are helping yourself to speak and write better.61 The following material may be used either for a game or for a group exercise : 1. Captain sprained wrist. 2. Girl won prize. 3. Club earned money. 4. Pupil lost book. 5. Skaters lost way. 6. Crowd jeered speaker. 7. Conductor collected fares. 8. Daughter gave party. 9. Composition interested visitors. 10. Class wrote letter. 11. Brother sharpened pencil. 12. Canal connects oceans. 13. Inventor made experiment. 5. Additional Sentences for Study Oral Exercise. Point out in the following sentences the subject and the verb of each clause, and their modifiers : 1. Many a hearty sea captain who has a red nose has lived to be eighty years old or older, and the shade of his sunburned nose has mattered little to him. 2. Sometimes the color of a person's nose is a sign of the sort of work that the heart is doing. 3. When alcohol has been put into the human system, the heart puts less power into each stroke as it pumps the blood through the blood vessels. 4. Eyes are strained by light that flickers or is dim. 5. A sensible boy will obey all the laws of health that he knows. 6. It is raining at the present moment, and I think of the pure water that comes from the skies. 7. He who has whooping cough or mumps should use his own particular knife, fork, spoon, cup, and tumbler until he is altogether well. 8. The very best exercise is that which one gets in moderate walking, running, jumping, swimming, riding horseback, and playing out-of-door games. 9. This girl, and all girls who wish to be well, should stop eating candy between meals. 10. Over one half of the states that make our country are now prohibition states. CHAPTER TEN ADVERBS 63 1. Introduction It is one thing to know, as you do know, that an adverb is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, and quite another to use adverbs correctly and effectively in your speaking and writing. In order that you may so use them, you must now study them more fully than you have done, applying to your own compositions the new facts that are learned. 2. What an Adverb Is First of all, it is necessary to make sure that you have clearly in mind what an adverb is, so that you may never confuse adverbs with adjectives.32 Exercise. I. In the sentences that follow, arrange the adverbs in four groups: those that tell where, those that tell when, those that tell how, and those that tell how much. Tell what word each adverb modifies. 1. We looked here, there, and everywhere for the lost knife. 2. You are at home now; soon you will be at school. 3. The remarkably graceful canoe moved swiftly through the water. 4. It pleased us very much that the boy had done his work so thoroughly. 2. Can you add to your list of adverbs that tell where? Of those that tell when? Of those that tell how? Of those that tell how much? Perhaps the following list of adverbs will 3. Make sentences containing these adverbs and tell what verb, adjective, or adverb each modifies. Some adverb phrases are often not divided but used as if they were single adverbs. In common use are the following : Exercise. Pick out the adverbs in the sentences that follow and tell what word each modifies. Which tell where? Which when? Which how? Which how much? 1. At night I heard more distinctly the steady roar of the water. 2. Long I waited, and patiently, till I was about to turn back, when I looked up and saw a most superb fox. 3. A dog enters thoroughly into the spirit of the enterprise, is constantly sniffing adventure, knows that something important will happen farther on. 4. This remark would apply pretty accurately to our own case. 5. Very soon the fox was back again, and now he escaped safely with the goose. The word there has two distinct uses. One is that of an adverb telling where. Thus: We saw a turtle there. There we picked flowers and there we ate our lunch. But there is used also and frequently as an introductory word in sentences. Thus : There was once upon a time a man in this country who, etc. There are few people who do not like music. There is much to say on both sides of the question. We must be careful not to begin a sentence with There is when it should begin with There are. When the subject of the sentence is plural, There are (or There were) is correct and There is (or There was) is incorrect. Thus : There are some boys who like machinery and tools. There is some truth in what you say. There are persons who like fine books better than fine clothes. Exercise. I. Insert either There is or There are in each of the following blanks, and give the reason for your choice: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. many interesting animals in that menagerie. a crowd of people waiting in front of the big tent. girls there who have bought their tickets. more children here than at school. a carload of apples in that fruit house. 2. In the same way insert either There was or There were. 3. Make interesting sentences of your own, beginning each with the words There is, There are, There was, or There were. 3. Comparison of Adverbs Many adverbs, like adjectives, have degrees of comparison. But most of these, especially those ending in ly, are compared by means of more and most. Thus: est. The boys worked carefully. (Positive Degree) The girls worked more carefully. (COMPARATIVE Degree) Some adverbs are compared by means of the endings er and Among these are a number of adverbs that have the same form as the corresponding adjectives; namely, cheap, dear, quick, early, fast, near, loud, slow, long, high, hard. Thus : The adverbs little, much, well, ill, far, and a few others are irregular in comparison. Thus : Some adverbs cannot be compared. Such are the adverbs now, then, here, there, yonder, never, always, somehow, thus, and others like them; and also adverbs like perfectly, everlastingly, principally. Exercise. Point out the adverbs in the sentences that follow and tell what each one modifies. You should find at least twentyfive. Compare each adverb. |