APPENDIX.

ORAL LESSONS.*

Introductory Explanations, designed for Pupils sufficiently advanced for the study of Grammar.

LESSON I.-LANGUAGE.

[Question, by the Teacher.] How many of this class have seen a menagerie? [The Pupils who have, raise the hand.] Question. What is a menagerie? Answer. A collection of animals. — Q. Who have seen an ourang outang? What doest it resemble ? [Referring to a picture, if necessary.] A. A man or a boy. —Q. Was the one you saw quite like a man? A. No: his feet were like hands.-Q. What things did he do, that made him resem

* At the request of teachers who have expressed a wish to introduce the study of words, as an exercise in practical grammar, for their younger classes, examples of introductory oral instruction are inserted in the appendix. The first series of these oral lessons, is intended for pupils of the grade mentioned above, and the second for those at an earlier age, but capable of being intelligently employed on elementary exercises on words. These examples are, of course, nothing more than suggestive outlines, which teachers may modify according to the wants of their pupils. But introductory oral instruction, in some form, is indispensable, to prevent the performance of exercises from becoming mere parts of a mechanical routine, and to ensure their being executed with an intelligent interest. (209)

ble a man, more than any other animal does? A. He stood up, and walked on two feet.-Q. What does a man do that the ourang outang can not do? A. He speaks.-Q. What other words do we sometimes use, when we mean speaking? A. Speech, language.-Q. What is the use of language? A. To tell what we think. What other word do we sometimes use, when we mean thinking? A. Thought.-Q. May we not say, then, that language expresses thought?

Q. What does language express? A. Thought.-Q. What is a thought? A. Something in our mind.-Q. Is it one thing, or more than one thing? A. Sometimes one, sometimes more. Q. When I am lying awake, in a cold winter night, and hear something soft falling, all the while, on the window-panes, and I think it is not hail, because it does not make a rattling sound, and I think it is not rain because it does not sound like that, what do I think? A. You think it is snow. -Q. I might say, then, to any one who happened to be near, "I think snow is falling"; or, if I felt sure of it, I might say, "Snow is falling." What is in my mind then, what is my thought? A. You think that snow is falling.-Q. How many things are in my mind then? A. Two, -snow and falling.-Q. Are there not

snow falling," "falling snow."

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This

is not all that I said, when I told somebody, "Snow is falling." What is the use of "is," here? A. It tells that snow is falling. - Q. Yes; if I only say, "Snow falling," or falling snow," I do not tell anything. When I think, then, that snow is falling, are there not three things in my mind, snow and falling, and that I think it is falling? To make the whole thought, then, how many things must we have in the mind? A. Three.-Q. If I say, "Rain is falling," how many? "Wind is blowing?" 'Morning is dawning?"—"Clouds are passing?"-A. Three. - Q. A whole thought, then, is made up of how many parts ? A. Three.-Q. Do you know a name for these parts? A. No.-Q. When there is but one thing, or one part of a whole

thought, in the mind, we call it an idea. snow is falling, I have an idea of snow, an

So, when I think that

idea of falling, and an idea that it is falling; and these three ideas make the whole thought. How many ideas are there in each of these thoughts, Rain is falling, Wind is blowing, - Morning is breaking, Clouds are passing? A. Three. - Q. Can you mention them? A. In the thought, Rain is falling, etc. [as above.]-Q. Do you observe that, in every one of these thoughts, there is something that we are thinking of,- something that we think about what we are thinking of, and something that tells that we do think thus about it? In the thought, Snow is falling, what are we thinking of? A. Snow. - Q. What do we think about it. A. That it is falling. — Q. What shows that we do think thus about it? A. We say it is falling.

LESSON III. PROPOSITIONS,

THEIR PARTS.

Q. What did you say is the use of language? A. To express our thoughts.-Q. If we wish to understand and study language, then, what must we do? A. Understand our thoughts. - Q. How may we learn to understand our thoughts? How do we learn to know flowers? A. By examining them.-Q. Can we examine our thoughts? A. We cannot see them; but we can think about them.-Q. Do you wish to know what we call a thought, when we are examining it? We call it a "proposition." Can you tell me what the word proposition means? It means placed before, something placed before the mind. What name then may I give to this thought, Snow is falling? A. A proposition.-Q. To this? Rain is falling. To these? Trees are growing. Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. Boys are playing. Summer is warm. Winter is cold. James is reading. John is listening.-Q. Can you give other examples of propositions? Can you find any in your reading-book?

Q. When we wish to speak about the different parts of our thoughts, it would be convenient, would it not? - to have names for all of them? Thus, instead of saying about one of the ideas in a thought, that it is what we are thinking of, would it

not be more convenient to name it by one word? Would you like then to know the name we give to the idea which we are thinking of? We call it the "subject," because it is the subject of our thought. What name do we give to what we are thinking of? A. The subject. Q. Can you tell me the subject in these propositions, Snow is falling, Rain is falling, etc., [with additional examples.] A. Snow, rain, etc. Q. Would you like to know the name which we give to the idea that we have about the subject of our thought? We call it the predicate, because it predicates, or tells, what we think about the subject. Can you mention now the predicate in each of these propositions, Snow is falling, [etc.]? A. "Falling," "blowing," [etc.] — Q. Can you mention the predicate in these propositions? [additional examples.] A. [accordingly.]-Q. Would you like to know the name which we give to the fact that we do form of the subject the idea in the predicate? Because it connects the predicate with the subject, we call it the "copula," or connective. Can you mention the copula in each of these propositions, Snow is falling, etc.? A. Is," in all of them.. Q. In these propositions? [additional examples.] A. [accordingly.]

LESSON IV. - SENTENCES.

Q. If we express a thought or proposition in words, thus, [writing, on the blackboard, the words, "Rain is falling,"] we may call it by yet another name. What is that name? A. A sentence. - Q. The word sentence means thought, and hence is used as the grammatical name for a thought, or proposition, expressed in words. What is the grammatical name for a proposition? A. A sentence. Q. How many ideas are necessary to make a complete thought. A. Three.-Q. What are their logical names? A. Subject, predicate, copula. —Q. Can you give an example? A. "Rain is falling.” · Q. Can you tell which of these words [pointing to the sentence written on the board,] represents the subject, which the predicate, and which the copula? A. [accordingly.] — Q. [After writing, on the board, the sentence," Rain falls,"] What is the subject of this proposi

May I not say

But if I should

tion? A. Rain.-Q. What is the predicate? A. Falls. Q. Where is the copula? — A. There is none. Q. Is there nothing to take its place? Is there any difference between the propositions, Rain is falling, and Rain falls? either, speaking of the weather, when it rains? say "Rain fall," or write these words thus, [writing the words, "Rain fall,”] on the blackboard, would they make sense? - would they make a thought?- —a proposition? - a sentence? Should I tell anything then? Now, when I say or write, "Rain falls," do not the words make sense-make a proposition?-Do not they tell something? — make a sentence? Do you observe, then, that when we add s to "fall," it makes the sense the same with is falling? What part of a proposition, then, does s stand for? A. The copula.-Q. Can you show this by the other examples which we have had? A. [accordingly.] Q. Can you give other examples? A. [accordingly.] Q. Instead of three parts, therefore, what smaller number of parts may a proposition have? A. Two. What are these? A. Subject and predicate.-Q. Can you give examples of such propositions? A. [accordingly.] Q. What did you say is the grammatical name of a proposition? A. A sentence. Q. Shall I tell you, now, the grammatical name for the subject of a proposition? It is called, sometimes, the "subject; " because it is the subject about which the other words in a sentence tell us something. But there is another name for it, which belongs to grammar only, - the "nominative," or name, becanse it is the name of the subject of the proposition, or the word which stands for it. Can you tell me now the nominative in all the sentences which we have been attending to? A. [accordingly.] — Q. Can you give other examples?

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A. [accordingly.]

Q. Is the copula of a proposition always expressed separately? Do you remember an example of a proposition in which it -is expressed ? — of one in which it is not expressed? A. [accordingly.]Q. In grammar, it is not taken notice of separately, but is considered as belonging to the predicate and forming a part of it, as you observed when we added s to "fall," in the sentence, "Rain falls." What is the remaining part, then, of a pro