech of the pupils. 
 
 (b) It is well to connect the ideas now to be considered 
 with the distinction already noted between separate nouns 
 and one many- worded noun. If the complex of words refers 
 to one object of thought it is one noun-group, no matter 
 how many single nouns it may contain. From this the 
 transition is made to the connexion of separate nouns. 
 Such connexions may, of course, be also found in objects 
 of the verb, but as it does not then affect the concord 
 it need not be explicitly treated. 
 
 (c) The teaching may proceed somewhat as follows : 
 
 1. Put sentences on the black-board containing many- 
 worded nouns as subjects : examine to show that the 
 predication is made of the united whole. Let the pupils 
 supply other examples. 
 
 2. Proceed similarly with conjoint subjects. 
 
 3. Contrast with these, disjoint subjects in which 
 
34 GROUNDWOEK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 the predication is understood to be made separately of 
 
 each. 
 
 N,B. There is no need to use the term "conjoint" and 
 " disjoint " : " connected " and " separate " are more familiar 
 and are sufficiently exact. 
 
 (d) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Find examples of many- worded subjects in given 
 passages. 
 
 2. Distinguish between those that are single noun- 
 groups and those that are combinations of nouns. 
 
 3. Distinguish in the latter those in which the com- 
 bination is conjoint from those in which it is disjoint. 
 Explain each. 
 
 4. After adequate oral practice, set exercises on similar 
 lines to be done in writing. 
 
 (e) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Supply many- worded names as single subjects to 
 given predicates. 
 
 2. Add suitable predicates both to conjoint and to 
 disjoint combinations of names. 
 
 3. Give suitable compound subjects (conjoint and 
 disjoint) to given predicates, and justify each. 
 
 4. After such oral practice, set similar exercises to be 
 written. 
 
 5. Write two brief accounts of a given event, in the 
 first of which two boys (or girls) are the actors, and in 
 the second there is doubt at first which was the actor, 
 but at the end this doubt is resolved. 
 
STATEMENTS, QUESTIONS, COMMANDS 35 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 STATEMENTS, QUESTIONS, AND COMIVIANDS 
 
 (a) All these forms of speech being in constant use by 
 the pupils, the aim is not to teach their existence but to 
 fix attention on their different modes of verbal expression. 
 This is best done by comparison. So, both questions 
 and commands should be considered in respect to their 
 differences from statements. 
 
 (b) There is no advantage in dealing with the Infinitive 
 Mood as a separate form of the verb. In such sentences 
 as " I can swim " it is best to take '' can swim " as one 
 verb in the Indicative Mood. When the Infinitive stands 
 alone, as "To swim is pleasant," " I learnt to swim,'' it is 
 best regarded as a noun ( = swimming). 
 
 (c) The teaching may proceed somewhat as follows : 
 
 1. Place on the black-board a statement, a question, 
 and a command, with the same noun and verb, and 
 lead the pupils to state explicitly the differences between 
 them. Add the terms " Statement," " Question," 
 *' Command," after each. Lead the pupils to see how 
 each may be changed into either of the others. Keep 
 these on the black-board during the lesson as types 
 to which other examples can be referred. 
 
 2. Complete the definition of the verb, as a word 
 which tells, asks questions, expresses commands or requests. 
 
 3. Compare the order of words in statement and 
 question ; gather many illustrative examples, and lead 
 the pupils to sum up the results. 
 
 4. Compare command or request with statement and 
 
36 GEOUNDWOEK OF ENGLISH GEAMMAE 
 
 question ; discuss form of command till pupils see the 
 change of subject, and the nature of the Nominative of 
 Address. Give terms " Imperative Mood," '' Indica- 
 tive Mood," *^ Nominative of Address" to crystallize 
 ideas gathered, and get simple definitions from the 
 pupils. 
 
 (d) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Pick out the verbs in given passages and classify 
 them as Statements, Questions, Commands. 
 
 2. Distinguish the Nominatives of Address from the 
 other nouns in the passages. 
 
 3. Give the subject and predicate of each of the 
 commands. 
 
 4. After adequate oral practice set similar exercises 
 to be written. 
 
 (e) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Change given statements into questions, and 
 given questions into statements. 
 
 2. Supply appropriate answers to given questions. 
 
 3. Supply appropriate questions to which given 
 statements may be regarded as answers. 
 
 4. Change into commands all the statements and 
 questions in given passages which admit of it. 
 
 5. Change given commands into (i) statements, 
 (ii) questions. 
 
 6. After a good many such exercises have been done 
 orally, give similar ones to be done in writing. 
 
 7. Write a story, bringing in statements, questions, 
 and commands in suitable places, and mark them (s), 
 
 (q). (c). 
 
VERBS NOT FORMING PREDICATES 37 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 VERBS WHICH CANNOT FORM PREDICATES 
 
 (a) The matter of this chapter may well be spread over 
 two lessons, the first covering 1-4, the second 5 and 6. 
 
 (b) Passive forms should be avoided at this stage. 
 Therefore, the examples had better be supplied by the 
 teacher. If any are offered by the pupils — e.g. " The 
 window is broken,^' they should be taken as single verbs, 
 but not examined. 
 
 (c) The use of neuter verbs, such as " become " should 
 be made quite clear. Unless this is done, difficulty will 
 arise when transitive verbs are considered in 5. When 
 this point is reached comparison between such sentences 
 as " The people made William king," and " William became 
 king " should be made explicitly, so as to bring out the 
 distinction clearly. 
 
 (d) From this point onwards the pupils should be re- 
 quired to sub-divide such predicates into verbs and adjec- 
 tives or nouns, and verbs and objects. But care should 
 be taken that the object is not regarded as a primary 
 division of the sentence, co-ordinate with subject and 
 predicate, but is recognized to be part of the predicate. 
 Adverbs should still be kept with the words they modify. 
 
 (e) The teaching may be somewhat on the follov/ing 
 lines : 
 
 1. Write on the black-board sentences similar to 
 those in 2, and discuss them. Illustrate by other 
 examples supplied by the pupils. 
 
 2. Take an adjective and require the pupils to attach 
 
38 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 it predicatively to each personal pronoun successively 
 in all the tenses. Complete the conjugation of Be by 
 getting the Imperative Mood and Participles from the 
 pupils in sentences. 
 
 3. Examine such a sentence as " William became 
 king " so as to bring out the meaning of " became." 
 Contrast with verbs telling what William did. 
 
 4. Compare sentences containing transitive verbs with 
 others containing intransitive verbs ; draw out the 
 distinction between them ; give and explain terms 
 '' Transitive " and " Intransitive " and " Object." 
 
 5. Compare sentences containing transitive and neuter 
 verbs respectively, so as to bring out clearly the differ- 
 ence between them. 
 
 N.B. There is no need to use the term " Neuter Verbs " ; 
 " Verbs which state that a thing is or becomes something " is 
 better. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. In given passages distinguish between the verbs 
 which form predicates by themselves and those which 
 do not. 
 
 2. Divide the latter into those that say the subject 
 is or becomes something, and transitive verbs. Give 
 the objects of the latter. 
 
 3. Pick out all the parts of the verb Be in given 
 passages, and say what part each is. 
 
 4. After ad-equate oral practice on these lines, set 
 similar written exercises. 
 
 {g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Give a set of subjects followed by verbs of incom- 
 plete predication, require the sentences to be completed, 
 and the kind of completion explained. 
 
VERBS NOT FORMING PREDICATES 39 
 
 2. Give a series of nouns preceded by adjectives, 
 and require each to be changed into a statement with 
 the noun as subject and the adjective in the predicate. 
 
 3. Similarly with two nouns, as " King William." 
 
 4. Take the same combinations of adjective and noun 
 as in 2, and require them to be changed into commands. 
 
 5. After much oral practice, give similar exercises to 
 be done in writing. 
 
 6. Compose narratives on various topics — which each 
 pupil may select for himself — bringing in all these 
 lands of predicates correctly. Underline the predicates. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CASES 
 
 (a) The matter of this chapter should be spread over 
 at least two lessons. The first should cover 1-3, the second 
 may embrace 4-7. Or the latter may be taken in two 
 steps, 7 being reserved for a third lesson. This should 
 be determined by the readiness with which the pupils 
 grasp the matter presented to them. 
 
 (b) The first lesson is closely connected with the matter 
 treated in Chap. XII, and so should be taken as soon as 
 possible after it. 
 
 (c) The use of the Possessive Case is familiar to children 
 from habitual use, so all that is required is to draw explicit 
 attention to. the ways in which possession is expressed. 
 
 (d) Say nothing about cases after prepositions. In 
 such phrases as " king of England " the ''of England " 
 
40 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 may be regarded as an adjective group (= English) if it 
 be thought desirable to split up the noun-group. 
 
 (e) The general order of teaching may be somewhat as 
 follows : 
 
 1. Put on the black-board pairs of sentences with 
 transitive verbs, in the second of which the subject 
 and object of the first have changed places : compare 
 their meanings, and lead the pupils to see that the 
 difference is expressed by difference in the order of the 
 words which shows their relation to the verb. 
 
 2. Put on the black-board a number of carefully 
 selected sentences similar to those in 3, and lead the 
 pupils to see that they are ambiguous when taken alone. 
 Show that the ambiguity can be removed by emphasis 
 and phrasing in reading. Then read the context of 
 each separately, and show that it is that which shows 
 what emphavsis and phrasing should be used, so that we 
 must go to the context to determine the meaning before 
 we can read the passages correctly. 
 
 3. Gather from the pupils how ownership is expressed 
 with nouns. Explain the origin and mode of use of 
 the apostrophe. 
 
 4. By examples lead the pupils to see other ways of 
 expressing possession, and that these are commonly used 
 with names of things. 
 
 5. By substituting personal pronouns for the nouns 
 in the sentences already used draw out all their case 
 forms. Tabulate them. 
 
 6. By changing attributive into predicative possessive 
 pronouns lead the pupils to see when each of these two 
 forms is to' be used. 
 
 7. By examples show the objective and possessive 
 
CASES 41 
 
 forms of ivho, used both interrogatively and demon- 
 stratively. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Find all the nominative and objective cases in 
 given passages. 
 
 2. From examination of context determine subject 
 and object in selected ambiguously constructed sen- 
 tences. 
 
 3. Divide each sentence in given passages into subject 
 and predicate, and when the verb is transitive make a 
 sub-division of the predicate into verb and object. 
 
 4. Find all the possessive cases in given passages, 
 and distinguish those that are joined directly to a noun 
 from those that are used with a verb. 
 
 5. After oral practice, set exercises similar to 2 and 3 
 to be done in writing. 
 
 {g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Give the pupils a number of transitive verbs and 
 require them to be put into sentences, and the subjects 
 distinguished from the objects. 
 
 2. After finding from the context the meaning of 
 ambiguous sentences, rewrite them so as to make clear 
 without the context which is the subject and the object. 
 
 3. Express ownership by both nouns and pronouns in 
 sentences dealing with given topics. 
 
 4. Ask and answer questions as to ownership on set 
 topics. 
 
 5. After much oral practice, similar exercises may be 
 required in writing. 
 
 6. Compose a story using all the cases of nouns and 
 pronouns, and mark each case by {n), (o), (jp). 
 
42 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ACTIVE AND PASSIVE FORMS OF SENTENCES 
 
 (a) This subject is closely connected with that of transi- 
 tive verbs, and should, therefore, be taken as soon as 
 possible after it. 
 
 (6) It is better to speak of Active and Passive Sentences 
 than of Active and Passive Verbs, as it lays stress on the 
 fact that it is the whole form of statement which is in 
 question, and that which is used depends on the mode of 
 thought. The examples should make clear that change 
 from the active to the passive form of thought involves 
 change in the expression of the verb. 
 
 (c) There is no need to investigate the nature of parti- 
 ciples : it is their function only that is of importance. 
 
 {d) It will be well to show by comparison of examples 
 that only the past participle is used in the passive form 
 of the verb ; the present participle with Be gives the 
 active progressive forms. 
 
 {e) The order of teaching may be somewhat as 
 follows : 
 
 1. Revise what has been learnt as to transitive verbs 
 and the difference between subject and object nouns. 
 Get illustrative sentences and write them on the black- 
 board. 
 
 2. Ask of each how the same thought can be expressed 
 if we begin with the object and use it as subject. Dis- 
 tinguish this very carefully from the entire change of 
 meaning caused by simply transposing subject and 
 object without changing the verb. 
 
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCES 43 
 
 3. Lead the pupils to see that though the active 
 and passive forms express the same thought they lay 
 emphasis on different elements in it. 
 
 4. Examine the structure of the passive verbs, and 
 give the name " Past Participle " to the part of the 
 chief verb used with part of Be. Compare with the use 
 of the Past Participle with have in the Perfect Forms 
 of the Tenses. 
 
 5. Lead the pupils to see that as active and passive 
 forms express the same fact, each may be converted 
 into the other. 
 
 6. Make clear that all passive verbs are transitive, 
 and that this is shown explicitly by changing them into 
 the corresponding active forms. 
 
 7. By discussion, centred round examples, of the kind 
 of change made when an active is turned into a passive 
 form, lead the pupils to see that intransitive verbs can 
 have no passive forms. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Distinguish the transitive (including passive) verbs 
 from the intransitive verbs in given passages. 
 
 2. Examine the transitive verbs thus selected and 
 distinguish the active from the passive forms. 
 
 3. Select from given passages (i) the passive verbs, 
 (ii) the verbs of incomplete predication followed by 
 adjectives. 
 
 4. After adequate oral practice, similar exercises 
 to be written. 
 
 {g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 L Change a number of sentences given in the active 
 form into corresponding sentences in the passive form. 
 
44 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 2. Change a number of sentences given in the pas- 
 sive form into corresponding sentences in the active 
 form. 
 
 3. When these can be done readily and accurately 
 in oral work, set similar ones to be written. 
 
 4. Rewrite whole passages changing every active into 
 a passive, and every passive into an active, form. 
 
 5. Narrate an event twice — each pupil choosing his 
 own — so as to lay stress on (i) the actors, (ii) the persons 
 or things affected by the actions. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ADVERBS 
 
 (a) As in the case of nouns and adjectives, the way 
 should be here prepared for the future study of phrases 
 and clauses by taking care that the examples considered 
 include adverb-groups as well as single-worded adverbs. 
 
 (b) The matter of the chapter may well be divided 
 between three lessons, the first dealing with 1 and 2, the 
 second with 3 and 4, the third given to revision and 
 systematization of the former two, 5. 
 
 (c) The kinds of adverbs used with verbs are best brought 
 out by considering the answers suitable to all the kinds 
 of questions that may be asked about actions. It is 
 better to call adverbs used to ask questions " Interrogative 
 Adverbs " than to include them under Place, etc., as their 
 primary function is to ask questions, not to specify rela- 
 tions. 
 
 (d) Henceforth, while the predicate is still recognized 
 
ADVERBS 45 
 
 as a whole, its sub-division should be completed by dis- 
 tinguishing within it any objects and adverbs it may 
 contain from the verb. 
 
 (e) The teaching may be conducted somewhat on the 
 following lines : 
 
 1. Refer back to the words used with tenses to make 
 the point of time precise. Give examples to show that 
 similar words may be used to mark other relations. 
 
 2. Put a number of questions on the black-board, 
 each beginning with an Interrogative Adverb (word or 
 group). Get the pupils to supply answers, and write 
 one of each after its question. Examine the relations 
 expressed, and write the name of each after the 
 answer. 
 
 3. Ask the pupils to give many other similar questions 
 and answers, and to say under which heading each 
 should be put. Thus lead them to make sure that all 
 the relations have been found. 
 
 4. Give and explain the term " Adverb," and draw 
 from the pupils the substance of the first part of the 
 definition. 
 
 5. Write on the black-board sentences containing 
 adjectives, leaving blanks before the adjectives. Re- 
 quire these to be filled. Say these words are also called 
 Adverbs, and lead the pupils to specify the kind of 
 relation they express. If they say '* Amount " — as 
 they probably will — accept it as giving the right idea, 
 but give the term " Degree," and show that it expresses 
 that idea more exactly. 
 
 6. Proceed similarly with adverbs modifying adverbs 
 of manner. 
 
 7. Lead the pupils to complete the definition. 
 
46 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 8. Revise and systematize the results of the teaching 
 and work out such a table as is given in 5. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Select all the adverbs (words and groups) in given 
 passages (containing only adverbs connected with 
 verbs) : give the kind of each. 
 
 2. Pick out all the adverbs of degree from given 
 passages, and say to what word each is attached, and 
 whether that word is an adjective or an adverb. 
 
 3. Divide given sentences into subject and predicate ; 
 then sub-divide the subjects into noun or pronoun and 
 adjective, and the predicates into verb, object, and 
 adverbs, so far as such sub-division is applicable in each 
 case. 
 
 4. After adequate oral practice on these lines, set 
 written exercises similar to 3. 
 
 (g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Ask and answer all possible questions about given 
 actions. Name the kind of adverb used in each case. 
 
 2. Add as many adverbs of degree as you can to 
 adjectives in given sentences. State the exact meaning 
 each implies. 
 
 3. Similar exercises with adverbs of degree added to 
 adverbs of manner. 
 
 4. Compose sentences on set topics, showing given 
 adverbial relations. 
 
 5. When oral practice has given facility, set similar 
 exercises to be done in writing. 
 
 6. Write a story containing adverbs suitably used, 
 and mark each as {i), {p), (t), (m), (r), (c), {d). 
 
INTEEJECTIONS 47 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 INTERJECTIONS 
 
 (a) This topic is treated only because otherwise children 
 will find words in their reading which they cannot explain 
 grammatically. 
 
 (b) Interjections should be distinguished from exclama- 
 tory sentences. The community of nature is shown by 
 each being commonly followed by a mark of exclamation, 
 though when they come together this is often written 
 only at the end ; as, "Oh, what a fall was there, my 
 countrymen ! " But the exclamatory sentence both is 
 capable of analysis and carries on the line of thought, 
 which the simple interjection does not. 
 
 (c) The main point to be brought out is that each inter- 
 jection is appropriate to express a certain kind of feeling. 
 
 (d) Do not attempt to classify interjections. 
 
 (e) The mode of teaching may be broadly : 
 
 1. Write on the black-board a number of sentences 
 containing interjections. Examine them so as to bring 
 out: 
 
 (i) that interjections arrest attention or express 
 emotion ; 
 
 (ii) that an interjection is part neither of the sub- 
 ject nor of the predicate in the sentence in which it 
 occurs. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises (oral) : 
 
 Pick out the interjections from given passages, and 
 give as exactly as possible the function of each. 
 
48 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 {h) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Prefix suitable interjections to given sentences. 
 
 2. Compose sentences expressing different emotions — 
 joy, sorrow, disappointment, etc. — using a suitable 
 interjection in each. 
 
 3. After oral practice, similar exercises may be set to 
 be done in writing. 
 
 4. Compose conversations on various topics, using 
 suitable interjections where they appropriately empha- 
 size an emotion or serve to fix attention. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII 
 
 ANALYSING SENTENCES 
 
 (a) This is a revision and systematization of the whole 
 of the first course. Nothing new is taught in it except 
 the meaning and use of the term " Analysis." Hitherto 
 the teacher will have done well to speak of dividing sen- 
 tences, not of analysing them. 
 
 (b) The common plan of drawing a framework of four 
 columns, and heading them " Subject," " Verb," " Object," 
 and " Adverb " or " Extension of Predicate " is open to 
 the following serious objections : 
 
 (i) it starts with the result, and so begins at the 
 wrong end, and suggests to the pupils that the object 
 of analysis is to fill each space in this empty scheme. 
 
 (ii) it replaces the true analysis of the sentence by 
 a false one, in that it sets out all four divisions as co- 
 ordinate in rank ; whereas there are only two funda- 
 
ANALYSING SENTENCES 49 
 
 mental parts in any sentence — subject and predicate — 
 and these are found in all. 
 
 (iii) when the second division is styled the " Predi- 
 cate " another serious error is added. 
 
 (iv) the common term " Extension of Predicate " 
 
 is misleading, as adverbs limit the application of the 
 
 verb though they add to the meaning of the whole 
 
 predicate. 
 
 (c) True analysis takes what is given in the sentence 
 
 and starts from that. It first divides the whole into 
 
 subject and predicate, then marks any sub-divisions of 
 
 each which may be contained in it, but shows by its form 
 
 that they are only sub-divisions. 
 
 {d) Care should be taken that sentences of all kinds 
 are analysed, and especially that phrases and clauses are 
 found in many of them, though still treated as unitary 
 groups of words. In this way, and in this way only, a 
 sure foundation is laid for the advanced course of complex 
 analysis, to which the elementary course of simple analysis 
 should lead. 
 
 (e) The mode of taking the revisions may be somewhat 
 as follows : 
 
 1. Eecall in guided conversation with the class what 
 a sentence is, what are its two main parts, and how 
 each part may sometimes be sub-divided. 
 
 2. Give the term *^ Analysis " ; illustrate it by any 
 other forms of analysis with which the pupils are fami- 
 liar — as, in chemistry or in botany — and with such an 
 analysis of a common object as is involved in describing 
 it by stating its material, size, shape, colour, scent, 
 taste, texture, sonority, etc., and with the analysis of 
 numbers, e.g. 8 into 4x2, 5 + 3, etc. 
 
50 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 3. Make clear that the purpose of all forms of analysis 
 is to make explicit the nature and structure of the 
 thing examined. 
 
 4. Apply this specifically to the analysis of sentences. 
 Show by examples that such analysis often helps us to 
 understand the meaning of a sentence by making clear 
 how its various parts are connected in thought. 
 
 5. Discuss how such analysis should proceed, insisting 
 that the first step is always the separation of subject 
 and predicate. Give examples in which this completes 
 the analysis and others in which it does not. 
 
 6. From the latter lead the pupils to see that when 
 either subject or predicate is complex a further analysis 
 is possible. Bring out that : 
 
 (i) The subject may contain an adjective (word or 
 group) as well as the noun or substitute for a noun 
 which is its chief part. 
 
 (ii) The predicate may contain an adverb (word or 
 group) or an object or both as well as the verb. 
 But make it clear by examples that each of these 
 sub-divisions may occur either separately or in com- 
 bination with any of the others. 
 
 7. Recall that such verbs as Be or Become require 
 an adjective, a noun, or a pronoun, or both adjective 
 and noun or pronoun, to be added to them to form 
 predicates. Now make it quite clear by examples that 
 this combination cannot be sub-divided as the verb 
 by itself states nothing. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises (both oral and written) : 
 
 N.B. These should be continued through many lessons. 
 They will give occasion from time to time for special revision 
 of any parts of the previous course that are found to need it. 
 
ANALYSING SENTENCES 51 
 
 1. Analysis of given sentences, varied in structure 
 and graduated in difficulty and complexity to give full 
 scope for the developing powers of the pupils, but never 
 such as to be beyond those powers. 
 
 Always the analysis should be in steps — first into 
 
 subject and predicate ; then examination of the subject 
 
 with sub-analysis if needed ; then examination of the 
 
 predicate with any sub-analysis that may be applicable. 
 
 N.B. The greater part of the practice should be oral, for 
 then reasons can be immediately required for the results offered, 
 and false conceptions amended ; but written exercises should 
 be set from time to time to ensure both individual work and 
 individual progress. These should not generally be uniform 
 for all the pupils in a class, but should be carefully adapted to 
 the individual capacity of each. 
 
 2. Application of grammatical analysis in reading 
 and composition lessons to clear up obscurities of con- 
 struction. This, of course, will be done orally. 
 
 {g) Synthetic Exercises (both oral and written) : 
 
 N.B. Such exercises as are here suggested may profitably 
 be given from time to time as elements in the course of com- 
 position. 
 
 1. Re-arrangement of the elements of given confused 
 sentences, so as to bring them into correct juxta-posi- 
 tion. 
 
 2. Construction of sentences on set topics, each to 
 
 contain definite elements. These should be given in 
 
 the utmost variety of combination, and graduated 
 
 to meet the growing powers of the pupils. 
 
 N.B. The greater part of such exercises should be written, 
 though where a weakness is shown to be common to a number 
 of the members of the class it should be dealt with orally, and 
 the weakness detected and remedied by the co-operative efforts 
 of the pupils under the guidance of the teacher. 
 
PART II 
 COMPLEX ANALYSIS 
 
 NOTE ON COMPLEX ANALYSIS 
 
 This advanced course should not be attempted until the 
 pupils can readily and accurately apply simple analysis 
 to any ordinary sentence. When they can do that, but 
 not before, the time has come for examining in detail 
 the constituent elements of sentences, and determining 
 their nature and relations. This is the subject-matter 
 of Part II. Thus, no definite time can be laid down 
 before-hand as to when a particular class should enter 
 upon this second section of the whole course : it depends 
 absolutely upon the progress made and the power developed. 
 Whenever it takes place, there should be no break with 
 the past. The more complex analysis should appear as a 
 natural development of the familiar simple analysis. 
 Indeed, the frequent occurrence of clauses in the examples 
 treated in practice should raise a desire for a deeper exam 
 ination. Hence, the analytic and synthetic exercises of 
 the last chapter of Part I should be continued side by 
 side with the teaching of the matter of the first three chapters 
 of Part II, which prepare the way for such a deeper exam- 
 ination as is begun in Chapter IV, and these exercises 
 
 should be increasingly rich in clauses. 
 
 52 
 
NOTE ON COMPLEX ANALYSIS 53 
 
 The composition of sentences exemplifying a set structure 
 is a valuable exercise in composition, provided that stress 
 is laid on the necessity for writing good and sensible English 
 in every case. It develops the constructive power of 
 the pupils, and, by teaching them practically the variety of 
 forms of construction available, brings home to them 
 more fully and clearly than is otherwise possible the re- 
 sources of their mother tongue as a vehicle for the expression 
 of thought. 
 
 CHAPTER 1 
 
 GROUPS OF WORDS 
 
 (a) The pupils have been made familiar with groups 
 of words having the functions of adverbs, adjectives, and 
 nouns. Hitherto these have been treated as unitary 
 wholes. They are now to be examined in order to lay 
 bare their structure, and on that basis to classify them 
 into phrases and clauses. This distinction should be made 
 perfectly clear, illustrated by many examples in each of 
 the three kinds of groups, and connected with that between 
 simple and complex sentences. At the same time, the 
 unity oi function of each group as a whole should be kept 
 prominent. This will be made evident if the pupils are 
 led to see that in many cases word, phrase, and clause, 
 can be inter-changed, though the groups often give a more 
 definite meaning than do the single words. 
 
 (6) It has been found that children have least difficulty 
 in apprehending Adverb Clauses, and most in dealing 
 
54 GROUNDWOEK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 with Noun Clauses. Consequently, it is well to take 
 the detailed examination of groups of words in the order — 
 Adverb, Adjective, Noun. 
 
 (c) The matter of this chapter may well be spread over 
 four lessons, each of the first three dealing with one class 
 of word-groups, and the fourth devoted to revision and to 
 distinguishing their kinds. It is important for further 
 progress that readiness and correctness in distinguishing 
 phrases and clauses, and in assigning each to its functional 
 part of speech, should be secured before advance is made 
 to the study of their relations to the principal clause in a 
 complex sentence. Exercises in distinguishing phrases and 
 clauses should, therefore, be continued till Chapter IV is 
 reached. 
 
 (d) The teaching may proceed somewhat on the follow- 
 ing lines : 
 
 1. In guided conversation lead the pupils to recall 
 that adverbs, adjectives, and nouns, are often expressed 
 in groups of words, and to supply examples of each, to 
 which the teacher may add others to make the survey 
 fairly complete. 
 
 2. Write on the black-board several sentences con- 
 taining word-adverbs, so spaced as to allow correspond- 
 ing phrases and clauses to be written under each. Mark 
 them (a). Get the pupils to replace the word-adverbs 
 by adverb groups ; secure that both phrases and 
 clauses are included in every case ; write these in the 
 spaces left on the black-board, always placing the 
 phrases before the clauses ; mark the phrases (b), and 
 the clauses (c). 
 
 3. Lead the pupils to examine each of these groups, 
 noting 
 
GROUPS OF WORDS 55 
 
 (i) that some, in sentences marked (c), contain 
 a verb, and others, in sentences marked (b), do not ; 
 
 (ii) that each of the former, if taken out of its 
 sentence, can be divided into subject and predicate. 
 Give names " Phrase " and " Clause," and lead the 
 pupils simply to define each by this characteristic. 
 
 4. Distinguish sentences containing clauses as Com- 
 plex ; those that contain no clauses as Simple. 
 
 5. When these distinctions are thoroughly grasped in 
 the case of adverbs, proceed similarly with adjectives. 
 
 6. When they are mastered both in adverbs and 
 adjectives, deal with the noun on generally similar lines. 
 
 7. Examine a number of mixed examples — adverbs, 
 adjectives, and nouns, both phrases and clauses — and 
 have them classified, requiring clear reasons in each 
 case. 
 
 (e) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Select all the adverbs in given passages, and clas- 
 sify them as words, phrases, and clauses, giving reasons. 
 
 2. Similar exercises with adjectives. 
 
 3. Similar exercises with nouns. 
 
 4. In given passages distinguish between the simple 
 and the complex sentences, giving reasons. 
 
 5. After adequate oral practice, set similar written 
 exercises. 
 
 (/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Replace word-adverbs by (i) adverb phrases, 
 (ii) adverb clauses, saying in each case what difference, 
 if any, is made in the meaning. 
 
 2. Substitute word-adverbs for adverb phrases and 
 clauses in given sentences. 
 
56 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 3-6. Similar exercises with adjectives and nouns. 
 
 7. After sufficient oral practice, set similar written 
 exercises. 
 
 8. Rewrite given passages, changing marked adverbs, 
 
 adjectives, and nouns (words) into corresponding phrases 
 
 or clauses ; indicate the former by (6), the latter by (c). 
 
 N.B. Only such words as can be appropriately changed 
 into phrases and clauses should be marked. 
 
 9. Write narratives on set topics — given by the 
 
 teacher or chosen individually by the pupils — using 
 
 both phrases and clauses appropriately. Mark and classify 
 
 each by writing after it {adv. ph.), (n. cl), etc. 
 
 N.B. Natural expression should be insisted on ; no attempt 
 should be made to introduce all the varieties of word-groups 
 into a single piece of writing. 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 PREPOSITIONS 
 
 {a) The only thing it is necessary to teach about pre- 
 positions is their relating power. All understanding of 
 the structure of sentences depends on this being correctly 
 apprehended. The pupils should be required always to 
 state this as relating the governed word to another element 
 in the sentence ; the order is not, as it is with conjunctions, 
 a matter of indifference. 
 
 (b) Classifications of prepositions — as, of time, place, 
 etc. — should be ignored. The differences are not inherent 
 in the prepositions, but in the phrases, and those the pupils 
 will readily recognize as Adverb Phrases of Time, etc., 
 
PREPOSITIONS 57 
 
 e.g. " in the morning," and " in tlie room," express time 
 and place respectively, but the simple preposition " m " 
 expresses neither, 
 (c) The teaching may follow lines somewhat as follows : 
 
 1. Write on the black-board sentences containing 
 prepositions relating nouns (or pronouns) to (i) verbs, 
 (ii) nouns, (iii) adjectives. Examine the structure of 
 each sentence so as to bring out the relating function 
 of the prepositions. Insist that it is the governed word 
 that is related to — i.e. made dependent on — some other 
 element in the sentence. 
 
 2. Examine what that element may be, and hence 
 lead the pupils to form a definition. 
 
 3. Examine the same sentences, and distinguish cases 
 in which a preposition relates a phrase to an element 
 outside it from those in which it relates the elements 
 within the phrase. 
 
 (d) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Pick out the prepositions in given passages, and 
 state what elements each relates. 
 
 2. Examine the same prepositions, and distinguish 
 those that bind together the elements of a phrase from 
 those that relate a phrase to another element in the 
 whole sentence. 
 
 3. When these can be well done orally, set similar 
 written exercises. 
 
 (e) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Fill blanks left in given sentences with appropriate 
 prepositions. 
 
 2. Add suitable adverb phrases beginning with pre- 
 positions to the verbs in given sentences. 
 
58 GROUNDWOKK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 3. Add suitable adverb phrases beginning with pre- 
 positions to selected adjectives in given sentences. 
 
 4. Add adjective phrases beginning with prepositions 
 to selected nouns in given sentences. 
 
 5. After a number of such exercises have been done 
 orally, set similar exercises to be done in writing. In 
 these all three relations should be included. The incom- 
 plete sentences may be written on the black-board with 
 the words to which the relation is to be made underlined. 
 
 6. Write passages on various topics — given by the 
 teacher or selected individually by. the pupils — con- 
 taining prepositions making all the kinds of relations. 
 Mark the prepositions with (p), and underline the words 
 they relate with a single line, and those to which they 
 relate them with a double line. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 COMPOUND SENTENCES 
 
 (a) It is to be made clear that sentences — whether 
 simple or complex — when they are closely connected in 
 thought are linked together in Cmnpound Sentences. 
 Each compound sentence should be looked at as one 
 whole, and the reason for the linking of sentences within 
 it brought out in each case. 
 
 (b) The use of the bracket at once symbolizes to the 
 eye both their independent character and their close 
 connexion in thought. It, therefore, adds to the clearness 
 with which the total structure is apprehended* 
 
COMPOUND SENTENCES 59 
 
 (c) Avoid at present the use of the term " Conjunction." 
 Call such words " Links " or " Linking Words," so as to 
 make their function familiar as a preparation for the 
 detailed study of them which will be made later. 
 
 (d) The mode of teaching may be somewhat as follows : 
 Place on the black-board a number of suitable examples ; 
 
 discuss the meanings, so as to bring out that two inde- 
 pendent statements are, in each case, closely connected, 
 and that this connexion is marked by a link-word. 
 
 (e) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 L Find the compound sentences in selected passages 
 containing only completely stated sentences. Dis- 
 tinguish the sentences that are linked in each, and 
 determine whether each element of each compound 
 sentence is a simple or a complex sentence. 
 
 2. Do the same with other selected passages in which 
 some of the linked sentences are incompletely stated, 
 completing the statement of each. 
 
 3. After these have been done orally, similar exercises 
 may be given to be done in WTiting. Insist always that 
 incompletely stated sentences be set out in full. Require 
 the structure of each compound sentence to be shown 
 by a diagram. 
 
 (/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Insert suitable link- words in blanks left in given 
 compound sentences, and give a reason for the use of 
 each. 
 
 2. Compose sentences which can be suitably joined 
 by given link- words. 
 
 3. After these have been done orally, give similar 
 exercises to be written. 
 
60 GEOUNDWOEK OF ENGLISH GEAMMAE 
 
 4. Write passages on set topics — either given by the 
 teacher or chosen individually by the pupils — using 
 compound sentences where suitable, and then set out 
 each with its appropriate diagram. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 COMPLEX SENTENCES 
 
 (a) The general nature of a complex sentence, as one 
 containing an adverb, an adjective, or a noun, clause has 
 been already learnt. The points now to be made clear 
 are the relation of such subordinate clauses to the rest 
 of the sentence, and the consequent distinction between 
 subordinate and principal clauses. 
 
 (6) The use of the diagrammatic representation of this 
 relation at once makes its nature clear to the eye and 
 brings out the difference in structure between complex 
 and compound sentences. 
 
 (c) Base all division of a complex sentence into clauses 
 on simple analysis of the whole on the lines given in Part I, 
 Ch. XVII. 
 
 (d) The general order of teaching may be somewhat 
 as follows : 
 
 1. By guided conversation lead the pupils to recall 
 that a complex sentence is one containing an adverb, 
 an adjective, or a noun, clause. Get examples of sen- 
 tences containing each, select suitable ones and write 
 them on the black-board, underline the subordinate 
 
COMPLEX SENTENCES 61 
 
 clauses, let the pupils say of what kind each is, enter 
 this on the black-board. 
 
 2. Examine the rest of each sentence and bring out 
 that it always contains the main assertion made by 
 the sentence as a whole. Give name " Principal 
 Clause," and get the pupils to give a simple definition. 
 Underline the principal clauses with chalk of another 
 colour. 
 
 3. Mark the distinction diagrammatically, and lead 
 the pupils to see that the diagram expresses the fact 
 that the clauses related are not of equal rank. Contrast 
 with the bracket diagram which marks co-ordina- 
 tion. 
 
 4. Show by examples that clauses as well as whole 
 sentences may be compound. Illustrate copiously. 
 
 (e) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Select from given passages the complex sentences 
 (each composed of a simple principal and one simple 
 subordinate clause) ; analyse them, and then distinguish 
 the subordinate from the principal clauses. Name the 
 kind of each subordinate clause. 
 
 2. Do the same with passages containing compound 
 as well as simple clauses, and distinguish them from 
 each other. 
 
 3. After adequate oral practice, set similar exercises 
 to be done in writing, requiring the diagram in each 
 case. 
 
 {/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Add suitable simple subordinate clauses to given 
 principal clauses, and say of what kind each is. 
 
 2. Add suitable principal clauses to given simple 
 subordinate clauses of every kind. 
 
62 GROUNDWOEK OF ENGLISH GEAMMAE 
 
 3 and 4. Similar exercises requiring compound clauses 
 to be added. 
 
 5-8. After sufficient oral practice, set similar exercises 
 to be written, requiring the diagram in each case. 
 
 9. Write passages on given topics, using clauses of 
 various kinds : mark them as s.j)., cd.p., s.adv., cd. adv., 
 etc. 
 
 10. Write sentences of the structure represented by 
 
 given diagrams. 
 
 N.B. These should be graduated — (i) two simple clauses 
 making a complex sentence, (ii) various combinations of simple 
 and compound clauses, (iii) combinations of compound clauses. 
 Sometimes the topics should be given, at other times left to the 
 individual choice of the pupils. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 CONJUNCTIONS 
 
 {a) The explicit examination of conjunctions, and the 
 use of the term, are better postponed to this stage, when 
 both their co-ordinative and their subordinative functions 
 have become familiar. 
 
 {h) The distinctions dealt with in 3-5 should be clearly 
 grasped and copiously illustrated, as they do much to 
 help pupils to realize the exact relations both of their 
 own thoughts and of the thoughts of others presented to 
 them in speech or writing. 
 
 (c) The distinction between conjunctive and subordina- 
 tive conjunctions should be made perfectly clear ; other- 
 wise the structure of many sentences must remain obscure. 
 
CONJUNCTIONS 63 
 
 It is better, however, to treat tliem separately at first, 
 and then, when each is understood, to compare their 
 functions. So the matter of 7 and 8 may well be post- 
 poned to a second lesson. 
 
 (d) The order of teaching may be somewhat as follows : 
 
 1. In guided conversation revise what has been 
 learnt of compound sentences, and draw attention to 
 the linking words. Give term " Conjunction," and use 
 it henceforth throughout the lesson. 
 
 2. Similarly revise what has been learnt of single and 
 compound subjects, and lead the pupils to examine 
 when the latter belong to the predicate conjointly, and 
 when they belong to it separately and so really make 
 two predications in thought. 
 
 3. Discuss the distinction between conjunctions that 
 simply join statements and those that contrast them. 
 Show that these distinctions are marked by the con- 
 junctions used. 
 
 4. By examples lead the pupils to grasp the alterna- 
 tive force of " either . . . or," '* neither . . . nor," 
 and to see the origin of the n in the latter words. 
 
 5. Deal with compound clauses in a similar manner. 
 Secure that illustrations are given of all kinds of 
 compound clauses, then fix attention on the conjunc- 
 tions. 
 
 6. Similarly revise the knowledge of how adverb 
 and noun clauses are linked to their principal clauses. 
 
 7. By guided discussion lead the pupils to give a 
 simple definition of a con junction, such as ''A con- 
 junction is a word, or group of words, that links together 
 sentences, clauses, or words." 
 
64 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 (e) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Pick out the conjunctions in given passages (con- 
 taining only coordinative conjunctions; ; say what 
 each joins. 
 
 2. In the above distinguish the kinds of relations 
 expressed, as " simply joining," " contrast," " alterna- 
 tive." 
 
 3. Pick out all the conjunctions from given passages 
 (containing both conjunctive and subordinative con- 
 junctions), say what each joins, and distinguish those 
 that join elements of equal rank from those that link 
 a subordinate to a principal clause. 
 
 4. Such exercises will mainly be done orally, but a 
 few similar ones may be set to be done in writing. 
 
 (/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Insert suitable conjunctions in blanks left in given 
 compound sentences and clauses. Give the function of 
 each as "simply joining," "contrasting," "offering a 
 choice " (or " alternative "). 
 
 2. Compose sentences in which conjunctions join 
 words only, and others in which they join abbreviated 
 sentences ; and say which each does. 
 
 3. Insert suitable conjunctions in blanks left between 
 principal and adverb clauses, and between principal 
 and noun clauses in given complex sentences. 
 
 4. After oral practice has given facility, set similar 
 written exercises. 
 
 5. Write passages on given topics, doubly underline 
 each conjunction, and singly underline the elements 
 joined in each case. Mark by (c) and (s) whether each 
 conjunction is coordinative or subordinative. 
 
ADVERB CLAUSES 65 
 
 6. Write passages on given topics containing con- 
 junctions which (i) simply join, (ii) contrast, (iii) express 
 a choice (or alternative), (iv) link a subordinate to a 
 principal clause. Mark each by ( j ), (c), (a), (s). 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ADVERB CLAUSES 
 
 (a) The study of adverb clauses gives occasion for 
 revising the kinds of relations expressed by adverbs. It 
 should be kept prominently before the pupils that an 
 adverb clause is essentially an adverb expressed in the 
 most complete form. 
 
 (b) Attention should first be concentrated on adverb 
 clauses attached to verbs. Only when they are mastered 
 should adverb clauses connected with adjectives and 
 adverbs of manner be considered. This latter point 
 had better be postponed to a separate lesson. A third 
 may well be given to plurality of clauses. 
 
 (c) In dealing with adverb clauses attached to adjectives 
 and adverbs, the use of correlatives such as " as . . . . as," 
 " so . . . as," should be examined, and the pupils led to 
 see that the adverb clause introduced by the latter word is 
 an expansion of the former. The first of the two correla- 
 tive words is an adverb connected with the adjective 
 (or adverb) in the principal clause, and this adverb is 
 expanded by the adverb clause ; e.g., in '' He ran as quickly 
 as he could " the adverb clause "as he could " expands 
 and gives a definite meaning to the adverb " as " which 
 
66 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 precedes " quickly." It therefore modifies " quickly," as 
 does the " as " which it enlarges. Similarly when the 
 word modified by the former of the correlative words is 
 an adjective. This is, perhaps, seen most easily when 
 the first " as " is omitted, as in '' The muscles of his brawny 
 arms are strong as iron bands." Here the adverb clause 
 is seen at once to be attached to the adjective " strong," 
 but the sentence would be equally well expressed '' The 
 muscles of his brawny arms are as strong as iron bands.'' 
 This insertion of the first " as " of course does not affect 
 the relation of the clause which follows " strong." 
 
 (d) It is best to regard the conjunction which links 
 the adverb clause to the principal clause as part of the 
 subordinate clause, which is not fully expressed without 
 it. In this it resembles the relative pronoun. 
 
 (e) Here, as elsewhere, begin the examination of the 
 relations of clauses in every example by having the com- 
 plete sentence simply analysed on the lines laid down in 
 Part I, Chap. XVII, and base all distinction of clauses on 
 this analysis. Always follow the order of treatment 
 illustrated in 5. 
 
 (/) The teaching may proceed somewhat on the follow- 
 ing lines : 
 
 1. Place on the black-board sentences containing 
 adverbs of each kind that modify verbs : have them 
 changed into corresponding clauses ; make clear the 
 greater definiteness of meaning that results. 
 
 2. Bring out that every relation (time, -place, etc.) 
 that can be expressed by a simple adverb may be more 
 fully expressed by an adverb clause. 
 
 3. Examine the words which link the adverb clauses to 
 
ADVERB CLAUSES 67 
 
 the principal clauses, and show that they not only do this 
 but are also so closely connected with the adverb clauses 
 that these do not give their full sense without them. 
 
 4. Deal in a similar way with adverb clauses attached 
 to adjectives. 
 
 5. Deal similarly with adverb clauses connected with 
 adverbs of manner. 
 
 6. By. examples lead the pupils to see that several 
 adverb clauses may be linked to one principal clause. 
 
 7. In re visional conversation, illustrated by examples, 
 make clear that in such cases the adverb clauses may 
 either be independent of each other or linked together 
 into a compound adverb clause when they are closely 
 connected in meaning. 
 
 (g) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Make a simple analysis of given sentences con- 
 taining one adverb clause connected with the verb in 
 the principal clause, and in the light of it distinguish 
 the principal and adverb clauses. State the kind of 
 each adverb clause. 
 
 2. Similar exercises with sentences each containing 
 a single adverb clause attached to an adjective in the 
 principal clause : in every case say to what word in the 
 principal clause the adverb clause is related. 
 
 3. Similar exercises with sentences containing single 
 adverb clauses connected with adverbs in the principal 
 clauses. 
 
 4. Similar exercises with sentences containing more 
 than one adverb clause. Relate each to the word in the 
 principal clause which it modifies. Distinguish the 
 compound from the independent adverb clauses. 
 
68 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 5. Select from given passages the complex sentences 
 containing adverb clauses. Analyse them and dis- 
 tinguish their clauses ; relate each adverb clause to its 
 proper word in the principal clause. 
 
 6. After facility is secured by abundant oral practice, 
 set similar exercises to be done in writing, requiring 
 the diagrammatic representation in every case. 
 
 (h) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Add suitable single adverb clauses of time, place, 
 etc., to modify the verbs in given principal clauses. 
 
 2. Similar exercises with adverb clauses modifying 
 specified adjectives and adverbs in given principal 
 clauses. 
 
 3 and 4. Similar exercises requiring more than one 
 adverb clause of specified kinds to be added in each case ; 
 the independent to be distinguished from the compound 
 adverb clauses. 
 
 5. Add suitable principal clauses to given adverb 
 clauses and combinations of clauses. 
 
 6. After sufficient oral practice on these lines, give 
 similar written exercises. 
 
 7. Write passages on given topics, using adverb 
 clauses of different kinds appropriately ; mark them 
 as (t), (p), (d), etc. 
 
 8. Write sentences of the structure represented by 
 given diagrams, graduated in difficulty ^nd complexity, 
 both on set topics and on topics selected independently 
 by the pupils. 
 
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES 69 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 ADJECTIVE CLAUSES 
 
 (a) The chief point to which attention should be drawn 
 is that adjective clauses may be attached to any noun 
 (or pronoun) in the principal clause, and consequently 
 may appear either in the subject or in the predicate, of 
 the complex sentence. There is no advantage in pushing 
 the analysis further. Whether, when it is in the predicate, 
 the adjective clause qualifies a complementary noun or 
 pronoun, an object, or a noun or pronoun in an adverb or 
 adjective clause, is of small importance. 
 
 (b) The treatment of a plurality of adjective clauses in 
 the same complex sentence may well be postponed to a 
 second lesson. 
 
 (c) Attention should be directed to the fact that an 
 adjective clause is linked to the word it qualifies by its 
 first word, but that this word is sometimes omitted ; as, 
 " The soldier [whom] I met last month has since won the 
 Victoria Cross." The pupils should be led to insert these 
 " understood " words when they are not explicitly stated. 
 Make it clear that, though these introductory words link 
 the adjective clause to the principal clause, yet they belong 
 to the former, and cannot be separated from it. But do 
 not examine their nature at this stage. Avoid adjective 
 clauses introduced by " when " and " where " till the study 
 of Relative Pronouns is undertaken. 
 
 (d) Base all examination of the relations of clauses on a 
 preliminary simple analysis of the whole sentence. 
 
 (e) The order of teaching may be somewhat as follows ; 
 
70 GROUND WOEK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAE 
 
 1. Place on the black-board sentences containing 
 adjectives qualifying nouns and pronouns in various 
 relations in the sentence ; have them changed into 
 corresponding clauses, and make clear the greater 
 definiteness in meaning which results. 
 
 2. Note that such clauses may be attached to nouns 
 or pronouns either in the subject, or in any part of the 
 predicate, of the complex sentence. Illustrate by 
 exhaustive examples. 
 
 3. Examine the words that link adjective clauses to 
 the words to which they are attached in the principal 
 clause, making it clear that they belong to the adjective 
 clause. Illustrate their omission in speech, and show 
 that they are, nevertheless, understood in thought. 
 
 4. Lead the pupils to see that several adjective clauses 
 may be attached to the same principal clause, and 
 illustrate by examples, including cases in which they 
 are all attached to the same noun or pronoun, and cases 
 in which they are attached to different nouns or pro- 
 nouns. 
 
 5. In re visional conversation lead the pupils to see 
 that when more than one adjective clause is attached to 
 the same noun or pronoun in the principal clause, this 
 common reference closely connects them, so that to- 
 gether they form a compound adjective clause. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Make a simple analysis of given sentences, each 
 containing one adjective clause : in the light of it dis- 
 tinguish the adjective from the principal clause. State 
 to what noun or pronoun in the principal clause the 
 adjective clause is attached, and, in consequence, whether 
 
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES 71 
 
 it belongs to the subject or to the predicate of the whole 
 sentence. 
 
 2. Similar exercises with sentences containing more 
 than one adjective clause. Eelate each to its noun or 
 pronoun, and distinguish between independent and 
 compound adjective clauses. 
 
 3. Select from given passages the complex sentences 
 containing adjective clauses. Analyse them and base 
 the distinction and relations of clauses on that analysis. 
 
 4. After adequate oral practice, set similar exercises 
 to be done in writing, requiring the diagrammatic 
 representation in every case. 
 
 (g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Add suitable adjective clauses to specified nouns 
 (or pronouns) in given sentences. These should be 
 graduated as so to require : 
 
 (i) one adjective clause to be added to one noun or 
 pronoun either in the subject or in the predicate. 
 
 (ii) one adjective clause to be added to nouns or 
 pronouns in both subject and predicate. 
 
 (iii) a compound adjective clause to be added to 
 one specified noun or pronoun, and an independent 
 adjective clause to another. 
 
 (iv) both compound and independent adjective 
 clauses to be added to the same noun or pronoun. 
 
 (v) various combinations of these of growing degrees 
 of complexity. 
 
 2. Add suitable principal clauses to given adjective 
 clauses, so as to make those clauses (i) part of subject, 
 (ii) part of predicate. These also should be graduated 
 as in 1. 
 
72 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 3. After sufficient oral practice, let similar exercises 
 be written. 
 
 4. Write passages on set topics, using adjective 
 clauses in various relations ; underline each, and mark 
 whether it belongs to the subject or to the predicate 
 by (s) and (p). 
 
 5. Write sentences of the structure represented by 
 
 given diagrams, both on set topics and on subjects 
 
 chosen freely by the pupils individually. 
 
 N.B. These should be graduated so as to introduce single 
 clauses before a plurality of clauses. The order suggested in 1 
 may be broadly followed. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 RELATIVE PRONOUNS 
 
 (a) The relative pronoun is properly taught here, because 
 its function has been made apparent by the work in the 
 last chapter. Its two-fold character, as standing for its 
 antecedent and also linking to that antecedent a qualifying 
 adjective clause, should be carefully brought out and 
 copiously illustrated. 
 
 (b) The matter of this chapter may well be spread over 
 two lesspn^, the first dealing with 1 to 3, the second with 
 
 (c) The use of where and when as equivalent to which 
 preceded by a preposition should be carefully discussed, 
 and the pupils led to see that those words are then pro- 
 nouns, and introduce adjective, and not adverb, clauses. 
 It must be emphasized that the distinction between these 
 
RELATIVE PRONOUNS 73 
 
 is one of meaning, and is not to be mechanically determined 
 by noticing the introductory word. 
 
 {d) When the relations of the relative pronoun have 
 been grasped, they should be examined in detail. This 
 makes explicit (i) its case, (ii) its agreement in person 
 and number with its antecedent, (iii) the consequent 
 determination of the form of the verb in the adjective 
 clause when the relative pronoun is its subject. 
 
 (e) The order of teaching may be somewhat as follows : 
 
 1. In guided conversation revise what has been learnt 
 as to how an adjective clause is linked to the noun or 
 pronoun it qualifies. Put some suitable examples on 
 the black-board, and underline the linking words. 
 Examine them with the class, bringing out : 
 
 (i) that they stand for a noun or pronoun in the 
 principal clause, and are, therefore, pronouns. Give 
 and explain the term " antecedent." 
 
 (ii) that each attaches to its antecedent a qualifying 
 adjective clause, of which it is the first word, and is, 
 therefore, a relating word. Give name, pointing out 
 its suitability. 
 
 2. By examination of carefully chosen examples lead 
 the pupils to draw out a list of relative pronouns, and 
 to determine the kind of antecedent for which each is 
 used. 
 
 3. Discuss carefully examples in which the linking 
 word is where or when, leading the pupils to see that in 
 each case we can substitute which preceded by an ap- 
 propriate preposition without changing the meaning. 
 Hence draw them on to infer that the clauses thus 
 introduced qualify nouns or pronouns, and are, therefore, 
 
74 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 adjective, and not adverb, clauses. Compare with adverb 
 clauses introduced by the same words, making clear that 
 in them the clause is attached to the verb in the principal 
 clause. 
 
 4. Write on the black-board suitable examples to 
 bring out the determination of the case of the relative 
 pronoun : lead the pupils to see that it depends on its 
 relation to the rest of the adjective clause. 
 
 5. Similarly lead the pupils to discover that the person 
 and number of the verb in the adjective clause ultimately 
 depend on the antecedent of that pronoun. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Select from given passages the complex sentences 
 containing adjective clauses. State what relative pro- 
 noun, expressed or understood, introduces each. 
 
 2. Determine the case of each relative pronoun thus 
 found. 
 
 3. Find the antecedent of each of those pronouns, and 
 distinguish the cases in which this affects the form of 
 the verb in the adjective clause from those in which 
 it does not. Explain this difference. 
 
 4. Such exercises will mainly be done orally, but a 
 few similar ones may be set to be written. 
 
 (g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Fill with suitable relative pronouns blanks left in 
 given complex sentences consisting of principal and 
 adjective clauses. 
 
 N.B. These should be varied so as to bring out the use of 
 each relative pronoun in the various cases, numbers, and persons. 
 They had better be done orally, as then the results can be 
 discussed immediately, and any requisite explanation given. 
 
RELATIVE PEONOUNS 75 
 
 2. Substitute " which " with an appropriate preposi- 
 tion for " where " and " when " in the adjective clauses 
 in given sentences (oral). 
 
 3. Correct errors in given sentences containing relative 
 
 pronouns (oral), 
 
 N.B. Errors of case, number, person, and agreement of 
 verb should be included. 
 
 4. Write passages on given topics, containing adjective 
 clauses introduced by relative pronouns ; underline 
 each relative pronoun ; mark each antecedent by (a). 
 State the case, number, and person, of each relative 
 pronoun. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 NOUN CLAUSES 
 
 (a) Experience has shown that the use of the noun 
 clause as object is more readily apprehended than its 
 use as subject, especially when the latter is in apposition 
 with " it " or a similar pronoun. This decides the order 
 of teaching, which msij well be spread over three lessons — 
 (i) the noun clause as object, (ii) the noun clause as subject, 
 dealing with both forms, (iii) plurality of noun clauses 
 in the same sentence, so used as to revise (i) and (ii). 
 
 (b) The difference between direct and indirect narration 
 should be made perfectly clear and illustrated copiously 
 from the class reading books. Much practice, both oral 
 and written, in changing each into the other should be 
 given. 
 
 (c) The appositional construction will require copious 
 
76 GROUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 and varied illustration. The use of " It," or some equiva- 
 lent pronoun, in apposition with a noun clause should 
 be shown to be only one of several modes in which apposi- 
 tion is found in English. If the previous work has been 
 thoroughly done, and apposition is now clearly under- 
 stood, no confusion between this construction, in which 
 the subject appears in two forms, and that of " subject — 
 verb — object," should arise. If it does, the teacher should 
 revise what was previously learnt about the nominative and 
 objective cases, basing the revision on simple analysis, and 
 should then lead the pupils to make an explicit comparison 
 between the two constructions as expressive of totally 
 different meanings. 
 
 (d) It should be made clear that when the noun clause 
 stands in apposition with a pronoun, that pronoun is the 
 grammatical subject of the principal clause ; but when 
 it stands alone it is itself the subject of that clause, though 
 we may then substitute " It " or " That " for it in the 
 principal clause without affecting the meaning. 
 
 (e) All examination of the relations of clauses should be 
 based on a preliminary analysis of the whole complex 
 sentence. 
 
 (/) The teaching may proceed somewhat on the following 
 lines : 
 
 1. Place on the black-board carefully chosen sen- 
 tences consisting of subject, verb, object noun (word 
 or phrase), such that a noun clause can be readily sub- 
 stituted for the object : have the object nouns changed 
 into equivalent clauses, and bring out that a noun 
 clause can take the place of a noun or noun phrase 
 used as object ; e.g, : 
 
NOUN CLAUSES 77 
 
 (i) He showed me my mistake. 
 
 He showed me where I was wrong, 
 (ii) He told me to take pains. 
 
 He told me that I was to take pains, 
 (iii) I propose playing cricket this afternoon, 
 I propose that we play cricket this afternoon 
 
 2. Give a number of suitable subjects and transitive 
 verbs, and lead the pupils to add noun clauses as objects. 
 
 3. Place on the black-board a number of pairs of 
 sentences in direct and indirect narration. Compare 
 the two constructions, and bring out their characteristics. 
 Kequire many other examples to be given. 
 
 4. Place on the black-board a number of pairs of 
 sentences with noun clauses as subjects, in one case 
 stated directly, in the other using the appositional 
 form with " It." Lead the pupils to see that they are 
 equivalent in meaning, but that the latter form gives 
 rather greater emphasis to the noun clause. Illustrate 
 by other modes of appositional use. 
 
 5. Examine the " that " which links the '' It " to 
 the noun clause as subject, and bring out that it means 
 " that is to say." 
 
 6. By carefully chosen examples lead the pupils to 
 see that more than one noun clause may be found 
 in the same complex sentence, and that when one is 
 subject and the other object they are independent, 
 but when they are both in the same relation to the verb 
 in the principal clause they form a compound noun 
 clause. 
 
 (g) Analytic Exercises : 
 
 1. Make simple analyses of given complex sentences. 
 
78 GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 each consisting of a principal and one object noun 
 clause. In the light of them distinguish the principal 
 and noun clauses, and state the relation of the latter 
 to the verb in the former. 
 
 2. Distinguish in a number of given sentences object 
 noun clauses in direct and in indirect narration. 
 
 3. Make simple analyses of given sentences, each 
 containing one noun clause as subject, some stated 
 directly, others in apposition with "It." In the light 
 of those analyses distinguish the principal and noun 
 clauses. Re-state the sentence when the noun clause 
 stands alone, substituting " It " for it in the principal 
 clause. 
 
 4. Similar exercises to 1 and 3 with sentences con- 
 taining more than one noun clause. In each case say 
 whether the noun clause is object or subject, and in the 
 latter whether it is in apposition with a pronoun or 
 stands alone. 
 
 5. Select from given passages the complex sentences 
 containing noun clauses, and state the relation of each 
 noun clause to the verb in the principal clause. 
 
 6. After much oral practice on such lines, set similar 
 exercises to be written, requiring the relations of clauses 
 in each case to be represented diagrammatically, 
 
 (Ji) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Give a number of subjects followed by transitive 
 verbs and require the sentences to be completed by the 
 addition of suitable object noun clauses. 
 
 2. Add suitable principal clauses to given verbs followed 
 by object noun clauses, both in direct and in indirect 
 narration. 
 
NOUN CLAUSES 79 
 
 3. Change a number of sentences, given some in 
 direct, some in indirect, narration, into the other form 
 of narration. 
 
 4. Change selected passages (i) from direct into 
 indirect, (ii) from indirect into direct, narration. 
 
 5. After adequate oral practice, set similar exercises 
 to be done in writing. 
 
 6. Write a story in indirect narration. 
 
 7. Ke- write the same story in direct narration. 
 
 8. Change the subject nouns in given sentences into 
 noun clauses ; e.g. " My task is hard " ; " What I have to 
 do is hard." 
 
 9. Add noun clauses as subjects to incompletely 
 stated sentences ; use both forms in each case. 
 
 10. After oral practice has given facility, set similar 
 written exercises. 
 
 11. Write passages on set topics, using noun clauses 
 in suitable places both as subjects and as objects. Under- 
 line each noun clause and mark it as (s) or (o). 
 
 12. Write sentences of which the structure is repre- 
 sented by given diagrams, both on set topics and on 
 topics chosen individually by the pupils. These should 
 be graded : 
 
 (i) Single noun clauses as objects. 
 
 (ii) Compound noun clauses as objects, 
 (iii) Single noun clauses as subjects, 
 (iv) Compound noun clauses as subjects. 
 
 (v) Single noun clauses both as objects and as subjects, 
 (vi) Various combinations of independent and compound 
 noun clauses. 
 
80 GKOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GEAMMAR 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 COMBINATIONS OF CLAUSES 
 
 (a) No new matter remains to be taught. This and 
 the following two chapters merely deal with sentences 
 of more complicated structure, but using the same elements 
 in the same relations as those that have been studied 
 already. The work is, therefore, revisional in the most 
 effective way of bringing old knowledge into fresh com- 
 binations. It follows that most of the time should 
 be given to practice, and that a good deal of this 
 should be done orally, especiallj^ in the analytic exer- 
 cises, in order that the suggestions offered by the 
 pupils may be ' critically discussed by class and teacher 
 together. 
 
 (b) It is important to secure graduation. Complex 
 sentences with two subordinate clauses should be taken 
 before those with a greater number, and all possible com- 
 binations should be included. 
 
 (c) The number of lessons given to this work should be 
 determined by the facility acquired by the pupils. A 
 great many will in any case be advisable, as the more 
 complex steps of analysis treated in the next chapter 
 cannot be effectively entered upon until the pupils can 
 readily and accurately distinguish the subordinate clauses 
 directly connected with the principal clause in all ordinary 
 sentences. Complex subordinate clauses will at this 
 stage still be treated as wholes, but they should be included 
 
COMBINATIONS OF CLAUSES 81 
 
 in some of the exercises in order to pave tlie way for their 
 more detailed study at the next stage. 
 
 (d) The teacher should aim less at the working of many 
 exercises than at thoroughness in the examination of each. 
 Critical discussion of suggestions offered by pupils 
 should not be hurried, and should be made as exhaustive 
 as possible. At the same time, care should be taken 
 that no example is dwelt on so long that boredom is pro- 
 voked. 
 
 {e) Simple analysis of each sentence as a whole should 
 always be insisted on as a preparation for the determina- 
 tion of the relations of clauses. 
 
 (/) Analytic Exercises (both oral and written) : 
 
 1. Apply simple analysis to given sentences, and on 
 
 that basis distinguish the principal and subordinate 
 
 clauses. Give the kind of each of the latter and its 
 
 relation to the principal clause. Represent the relations 
 
 of clauses diagrammatically. 
 
 N.B. Secure that the given sentences include eixamples 
 of all kinds of combinations, intermixed with simple sentences, 
 compound sentences, and sentences containing only one kind 
 of subordinate clause. 
 
 2. Select from given passages (i) the simple sentences, 
 (ii) the compound sentences, (iii) the complex sentences. 
 Analyse each complex sentence, and distinguish the 
 clauses that compose it. Represent all diagrammati- 
 cally. 
 
 (g) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Add suitable subordinate clauses of stated kinds 
 to given principal clauses so as to make complex sen- 
 tences. 
 
82 GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 2. Add suitable principal clauses to given sets of 
 subordinate clauses. 
 
 3. After these have been done orally, set similar 
 written exercises. 
 
 4. Write passages on set topics, using subordinate 
 clauses where they are suitable. Underline the adverb 
 clauses by a single line, the adjective clauses by a double 
 line, the object noun clauses by a triple line, the subject 
 noun clauses by a quadruple line. State in each case 
 to which word in the principal clause the subordinate 
 clause is attached. 
 
 5. Write sentences of which the structure is repre- 
 sented by given diagrams, both on set topics and on 
 subjects chosen individually by the pupils. 
 
 N.B. The diagrams given should be varied in structure and 
 carefully graduated in difficulty. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 COMPLEX SUBORDINATE CLAUSES 
 
 (a) This completion of the analysis of complex sentences 
 should not be attempted until the pupils have quite 
 mastered the direct relation of subordinate clauses to the 
 principal clause. A complex subordinate clause should 
 be treated as a whole until its reference to the principal 
 clause can be made both readily and surely. 
 
 (6) The advance in complication when this further 
 stage of analysis is undertaken does not, however, bring 
 
COMPLEX SUBOEDINATE CLAUSES 83 
 
 in any new elements, but only draws attention to com- 
 plexities of structure which have hitherto been passed 
 over in silence. 
 
 (c) The examination should always proceed in steps, 
 and be based on simple analysis, first of the whole sentence, 
 hence determining the main subordinate clauses and their 
 relations to the principal clause ; then of any of these 
 subordinate clauses that is itself complex ; and so on, 
 till the process is complete, in that the whole is split up 
 into simple clauses. In dealing with complex clauses the 
 teacher should be very careful always to speak of them 
 as clauses — never as sentences. 
 
 (d) The examples worked in the Groundwork should be 
 carefully examined and discussed by teacher and class, 
 and the pupils required to give fully the analyses of the 
 subordinate clauses. When they are thoroughly under- 
 stood these examples will serve as guides to the pupils' 
 own efforts. 
 
 (e) Practice should not be confined to sentences of 
 complicated structure. They should be interspersed with 
 others of the simpler kinds already dealt with, so that 
 the pupils may not be led to suspect that every complex 
 sentence contains complex clauses. 
 
 (/) Much of the practice, especially in analytic exercises, 
 should be oral, so that the results suggested by the pupils 
 may be readily and immediately discussed in class. 
 
 {g) Analytic Exercises (oral and written) : 
 
 Apply simple analysis to given complex sentences 
 containing complex subordinate clauses ; hence determine 
 the relations of the subordinate clauses to the principal 
 
8i GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 clause. Examine each subordinate clause ; if any is 
 
 complex, take it apart, analyse it, and determine the 
 
 relations of clauses within it. Then combine the results 
 
 and represent the structure of the whole sentence dia- 
 
 grammatically. 
 
 N.B. The exercises should be graduated — (i) sentences 
 containing one subordinate clause of one degree of complexity, 
 (ii) sentences containing more than one complex subordinate 
 clause, each of one degree of complexity, (iii) sentences con- 
 taining one subordinate clause of two degrees of complexity, etc. 
 
 (h) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. (Oral and written) Expand the subordinate clauses 
 in each of a set of given complex sentences, so as to make 
 each a complex clause. State what relations of clauses 
 then hold in the whole sentence, and represent them 
 diagrammatically. 
 
 2. Write passages on set topics, using suitable com- 
 binations of clauses of various degrees of complexity. 
 Underline each complex subordinate clause, and show 
 diagrammatically the relations of clauses within it. 
 
 3. Write sentences of which the structure is repre- 
 sented by given diagrams, both on set topics and on 
 topics chosen freely by the pupils individually. 
 
 N.B. The diagrams given should be varied in construction 
 and carefully graduated in difficulty. They should demand 
 the exercise of the full powers of the pupils, but should never 
 exceed those powers. 
 
CHAINS OF SENTENCES 85 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 CHAINS OF SENTENCES 
 
 {a) The course in grammar is completed by tlie applica- 
 tion of analysis to continuous passages. Tlie only new 
 point is the division into sentences, in each of which the 
 relations of clauses is found in the way already familiar. 
 The further analysis of the clauses will seldom be necessary 
 or advisable. At the same time it should be noted whether 
 each sentence makes by itself a step in the advance of 
 thought, or whether two or more sentences are coupled 
 in a compound sentence so as together to form such a 
 step. 
 
 (6) The practical value of analysis will be made evident 
 if it is regularly applied to clear up difficulties in apprehen- 
 sion of meaning caused either by complexity of construction 
 or by confusion of arrangement. The structure of a sen- 
 tence, and the relations between its parts, cannot be found 
 without a thorough examination of its meaning. To 
 analyse the sentence ensures not only that such an ex- 
 amination is made, but that it is made methodically and 
 thoroughly. But the instrument of analysis cannot be 
 applied to complicated sentences until its use has become 
 facile, and such facility results only from its frequent use in 
 dealing with simpler combinations. 
 
 (c) A great deal of the analytic practice should continue 
 to be done orally ; the reasons for the suggestions offered 
 should be called for and discussed so as either to justify 
 or to correct them. 
 
 (d) The examples worked out in the Groundwork should 
 
86 GEOUNDWORK OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 be fully discussed. The pupils may afterwards use them 
 as suggestive guides in their own analytic work. 
 (e) Analytic Exercises (mainly oral) : 
 
 1. Division into sentences of passages of various 
 character, but each containing some sentences of com- 
 plicated structure ; analysis of each of these and con- 
 sequent determination of relations of clauses, continued 
 till every relation is laid bare ; gathering together of 
 results and diagrammatic representation of the structure 
 of the whole passages, including the noting of compound 
 sentences. 
 
 N.B. Care should be taken so to graduate these exercises 
 that the pupils feel they are increasingly acquiring the power 
 to find the exact meaning of passages which at first seem 
 obscure to them. 
 
 2. Application of analysis to clear up obscurities of 
 construction found in any book read in class. 
 
 3. Appeal to analysis to niake clear faults of con- 
 struction leading to ambiguity or obscurity in the pupils' 
 own compositions. 
 
 N.B. Such exercises as 2 and 3 are of course incidental 
 in lessons other than those on grammar. But when a particular 
 type of fault is common in the writings of the class it may well 
 be fully dealt with in a grammar lesson. 
 
 {/) Synthetic Exercises : 
 
 1. Passages to be written on set topics bringing in 
 the use of any kind of structure of sentences in which 
 the pupils show themselves deficient. 
 
 N.B. These would not necessarily be the same for all. 
 
 2. The construction of sentences of structure repre- 
 sented by given diagrams. 
 
 N.B. This is always a valuable exercise calling for precise 
 constructive power. It, also, can be adapted to the particular 
 
CHAINS OF SENTENCES 87 
 
 needs of individual pupils. It should regularly form part of 
 the exercises in English to the end of the school course. It is 
 well not to extend it to chains of sentences, because the pre- 
 determined structure would be a hindrance to the free develop- 
 ment of a topic. Its aim is to give facility in the construction 
 of sentences of various forms, and so to increase the linguistic 
 power of the pupils. But the mode of combination of those 
 sentences should be left unfettered. 
 
 OLASaOW: printed at the university press by ROBERT MACLEH09E AND CO LTD.