4. My principal food is bread and butter.

5. The principles of composition are not easily understood.

6. The principal principle of life should be honesty. 7. Wheat is our principal export.

Write sentences on the blackboard, using both of these words. Be careful hereafter to spell them correctly.

EXERCISE IN CRITICISM

134. Criticize the letters in the following manner: a. Read your letters in turn before the class. If a

letter is one of business, you should consider whether the writer said just what the recipient would need to know, and whether he said it in a polite and agreeable way, so that the recipient would want to give a favorable reply. If the letter is one of friendship, you should consider whether the writer said what the recipient would like to know, whether he said all the recipient would like to know, and whether everything was said in a free and easy way, much as the writer would talk if he were face to face with his friend.

b. As it is necessary to criticize the form and accuracy of a letter as well as the subject matter, some one will copy his letter on the blackboard. Or perhaps one of the letters written by a group has been left there. In either case, the writer will read his letter aloud to the class and give them an opportunity to see whether the form is correct, whether the sentences are properly ended and begun, whether the grammar is good, and whether the spelling is correct,

PREDICATE WORDS

135. Read the following sentences:

1. "I am Hercules."

2. "Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was a remarkably strong man."

3. "My name is Hercules."

4. "Brom Bones, however, was the hero of the scene." 5. "Ichabod was a suitable figure for such a steed.” 6. "Two frogs were neighbors."

7. "Necessity is the mother of invention."

What is the verb in the first of these sentences? What is the subject? What word is asserted of the subject? That is, what word represents the same person or thing as the subject? Answer the same question in regard to the other sentences.

These words are called predicate words, because they are predicated of, that is, asserted of, the subject. Like verbs, subjects, and objects, they may have modifiers. For example, in He was a long, slim man, "man" is the predicate word, and “a,” ""long," and "slim" are modifiers. Predicate words may also be in series, as in That man is a soldier, a lawyer, and a statesman.

136. Write sentences containing predicate words.

EXERCISE IN GRAMMAR

137. Predicate words are not so numerous as verbs and subjects, or even so numerous as objects. Several, however, are to be found in the passage on the opposite page. Study it for verbs, subjects, objects, and predicate words. Modifiers must always be determined.

"His tongue, indeed, was a magic instrument; sometimes it rumbled like the thunder; sometimes it warbled like the sweetest music. It was the blast of war, the song of peace; and it seemed to have a heart in it, when there was no such matter. In good truth, he was a wondrous man; and when his tongue had acquired him all other imaginable success, when it had been heard in the halls of state, and in the courts of princes and potentates,— after it had made him known all over the world, even as a voice crying from shore to shore,—it finally persuaded his countrymen to select him for the presidency. Before this time, indeed as soon as he began to grow celebrated,his admirers had found out the resemblance between him and the Great Stone Face; and so much were they struck by it, that throughout the country this distinguished gentleman was known by the name of Old Stony Phiz. The phrase was considered as giving a highly favorable aspect to his political prospects."

HAWTHORNE, The Great Stone Face

PREDICATE WORDS CONTINUED

138. Read the following sentences:
1. "She was small and slight in person."

2. "They say all Indian nabobs are enormously rich." 3. "Joseph Sedley was twelve years older than his sister Amelia."

4. "But he was as lonely here as in his jungle at Bogley Wollah.”

5. "He was lazy, peevish, and a bon-vivant."

6. " 'I must be very quiet,' thought Rebecca, ‘and very much interested about India.''

7. "You will soon be old."

8. "Is not this man worthy to resemble thee?" 9. "Wherefore are you sad?"

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What is the verb in the first sentence given above? What is the subject? What words are asserted of the subject? These are also called predicate words, but they are of a different kind from those studied in section 135, because they give a quality of the subject rather than assert identity with it. In some of the sentences there is more than one predicate word. In such a case the sentence is said to have compound predicate words. Where there are only two, they are likely to be connected by and or or; where there are three or more—that is, where the predicate words are in series-the last two are likely to be joined by and or or, and commas are used to separate them.

This kind of predicate word also has modifiers. Thus, "in person" modifies the predicate words of the first example sentence; and "enormously" modifies the predicate word of the second example

sentence.

Write some sentences containing both kinds of predicate words.

LINKING VERBS

139. In the first example sentence of section 135 "Hercules" is asserted of "I" by the verb "am"; "Hercules" and "I" are identical. In other words, "I" and "Hercules" are linked by "am." Also, in the first example sentence in section 138, "small and slight" is linked to "She" by "was." Now a verb that links, or joins, two words or groups of words is called a linking verb. In the following

sentences are further examples of linking verbs: The apples taste good. The rose smells sweet. I feel bad. She seems well. He appeared to be a soldier. He was called an orator.

Some people think it is correct to say I feel badly. It would be just as correct to say The apple tastes sweetly or The apple tastes sourly. In I feel bad, "bad" is a predicate word and is the correct form. Badly is not a predicate word.

EXERCISE IN GRAMMAR

140. In the following passage consider sentence after sentence, and determine whether there are predicate words of the kinds described in the preceding sections. Or, determine whether the verbs are linking verbs or otherwise. For example, in the first sentence "was" links "rich" to "who."

"There was once a merchant who was very rich. He had six children-three boys and three girls; and as he was a man of sense, and was anxious about the education of his children, he employed all sorts of teachers for them. The daughters were all handsome; but the youngest was so very beautiful that when she was a child people called her Little Beauty, and when she became a young woman the name remained with her.. On this account her sisters were very jealous. And this daughter was not only more beautiful than the others; she was also better than they. The two older ones were very haughty because they were rich; they assumed the airs of grand ladies, and would not receive visits from the daughters of other merchants, but sought the society of the nobility. Every day they went to balls, to plays, to public promenades, and made