Written Exercise. Copy a stanza of the poem "Columbus." Dictation Exercise. Study and then write from dictation, with the preceding rules in mind, one or more stanzas of the poem.

Correction Exercise. Compare what you have written with the stanza or stanzas in the book, and correct your mistakes, if there

are any.

Exercise. Refer to the pages in the Appendix 14 of this book which contain the rules for the use of capitals and punctuation marks. Find the rules which you already know. Write an illustration for each one.

8. Memorizing a Poem

Exercise. 1. Would it not be a good plan to learn the entire poem "Columbus," so that you can recite it whenever you wish?

In learning it, read the whole poem over thoughtfully, preferably aloud. Then see how many lines of it you can repeat. Perhaps you will be able to recite the first two lines. Read the whole poem again; now, it may be, you will find yourself able to recite the first four lines. In this way read the entire poem again and again until you can repeat it all without a mistake.26

When you recite it, make your hearers feel what a fine and stirring poem it is and what a great man Columbus was.

་་

2. Let the class be divided into several groups of five pupils each. Let each group, or team, before or after school, diligently practice reciting the poem Columbus." Then let there be a contest. Each team may choose one of its number to represent it, and he will then recite the whole poem; or an entire team may recite it, every pupil giving one stanza.

Oral Exercise. 1. Read the following sentences several t Speak distinctly in order that the correct expressions in may not escape your attention.

1. He does n't know what you were reading yesterday.

2. They don't know that he does n't like to go to the country. 3. How are your Uncle Fred and your Aunt Helen? How is Aunt Martha ?

4. The scenery of the Sierra Nevada Mountains is beautiful. 5. I don't see it, you don't see it, he does n't see it, not one sees it.

6. One of the girls studies drawing, another of them studies mu 7. It is n't what he does but what he does n't do that makes him 8. Neither my father nor my mother is at home to-day. 9. The captain, together with the rest of the players, is in the 10. The study of all these animals is interesting.

2. Read the following sentences, noticing every word in ita

1. Do you see those tall trees? Don't you see them?

2. Have you ever seen this kind of leaves before? Look at the 3. Are those your trees? Who owns them? See those boys c ing them.

4. We told those boys not to climb those trees.

5. These are our books. Are those yours? Who brought them h

3. Use in sentences of your own the words italicized in preceding two drill exercises. Ask your classmates questions contain these words.

2. Words Sometimes Mispronounced 28

Oral Exercise. 1. Repeat the words below, slowly and distinctly, as your teacher pronounces them to you. Then read the list rapidly, being sure to speak each word clearly and correctly.

2. Use in sentences each of the words above. Make sentences that will interest your classmates.

One pupil proposes a word or a group of words as the subject or the predicate of a sentence that he asks a classmate to complete. Thus, the following words or groups of words might be proposed for subjects of sentences:

John

The winding path through the meadow
Many old-fashioned buildings

The following might be proposed for predicates of sentences:

wandered aimlessly in the woods

invited us to take a walk

stood on both sides of the deserted street

If the classmate makes a sentence, correctly using the words given, he in turn may propose the subject or the predicate for a sentence to be made by another pupil; and so on, until every pupil has both called for and made a sentence. Interesting and sensible suggestions and sentences should be made.

CHAPTER THREE 29

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

In our study of sentences we learned that the principal of the subject is usually a word that names something, person, place, or thing, as boy, city, house, wagon. All v that name things we put in a class by themselves. The prir word of the predicate, on the other hand, we found to be us some word that asserts action, as runs, sings. All words assert action we put in another class by themselves. So we already learned something of two of the classes into which w are divided.

There are several of these classes, and they are called the of speech. We must now stop to learn something about eac order that we may go on with our study of sentences.

1. Nouns

In the passage that follows, the words that are name persons, places, or things are printed in italics. These wo and all words like them, are called nouns.

On a day in September, long ago, a ship sailed out of the harbo Plymouth, in England. On board were men, women, children some dogs and cats and they were all starting on the long vo across the ocean to find a home on the strange, wild shores of Ame

Exercise. Name things that you have in or on your d Name things you can see in the schoolroom. Name things can feel with your finger tips. Name things you saw or h on your way to school.

All these words, and thousands of others, are alike in being names of things. They are called nouns.

Not only "things" that we can see or hear or touch are named by nouns, but also such things as joy, sadness, hope, fear, companionship.

Exercise. 1. Point out all the nouns that you can find in these sentences. There are eighteen in all.

1. Once a tailor and a goldsmith were traveling together.

2. At evening the sun sank behind the mountains.

3. The men heard the sound of far-away music.

4. The moon had risen when they came to a hill.

5. Here they saw a crowd of little men and women.

6. An old man wore a coat of many colors.

7. His gray beard hung down over his breast.

2. Write five sentences, using at least ten of the nouns you found in the sentences above.

A noun is a word used as the name of something.

2. Pronouns

1. George is playing with George's brother. 2. The old man carried the old man's bundle on the old man's shoulder. 3. A woman saw the old man. 4. The woman called to the old man. 5. The old man turned and went toward the woman.

Exercise. Can you improve the sentences above? What did you do?

It is convenient to have words that we can use instead of nouns. It saves repeating the nouns. A number of little words, among which are he, she, his, her, they, perform this important work of taking the place of nouns. They are called pronouns, which means "for nouns."