too much. The chief object of
this chart is to show children that
there are different kinds of words.
It would be foolish to bring out
all the parts of speech at once.
Here are nouns, verbs, pronouns,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,
and conjunctions. Don't bewilder
the child with all of them. Let your chief work be with the noun,
or na?ne-7uord, and the verb, or actioji-word. With older classes,
something may be hinted of the other kinds of words ; but it is
always better to make the start very gradual and easy.
We have a very simple series of exercises :
A pleasing picture, with two or three sentences to be read.A little work in finding words in the given table, and using
them in a written exercise.
The requirement of some talk about the picture in answer to
questions, and of writing what has been said.
Some questions and practice in review of what has been learned.
The teacher will find in the panel toward the right some hints
toward instruction in the parts of speech.
They will naturally develop about as follows :
What objects or things do you see in this picture ? (A girl, a
swing, a tree, a leaf.)
Find on this chart the words that are names of two of these
objects. (Girl, swing.)
What two words tell what the girl and the swing do ? (Goes,
comes.)
We here have two kinds of words, those that are names and
those that tell the actions of the things named.
We will call the first kind of words Nafne-words, and the second
kind Action-words.
Remember, name-words ; action-words.
There are other kinds of words here ; some that tell the kind
of girl, or hoiv the swing goes ; but we will now just be
sure that we know these two kinds. Write them on your
slate, each kind by itself :
girl goes
swing comes
Why are girl and swi?ig called name-words ? (Because they
are used to name objects.)
And why are goes and comes called action-words?(Because they
are used to name objects.)
And why are goes and comes called action-words? (Because
they are used to tell what the girl and the swing do.)
Then words are parted or grouped according to their use.
Sometimes a word may be used in one place as a nameword,
and in another as an action-word. I will write two
sentences upon the blackboard :
I see the swing.
The girl can swing.
In the first sentence, the word swing is a name-word. It is
used to name the object which I see. In the secondsenPRIMARY
LANGUAGE CHARTS
tence, swing is an action-word. It is used to tell what the
girl can do. You see, it is the use of a word that tells
what kind of a word it is.
Words can be tised also to describe things, to take the place of
the names of things, to connect other words, and in several
other ways. Altogether there are eight different uses
to which words can be put in speaking or writing. We
shall learn of all these very soon.
In the written exercise the proper copying will show the use
of the initial capitals and of two of the terminal marks. These
may be copied mechanically, or, in the option of the teacher, the
reasons for their use may be given.
The things that are said about the picture should take the
form of complete statements. The writing of what has been said
should be properly capitalized and punctuated.
Additional exercises will suggest themselves for older classes.
The little girl's name is begun with a capital letter. Why ?
In the second sentence of the reading lesson we should commonly say, " She
goes up," " She comes down ;
" but the expressions, when inverted, as in this
case, are brijjhter and stronger. Hence, too, the peculiar terminal mark.
Now test the acquirement of the class by asking
—
(i) how many name-words can be found on the chart ;
(2) how many action-words.
Taking as a lext the pair of nouns and the pair of verbs as set out at the top
of the chart, give an oral lesson upon
—
(i) the name of the thing talked about ;
(2) the word that chiefly talks about it ; and
(3) the natural (prose) order of noun and verb in our language.
Call for work with pen or pencil at every turn. Let us keep in mind that
we are trying to develop the faculty of written expression
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