Part 10

to study, +studie´ren+.

with — mind = with undivided attention.

Section 2.

WHAT IS ETERNITY?

The following question was put in writing to a boy in the deaf-and-dumb school at Paris: “What is eternity?” “It is the life-time of the Almighty,” was the answer.—REV. R. K. ARVINE.

Here the verb is in the Passive Voice. Remember that the =German Passive Voice= is formed by the auxiliary +=werden=+. =The verb is in the Passive Voice whenever the subject is suffering the action expressed by the verb=; as—

The castle was built in the year 1609.

+Das Schloß ~wurde~ im Jahre 1609 ~erbaut~.+

To put a question to a person, +einem eine Frage vor´legen+.

in writing, +schriftlich+, which place before the p. p. (App. § 1).

boy = pupil.

+Taubstummenanstalt+, f.; render ‘in the’ by the gen. of the def. art.; at = in.

Section 3.

THE ACTION OF WATER.

The action of water on our food is very important. There would be no carrying of food into the system but for the agency of water. It dissolves everything that we take, and nothing that we take as food can become nutriment that is not dissolved in water.—DR. LANKESTER.

‘action’, here = operation, +Wirkung+, f.

Use the gen. of the def. art. =The definite article= is always required before nouns representing the whole of a given class, and before abstract nouns taken in a general sense.

on = upon.

food = victuals, +Speisen+, pl.

This sentence must be construed in a somewhat different way; say: ‘Without the agency (+Vermittelung+, f.) of water, no food (+Nahrung+, f.) would be conveyed into the body,’ +würde dem Körper keine Nahrung zu´geführt werden+.

everything = all.

‘that’, here +~was~+. The indefinite relative pronoun +=was=+ is the pronoun generally required after the indefinite numerals +alles+, +etwas+, +manches+, +nichts+, +viel+, and +wenig+, after the indefinite demonstrative pronoun +~das~+, and also after a superlative used substantively; as +Das Schönste, was ich habe+.

‘To take’, when used of food, may be rendered by +essen+, +trinken+, or +genießen+, which latter verb should be used here.

‘nothing — food’, may be briefly rendered by ‘+keine genossene Speise+‘.

can — nutriment = can serve as nutriment (+Ernährung+, f.). The verb +dienen+ requires the prep. +zu+, which governs the dat. and must here be contracted with the def. art. into +zur+: see N. 2.

that — water = before (+ehe+, see App. § 17) the same (f.) is dissolved in water.

Section 4.

OF WHAT USE IS IT?