French composition and grammar review

Preface

This book has been written to provide a simple review of the essentials of French grammar ; and to afford suitable composition material for second year classes. It is conveniently divided into (i) Lecture Française; (2) English Exercises based upon the French ; and (3) Grammar Review.

The Lecture Française contains thirty-six short sketches on interesting phases of French thought and French life. An earnest effort has been made to present strikingly modern material that the average student will find interesting.

Some of the sketches are in the form of description ; others are in the form of dialogue, according to the nature of the topic treated. In all cases they are in the language of every day, — the language that is employed in informal conversation. The past definite is sparingly used, so that practice in the proper conversational past tense, the past indefinite, may be emphasized. The simple style of the sketches will direct and encourage the student to use in a natural manner the unstilted and informal language forms that are so truly characteristic of French conversation.

The English Exercises for translation into French are based directly on the thirty-six units of the Lecture Française. They cover quite thoroughly the vocabulary and grammatical content of the French text, and are arranged in the form of connected discourse. Especial care has been taken to make no unnecessary demands on the capacity of the student. The English Exercises are simple and clear and will permit the average student to feel encouraged with his efforts. In the relatively few instances where explanatory notes were deemed necessary, the

VI PREFACE

student is referred to the Grammar Review for the explanation of the point under consideration.

The Grammar Review is made up of twenty-four Lessons. Each of these divisions takes up in a methodical way one or more of the simple grammatical problems of elementary French in combination with the more usual tense forms of auxiliary and of regular verbs. The student is then gradually led up to the more extended problems of first year French, always and continually studying verbs, — first, regular verbs, then, verbs with orthographical peculiarities, and finally, the most important of the everyday irregular verbs.

The Exercises accompanying each Lesson are conveniently divided into four sections of ten sentences each. Each individual section contains material for translation that requires a knowledge of the grammatical points explained in that Lesson or in the preceding ones. The teacher, therefore, will find that the adaptability of this arrangement lends itself very easily to the varying conditions and needs of the classroom, and permits the greatest latitude in the method of assignment of work.

The general vocabulary employed in this book is the vocabulary of everyday French, — the vocabulary that the student learned in his first year of the study of French. An everyday expression, a common verb, an important grammatical point, taken up in one assignment, is not dropped at the end of that lesson. It continually appears in the succeeding lessons, either in conjunction with new words or in combination with new material. It can thus be said that repetition of the commonest everyday words and expressions is the keynote of this book.

The author wishes to acknowledge his gratitude and indebtedness to his former colleagues, Casimir D. Zdanowicz, of the University of Wisconsin, for invaluable suggestions and criticisms of the Grammar Review; Barry Cerf, of Reed College, Frederick Ernst, of the University of Wisconsin, and to his former teacher,

PREFACE VU

Jacob B. Segall, of the University of Maine, for general suggestions in the preparation of the sketches of the Lecture Française; to his colleagues at Syracuse University, Arthur S. Patterson, Vincent Guilloton, and Mrs. Paul D. Evans, for criticisms and suggestions ; to George McCune, of Princeton University, for proof reading of the English sections ; to his former students at Grove City College, Miss Katherine Anderson, Miss Lucie Battista, and Miss Helen Calderwood, for verifying the accuracy of the Vocabularies.

J. S. G.

Part I Lecture Française Lecture Page

1. Un voyage en France 1

2. Préparatifs de voyage ......... 2

3. En route pour New- York ........ 4

4. A New- York 6

5. Sur mer 7

6. La vie à bord du paquebot 9

7. Arrivée au Havre . . . •* .10

9. La campagne française 14

11. Arrivée à l'hôtel 17

12. Dans la chambre d'hôtel ........ 18

13. Dans la salle de restaurant 19

14. Au bureau de tabac 21

15. A la pension . 22

16. En famille 24

17. Au petit déjeuner 26

19. Sur la rive droite 29

20. Sur la rive gauche 30

21. Le Quatre Juillet en France 31

22. Le Théâtre-Français 33

23. Les sports en France 34

24. La liberté en France . .36

25. L'exportation franco-américaine ...... 37

26. La nature artistique des Français 38

27. Les journaux français ......... 39

28. A Château-Thierry .41

ix

X TABLE OF CONTENTS

LECTURE PAGE

29. Le paysan et l'automobile en France 42

30. Au marché 44

31. Les routes françaises 45

32. La bataille de Saint-Mihiel 46

33. Au Mont Sec 48

34. Derrière les lignes allemandes pendant la Grande Guerre . . 49

35. Au pays des châteaux 50

36. A Bordeaux 52

Part II English Exercises

1 . A Trip to France . . . ■ 55

2. Preparations for the Trip 56

3. On the Way to New York . 57

4. In New York . .58

5. At Sea 59

6. Life on Board the Steamer 61

7. Arrival at Havre . .62

8. At the Station .63

9. The French Country-side 64

10. Arrival at Paris 65

11. Arrival at the Hotel . .66

12. In the Hotel Room .67

13- In the Hotel Dining-room .68

14- At the Tobacco Store .69

15» At the Boarding House 70

16. In the Family Circle . 72

17. At Breakfast 73

18. At the Place de la Concorde . . . . . .74

19. On the Right Bank 75

20. On the Left Bank 76

21. The Fourth of July in France ....... 77

22. The French Theater .78

23. Sports in France 79

24. Liberty in France 81

TABLE OF CONTENTS XI

EXERCISE PAGE

25. Franco- American Exportation . . . . . .82

26. The Artistic Nature of the French 83

27. French Newspapers 84

28. At Château-Thierry 85

29. The Peasant and Automobiles in France 86

30. At the Market-place . . . . . . . . .87

31. French Highways 88

32. The Battje of Saint-Mihiel 89

33. At Mount Sec 90

34. Behind the German Lines during the Great War ... 91

35. In the Land of Castles 92

36. At Bordeaux 94

Part III Grammar Review Lesson

I. Definite and indefinite articles. — Plural of nouns and adjectives. — Possessive adjectives. — Interrogation. — Negation. — Regular verbs. — Auxiliaries avoir and être 97

IL Demonstrative adjectives. — Position of adjectives. — Feminine of adjectives. — Orthographical peculiarities of -cer and -ger verbs 101

III. Differences between voilà and il y a. — Orthographical

peculiarities of -oyer, -uyer, -ayer, -eyer verbs . . 104

IV. Comparison of adjectives and adverbs. — Common uses

of the definite article. — Orthographical peculiarities

of verbs with stem-vowel e . . . . . . 107

V. Table of imperative forms. — Observations on the imperative. — Position of object pronouns. — Irregular verbs faire and satisfaire ...... Ill

VI. The imperfect. — The past indefinite. — Possessive pronouns. — Irregular verbs devoir, recevoir, apercevoir . 114

Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSON PAGE

VII. Interrogative pronouns who and whom. — Verbs requiring auxiliary avoir. — Verbs requiring auxiliary être. — Verbs requiring either avoir or être. — The definite article with names of countries and cities. — Irregular verbs aller, venir, devenir, revenir . . 117

VIII. Table of personal pronouns. — Position of object pronouns with regard to the verb. — Position of object pronouns with regard to each other. — Interrogative and exclamatory use of adjectives quel, quelle, quels, quelles. — Irregular verbs dire, tenir, envoyer . . 122

IX. Agreement of past participle with avoir. — Agreement of .past participle with être. — Agreement of past participle with verbs of reflexive form. — The simple relative pronouns. — Irregular verbs écrire, décrire, s'en aller 125

X. The partitive. — Irregular verbs ouvrir, couvrir, offrir,

souffrir, découvrir 128

XL Expressions of quantity. — Pronominal adverb en. — Pronominal adverb y. — Irregular verbs servir, se souvenir de, voir, connaître 131

XII. Use of reflexive verbs. — Irregular verbs dormir, endormir, s'endormir, mentir, sentir, consentir . . . 135

XIII. Use of disjunctive pronouns. — May, can, could. — Use

of chez. — Irregular verbs pouvoir and savoir . . 138

XIV. Expressions of weather. — Time of day. — Age. —

Measurement. — Irregular verbs partir, sortir, pleuvoir, croître 141

XV. The causative construction. — Use of venir (venir à, venir de) -f infinitive. — Common expressions with faire. — Irregular verbs boire, suivre, conduire, construire, détruire, traduire, cuire 144

XVI. Common expressions with avoir. — Avoir in expressions describing parts of the body. — Irregular verbs mourir, battre, se battre, vouloir 147

XVII. Interrogative pronoun What. — Which {one, ones), What {one, ones). — What as definition. — Whose. — Irregular verbs cueillir, accueillir, courir, secourir . . 150

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Xlll

LESSON

XVIII. Relative pronouns. — Whom as object of preposition. — Which (that) as object of preposition. — What (that which). — Whose. — Irregular verbs fuir, haïr, coudre, croire, valoir 153

XIX. Negation with verb. — Negation without verb. — Difference between penser à and penser de. — Irregular verbs vivre, suffire, naître, s'asseoir ....

XX. Ordinals. — Dates and titles. — Common date expressions. — Non-elision of the article. — Adjective last. — Idiomatic present indicative and imperfect with depuis (quand?). — Irregular verbs plaire, se taire, vaincre, convaincre

XXI. Difference between interrogative adjectives and pronouns. — Y avoir to express time and distance. — Neuter demonstrative ce as subject. — Irregular verbs lire, prendre, apprendre, comprendre, surprendre . 162

XXII. Difference between demonstrative adjectives and pronouns. — Verbs requiring direct infinitive. — Verbs requiring à before infinitive. — Verbs requiring de before infinitive. — Irregular verbs mettre, commettre, permettre, promettre ......

XXIII. Nature of the subjunctive. — The subjunctive after impersonal verbs and expressions. — The subjunctive after conjunctions. — The subjunctive after a relative pronoun. — Irregular verbs rire, sourire, falloir, paraître, disparaître ......

XXIV. The subjunctive after expressions of emotion. The subjunctive after expressions of command. — The subjunctive after expressions of desire. — Irregular verbs traire, distraire, craindre, plaindre, se plaindre, éteindre, peindre 173

XIV . TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part IV Page

Cardinal Numbers . . 177

Ordinal Numbers . . . 177

Days of the Week 178

Months of the Year 178

Possessive Adjectives ' . . .178

Possessive Pronouns 178

Demonstrative Adjectives 179

Demonstrative Pronouns . .179

Neuter Demonstrative Pronouns 179

Synopsis of Verbs 179

Regular Verbs 179

Compound Tenses 182

Auxiliary Verbs . . 183

Table of Irregular Verbs 185

Vocabularies :

Index 83

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Frontispiece

La Cathédrale. — Amiens

L'église et le collège à Saint-Mihiel

Le paquebot Rochambeau de la Compagnie générale transatlantique

dans le bassin au Havre ....

New- York à vol d'oiseau .....

La statue de la Liberté . ' .

Le paquebot la France, de la Compagnie générale transatlantique

quittant New- York pour le Havre La grande salle à manger à bord de la France Le général Pershing Une voiture de première classe .

La France paysanne .

Une gare à Paris

La place Vendôme et la colonne Vendôme . Vue générale de la Seine. Le Pont-Neuf . Les Grandes Eaux à Versailles ....

Le boulevard Saint-Denis et la porte Saint-Martin Le grand Trianon à Versailles ....

Le jardin du Palais-Royal à Paris . . ,

L'île Saint-Louis. — Une des plus vieilles parties de Paris

La place de la Concorde ....

Perspective de l'avenue des Champs-Elysées

Le tombeau de Napoléon ....... Facing

La colonne de Juillet et la place de la Bastille

L'avenue de l'Opéra. — Au fond l'Opéra

Georges Carpentier, champion de boxe français, et le sergent américain

R. Williams, sur le terrain de sports de Saint-Aignan, le 28 avril

iqi8

.xv

XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing

Le palais de la Bourse

La Cathédrale. — Reims .....

Quelques journaux français ....

Panorama de Château-Thierry, le 27 juillet 19 18 La Cour de marbre à Versailles ....

Le palais de Versailles

Une route française .

Ce que l'on voit le long de l'ancienne ligne de bataille

Arc érigé à Conflans, Meurthe-et-Moselle, le 21 novembre 19 18, par

les habitants libérés pour accueillir les troupes américaines Les ruines du village de Mont Sec, le 13 septembre 1918

Le château de Chambord

La Cathédrale. — Bordeaux

Facing

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37 38 40 42 43 45 46 47

48 50 51 52