PART II CHAPTER I REVIEW OF GRAMMAR: SENTENCE ANALYSIS 237. The Function of Words. In the chapter on grammar in the first part of this book, we saw that words are separated into classes, and that the classification is determined in accordance with the uses words serve. Words that discharge the same function belong to the same class; and a word that discharges one function in one sentence and another function in another sentence belongs in the first case to one class, and in the second case to another. The specific function a word performs, then, in any particular sentence, and not its usual office or its form, determines its classification. EXERCISE 238. Explain the function discharged by the italicized expressions in the following sentences: 1. Well begun is half done. 2. The boat is adrift — is wrecked. 3. To err is human; to forgive, divine. 4. The good alone are great. 5. When they found him he was stone dead. 6. They had just returned from sailing. 7. Out of sight is out of mind. 8. As a lyric poet Burns has had few equals. 9. Even those whom he had lashed with his stinging satire came to pay him homage. 10. Such as he had he gave freely. II. In spite of what he suffered, he maintained a tranquil spirit. 12. When does your brother return from abroad? 13. He spoke so low that I could not hear distinctly. 14. Would that this blow might be the be-all and the end-all here. Questions. 1. What various kinds of expressions perform the function of nouns in the above sentences? 2. Adrift may perform the function of what two parts of speech? 3. What different functions are performed by as? 4. What unusual functions are performed by nouns in the above? by adjectives? by adverbs? 239. Noun Equivalents. A careful study of the preceding exercise makes it evident to us not only that words are used to perform functions not ordinarily theirs, but also that certain kinds of substitutions are common. Among these are certain words or expressions that are the equivalents of nouns. We are already familiar with two of them, the pronoun and the substantive clause. EXERCISE A 240. Find noun equivalents in the following sentences and explain the nature of each : I. It had been strange, even in a dream, 2. What's done is done. 3. To meet, to know, to love, and then to part, 4. Stand not upon the order of your going, But go at once. 5. I will send in breeze of mountains Greetings from afar. 6. To do worse to you were fell cruelty. 7. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. 9. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches. 10. Besides, the lottery of my destiny Bars me from the right of voluntary choosing. II. Blessed are the merciful. 12. A spirit descended from on high. 13. Who steals my purse steals trash. 14. No one knew how to open the safe. 15. He enjoyed sleeping in the open air. 16. The morning light came pouring down from above in one great ocean of radiance. 17. Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Questions. 1. Infinitive phrases perform what functions in the above sentences? participles? 2. Suggest other words used like afar in sentence five. 3. Does now in sentence seven perform the function of a noun or a pronoun ? 4. What offices of nouns may adjectives fill in the sentence? 5. When may adverbs take the place of nouns? 6. What functions of nouns may clauses perform? EXERCISE B 241. Find substitutes for the italicized nouns in the following sentences: 1. His words caused us to make an immediate change in our plans. 2. Words are easier than deeds. 3. They have just returned from a visit to friends in the country. 4. In his struggle for success he sacrificed his friends, his family, and his good name. ness. 5. Submission in such a case is not a confession of weak 6. He refused to do it for fear of injury to his prospects. 7. If ignorance were bliss, 'twere folly to be wise. 8. The burnt child fears the fire. 9. Rome was not built in a day. 10. Out of fashion is out of the world. II. From far and near came people to see the new wonder. 12. Their punishment was to be whipped. 13. What he said was a revelation to me. 14. It is ice cold. A wire cot. 15. To leave the city is not to be banished. 242. Pronouns and Pronominal Adjectives. - We have seen that certain words are sometimes nouns and sometimes adjectives, and that others now fill the office of adjective and again that of adverb; in like manner there are words, often indiscriminately called pronouns, which perform the function of adjective quite as frequently as they fill the office of pronoun. When such words stand alone in representing a noun, they are pronouns. When they modify the meanings of nouns or pronouns, they are adjectives. EXERCISE A 243. Distinguish between genuine pronouns and pronominal adjectives in the sentences below. In each case state in a complete sentence the specific reason for your decision. 1. Cherish those hearts that hate thee. 2. In thy right hand carry gentle peace to silence envious tongues. 3. Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn, but I shall have my pocket picked? 4. There are a sort of men whose visages Do cream and mantle like a standing pond. 5. Truth may lie on both sides, on either side, or on neither. 6. He has gone to hunt with certain of his friends. 7. A certain man planted a vineyard. 8. Such harmony is in immortal souls But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 10. Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness! 13. To each of us comes his work. 14. The one is broken, the other lost. 15. We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so. 16. Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. 17. She had no bonnet on her head. 18. Two men went up into the Temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a Publican. 19. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. 20. I think myself beholden to whoever shows me my mistakes. 21. One half of me is yours, the other half yours, And so all yours. |