Practical Exercises in English Part 32

16. He is ---- to die of hunger.

17. He will ---- die of hunger.

18. It seems ---- that he will be elected.

19. ---- he will be elected.

20. j.a.pan will ---- defeat China..

21. If a man does not care for himself, it is not ---- that he will care much for others.

22. They are as ---- as two peas.

23. Tell me who is married, and who is ---- to be.

24. This is a ---- story.

25. As ---- as not you love her yourself.

LESS, FEWER, SMALLER.

26. A proper fraction is ---- than a unit, because it expresses ---- parts than a unit contains.

27. I caught seven fish; Carl caught a ---- number.

28. Look for no ---- punishment than death.

29. I saw not ---- than twenty beggars to-day.

30. Rebellion is sometimes a ---- evil than endurance.

31. Not ---- than twelve banks in New York failed to-day.

32. We have ---- than a half a ton of coal left.

33. People who live in the country have ---- things to talk about than city people.

34. He received ---- good than he conferred.

35. I have ---- books than you.

36. There were ---- people there than I expected.

MOST, ALMOST.

37. I have ---- finished my lesson.

38. You will find me in my office ---- any day.

39. ---- men dread death.

40. We come here ---- every summer.

41. We have ---- done.

42. This wheat is ---- too thick.

43. Though I saw ---- everything else, I failed to see Hagenbeck's trained animals.

44. ---- everybody has imperfect eyes.

45. The old man's strength is ---- gone.

46. ---- boys like play.

47. It rains in some places ---- every day.

48. ---- all flowers are beautiful.

NEAR, NEARLY.

49. It isn't ---- finished yet.

50. We are ---- the end of the lesson.

51. I am ---- suffocated.

52. We are not ---- through our work.

53. He is not ---- so young as I.

54. I will answer you as ---- as I can remember.

55. We are ---- the end of the term; our school-days are ---- over.

56. Mr. Patterson came very ---- breaking the greatest record ever made in America.

SOME, SOMEWHAT, SOMETHING.

57. Thank you, I feel ---- better this morning.

58. ---- attempted, ---- done, has earned a night's repose.

59. He resembles his father ----.

60. She felt ---- encouraged by this (these) news.

61. ---- evil beast hath devoured him.

62. He knows ---- of Arabic.

63. We came back ---- sooner than we intended.

64. If a man thinketh himself to be ---- when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

65. Dorothy looks ---- like her mother.

66. Yes, I'm ---- frightened, I admit.

67. It provoked me ----.

68. A widow, ---- old, and very poor.

THIS, THESE; THAT, THOSE.

69. You will always see ---- kind of man lounging in front of taverns.

70. Take up ---- ashes.

71. ---- pile of clothes is (are) to be carried to the laundry.

72. ---- kind of tree is (are) common in Pennsylvania.

73. ---- bra.s.s tongs cost three dollars.

74. ---- cla.s.s will be graduated in June.

75. In New England there is not one country-house in fifty which has not its walls ornamented with half a score of poems of ---- sort.

76. How do you like ---- style of shoe?

77. Do you like ---- sort of pen?

78. ---- sort of person is always entertaining.

79. Look at ---- a.s.sortment of knives.

80. Beware of ---- kind of dog.

81. Problems of ---- sort are very easy to solve.

82. Young ladies should let ---- sort of thing alone.

FIRST, SECOND, SECONDLY, ETC.

83. I shall ---- show why we should wors.h.i.+p G.o.d, and ---- explain how we should wors.h.i.+p him.

84. Adam was formed ----, then Eve.

85. Let us consider ---- what the young ruler desired; ---- what he had; ---- what he lacked.

86. My ---- proposition is that the measure is unnecessary; my ---- that it is unjust; my ---- that it is unconst.i.tutional.

87. I will not lie; I will die ----.

88. I like the old English ballads because, ----, they are very quaint; ----, they show the derivations of many of our words; and, ----, they show different steps which our language has taken in becoming what it is.

ADJECTIVE or ADVERB.[112]--Illiterate persons often forget that adjectives go with nouns and p.r.o.nouns, but adverbs with verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Even cultivated persons are sometimes in doubt whether to use an adjective or an adverb after certain verbs, as "grow," "look," "sound,"

"smell," "taste." If the added word applies to the subject of the verb, it should be an adjective; if to the verb, it should be an adverb. We say "We feel _warm_" when we mean that we are warm; we say "We feel _warmly_ on this subject," when we mean that our feeling is warm. "As a rule, it is proper to use an adjective whenever some form of the verb 'to be' or 'to seem' may be subst.i.tuted for the verb, an adverb when no such subst.i.tution can be made."[113] Thus, "He looked _angry_; he spoke _angrily_." Sometimes we may use either adjective or adverb with no difference in meaning: as, "We were sitting _quiet_ (_quietly_) round the fire."

Regarding the _form_ of adverbs, ill-taught pupils often suppose that all words ending in "-ly" are adverbs, and that all adverbs end in "-ly." A glance at the italicized words in the following expressions will remove this delusion: "Come _here_;" "_very_ pretty;" "he _then_ rose;" "lay it _lengthwise_;" "he fell _backward_;" "run _fast_;" "_now_ it is done;" "a _friendly_ Indian;" "a buzzing _fly_." Though no comprehensive rule can be given for the form of adverbs, which must be learned for the most part by observation, it may be helpful to know that most "adjectives of quality,"

like _gentle, true,_ take the suffix "-ly" to make a corresponding adverb; and that the comparative and superlative degrees of adverbs ending in "-ly" usually prefix _more_ and _most_.

[112] "Foundations," pp. 120-128.

[113] Ibid., p. 121.

EXERCISE LXIV.

1. Write _careful (carefully)_.

2. His teacher spoke _cold (coldly)_ to him after she found he had acted _dishonorable (dishonorably)_.