1. The preposition and its object, dependent on a verb, noun, or adjective, are called the indirect object of the verb, noun, or adjective

11. A verb agrees with its subject, in person and number; that is, the termination of the verb is so varied as to indicate whether its subject is of the first, second, or third person, and whether it is singular or plural.

12. A verb has modes and tenses.

13. Mode is the manner in which the action or being is represented by the verb.

14. By tense is meant the time to which the verb refers the action, whether past, present, or future.

15. Mode and Tense are indicated by modifications in the form of the verb.

Modes.

16. A French verb has five modes: the infinitive, the indicative, the conditional, the imperative, and the subjunctive.

17. The infinitive expresses the action without reference to person or number; as, to write.

18. The indicative expresses the action in an absolute manner; as I write, I have written, I shall write.

19. The conditional expresses the action conditionally; as, I woula write, if I had time.

20. The imperative expresses command or exhortation; as, write. 21. The subjunctive expresses the action in a subordinate and dependent manner; as, I wish that you would write.

Tenses.

22. Tenses are simple or compound; simple, when they are expressed by the verb alone; as, I write: compound, when they are formed with an auxiliary; as, I have written.

23. Each simple tense has its corresponding compound tense, which is formed of the simple tense of the auxiliary verb and the past participle of the principal verb; thus, I have, is a simple tense, and I have had, the compound tense which corresponds with it.

24. Compound tenses always express completed action.

25. The infinitive mode has two tenses, a simple and a compound It comprises also the participles, present, past, and compound 36. The indicative mode has eight tenses.

30. Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections are w variable words; that is, their forms are not varied to indicate gender number, etc. They are sometimes called particles.

III.-SENTENCES.

1. A sentence is an assemblage of words making complete sense 2. Every sentence consists of two parts: the subject and the prod Icate.

3. The subject is that concerning which something is said. 4. The predicate is that which is said concerning the subject.

5. A sentence is either (1) affirmative, (2) negative, (3) interroga tive, or (4) negative and interrogative.

6. The rules which regulate the construction of sentences form that part of grammar which is called SYNTAX. They are comprised under the heads of Government, Agreement, and Position.

7. Government is the power which one word has over another, in requiring it to assume certain modifications, in order to express the relation in which the dependent word stands to the governing word. 8. Agreement is the correspondence of one word with another, in gender, number, and person.

9. Position, or Collocation, is the placing of the words in a sen tence, in the order required by their mutual relations.

10. In the sentence, Henry is writing a letter to his father (Henry, subject; is writing a letter to his father, predicate), the above three principles of syntax are illustrated in the following manner:

a. Government.-The subject Henry governs the verb is writing in the third person singular; the verb is writing governs the noun letter, directly, and the noun father, indirectly.

b. Agreement.-The verb is writing is in the third person singu lar, to agree with its subject, Henry.

c. Position.-In a declarative sentence, either affirmative or nega tive, the subject stands first, then the verb, next the noun which is the direct object, and then the noun which is the indirect object of the verb.

REM.-This is the natural or logical order in which the ideas present themselves to the mind: first, the thing about which we wish to say something; then the state or action which we wish to affirm of it, next the object, and lastly, the remote object of that action,

A KEY TO THE ENGLISH EXERCISES.

A Key to the English Exercises contained in this Grammar, with notes and references to the Grammar, has been prepared by the author. He recommends the use of it to students in the following manner: They should first prepare a written translation of the exercise, then compare it with the Key, and correct whatever mistakes they may find. If they do not understand the reason for the correction they should read the rules in the lesson, or ask their teacher for explanation.

NOUN.

1.

FIRST LESSON.

ARTICLE. -PERSONAL PRONOUNS AS SUBJECTS.-
AVOIR, TO HAVE; PRESENT TENSE.

Noun,

1. There are two genders, the masculine and the femi nine.

2. The gender of nouns denoting living things is determined by nature. The gender of nouns denoting inanimate objects is chiefly regulated by custom.

1. There is only one article,* the equivalent of the, which is le for the masculine, and la for the feminine; as:

Le pain, the bread;

Le fruit, the fruit;

La viande, the meat;
La pomme, the apple.

2. The vowel of the article is elided before another vowel, and before a silent h,f as:

*F

the English indefinite article, see Numeral Adjectives (18).

+ There are some French words beginning with the letter h, before which no elision takes place. The h is then called aspirate (INTROD. p. xv.), although it is not heard in the pronunciation. Words of this kind occurring in these lessons, will be known by the form of the article.