Grammar: Objective Elements

An object in a sentence is a word or a group of words which completes the meaning of an action verb by receiving the action.

There's more to it than this, but for now, it can't hurt to know that

only action verbs take objects.

Objective Elements

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

I loved.

Add a word naming what you loved. What is the verb in this sentence?

Pamela told me.

What is the subject? What is the verb? What word completes the meaning of the verb, by receiving the action?

1. An objective element 

is a word or a group of words which completes the meaning of an action verb by naming what receives the action expressed by the verb.

subject + verb + who? OR what?

To identify an object completing an action, repeat the subject and verb, and then ask who? or what?  

I loved who? I loved what?

I loved you.

Pamela told who? Pamela told what?

Pamela told me.

2. One way to analyze a sentence is to draw a picture of it.

a. In the following diagrams,

the subject, the predicate, and the copula of each principal proposition are placed above a horizontal base line.

The subject is separated from the predicate or from the copula by a vertical line drawn across this base line.

The copula is separated from the predicate by a colon.

My car is outside.	This is goodbye.	The man turned.
My car │ is : outside	This │ is : goodbye	The man │ turned

Remember that

only action verbs take objects.

“Outside” and “goodbye” in the diagrammed sentences above are describing and renaming elements. They are not objects, because objective elements only follow action verbs and must answer the question who? or what?

b. To diagram a direct object,

The object and the term which it modifies are separated by a vertical line drawn to the horizontal line below them.

I wanted no puppet.

I │ wanted | no puppet

Exercises

1. Write ten sentences, each containing an objective element.

Ex. — Indians hunted buffaloes.
 

2. Analyze the sentences you have written, using this model: —

Children love play.

“Children” is the subject (why?); “love play” the predicate (why?); the action verb “love” is modified by “play,” an objective element.

3. Analyze also the following sentences by speaking of each element, then diagram them: —

Ex. — Clouds bring rain.

The noun “clouds” is the subject because it is that which is spoken about; “bring rain,” the predicate because it is what is being said about the subject; the action verb “bring” is modified by “rain,” an objective element.

Clouds │ bring | rain

1. Heat melts lead.
2. Men love money.
3. I study botany.
4. Haste makes waste.
5. Cats catch mice.
6. Mr. Jones sells cars.

4. Select the subjects, the copulas, the predicates and the objects from the following sentences. Select also the nouns and verbs, telling how each is used. 

1. Mind is the great lever of all things.
2. Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint.
3. The whole life of man is but a point of time.
4. Birds in their little nests agree.
5. Six feet of earth make all men equal.
6. A man without hope is of no good use to the world.
7. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
8. The truth shall make you free.
9. He was a burning and a shining light.
10. The laborer is worthy of his hire.
11. A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house.
12. Man shall not live by bread alone.
13. The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator.
14. The days of peace and slumberous calm are fled.
15. The rich man’s son inherits land, and piles of brick and stone, and gold.
16. The sound of the war whoop broke the stillness of the night.

Did I tell you?

Only action verbs take objects.

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Grammar: Pronouns

A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun; as, “He saw me shoot,” and “Who's this guy with you?”

Pronouns

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

I gave him my book, and he studied his lesson.

In this sentence, “I” and “my” are used instead of the name of the person speaking, and “him,” “his,” and “he,” instead of the name of the one to whom the book was given.

Who has the book which you were reading?

In this sentence “who”is used instead of the name of the person inquired for; “which,” instead of the word ”book”; and “you,” instead of the name of a person addressed. Each of these words is called a pronoun, which means instead of a noun.

Exercise

Point out the nouns, pronouns, and verbs in the following sentences:

1. I do not know where you live.

2. Who gave her that pencil?

3. She came from home an hour ago.

4. What have you there, my son?

5. Their house is much larger than our uncle’s.

6. Your father is her mother’s brother.

7. Whose farm is for sale in your neighborhood?

8. My cousin’s farm is for sale.

9. His wife died last week.

10. He wishes a purchaser at once.

11. Who cares for his children?

12. Their mother’s sister has them.

Composition

1. Copy the following formal invitation to dinner:

Mr. Harold C. Glover requests the pleasure of Ms. Jasmine Johnson’s company at dinner on Tuesday evening, January the twenty-fifth, at half after six o’clock.

 215 Poplar Avenue

2. Have fun:

Write in the same form an invitation to one of your friends, to a five o’clock tea. Be careful of the capitals and punctuation. 

3. Copy the following formal acceptance to dinner:

Ms. Jasmine Johnson accepts with pleasure Mr. Harold C. Glover’s kind invitation for dinner Tuesday evening, January the twenty-fifth, at half after six o’clock.

35 Howard Street

4. Have fun:

Write a formal note regretting your inability to accept the invitation to dinner.

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Grammar: Nouns and Verbs

Webster tells us that to “affirm” something (from the Latin ad + firmo, meaning “to make firm”) is to tell with confidence, to establish, to assert positively,  to declare the existence of something, to maintain as true. 

A predicate “affirms” something about its subject; it tells us “with confidence” that the subject has a certain quality or characteristic.

Nouns and verbs

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

1. All words used as the names of objects are nouns. 

The man gave the boy a book, a sled, and a knife.

In this sentence the words “man,” “boy,” “book,” “sled,” and “knife” are names of objects. They are called nouns, which means names. 

2. A noun is a name; as, bird, Mary, light.

Point out the nouns in the following sentences: —

1. The horses are in the pasture.
2. A needle has a sharp point.
3. The clouds rested on the summit of the mountain.
4. The boys got into the boat and rowed into the middle of the stream.
5. The king was overtaken by a shower a short distance from the avenue that surrounded the city.
6. Henry and Oliver are living with Mr. Fields, their uncle.
7. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.

3. A predicate affirms (confidently asserts something about) its subject.

Boys learn.

What is the predicate? What word affirms?

Girls are inquisitive.

What word affirms?

4. Some predicate words are used to affirm the action, being, or state of their subjects. They are called verbs. 

Horses run.

In this sentence “run” expresses action.

I am.

In this sentence “am” expresses being.

The boy sleeps.

In this sentence “sleeps” expresses state or condition.

The boy is running.

What word affirms? What word expresses action? The two words “is running ” are taken together as a verb, expressing action and affirming it.

A verb is a word that expresses action, being, or state; as, “Mary plays.” “I am.” “The house stands.”

Write sentences, using the following verbs as predicates: —

Walk, sing, whistle, swim, wrestle, play, write, study, plow, reap, drive, neigh, cackle, whine, snarl, gobble, quarrel, fight, is running, was walking, has cackled, shall talk, may cry, can gobble, shall be crying.

Exercise:

Point out the nouns and verbs in the following sentences: —

1. The farmer plows in the spring and fall.
2. Their father gave them money.
3. The great tears sprang to their eyes.
4. They followed the cattle home.
5. The landlord answered his question.
6. He ordered him to go.
7. The pupils who had passed a good examination went home with joyful hearts.

Composition:

Select the nouns and verbs from the following selection from Rasselas, by Dr. Samuel Johnson.

The Beautiful Valley

1. The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits overhang the middle part.

2. The only passage by which it could be entered was a cavern that passed under a rock, of which it has long been disputed whether it was the work of nature or of human industry. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of ancient days, so massy that no man could without the help of engines open or shut them.

3. From the mountains on every side rivulets descended that filled all the valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a lake in the middle inhabited by fish of every species, and frequented by every fowl whom Nature has taught to dip the wing in water. This lake discharged its superfluities by a stream which entered a dark cleft of the mountain on the northern side, and fell with dreadful noise from precipice to precipice till it was heard no more.

4. The sides of the mountains were covered with trees, the banks of the brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices from the rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the ground. All animals that bite the grass or browse the shrub, whether wild or tame, wandered in this extensive circuit, secured from beasts of prey by the mountains which confined them. On one part were flocks and herds feeding in the pastures, on another, all beasts of chase frisking in the lawns; the sprightly kid was bounding on the rocks, the subtle monkey frolicking among the trees, and the solemn elephant reposing in the shade. All the diversities of the world were brought together, the blessings of nature were collected, and its evils extracted and excluded.

— Dr. Samuel Johnson.

The following topics are addressed in the description above: —

1. The position.

2. The entrance.

3. How watered.

4. Life.

a. vegetable.

b. animal.

c. character of.

Write from these topics a composition of your own on “A Beautiful Scene,” or use the above Albert Bierstadt painting of Yosemite as a reference when writing on the topics given.






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