contracted, as in If necessary, I will go after the wagon. Here "If necessary" is equivalent to If it is necessary, and "if" is a subordinating conjunction. Such words as when, if, although, until, till, because, and unless are subordinating conjunctions. In the following sentences tell what conjunctions are coördinating and what are subordinating. Tell also what each one joins. Determine whether commas are used where pauses are made in the reading. I. I will go for the wagon if you desire. 2. After the rain was over, the flowers looked brighter. 3. Although I tended my garden well that summer, my plants did not grow well. 4. I was busy with my bees till the supper bell rang. 5. There will be little honey unless the flowers are plentiful and unless the weather is fair. 6. Bees gather honey in the summer, because there are no flowers in the winter. 7. Since the rain freshened everything, the birds began to sing again. 8. The men did not come home from the fields until the moon rose. 9. When the wheat is harvested and threshed, we'll take a day off and go fishing. 10. When harvested and threshed, the wheat will be taken to town and sold. 11. While going along the bank of the creek, I saw a bass or a perch leap. 12. We have not been fishing since we caught the mud turtle. 13. As I was coming home from school, a rabbit ran across my path. THE PREPOSITION 237. The preposition is the other kind of connective word, and naturally follows the conjunction in this classification. The word preposition is also a Latin derivative, and means placed before. It therefore appears before a substantive that it joins to some other part of the sentence. In The angry boy went to the house, "to" is the preposition; it appears before "house," and joins this word to "went." It is different from a coördinating conjunction because it cannot join two words of the same rank; it is different from the subordinating conjunction because it introduces a phrase rather than a clause. Some of the prepositions are to, in, on, of, by, from, for, with, over, under, after, before. Some words are sometimes prepositions and sometimes conjunctions. For example, in After the rain the clouds disappeared, "after" is a preposition because it joins "rain," the substantive that follows it, to another word, "disappeared"; that is, it introduces a phrase. In After the rain ceased, the clouds disappeared, "after" is a subordinating conjunction, because it joins a clause to another part of the sentence, "disappeared." A phrase that begins with a preposition is called a prepositional phrase. Hereafter, instead of saying "substantive with a connective word," you are to say substantive with a preposition. In the following sentences determine what words are prepositions and what are conjunctions, and why. In every case determine what they join. In one of the sentences a certain word is a preposition, while in another the same word is a conjunction. Be sure to determine which one it is in each case. Note also the spelling of the preposition to. I. In the afternoon the school went to the woods to hunt flowers. 2. The dog lay before the door in the sun, and did not waken till the sun set. 3. A motor car passed by the house at high speed. 4. When John hit the ball, it went over the fence and into a neighbor's garden. 5. Before Mary was permitted to play tennis, she had to practice an hour on the violin. 6. Mary liked to play tennis; hence she practiced with industry. 7. Arithmetic is a useful study; yet I prefer geography. 8. Manual training is taught in our school; domestic science, too, is taught. 9. Girls like cooking at school; however, they don't always like it at home. 10. These girls always go to and from school together; Mary either calls for Jane, or Jane calls for Mary. 11. George never goes to bed early; therefore he never wants to get up with the sun. 238. Write some sentences on the blackboard; underline the coördinating conjunctions once, the subordinating conjunctions twice, and the prepositions three times. Afterwards change places and determine whether one another's work is correct. If you think there are errors, confer with the pupils who did the work, and argue the question until you agree. Errors of all sorts should be corrected. THE VERB 239. The verb is the most important word in the sentence. Indeed, a verb may of itself be a sentence. Example: Run! Usually, of course, a verb is accompanied by a subject. Verbs are words that make assertions, or predications; that is, they are the important words in the predicates of sentences. For example, in Horses run, "run" is the verb. Verbs are often more than one word. You can easily make sentences in which the following groups of words are the verbs: have run, will go, has been seen, would have gone, would have been hurt. Verbs that consist of more than one word each are called verb phrases. TENSE 240. The verb is the part of speech that, by different forms, can indicate differences in time. Thus, to say I look is to assert something that is now taking place; and the verb is here said to be in the present tense. To say I looked is to assert something that took place in the past; and the verb is said to be in the past tense. To say I shall look, or I will look, is to assert something that will take place in the future; and the verb is said to be in the future tense. To say I have looked is to assert something that has happened at some indefinite time in the past or has just happened; and the verb is said to be in the present perfect tense. To say I had looked is to assert something that took place before some other thing had happened, as in I had merely looked into the pantry when mother came in. Here the verb is in the past perfect tense. To say I shall have looked is to assert something that will happen by the time some other thing happens, as in By the time mother gets home I shall have looked into the oven to see how the meat is cooking. Here the verb is said to be in future perfect tense. NUMBER 241. Verbs have a change of form to indicate whether the subject must stand for one thing or more than one thing. Thus, in The bird flies the verb "flies" shows that the subject must mean one thing, while in Birds fly the verb "fly" indicates that the subject must mean more than one thing. In the first case both subject and verb are said to be in the singular number, and in the second case both subject and verb are said to be in the plural number. However, verbs do not always change form to show change in number. Thus in I run (singular) and They run (plural) the form is the same. PERSON 242. Verbs have also a change of form to indicate whether the subject represents a person speaking, a person or thing spoken to, or a person or thing spoken of. Thus in I go, the subject is represented as speaking; and both subject and verb are said to be in the first person. In You go, or in the old form Thou goest, the subject is represented as spoken to; and both subject and verb are said to be in the |