EXERCISE CLXI. One of the nine Muses is called Terpsichore.-It was in Ce ind-3 année f. f. s'appeler paix f. the thirty-first year after the peace, that war (broke out again). se rallumer ind-3 William, surnamed the Conqueror, king of England and Guillaume, surnommé Conquérant duke of Normandy, was one of the greatest generals of the ind-3 eleventh century. Of ten thousand combatants, there were siècle m. Sur combattant il y EN eut one thousand killed, and five hundred wounded.-The admiral blessé § V. ADJECTIVES OF DIMENSION. Adjectives of dimension, such as haut, high; long, long; large, wide or broad; épais, thick; profond, deep, which come after the word of measure in English, come before it in French, and are followed by the preposition de; as, Un mur haut DE sept pieds. Une chambre longue DE vingt pieds. A wall seven feet high. Another construction, frequently used, is to let the words remain in French as in English, and to put de both before the number and before the word of measure or dimension. In this case, the substantive of dimension is often used instead of the adjective; as, Un mur DE sept pieds DE haut, or DE hauteur. Une chambre DE vingt pieds A wall seven feet high. A room twenty feet long. The English manner of expressing dimension is to use the verb to be; but the French, in general, make use of the verb avoir. In this case, de is left out before the number, and the phrase is rendered thus: EXERCISE CLXII. The walls of Babylon were two hundred feet high and fifty Babylone avaient broad. The great wall, on the north of China, is about largeur muraille f. à Chine f. a environ twelve hundred miles long.—The highest of the pyramids of pyramide f. Egypt is, at least, five hundred feet high.-The Monument of a au moins + m. London is a round pillar two hundred feet high.—The Tiber ‡rond pilier m. is three hundred feet wide at Rome.-The famous mine of Potosi, in Peru, is more than fifteen hundred feet deep. · f. profondeur § VI. ADJECTIVES IN THE COMPARATIVE DEGREE. 1. By, after a comparative, is expressed by DE; as, Il est plus grand DE deux pouces. | He is taller BY two inches. 2. In English, when the adverbs more and less are repeated to express a comparison, they are preceded by the article; as, THE MORE difficult a thing is, THE MORE glorious it is to do it well. But, in French, the article is suppressed; as, PLUS une chose est difficile. PLUS il est glorieux de la bien faire. § VII. ADJECTIVES IN THE SUPERLATIVE DEGREE. 1. An adjective in the superlative degree governs the preposition DE; as, Le plus grand empire DU The greatest empire in the † See Rem. on Cent, page 28. See Rule IV., page 218. 2. When the substantive precedes the superlative, both take the article before them; but the substantive takes no article, if the superlative goes first; as, Les gens les plus habiles. The ablest men. 3. The article placed before plus and moins preceding an adjective, is always invariable, when there is no comparison; as, La lune ne nous éclaire pas autant que le soleil, même quand elle est LE PLUS brillante, The moon does not light us so much as the sun, even when it shines brightest. But the article takes gender and number, when there is a comparison; as, La lune est LA PLUS brillante de toutes les planètes, The moon is the most brilliant of all the planets. EXERCISE CLXIII. She is taller than her sister by the whole head.-The more 2 1tout tête f. one reads La Fontaine, the more one admires him.- Seneca оп 2 1 réservoir m. Sénèque was the richest man in the empire. The highest mountains ind-2 montagne f. are the reservoirs (from which) issue the largest rivers. d'où sortir grand fleuve m. Those whom I have always seen most struck with the writings Ceux frapper de écrit m. of Homer, Virgil, Horace, Cicero, are minds que vus of the first des esprit m. order. Although the Chinese boast of being the most ancient Chinois se vanter Quoique inf-1 nation, they are far from being the most enlightened. 2 -f. loin inf-1 † See Note to Rule VII., page 191. éclairé. CHAPTER IV. OF PRONOUNS. § I. OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS. THE Personal Pronouns, whether subjects or objects, are placed before the verb in simple tenses, and before the auxiliary in compound tenses; except, 1st, When the pronouns take a preposition before them in French; 2dly, In interrogative sentences; 3dly, When the verb is in the imperative affirmative (the third persons excepted). Such is the general principle of the position of personal pronouns, which will be fully developed in this chapter. (See what has already been stated on this subject, page 32.) OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS AS SUBJECTS. I. The personal pronouns, I, thou, he or it, she or it, we, you, they, are expressed in French by je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils m., elles f., when they are the subjects or nominatives of the verb; as, Je parle, I speak; il chante, Elle danse, she dances; II. I, thou, he, they m. are rendered by moi, toi, lui, eux : 1st, When used in answer to a question; as, 2d, When joined to a noun or pronoun by a conjunction, or when a verb has two or more pronouns as subjects; as, Mon frère et moi. Lui et moi. Vous, lui, et moi, nous irons. My brotner and I. He and I. You, he, and I will go. 3d, When they come after a comparative; as, Il est plus riche que lui, qu'eux et moi. | He is richer than he, they and I. 4th, When followed by the relatives qui, que, the adjective seul, or a present participle; as, Moi QUI suis son fils. tort. I who am his son. They whom I loved so much. 5th, When they mark opposition or distinction, or point out the part taken in an action by different persons; as, Eux l'ont relevé, et LUI l'a They raised him up, and he pansé. 6th, When coming after these expressions, It is, it was, it will be, it would be, or similar ones, whether in the affirmative, negative, or interrogative; as, tall ind-4 le dernier fem. country. Who read last? -He.- I am not so campagne f. si grand as your sister, but she is older than I. -They alone have que âgé seul fought the enemy; they alone deserve to be rewarded. combattre He, perceiving s'apercevoir de mériter d' récompensé their intentions, gave up his project. abandonner projet m. Your uncles and your brother take charge of the enterprise; se charger they find the money, and he will manage fournir fonds pl. conduire ind-7 Was it he that was singing ?—No, it was I. ind-2 ce † Most words ending in ion are alike in both languages. See Observations, page 30; also Remarks on Genders, page 5. |