INVERTED SENTENCES

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there is an object; as, "A very heavy rain flooded the valley."

3

Sometimes, however, we find a sentence in which this order is inverted; then the object or the predicate verb may come before the subject; as, "There is a burglar in the house." Here the predicate verb is comes before the subject burglar.

In interrogative sentences the object sometimes comes first; as, "What do you want?" "Whom did you invite?"

Select the subject substantive, the predicate verb, and the object of the verb in each of the following

sentences:

1. Half to his guest he gave.

2. Which place shall I take?
3. What did he say?

4. Yourself you must first control.
5. Whom do you fear?

6. What did you see?

7. This book I found on my desk.

Select the subject substantive and the predicate verb in each of the following sentences:

1. There goes the band.

2. On soft cushions sat the king.
3. Softly falls the snow.

4. Oft to his frozen lair

Tracked I the grisly bear. 5. Under its loosened vest

Fluttered her little breast. 6. Loud sang the minstrels.

An Argument

Divide the class into sides to discuss some question of interest to your school or to the community. If you cannot decide on a subject, one of the following may be selected:

1. It is easier to speak than to listen.

2. It is better to be born rich than poor.

3. Geography is a more important study than arithmetic.

4. It is sometimes right for a boy to fight.

Remember that it is necessary to listen to what the other side says so that you can answer its argument. This is where you need to be intelligent listeners.

INTELLIGENT READING

Finding the Main Thought

In reading, as in listening, you must find the main thought of each paragraph. This, as you know, is expressed in a topic sentence. All the rest of the paragraph should grow out of and explain or expand the topic sentence.

Read the following paragraphs to find the main thought of each. Express the main thought in one sentence.

Each one of us should be a working member of some community. We should be quite as much interested in finding out what we can do for the community as in learning what it can do for us. Communities are sure to make the greatest progress when all the people are working together and each is doing his part.

FINDING THE MAIN THOUGHT

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We cannot do our part intelligently unless we know something about our community. We must find out what it has done, what it is trying to do, and what its relation is to other communities. We must also know how it may profit by following what other communities have done to make living together more agreeable and profitable.

FINCH-Everyday Civics1

The picture The Song of the Lark makes me feel the freshness of early morning in summer. The dew is still on the daisies. It must feel cold on the feet of the barefooted girl. As the sun rises it touches each little dewdrop and makes it glisten like a pearl. A sweetness rises from the dewy earth. The world is still, as if listening. Then the song of the lark breaks the silence. It is the voice of the morning.

She learned what heavy housework was, the disagreeable duties of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, wearing off her rosy nails on the greasy kettles and the bottoms of the pans. She washed the soiled linen, the shirts and all the rougher things, which she dried on a line; every morning she carried the garbage down to the street, and brought up the water, stopping to regain her breath on every landing. And, dressed like a woman of the people, she went to the fruit shop, the grocery, the meat shop, with her basket on her arm, bargaining, insulted, fighting penny by penny with her wretched

money.

Translated from GUY DE MAUPASSANT'S The Necklace

1 By permission of the American Book Company, Publishers.

As we traveled down the river we noticed that whenever another stream flowed into the river a shoal or an island was formed. The first time our attention was attracted to this fact was when we passed the mouth of Elk River. A long rocky shoal extended for a distance of several hundred yards down the Kanawha River. Here the water ran so swiftly that a boat had difficulty in coming upstream. Then again where Two-Mile Creek joined the river there was a large island. Farther down stream, at the mouth of Poca River, we saw another island.

We began to wonder what made these islands and shoals. We asked the captain of the boat, and he said that he supposed God put them there. We did not doubt that, but we wondered why God put them at the mouth of streams. Our minds began to work. What happened to a stream when it joined another stream? We began to notice carefully each stream we passed. It seemed to us that the current of the incoming stream was checked as it met the river. We recalled that when muddy water stands still it drops its mud to the bottom. Was that what happened to the streams that entered the river? We decided that it must be so; that as the current of the stream was checked, the mud and small stones were dropped. As these accumulated they grew into islands or shoals.

As you give the thought of each paragraph, stand up and address the class. Speak distinctly.

From your geography, history, or some other book select a paragraph to read aloud to the class. After you have read it, give its topic sentence.

LEARNING TO READ RAPIDLY

Learning to Read Rapidly 1

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You should now be able to read more rapidly than you did in the lower grades. Both the eye and the mind can be trained to seize quickly the main thought of what you read. Read silently the following anecdote as quickly as you can. Look at the watch exactly when you begin and again at the instant you finish. Notice the number of minutes and seconds it takes you to read the anecdote. When you have finished, try to tell it in your own words. If you can read it rapidly and tell it when you have finished, you are a good reader. A reasonable time for the reading is about forty-five seconds. If it takes you more than a minute to read it, you read too slowly, and should try to increase your reading rate. You can do this by practice. At the end of a week read this paragraph again and see if you can read it more quickly.

When Benjamin Franklin stopped at the Van Cortlandt house on his way down from Canada during the Revolutionary War, young Pierre came into the room where Dr. Franklin and Mrs. Van Cortlandt were conversing. He handed something to his mother.

"My boy, is that all you could find?" she asked. "You seem disappointed, madam," said Franklin. "What has the boy brought you?"

'Prickly pear thorns," she replied. "We won't use pins. They are made in England."

1 A Scale for the Measurement of Silent Reading prepared by Dr. May Ayres Burgess is published by the Russell Sage Foundation Publication Department, 130 East 22d Street, New York, N. Y.