An abstract noun is the name of a quality or of an action, considered apart from the object to which it belongs.

For example

goodness, honesty, wisdom, and movement are abstract nouns.

A verbal noun is a verb in its participle form or infinitive form used as a noun.

Note

The present participle of a noun is formed by adding ‘ing’ to the verb. The infinitive form of a verb is formed by adding the word ‘to’ before the verb.

For example

In the sentence:
He was convicted of stealing.
stealing is a participle used as a verbal noun.
In the sentence:
To see the sun is pleasant.
to see is an infinitive used as a verbal noun.

Nouns that denote substance or kind without reference to an individual, are common nouns.

For example

The nouns wood, grass, music, soil, and algebra are common nouns.

At this point proceed to Exercise 1.

A common noun is a name which applies to individuals of a class of objects.

For example

The nouns woman, melon, boy, and house in their normal use are common nouns.

Common nouns may become proper, when, by personification or special use, the object named is regarded as an individual.

For example

O Justice, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason.
Shakespeare
The Common in Boston is a wonderful place to walk.

Common nouns commonly include:

• collective nouns
• abstract nouns
• verbal nouns

A collective noun is a noun that, in the singular, denotes more than one object.

For example

The nouns army, family, and flock are collective nouns.

More

When a phrase or a clause of a sentence is used to denote an object, the whole phrase or clause becomes a noun.

For example

In the sentence:
To see the sun is pleasant.
the phrase To see the sun is used as a noun.
In the sentence:
That you have wronged me it doth appear.
the clause That you have wronged me is used as a noun.

Note

Nouns are also called substantives. A phrase or a clause used as a noun or a pronoun is called a substantive phrase or a substantive clause.

Proper and Common Nouns

Nouns are divided into two classes, proper and common.

A proper noun is the name of an individual object.

For example

The nouns James, Michigan, and France are proper nouns.

Most proper nouns are in the singular because they name a specific individual person or place. However, such plural names as Romans, Alps, and Azores are commonly considered proper nouns because a whole group is regarded as an individual.

More

The word adverb is derived from the Latin ad meaning added to and verbum.
Adverbs are those words which are added to verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Adverbs denote:

• time
• place
• manner
• quality

A preposition is a word used to show the relation between a noun or a pronoun and some other word or phrase.

For example

The words from, upon, on, and with in their normal use are prepositions.

The prepositions are an indeclinable class; that is, each preposition has only a single form.
In addition, the class of prepositions is a closed class because new prepositions are not being added to the language. Prepositions are a small group of words used to denote the relations of place, time, cause, manner, property, or quality.

The word preposition comes from the Latin prae meaning before and positio meaning a placing, thus a placing before. A preposition is commonly placed before the object with which it is associated.

A conjunction is a word used to connect words, sentences, or the parts of sentences.

For example

The words and, but, since, because, and or in their normal use are conjunctions.

The conjunctions are an indeclinable class; that is, each conjunction has only a single form. In addition, the class of conjunctions is a closed class because new conjunctions are not being added to the language
Conjunctions are a small number of words used to join the parts of a sentence.

The name conjunction is derived from the Latin conjunctus meaning joined together.

An interjection is a word that expresses some strong or sudden emotion of the mind.

For example

The words 0, shucks, and alas in their normal use are interjections. Most profanity can be classified as interjections.

The interjections are an indeclinable class; that is, each interjection has only a single form. The class of interjections is a not a closed class. New interjections are constantly being added to at least the informal language.
The word interjection comes from the Latin interjectus meaning thrown between. Interjections are a few words that do not enter into the structure of a sentence, but are thrown in at pleasure.

A pronoun is a word which takes the place of a noun. I, he, you, that, and who are among the pronouns.

Most of the declinable classes of words are constantly growing; that is, new words are being added to them. The pronoun class, however, contains only a limited number of words. In fact, there are a number of older form of pronouns such as thee, thou, and ye that can still be read and understood, but that are seldom used in modern writing.

The word pronoun, derived from the Latin pro meaning for and nomen meaning a name, applies to a limited number of words. Any noun may be represented by a pronoun.
The noun, the adjective, and the pronoun are intimately connected:

• A noun names an object.
• An adjective expresses properties of an object.
• A pronoun may take the place of the noun.

A verb is a word that expresses and affirms being, action, or state.

For example

The words be, read, sleep, and is loved in their normal uses are verbs.

Nothing is affirmed without a verb.

The word verb is derived from the Latin verbum meaning the word that is the important word. Verbs are a large class of words and phrases that express being, action, or state.

A noun is a word that names of an object. The objects that nouns name are usually said to be the names of persons, places, and things.

For example

The words Henry, Boston, and apple in their normal sense are nouns.

The word noun is derived from the Latin nomen which means a name. All words that are the names of persons, animals, places, or things, material or immaterial, are nouns. Nouns are words that can be used to name things that are not material, like faith, hope, and love.

An adjective is a word used to limit, make more specific, or otherwise qualify a noun.

For example

The words good, bad, faithful, this, and some in their normal sense are adjectives.

The word adjective is derived from the Latin adjectus meaning added to; that is, adjectives give information that is added to the meaning of a noun. Adjectives are a large class of words. Adjectives are used with nouns to identify qualities of the object that the noun names or to define a characteristic of that object.

For example

worthy citizens
this book

Adjectives unite to nouns answering such questions as:

• What?
• What kind?
• How many?

The treatment of roots, prefixes, and suffixes pertains to the simple union of syllables into complete words, and belongs to morphology.
Words in the five classes that can change their form are called declinable. Those that have only a single form are called indeclinable.

For example

The words friend, friend-s; love, lov-ed are declinable; that is, they are words that can take on several different forms such as with or without an ‘s’ ending.
The words and, but, to, and upon are members of the indeclinable parts of speech.

Parts of Speech Defined

In English, there are eight classes of words called the parts of speech. These are:

• Nouns
• Adjectives
• Pronouns
• Verbs
• Adverbs
• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections

Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs are declinable. Prepositions, conjunmctions, and interjections are indeclinable.

Elements Joined by a Coordinate Conjunction

The elements of a compound sentence are principal clauses. Each principal clause may have any of the preceding forms of elements and therefore may by itself be a complex sentence.

Compound sentences can combine:

• linking verb clauses without emphasis using a single connective

  For example

  The rain is over, and the sun shines.

• linking verb clauses with the second clause made emphatic by means of an associated connective

  For example

  She sings, and, besides, she plays skillfully.

• linking verb clauses made emphatic by a correlative
  For example

  For example

  Not only am I instructed by this exercise, but I am also invigorated.

• adversative clauses with opposition or contrast

  For example

  He did not return to his parents, but he persisted in wandering among strangers.

• adversative clauses with limitation or restriction

  For example

  The army was victorious, but the general was slain.

• adversative clauses with emphatic opposition or restriction

  For example

  The delinquent has been repeatedly admonished, but still he is as negligent as ever.

• alternative clauses offering or denying a choice
  For example

  For example

  He cannot ride, nor will he walk.

• alternative clauses with emphasis

  For example

  Either he will love the one, and hate the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.

• causal clauses

  For example

  The south wind blows, [and] therefore it will rain.

• component parts complex

  For example

  When he rose, every sound was hushed; and when he spoke, every eye was fixed upon him.
  You take my house, when you do take the prop that doth sustain my house; you take my life,
  when you do take the means whereby I live.

Contracted Sentences / Sentences Formed with Common Parts Omitted

Compound Elements

A compound sentence may be contracted to a partially compounded sentence by using
elements common to the full propositions a single time, and uniting all others.

For example

Heaven shall pass away, and earth shall pass away.

This can be stated as,
Heaven and earth shall pass away.

Observe that the contracted sentence has only a compound subject.

Sentences can have:

• Compound subjects:

  For example

  Virtue and vice form a strong contrast to each other.
  To soothe thy sickness, and to watch thy health, shall be my pleasure.
  That their poetry is almost uniformly mournful, and that their views of nature were dark and dreary, will be
  allowed by all who admit the authenticity of Ossian.

• compound predicates:

  For example

  No fascinated throng weep, and melt, and tremble at his gate.
  The present life is not wholly prosaic, precise, tame, and finite.
  His direction was that the patient should take a great deal of exercise, that his diet should be
  very carefully attended to, and that everything of an exciting nature should be avoided.

• compound adjective element:

  For example

  Wise and good men are frequently unsuccessful.
  The parting of Hector and Andromache is beautifully described by Homer.
  That faith which is one, which renews and justifies all who possess it, which
  confessions and formularies can never adequately express, is the property of all alike.

• compound objective elements:

  For example

  Behold my mother and my brethren.
  It teaches us to be thankful for all favors received, to love each other,

• abridged clauses united:

  For example

  He found that everything was changed, that strangers inhabited the home of his childhood,
  and that he was alone in the world.

• compound adverbial elements:

  For example

  The boy studied diligently and faithfully.
  With trembling limbs and faltering steps, he departed from his mansion of sorrow.
  When a few more friends have left, a few more hopes deceived, and a few more changes
  mocked us, we shall be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

Subordinate Clause Abridged

Abridged Propositions

A subordinate clause is abridged by dropping its connective and changing the predicate into a participle or an infinitive.

For example

To an American who visits Europe, the long voyage he has to make is an excellent preparative.
To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to make is an excellent preparative.
I am glad that I find you well.
I am glad to find you well.

The participle is employed usually to abridge adjective and adverbial clauses, and the =infinitive and sometimes
the participle is used to abridge substantive clauses.

In many cases the linking verb is dropped and the attribute alone remains, in apposition, or
as an attributive object.

The subject is dropped when it has already been expressed in the principal clause.
Otherwise it must be retained, either in the nominative, the possessive, or the objective case.

Abridged propositions may be divided into two classes:

• participial forms
• infinitive forms

Participial Forms

For example
Subject nominative retained:
When shame is lost, all virtue is lost.
Shame being lost, all virtue is lost.

Predicate nominative retained:
That one should be a servant to the whole public is no easy task.
Being a servant to the whole public is no easy task.

Both retained:
Since, a youth is their leader.
A youth being their leader, what can they do?

Subject changed to the possessive:
I was not aware that he lived in the city.
I was not aware of his living in the city.
Here the full clause and the abridged expression are under the regimen of
aware, or aware of in the principal clause.
Observe, however, that this governing word has no control over his, which
is wholly under the government of living.
The same holds with predicate noun unchanged.

Subject and predicate changed to the objective:
We regarded him as being a good writer.
He entrusted his son to a gentleman named Cedric.
I saw that the chrysalis was becoming a butterfly.
I saw the chrysalis becoming a butterfly.
Here, as in many other cases, there is a difference of meaning between the
two forms.
In this case the usual form for abridgment is the infinitive. In fact, the
participle is equivalent to the: infinitive. The subject is changed to the
objective, and the predicate noun takes the same case.

Subject dropped:
As we were walking by the sea shore, we discerned the light of the burning ship.
Walking by the sea-shore, etc.
When we arrived at the gate, we found the porter asleep.
On arriving at the gate, etc.
Infinitive Forms

Observe, in the full form, that the whole clause is the only object while in the abridged form the subject becomes the direct object, and the predicate, still holding its relation to it as attribute, is the attributive object.

For example

Subject retained in the objective:
We taught them to read.
We wish that you would stay,
We wish you to stay.
Here the subject should be dropped when it is the same as that of the
principal clause.

Predicate noun retained in the nominative:
To be a king is to be a sovereign.
Subject and predicate retained in the objective:
I believed that he was an honest man,
I believed him to be, an honest man.
For him to be such a spendthrift was wholly inexcusable.
The abridged expression, the term of a comparison:
The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself in it.
The bed is shorter than for a man, etc. . . .
Here the subjects are unlike.
My friend was so elated that he forgot, his appointment,—as to forget, &e. The soldiers desired nothing
more than that they might, know where the enemy was,—than to know, &c.
Here the subjects of the two clauses are alike.

An incorporated interrogative sentence:
I knew not what I should do,
I know not what to do.

Discourse is:

• direct when originally uttered as a thought of its author when afterwards quoted by the speaker,
  without change, as the already uttered words of the author.
• indirect when narrated for the author with only such changes as shall make it the adopted language of
  the speaker.

For example

For the following statement:
I will obey your orders.
Its direct quotation forms are
I said, “I will obey your orders.”
You said, “I will obey your orders.”
He said, “I will obey your orders.”
Its indirect quotation forms are
I said that I would obey your orders.
You said that you would obey my orders.
He said that he would obey my orders.
In this last case, instead of my, her, your, his, our, or their might be used to correspond to the party to whom the pledge was made.
The quoted part is used substantively and appears as a substantive clause most commonly in the objective.

All substantive clauses may be divided into those containing:

• a statement or a command

  For example

  Many suppose that the planets are inhabited.
  The captain gave the order, “Shoulder arms.”

• an inquiry

  For example

  Let me ask why you have come.

When quoting a statement of another directly, indicate the quotation by quotation marks. When
quoting indirectly, the quotation marks are omitted and the connective that should be employed.

For example

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
St. John says that God is love.

In quoting an inquiry of another the interrogative may be:

• a direct question without an interrogative word
• an indirect question, with an interrogative pronoun or an adverb for a connective

When a direct or an indirect question is quoted directly, the quoted part should begin with a capital,
or receive the quotation marks, having the question mark at the close.

For example

They inquired, “Will he certainly come?”
He asked, “How long must we wait?”

When a direct question is quoted indirectly, the connective whether or if is used, and the quotation marks are omitted. A period is placed at the close of the sentence.

For example

He asked whether the time had arrived.
He asked if the time had arrived.

When an indirect question is quoted indirectly, the interrogative word becomes the connective,
and the sentence closes with the period, The quoted infomation is not enclosed inside quotation marks.

For example

They asked where we were going to stop.

A quoted passage, whether direct or indirect, may form any of the five elements of the sentence,
except the adverbial.

For example

“Will he do it?” is the question.
The question is, “Will he do it?”
The question, “Will he, do it?” has not yet been answered.

The question mark follows all interrogative clauses when quoted directly and is omitted after all
such clauses when quoted indirectly.

The clause which is generally the leading one may take:

• a prominent position as, “They say that they have bought it.”
• an intermediate position as, “For all that, said the pendulum, it is very dark here.”
• a position wholly subordinate as, “He left, as he told me, before the arrival of the steamer.”

Subordinate Clauses
Elements joined by a Subordinate Connective

The subject of a clause may itself be a substantive clause.

The predicate may consist of a linking verb and a substantive clause as its predicate nominative.

For example

My desire is that the difficulty may be adjusted.
Our hope is that an entire change of his habits may restore his health.
His objection was that the requisite means could not be easily obtained.

A complete or complex subject or predicate may be formed by joining to the simple subject:

• several single adjective words
• adjective phrases
• adjectival clauses

Any of these may be first joined to each other forming a complex adjective element that may be united to
the subject.

The complete or complex subject may be formed by joining an adjective clause to the simple subject.
At the same time, the simple subject may be limited by single modifiers word or phrase modifiers.

The complete or complex predicate may be formed by joining to the simple predicate an objective or
an adverbial clause.

Modifying words or phrases may be employed besides the limiting clause, and they may be
joined directly to the simple predicate, or to each other, forming complex elements.

For example

I at first believed that all these objects existed within me.
During this moment of darkness I imagined that I had lost the greatest part of my being.
By this exercise I soon learned that the faculty of feeling was expanded over every part of my frame
He closed his career before he had completed his thirty-sixth year.
Place the package where it will not be injured.
Had he reformed, I would have assisted him, as I encouraged him to hope.
If such be the character of the youthful mind, am I to ask you what must be the appearances of riper years?
When the farmer came down to breakfast, he declared that his watch had gained half an hour in the night.
The views which we have now unfolded show that a vigorous action of the mind is dependent upon a healthful
condition of the physical functions.