Never amuse yourself in reading bad books. You can 17-2 never spend your time better than in reading and studying passer, v. the history of your own country.-Learn to speak well; but, above all, to speak the truth.-That science, which dire, v. teaches us to see things as they are, is highly worthy of being cultivated. A good man always takes pleasure in obliging his friends.-Does your master teach you how to translate English into French ?-Do you begin to translate French well?-Why did you not oblige him to pay you what he owes you ?-Why do you not (get ready) to set s'apprêter, v. out with us?—I love to discourse with polite and sensible s'entretenir, v. people. gens. éclairés 11. For the sake of euphony, the French verbs corresponding to the following, to begin, to continue, to constrain, to engage, to exhort, to compel or force, to endeavour, to oblige, may be followed by de or à as most agreeable to the ear. 12. To, after the adverbs enough, on purpose, too, too much, or less, is rendered by pour. 13. Whenever in order to can be substituted for the English preposition to, this preposition must be rendered by pour. EXERCISES. I will do (every thing) in my power to please him. tout Good rules are useless, if the attention, industry, and assiduité, f. patience of the scholar be not put into practice to learn sont 1 them. - Mrs. B. has too much pride to confess she (is in the wrong).-To understand geography well, we avoir tort must have a clear idea of the globe. I assure you that I came on purpose to see you.-The wicked live to die, but tout exprès the righteous die to live. She has vanity enough to believe tell her. What makes the misfortunes of kings, (is not to have) friends bold enough to tell them the truth. c'est qu'ils n'ont pas I wrote to you some time ago, to let you know, that faire, v. your brothers were arrived.-He promised me that he would do every thing to deserve the honour of your protection.I sent yesterday my servant to your aunt's, to desire her to send me back again the book I lent her a month ago; but she was not at home.-We did to pass the river, but could all that we could faire, v. ce que nous pûmes not (accomplish it).—Why en venir à bout, v. did you not punish her for having done what you (forbade) avez défendu her to do?-A man should live a century at least to know the world, and many other centuries (to know how to) encore apprendre à make a proper use of that knowledge. bon connaissance. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PREPOSITIONS en, duns, AND à, IN or AT. En expresses a vague and indeterminate sense. Ex. EN tous temps, EN tous lieux le At all times, in all places, the public est injuste ; public are unjust. Dans expresses a precise and determinate sense, and conveys to the mind the idea of within; it means that the object spoken of is contained within another. Ex. Ma sœur est dans sa chambre; my sister is in her room. The preposition à expresses also a precise sense, and points out the situation of the object spoken of. Ex. Ils sont à la promenade ; they are out walking. Observations.-1st. It often happens that the mind of him who speaks embraces at once the idea attached to within, as well as to the situation of the object spoken of; and in such cases dans and à may be indifferently used. Ex. Il est dans le jardin, or il est au jardin; Le cheval est dans l'écurie, or à l'écurie ; he is in the garden. the horse is in the stable. 2nd. En points out the duration, the length of time; as, in an hour; in a short time; and answers this question: in what time? in what length of time? Ex. Il fera le voyage en trois jours; he will accomplish the journey in three days. Dans points out the period at which an event will take place; it answers this question-When? Ex. Il arrivera dans trois jours ; he will arrive three days hence. 3rd. The three following modes of speaking claim some attention : Etre en ville; être dans la ville; être à la ville. To say of Mrs. B., who lives in town, elle est en ville, is equivalent to this: elle n'est pas chez elle, she is not at home. To say, Mrs. B. est dans la ville, means that she is somewhere within the town. To say that she is à la ville, implies that she is residing in town. Etre en campagne; être à la campagne. Etre en campagne means (speaking of troops) that they have taken the field. Etre en campagne means also that we are travelling. Etre à la campagne implies that we live in the country. Ex. Most of the conjunctions are adverbs and prepositions, but always attended by de or que. They have been divided into copulative, comparative, disjunctive, adversative, casual, dubitative, exceptive, conditional, continuative, conclusive, &c. Instead of following this arrangement, it will be of more importance for the scholar to understand, that dif ferent conjunctions govern the following verb in different moods. Some govern it in the indicative, and others in the subjunctive. Puisque, since. D'où vient que, how comes it to pass that? why? Lorsque, when. Quand, Mais, but Outre que, beside that. A peine que, hardly, scarcely, but, or when. Pendant que, Tandis que, } while. Peut-être que, perhaps. Quand, though (govern the conditional). *This conjunction, when beginning a sentence, is always rendered by mais. In the middle of a sentence, when it means only, the word but is always rendered by ne before the verb, and que after it. Ex. Je n'ai parlé à votre frère que deux I have spoken to your brother but fois; twice. |