of average intelligence. English is comparatively an uninflected language. In this respect it has a decided advantage over the highly inflected languages in the fact that it requires less of formalism and cramming than they require. English is primarily a logical language, and secondarily a formal language. Logic and position determine relations; hence the disciplinary value of the study. In English memory is subordinated to reason. If the language is taught as a logical language, the pupil will not only learn to use it correctly, but understandingly. The small number of syntactical forms in English compared to those in the highly inflected languages shows the value of English as a means of training over the so-called classical languages.

English is the most analytical of languages. Its sentence structure is logical, not formal. The study of the highly inflected languages has to do chiefly with words; the study of English, with grammatical terms as wholes. Parsing has to do with words as parts of speech; logical or thought analysis, with the grammatical terms as units. With this form of language-study, the inquiring pupil is delighted. The study of English for training will yet take its place along with mathematics and science. English offers the only practical linguistic training for the mass of our people.

EXERCISE I.

Nouns.

NOTES.-I. It is a well-established fact that spirited, methodical reviews perfect impressions. It is also a well-established fact that there is no other school exercise that is as worthless as a timid, pulseless review. The value of a review exercise, therefore, depends almost wholly upon the method of the teacher. Method either inspires or stupefiles.

II. A brief review of the parts of speech will prove both interesting and profitable to students in high schools, also to young teachers. A clear idea of the logical classification of the words of our language is first among the important principles of English grammar.

A noun is the name of anything. The word noun as used in this exercise denotes all objects, material and immaterial, visible and invisible; as, John, man, St. Louis, dog, water, air, sun, goodness, virtue, charity, whiteness, army, flock, school, herd. It is not the thing named, but the name of the thing we call a noun. The word noun means name. Whenever a letter, a word, or a symbol of any kind is spoken of as an object, the name of the object is a noun; as, the letter A is the first letter of the English alphabet; the sign

when placed between two numbers means that the first is to be multiplied by the second.

Kinds of Nouns.-There are four principal kinds of nouns,-common nouns, proper nouns, collective nouns, and abstract nouns.

NOTE.-Verbal nouns, nouns derived from verbs,

will be discussed in a later exercise.

A common noun is a name that applies to every individual of a class of objects; as, boy, girl, chair, river, town.

A proper noun is the name of an individual object; as, St. Louis, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rocky Mountains, Mississippi River, Philadelphia.

A collective noun is one that, in the singular form, denotes more than one object; as, flock, army, class, committee, congregation.

An abstract noun is one that denotes a quality considered apart from the object to which it belongs; as, pity, mercy, beauty, goodness, truth.

Verbal Nouns.-The names of actions, such as to love, to walk, to dance, loving, walking, dancing, are called verbal nouns,-verbals.

Abstract nouns are formed from nouns, adjectives, and verbs. From the common noun peer, we form peerage; from child, childhood; from master, mastery. From the adjective good, goodness; from wise, wisdom; from red, redness; from prudent, prudence. From the verb protect, protection; from move, motion; from reflect, reflection.

To nouns belong person, number, gender, and case.

Person is that property of a noun or a pronoun which shows the relation of the speaker to the object spoken of. There are three persons, the first, the second, and the third. The first person denotes the speaker; the second, the person spoken to; the third, the person spoken of.

Number is that form of a noun or a pronoun which distinguishes one object from more than one. There are two number-forms,—the singular number is used when only one thing is meant, and the plural number is used when more than one thing is meant.

Gender is a distinction of nouns in regard to sex. There are two genders, the masculine gender and the feminine gender. Names of the male sex are nouns of the masculine gender; names of the female sex are nouns of the feminine gender.

Case denotes the relation of a noun or a pronoun to other words in a sentence. There are four cases, the nominative, the objective, the possessive, and the independent. A noun used as the subject of a verb is in the nominative case; a noun used as the object of a verb, a participle, a preposition, or an infinitive, is in the objective case; a noun used to denote possession is in the possessive case; a noun used to compel attention is in the independent case; that is, it is not part of the sentence with which it stands, therefore it is grammatically independent. The noun has only two case-forms, the nominative and the possessive.

Parsing.

Parsing a word is giving a complete description of it as it is used in the sentence.

TO THE TEACHER: Drills in parsing should be more than formal recitations. They should train pupils in the correct and economic use of words. The use of language, good or bad, is a growth. Teachers should ever be on the alert in regard to the language used by their pupils in the recitation.

Accuracy of expression depends upon clearness of thought. The time to correct a pupil's speech is when it needs correcting. The only cure for the use of bad English is revision until the incorrect statement or illustration is changed into a clean, concise statement. Teachers should constantly bear in mind the fact that one lesson in the reflective use of words in the expression of original thought is worth to the pupil many text-book recitations of gramatical facts.

In parsing a noun tell:

1. The class to which it belongs.

2. The person, gender (if a gender noun), number, case. 3. The use in the sentence.

Parse the nouns in the following sentences:

1. The proper rest for man is change of occupation.

2. It was Pentecost, the feast of gladness.

3. Man became a living soul.

4. Many people live in St. Louis, the metropolis of the West.

5. The jury gave their verdict.

6. The congregation adjourned for one week.

7. His bravery was applauded.

8. Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again. 9. To love is to live.

10. Loving is living.

11. Every why has a wherefore.

12. Justice should be tempered with mercy.

13. John, come to me.

14. The congregation came in a body.

15.

"Land of the beautiful and brave,

The freeman's, the martyr's grave,

The nursery of giant men,

Whose deeds are linked with every glen!

My own green land forever."

Whittier.