Verbs and Verb-Groups

Verbs vary in form to express number and tense.

The verb may consist of several words.

a verb-group (or verb-phrase).

189

Then it is called

The simple predicate of a sentence is always a verb or a verb-group.

In Lesson 207 select all the verbs and verb-groups.

Which express action? Which are used with plural subjects?

Which are modified by adverbs?

In the following sentences, select the simple subjects and the simple predicates. Notice that there are sometimes two subjects and sometimes two predicates.

1. May was playing in the field.

2. She picked a dandelion ball and blew it.

3. The seeds sailed away like feathers.

4. Three white seeds caught on the limb of a tree. 5. A bird may find those seeds.

6. What would he do with them?

7. He would carry them home for his nest.

8. The lining of his nest is soft and warm.

9. May and her brother George climbed the tree. 10. Look at its three blue eggs.

213. ORAL LESSON

GREEK STORIES

Even before men had a written language, they delighted in stories of brave and heroic adventure. They made songs which told of the great deeds of some hero, and these songs were handed down to their children and their children's children. Whenever any race or nation became so civilized that it had tools, houses, writing, and a government, these songs were made over into poems

that related again the stories of adventure and praised the deeds of bravery, truth, and justice. The most famous of such poems are in Greek, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. This Iliad is the story of the siege of Ilium or Troy, a city in Asia Minor. Hector is the hero of the defenders of the city, and Achilles the hero of the Greeks, who finally capture and destroy it. The Odyssey tells of the long travels and adventures of one of the Greeks, Ulysses, from the time of the destruction of Troy until at last he returned to his home and his faithful wife, Penelope. These great poems have been read and reread for thousands of years, and they are still the best loved stories in the world. The Greeks, who were a very brilliant and imaginative people, created many other famous hero tales, some of which must be familiar to you.

In the talk to-day let us see what the pupils can tell about some of the following topics, or what questions they can ask the teacher in regard to them: Greece, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey, Troy, Achilles, Hector, Ulysses, Greek myths, Greek heroes, Hercules, Jason, Perseus, Nausicaa, Cyclops, The Lotus-Eaters, Orpheus.

The Iliad and Odyssey have been retold by A. J. Church in two delightful volumes, The Story of the Iliad and The Story of the Odyssey (Macmillan Co.). Bryant's poetical translation of the Odyssey will supply interesting selections for reading. Among the best translations are Lang and Butcher's Odyssey and Lang, Leaf, and Myers's Iliad. Charles Kingsley's The Greek Heroes, and Hawthorne's Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales tell the stories of the Greek myths and legends. Selections from these books are given in Baker and Carpenter's Fifth Year Language Reader (Macmillan Co.).

214. WRITTEN LESSON

BUILDING SENTENCES

Write the following sentences:

1. An Interrogative Sentence, underlining the complete subject. 2. An Imperative Sentence, underlining the complete predicate. 3. An Exclamatory Sentence.

4. A sentence with a pronoun in the first person.

5. A sentence containing a proper noun, a personal pronoun, and a verb-group.

6. A sentence containing a plural and a possessive noun.

Exchange papers. Mark with a C each sentence that is correct; and with a W each sentence that is wrong. The sentences marked W are to be rewritten correctly.

215. LANGUAGE LESSON

Review Lesson 157.

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words that modify nouns or pronouns.

The three adjectives, a, an, the, are usually called articles.

Find four adjectives that you can use in describing: a horse, a book, your schoolroom, your best friend, the weather.

Comparison of Adjectives

Examine the following sentences.

John is brave. James is braver than John. Charles is the bravest of the three.

In these three sentences we have three forms of the adjective brave, which are used in comparisons. When two persons or things are compared, braver is used. When more

than two are compared, bravest is used.

The three forms are called degrees of comparison, the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees.

Adjectives of one or two syllables regularly form the comparative by adding -er to the positive form, and form the superlative by adding -est to the positive form.

EXAMPLES: Sweet, kind, sour, bitter, funny, cold, warm, etc. Many adjectives of two syllables, and all of more than two syllables, use more and most in comparison.

EXAMPLES: beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful; elegant, distinguished, interesting, famous, useful.

Some adjectives cannot be compared.

EXAMPLES: first, daily, weekly, arctic, equal, perfect.