Here there are no nouns, nobody is mentioned by name; but the meaning would be very clear to those who were present.

Try to substitute names, and you will see how convenient the pronouns are.

EXERCISE 43.

1. Select the pronouns in these sentences; that is, the words used instead of nouns:

1. The doctor is coming.

2. Call to him.

3. Have you improved? 4. Yes; I feel quite well.

5. Early this morning I could see your arms stretched out over the snow.

6. It was perfectly white.

7. They seemed to me to be

frozen.

8. The nurse was with us.

9. She warmed them by rubbing. 10. You must thank her. 11. We are very glad.

2. Which of the pronouns are used as subjects?

52. When we do not know the name of a person or a thing, we have to use a pronoun in asking questions.

1. Write assertive sentences in answer to the preceding questions. 2. What words have you used in place of the pronouns?

3. Write imperative or interrogative sentences, using two of these pronouns in each one:

Which of these refer to the person speaking?

4. Make a list of pronouns that refer to some person or thing that has just been mentioned. Consult Exs. 40, 41, and 43.

53. (a) Every one of the thousands of nouns in our language, and every expression, however long, that is used like a noun to describe a person or a thing, can be replaced at one time or another by pronouns.

(b) The use of them enables us to point out what we have been talking about more exactly than we could by taking the trouble to describe it again.

(e) They form a class by themselves because their meaning depends upon the connection in which they stand; but they are used as subjects' and in other ways very much as nouns are.

EXERCISE 45.

In these sentences give the whole expression that each pronoun takes the place of:

1. The sail down the river was 6. Two of them were very exciting.

5. The captain of the steamer told 9. He told us how he was forced many of his adventures.

to abandon her.

54. A Pronoun is a word that may take the place of a noun, and represent any person or thing as present or just mentioned.

The word "pronoun" means for a noun.

EXERCISE 46.

1. Use suitable pronouns in place of the nouns that are not needed.

1. Arnold's treason showed that Arnold was base at heart.
2. The arc of a circle is any part of the circle's circumference,
3. We must harvest the crops before the crops freeze.

4. The queen gave the queen's orders to the captain; and the cap tain, on receiving the orders, promised to save the town.

5. Afterward the queen rewarded the captain for the captain's bravery in defending the town.

6. Patrick Henry said, "Give Patrick Henry liberty, or give Patrick Henry death."

2. Make sentences containing the pronouns yourself, himself, herself, itself, themselves.

TEST QUESTIONS.

1. What are pronouns? 2. Explain one of the ways of using them. 3. Why are they often more convenient than nouns? 4. How do you tell what is meant by a pronoun?

III. VERBS.

EXERCISE 47.

1. What are assertive sentences? Give an example.

2. What are the other kinds? Make a sentence of each kind.

3. Explain the meaning of "assert.”

4. Make assertions about five things that you see.

5. Which of the following are assertive? Are they sentences of any sort? Tell your reason.

6. Make assertive sentences of them by using live, flows, gather, is. 7. Change them to interrogative sentences.

55. Words used to assert are Verbs.

They are not as numerous as nouns, but they form an equally important class, and most other words have been derived from them.

56. To make a complete sentence we need only give the name of something, and say or assert something about

it. With a noun or a pronoun and a verb we can do just this.

As,

Without a verb there can be no assertion, no predicate, no sentence.

EXERCISE 48.

1. What kind of word will make sentences of the following? Supply what is needed.1

1. Rubber from South America.

2. The pure gum very valuable.

3. Water the wheels of the mill.

4. The cotton-plant in the Gulf States.

5. A letter three thousand miles for two cents.

6. The Gulf Stream northeast.

7. Behring Strait the Arctic and the Pacific oceans.
8. The signal service a fair day to-morrow.

9. The snow ten feet deep in the woods last winter.

10. The boys all hunting yesterday.

11. The fox by hiding under a rock.
12. Trout-fishing considerable skill.

2. Mention the verbs in Ex. 29.

57. The verb may be a single word that asserts; as when we say,

But if we wish to speak of time to come, we must say,

The tree will grow;

and in all these sentences,

The tree is growing.
|

1 Exercises of this sort should be repeated till the function of verbs is distinctly felt.

The tree has grown.

The tree would have grown."

The tree may be growing.

The tree | might have been growing.

we need the help of one, two, or three other words besides grown and growing, in order to assert what we mean about the growth of the tree.

The words of each group taken together we call a verbphrase, because they do the work of a single verb.

EXERCISE 49.

Select the expressions of more than one word that take the place of single verbs; that is to say, the verb-phrases.

58. Contractions. The first word of those that help to make a verb-phrase, is sometimes written so as to show that we cut it short in speaking. Thus,

We've met him, for We have met him.

EXERCISE 50.

Copy these expressions, writing out the verbs in full, as if they were to be spoken slowly:

1. I'm sorry.
2. She'll come.
3. Time's up.

4. I've done.

5. It's too late.

6. We're here.

7. You've heard.
8. Who's come?

9. They'd just gone. 10. She's waiting. 11. You'd be surprised. 12. We sha'n't stay.