COMPOSITION.

COMPOSITION is the art of arranging our thoughts, and expressing them in correct and appropriate words. All thoughts are expressed by means of sentences, and therefore the first step in composition is the formation of sentences.

Simple Sentences.-When we think, or when we speak, we always think or speak of some person or thing. This person or thing of which we speak or think is called the subject of our thoughts or conversation. Accordingly, in all sentences, that of which we speak is called THE SUBJECT of the sentence.

When we speak of anything we always say something about it, what it is or what it does; as, John is a man, he walks; the bird flies, &c. The word which describes what the subject does is called THE PREDICATE, and is always a Finite verb.

A complete sentence, then, must contain at least two words,the Subject, of which we are speaking; and the Predicate, which we say of the subject: e. g., boys talk; we are speaking of boys, which word therefore is the Subject; and we say about them that they talk,—the word talk, therefore, is the Predicate.

I. Subject. The subject of a sentence may consist of a variety of words; e. g., it may be

(1) A noun, as, James came.

(2) A pronoun, as, he came.

(3) A numeral adjective, as, some came.

(4) An infinitive mood, as, to play fatigues.

(5) A present participle, as, playing fatigues.

(6) An adverbial phrase, as, from here to there is six miles. (7) A prepositional phrase, as, under the table is wet.

In the last two examples some noun is understood, as, the distance from here to there; the part under the table.

Adjuncts to the Subject.-A Subject often has other words joined to it, describing something about it, yet without being finite verbs; for in that case they would be predicates. Thus, if I am speaking of a canary, and saying that it died, the simple sentence is " canary died; but I can join in several words to the canary," thus; I may add

word "

(1) An article, as, the

(2) A noun, as, Dick, the

(3) An adjective, as, the pretty

(4) An adverb, as, the very pretty

(5) A participle, as the singing

(6) A prepositional phrase, as, on its way back

canary died.

These words joined to the subject are called its adjuncts. Joining all these together we get the complete sentence :-The very pretty singing canary, Dick, on its way back, died.

Other adjuncts might be,-My beautiful little canary, John's present to me, having lost its way across the fields, and being pursued by cruel boys, died.

II. Predicate.-A predicate must always be a finite verb, but this verb may be one of three kinds :

:

(1) It may be a neuter verb, when the action is complete in the verb itself, as, he sleeps.

(2) It may be a transitive verb, in which case the action is not complete in the verb, but passes on to some other word, as, he strikes me. Here the word "me" is wanted to complete the sense. This word is called THE OBJECT, and if it be a word which has a case, as a noun or pronoun, it is said to be in the Objective case. (3) It may be an auxiliary verb, in which case also the sense is not complete without some other word; as, "I am a man,” where the words 66 a man complete the sense of the sentence. In both the last two cases (2 and 3) the word completing the sense is called the completion of the predicate. If the word or words come after a transitive verb they are called the Object, and may be composed of similar words to the subject; thus, taking I like or I see as the predicate, the object may be

A noun, as, I like John.

A pronoun, as, I like him.

A numeral adjective, as, I like some.

A verb in the infinitive mood, as, I like to play.

A present participle, as, I like playing.

An adverbial phrase, as, I see from here to there.

A prepositional phrase, as, I see under the table.

Sometimes a Predicate has two objects after it, as, He gave me sixpence; I told him to go; they made him king. In these cases the second is called the indirect object.

If the predicate be an auxiliary verb, the completion may be any of the following, viz.,

(1) A noun, as, he is a man.

(2) A pronoun, as, it is he (whom you saw).
(3) An adjective, as, he is good.

(4) A verb in the infinitive, as, he is to go.
(5) A participle, as, he is gone.

(6) An adverb, as, he is there.

(7) A prepositional phrase, as, he is down the road.

Adjuncts to Predicate.-These will always be either adverbs, or words of an adverbial character, defining some circumstances of place, time, manner, cause, &c., about the predicate. When not adverbs they will generally be found to answer questions asked by adverbs, e. g., Where do you live? Answer, I live in London, where "in London" is an adjunct to predicate live, defining a circumstance of place, and answering the question asked by the adverb where. These adjuncts may be any of the following, viz.,— (1) A noun, as, I walked six miles. (2) An adjective, as, he looked good. (3) A participle, as, he writes standing. (4) An adverb, as, he lives well.

(5) A prepositional phrase, as, he lives in London.

Adjuncts to the completion of the predicate are similar to the above.

Order of Words. Emphasis.-Care should be taken in the arrangement of the order of the words in a sentence. As a general rule the Subject and its adjuncts come first, then the predicate: the order of the Adjuncts of the predicate is to be attended to.

go

Adjuncts of place come before those of time; as, we will to the Exhibition to-morrow"; "I shall go away presently." Adjuncts of place come before those of manner, as, "he threw a stone over the wall with all his might." Emphasis may be given to any words by placing them early in the sentence; thus, "With few men he routed all these forces"; the stress is laid on fev men. "All these forces he routed with few men "; the stress is laid on all these forces.

as,

A subject may be made emphatic by the introduction of "it," "it is he who is guilty.' "it was I whom you saw ;' The subject may be thrown after a verb by prefixing the word "there;" as, "there lived a man."

COMPOUND SENTENCES.

When two or more simple sentences are combined so as to make one complete statement, all the finite verbs being coordinate, or of the same form, the sentence is called Compound: thus, dogs bark; cats mew, are two simple sentences; but, dogs bark and cats mew, where the simple sentences are formed into one sentence by the conjunction and makes a compound sentence. In Compound sentences the simple sentences forming them are joined together by different classes of conjunctions.

1. Copulative Conjunctions, such as and, both, also, where the sentences are connected both in grammatical structure and in meaning; as, "John plays and Tom works "; where a statement is made, but no comparison is intended.

2. Adversative Conjunctions, such as but, yet, only, however, or, where two assertions are in opposition, as, "John plays, but Tom works," in which case a comparison is intended.

3. Disjunctive Conjunctions, such as either, or, else, where the sentences are connected in structure but not in meaning, as, "either come, or send an excuse."

4. Illative, (such as draw an inference), as hence, so, else, where the one statement is the logical conclusion to the other, as, "he was late, and so was ruined."

(1) One subject may have many predicates, or (2) one predicate may have many subjects, or (3) they may be arr inged in pairs; thus, (1) "John walked and danced and sang," is the same as "John walked, John danced, John sang," (2) "John, Charles and Tom sang" is the same as John sang, and Charles sang, and Tom sang," while (3) "John walked, Charles danced, Tom sang," describes the actions of each of the three.

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The subject, predicate, object, adjuncts, &c., of compound sentences may be composed of similar words to those of simple

sentences.

COMPLEX SENTENCES.

(So called from Latin cum, together, and plica, a fold, because the sentences are folded together.)

A Complex Sentence is one in which there is one principal subject and predicate forming a complete sentence, and also another sentence depending on some word in the principal sentence, this latter being called the Subordinate sentence: thus, “I go before sunset," is a simple sentence; containing subject, “I,”

predicate, "go"; adjunct (of time) to predicate, " before sunset:" but if I say, "I go before the sun sets," there are two sentences: "I go" is the principal sentence, and "before the sun sets is a subordinate sentence, containing subject, "sun;" predicate "sets; " and depending on the word "go" in the principal

sentence.

Subordinate sentences are of THREE KINDS :

(1) Noun Sentences, where the subordinate sentence takes the place of the subject or object of the principal sentence, e.g.. How it happened was a mystery; where the sentence "how it happened" takes the place of, or is the subject of the sentence, mystery."

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was a

The two sentences are sometimes joined by some connecting word, as that, how, &c., and sometimes, especially in the case of a quotation, by none; as, "I know that you want something;" where the sentence "that you want something" takes the place of the object after the transitive predicate "know" in the sentence "I know." In the sentence "God save the Queen' was sung," the words "God save the Queen" take the place of the subject. In the sentence "The people sang' God save the Queen'" they take the place of the object.

(2) Adjectival Sentences, where the subordinate sentence qualifies the subject or object of the principal sentence; as, “The man, who was sick, is dead." "I knew the man who was sick." In the former example the sentence "who was sick," qualifies the subject "man," and in the latter case it qualifies the object " man.'

In this case the connecting words are generally either relatives or some words taking the place of relatives as, "I know where you are, who you are, how you are, why you are" (come), &c.

(3) Adverbial Sentences, where the subordinate sentence qualifies the predicate of the principal sentence; as, “The horse fell while we were driving." "He left us before the man came." "I will go when you like.' The connecting links in these sentences are either adverbs or conjunctions.

On the following page a few specimens of analysis are given. They can be multiplied indefinitely. Children should begin with easy sentences, and gradually proceed to more difficult ones.