Plain English
by Marian Wharton · English · Gutenberg #40550 · 801,565 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Plain English
Author: Marian Wharton
Release date: August 21, 2012 [eBook #40550]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAIN ENGLISH ***
Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Text enclosed by plus signs is in bold face (+bold+).
Text enclosed by tilde characters is underlined (~underlined~).
Text enclosed by equal signs is double underlined
(=double underlined=).
The Key to Pronunciation, p. 37 (Spelling Lesson 3), contains
characters with diacritical marks not available in Latin-1
character encoding. Therefore, they have been transcribed as
follows:
[=x] character 'x' with macron (bar) above the letter
[.x] character 'x' with dot above the letter
[~x] character 'x' with tilde (curved bar) above the letter
PLAIN ENGLISH
by
MARIAN WHARTON
_For the Education of the Workers
by the Workers_
Published by
The People's College
Fort Scott, Kansas
1917
¶ He who aspires to master the art of expression must first of all
consecrate himself completely to some great cause and the greatest cause
of all is the cause of humanity. He must learn to feel deeply and think
clearly, to express himself eloquently. He must be absolutely true to
the best there is in him, if he has to stand alone.
¶ Such natural powers as he may have should be cultivated by the study
of history, science and literature. He must not only keep close to the
people but remember that he is one of them, and not above the meanest.
He must feel the wrongs of others so keenly that he forgets his own, and
resolve to combat these wrongs with all the power at his command.
¶ The most thrilling, inspiring oratory, the most powerful and
impressive eloquence is the voice of the disinherited, the oppressed,
the suffering and submerged; it is the voice of poverty and misery, of
rags and crusts, of wretchedness and despair; the voice of humanity
crying to the infinite; the voice that resounds throughout the earth and
reaches Heaven; the voice that awakens the conscience of a race and
proclaims the truths that fill the world with life and liberty and love.
--EUGENE V. DEBS.
FOREWORD
Every generation has added a little to the store of truth of which the
human race has possessed itself throughout the long sweep of the
centuries. Every truth expressed and preserved by those who lived in the
past, is a contribution which enriches the lives of those who live in
the present. We, as members of the human race, are not separate atoms
independent of the universe, but we are atoms of it. We are the product
of all time, and partake of the truth of all preceding generations, in
which the power to express ideas and preserve them has existed.
One reason why the race has not profited more largely by the discoveries
of previous generations, is the fact that we feel so profoundly the
discovery of a truth of any nature, that we are prone to dogmatize it by
a rule or set of rules.
This usually results in shutting away from us the real principle of
which the rule is but an evidence. A mechanic may learn every detail of
every rule for the construction of a steam engine, but if he lacks the
understanding of the principles which give rise to the rules, they will
avail nothing and his work must fail. If, however, he understands the
principles involved, his work will stand the test, though he has no
knowledge of rules as such.
In teaching the English language, the rules have been stressed, while
the principles have been submerged, so that the teaching of rules has
not resulted in the improvement of the student.
The People's College, realizing this, has, through the author of this
work, revolutionized the teaching of the fundamental principles that
underlie the use of language. The stress is laid upon principles instead
of rules, so that the student, whether he remember a rule or not, will
never forget the application of these principles to the use of the
written and spoken word.
The assertion is ventured that no more practical and effective method
can be devised for the rapid and thorough teaching of these principles.
Moreover, the importance of this new departure in method cannot be
over-estimated, when we consider that only through the use of language
can information be disseminated concerning other branches of learning.
This science, then, lies at the very base of all real education, and a
mastery of it puts the student in possession of the only weapon by means
of which he may master all other sciences.
The author has, with peculiar aptitude, grasped the fundamental
character of the foregoing facts and has adapted the study of language
to the real principles involved. All the dry rules that are the
witnesses of principles in the ordinary text are done away, while the
principles evidenced by those rules come forth to the light in practical
application, with a beauty of expression and a real utility that render
the mastery of the subject an entertaining excursion into the realms of
learning, rather than a dry imprisonment of the faculties in an effort
to memorize misunderstood rules without apparent reason or real use.
It is the principle behind the rule that has power in it. When this is
understood, the method pursued by the author in this course will be
universally applied to all branches of learning, and will end forever
the imprisonment of children for the useless worship of rules.
The author's grasp of this fact and the exemplification of it, contained
in this work are even more far-reaching than the foregoing would
indicate. It really means the application of a new viewpoint to life
itself. It means the questioning of the utility of authority; the
questioning of the utility of institutions; the application, we might
say, of such a test as this: Does any rule, does any authority, does any
principle, conserve the interests of humanity? If not, away with it.
This means rationalism, the use of common sense. It means that at last
the race is beginning to consciously direct its own destiny.
It is with a profound sense of the necessity of education as a part of
the evolutionary process now in the conscious grasp of the race, and
with a conviction of the fundamental importance of the new viewpoint so
ably presented by the author that we dedicate this work "To the
Education of the Workers by the Workers."
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PLAIN ENGLISH
I. Language Study 9
II. Nouns and Verbs 18
III. Parts of Speech 27
IV. Nouns 38
V. Verbs 50
VI. Inflection of Verbs 58
VII. Time Forms of Verbs 69
VIII. Time Forms, Cont'd. 78
IX. Participles and Infinitives 88
X. Helping Verbs 97
XI. Verbs--Common Errors 106
XII. Pronouns 115
XIII. Pronouns, Cont'd. 127
XIV. Adjectives 138
XV. Adjectives, Cont'd. 148
XVI. Adverbs 160
XVII. Adverbs, Cont'd. 169
XVIII. Prepositions 179
XIX. Prepositions, Cont'd. 189
XX. Conjunctions 200
XXI. Conjunctions, Cont'd. 212
XXII. Adjective Clauses 222
XXIII. Independent Constructions 232
XXIV. Sentence Building 243
XXV. Sentence Analysis 255
XXVI. Sentence Building 267
XXVII. Sentence Building 278
XXVIII. The Use of Capitals 288
XXIX. Punctuation 299
XXX. Punctuation, Cont'd. 310
SPELLING
I. Definition 17
II. Vowels and Consonants 26
III. Diacritical Marks 36
IV. Digraphs 49
V. Diphthongs 57
VI. Syllabification 68
VII. Syllabification, Cont'd. 77
VIII. Accent 87
IX. Compound Words 96
X. Prefixes and Suffixes 105
XI. Derivatives 114
XII. Derivatives, Cont'd. 126
XIII. Silent E 137
XIV. Words Ending in Y 146
XV. Words with ei or ie 159
XVI. Homonyms 168
XVII. Derivative Nouns 178
XVIII. Verbs with Prepositions 187
XIX. Derivative Prepositions 199
XX. Derivative Adverbs 211
XXI. Derivative Adjectives 221
XXII. Words in able and ible 231
XXIII. Simplified Spelling 241
XXIV. Verbs with Suffixes 254
XXV. Cognate Sounds 265
XXVI. Words beginning with dis 277
XXVII. The prefixes in, un and mis 287
XXVIII. Synonyms 297
XXIX. Antonyms 308
XXX. Common Errors 320
PLAIN ENGLISH
Lesson I
Open Letter
Dear Comrade:
You are beginning a course of study in the use of Plain English. We do
not know what your previous study may have been, but the object of this
course is to give the basic principles and practice of the use of the
English Language for the benefit of those who have not had the
opportunity of a high school education and possibly have not finished in
the grade school.
For this reason we have avoided, as much as possible, the statement of
rules and formulas to be learned by rote and have made the few rules
which it is necessary to know, grow naturally out of the need for them
in the development of expression in language.
We have taken for granted several things in the preparation of this
course. First, we assume that you have never studied grammar, or if you
have, that you will be glad to review it in simplified form. This course
does not follow the lines laid down by technical grammarians. It has
been worked out on the basis of plain, common sense. Our purpose is not
to make of you a grammarian, versed in the knowledge of rules and
reasons, but to give you the power to express yourself more readily,
fluently and correctly--in other words to speak and write _good_
English.
Second, we assume that you are interested and willing to work and eager
to increase your store of knowledge. Your progress in this branch of
knowledge will depend, to a large extent, upon your own efforts. We have
endeavored to avoid unnecessary and uninteresting rules and make the
course as simple, clear and plain as possible; but that does not mean
you will not have to work in order to master this study. We trust it
will be pleasant and interesting work, bringing you joy as it brings you
a growing sense of power.
Probably no two people will use the same plan of work. Your work, to be
a pleasure, must express your own individuality. However, we want to
make a few suggestions which we know from experience you will find
helpful.
+1st.+ +Be Systematic.+ Find some time each day which you can regularly
spend in study. Do not be discouraged if it is only fifteen minutes each
day. The student who will spend fifteen minutes every day regularly in
intensive study can easily complete this course within the prescribed
time.
+2d.+ +Concentrate.+ By this we mean that when you study, you should do
it to the exclusion of everything else. Keep your mind upon the subject.
You may find this difficult at first. Your mind will wander; but you
will soon acquire the student habit if you persevere.
+3d.+ +Have Faith in Yourself.+ Do not be easily discouraged. You have
the power to master this subject and _you will_. You will find it of
immeasurable value to you to be able to speak and write fluently and
correctly. Those whom you admire for their ready use of good English
were not born with the "gift of gab." They learned how to speak by
studying the rules of grammar, the meaning of words, just as you are
studying them. What they have done, _you will do_.
+4th.+ +Go Slowly and Surely.+ Do not skim through these lessons. Be
sure you understand thoroughly as you go along. Read carefully and
_think_ for yourself. If there is anything you do not understand at any
time, write us and ask about it. These lessons have been carefully
prepared and are for your benefit. Make them yours and call upon us
freely for help. This is your College and its only ideal is service.
+5th.+ +Get a Note-Book.+ Make your note-book your work-shop. Write in
it an outline of each lesson. Fill it with notes, examples, anything
which is of interest on the subject. Note down your own frequent
mistakes in the use of English. Watch the conversation of your friends;
listen to good speakers. Write down the mistakes you notice. Whenever
you hear a word which seems particularly good, or when you see one in
your reading, write it in your note-book and make it part of your
vocabulary. You will find your interest continually growing and also
your ability to express the thoughts you yearn to express.
If we can bring to you an increasing joy in life because of a growing
power of expression; if we can enlarge your ability to serve the world;
if we can, through the study of this wonderful language of ours, open
wider the door of opportunity for you,--our comrade,--The People's
College will have served its purpose and realized its ideal.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
GOOD ENGLISH--WHAT IS IT?
+1.+ People seem to differ in their idea as to what constitutes "Good
English." Have you never seen a man suddenly called upon to make a
formal speech or introduced into the company of distinguished men and
women? Quite often, he will drop his simple every-day mode of speech and
speak in stilted, unnatural language, using all the "big" words he can
possibly remember. He no doubt fondly imagines he is making an
impression and using "good" English.
The purpose of language is to make one's self understood, and, of
course, this can be done in very simple and crude English. The man who
breaks every rule of grammar, intersperses his remarks with every
variety of slang phrase, may make himself understood, but he is not
using _good_ English.
+2.+ +Good English is that which is good for its purpose and conforms to
the standards of usage.+
We have one purpose when we write a business letter and quite another
when we are writing or speaking of the great issues of life. There is a
place for the simple, direct, plain, unadorned language of every-day
business life--the life of the work-a-day world--and there is a place
also for the beauty and charm of the language of poetry. If we are
talking with the man who works beside us of the work of the day, we will
naturally use plain, simple, forceful words. But, if we are speaking to
our comrades, striving to arouse them out of their lethargy, to stir
them to action as men and women, we will just as naturally use the fine
and noble words which touch the depths of human emotion--the heights of
human endeavor.
+3.+ There are certain rules for the use of English which have grown up
through the years, to which we must conform. These are not arbitrary.
They have not been made by any man or any set of men. In fact, they are
constantly changing, as the common usage of the people forces the
changes. For these rules are only the expression of the common usage,
and as usage changes, the rules change.
But these changes come slowly, so we can set down in a book the rules
which express the established usage of today. The ability to use good
English does not mean the ability to use long, high-sounding words. To
be a master of good English means to be able to use the word that meets
your need and use it correctly.
Do not strive for _effect_, strive for _effective expression_.
USE YOUR DICTIONARY
+4.+ Do you know that the average individual cripples through life with
a vocabulary of a few hundred words when he might easily have at his
command as many thousands?
We are misers with our words. Here hid away in this book we call the
dictionary is a wealth of words, a rich mine of expression, and yet in
our every-day conversation we halt and stammer, using meaningless words
and phrases largely made up of current slang.
Never let a word pass by that you do not understand thoroughly. Look it
up at once in your dictionary and master it then and there. Dollars may
be difficult to earn and more difficult to keep, but here is a wealth
easily gained and the more you use it the more you possess it.
You will find your dictionary an exceedingly interesting book when you
get acquainted with it.
Use it constantly; make it your familiar companion.
OUR LANGUAGE
+5.+ Did you ever stop to think what the world would be if we had no way
of communicating, one with another? Think of Helen Keller, shut up in
her prison-house of silence. Her only mode of communication with her
fellows is through the sense of touch.
Every form of life that has consciousness has some way of expressing its
feelings. Every animal, by the movements of its body or the tones of its
voice, expresses its emotions of pain, pleasure, rage, hate, joy, hunger
and the many passions that sway its life. The child knows without being
taught how to express its wants. We understand its cry of hunger, its
scream of pain, its laugh of delight. This is the natural language, the
language of feeling. It is the universal language that needs no rules
and no interpreter. Life on every plane knows and understands it.
WHEN WE BEGIN TO THINK
+6.+ Our feelings and desires are not the only things we wish to
communicate. The natural language satisfies a child for a time, but as
the child grows he begins to _think_, then he feels the need of a more
effective means of expressing himself. You can express your feelings to
a certain extent by the natural language. You can make one know that you
are glad by the expression of the face, the attitude of the body or the
tone of the voice. But could you make anyone understand _why_ you are
glad, by these signs and gestures?
+7.+ To express thoughts and ideas, man had to devise another sort of
language. So the language of _words_ grew up out of the need to
communicate ideas to other people. As man's ability to think grew, so
his language grew. At first, this language was only a spoken language.
The ideas of one generation were handed down to the next by the spoken
word. Gradually a crude form of writing was invented from which our
written language has developed. This has made it possible to put the
wisdom of the ages into books for the benefit of the world.
+8.+ +Hence, language is the means of expressing thought and feeling.+
It has grown out of our need for expression.
+A word is a symbol of an idea.+ It is a sound or combination of sounds
which we use to represent an idea. The use of words makes it possible
for us to readily convey our thoughts to other people.
Through the medium of words we are able to communicate to others our
thoughts, not only of the external world about us, but also of the
mental world in which we live. We can tell of our loves, our hates, our
dreams and our ideals. Animals find the natural language of looks and
tones and gestures sufficient because they live almost wholly upon the
physical plane. But man lives in a mental world as well as in a physical
one, and must have a spoken and written language by which to express his
thoughts.
Exercise 1
Select from the following sentences those which it is possible to
express by a look or tone or gesture, and those which can not be
expressed without words:
1. I am glad.
2. I am glad because men are struggling for freedom.
3. I am hungry.
4. I am hungry for the chance for an education.
5. Come.
6. Come, let us reason together.
7. I am afraid.
8. I am afraid that we must wait long for peace.
9. Go.
10. Go, search the world over for the truth.
11. I am disgusted.
12. I am disgusted with those who will not think for themselves.
13. I am tired.
14. I am tired of these petty squabbles among comrades.
OUR EXPRESSION
+9.+ Our knowledge of language opens up a new world to us. We
can communicate with those about us; we can open the storehouse of
the knowledge of the past as recorded in books, or as two of our writers
have expressed it:
Have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to read
means--that it is the key which admits to the world of thought and
fancy and imagination--to the company of saint and sage, of the
wisest and wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moments--that it
enables us to see with the keenest eyes, hear with the finest ears
and listen to the sweetest voices of all time?--_Lowell_.
Strip man of his books and his papers, and he becomes a mere slave,
ignorant of his own resources, ignorant of his rights and
opportunities. The difference between the free citizen of today and
the savage of yesterday is almost entirely a thing of books. The man
who dislikes books can never be entirely happy, and he who loves a
good book can never be wholly miserable.--_Hillis_.
Have you never felt that struggle within and the sense of defeat when
you have tried to make some one feel as you feel, understand as you
understand, see some great truth as you see it, and could not find the
words with which to express your ideas?
+10.+ The mastery of words gives; first, _the ability to understand the
spoken or written thoughts of others_; second, _the ability to
adequately express our own thoughts_; and third, _the ability to think
clearly and to grow in our intellectual life_.
A connected chain of reasoning is impossible without the knowledge of
the words that express the development of the ideas and the varying
shades of meaning. To gain this mastery, you must know the words of our
language and their use. Words are the symbols of ideas and perform
certain functions in expressing our thoughts. This, simply stated, is
all that the study of English Grammar comprises--_the study of English
words and their use in the expression of thought and feeling_.
THE THOUGHT AND THE WORD
+11.+ We have found that the invention of words grew out of the ability
to _think_ and the need for expression. But we first _thought_! So, in
order to express yourself clearly you must first _think_ clearly. Any
thought can be simply and clearly expressed. When you read something
difficult of understanding, where the thought is buried under an
avalanche of words, you can be assured the writer was not thinking
clearly. He did not have the perfect mastery of his thought. On the
other hand, one may have a valuable thought in mind and not be able to
express it because he does not have the words at his command. In the one
case, we have words and no idea; in the other, the idea and no words.
This study is intended to enable you to master words, the tools of
expression. In whatever work you are engaged, it was first necessary to
learn to use the tools with which you work. So, you must master the use
of English words, the tools of your expression. You can in that way
learn to express your thoughts clearly and exactly. You will not need to
resort to slang, or to the tiresome repetition of a few words.
The best of everything is none too good for you. It is your right, your
heritage, and the best in the English language will bring you into the
company and comradeship of the men and women who have striven and toiled
for humanity, who will talk to you of dreams and deeds worth while, who
will place in your hands the key to a new world.
A COMPLETE THOUGHT
+12.+ When we want to express a thought we use more than one word. Words
are the symbols of ideas, but a thought is the expression of the
relation between ideas. For example, I say _man_, and you get an idea or
an image in your mind of a man, but I have not said anything about any
man. But if I say, _Man works_, then I have expressed a thought. I have
related the idea of a man and the idea of work and have expressed a
complete thought.
So we express our thoughts by _groups of words_. The very smallest group
of words which will express a complete thought must, therefore, contain
two words. If I say _men_, _fire_, _flowers_, and stop, you wonder what
I mean, for I have not expressed a thought. Or, I might say, _work_,
_burns_, _bloom_, and you would still be in the dark as to my meaning;
but, when I say, _Men work_, _Fire burns_, _Flowers bloom_, you
understand, for I have told you my complete thought. I have put two
words together in a way to make sense; I have formed a sentence.
+13.+ If we say, _Go_ or _Wait_, in the form of a command or entreaty,
the single word seems to make complete sense and to form a sentence in
itself. But this is only because _you_, who are to do the going or the
waiting, is clearly implied. The words _go_ or _wait_, by themselves, do
not make sense or form a sentence unless they are uttered in the
commanding or beseeching tone of voice which makes you understand that
_You go_ or _You wait_ is the intended meaning. With the exception of
words used in this way as a command or entreaty, it is always necessary
to use at least two words to express a complete thought.
But will any two words make a sentence--express a complete thought?
+14.+ Which of these combinations of words are sentences and which are
not?
Busy men.
Men travel.
Snow flies.
Blue sky.
Red flag.
Rustling trees.
Workers strike.
Bees sting.
Grass grows.
Cold winds.
Green fields.
Happy children.
_Busy men_ does not express a complete thought. We are wondering _busy
men do what?_ But, _men travel_ is a complete thought. It makes sense
and forms a sentence, and tells us what men _do_. In the words, _busy
men_, we have spoken the name of something but have made no assertion
concerning it. In the two words, _men travel_, we have spoken the name
_men_ and we have told what they _do_.
If we were walking down the street together we might say:
The street is crowded to-day.
Does the open road attract you?
See the jostling crowds.
Or if we were discussing the class struggle, we might say:
Two classes have always existed.
To which class do you belong?
Join your class in the struggle.
In every one of these six groups of words we have a complete thought
expressed. Each of these groups of words we call a sentence.
+15.+ +A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought.+
Exercise 2
Write in each blank space the word necessary to express a complete
thought.
Men...... ......fade.
Leaves...... ......bloom.
Water...... ......run.
Fire...... ......write.
Women...... ......grow.
Children...... ......speak.
SUBJECT AND PREDICATE
+16.+ We have found that every sentence must have at least two words,
one word to name that about which something is said and another word
which does the saying or makes the assertion. In the sentence, _Men
work_, we have these two parts; _men_ which is the part about which
something is said, and _work_ which tells what men do.
+The part about which something is said is called the subject.+
In this sentence, _Men work_, _men_, therefore, is the subject, for it
names that about which something is said.
+17.+ +The part that asserts or says something about the subject is
called the predicate.+
Therefore in this sentence, _Men work_, _work_ is the predicate. In the
following sentences draw a single line under the subject and a double
line under the predicate, thus, _~Birds~ =fly=_.
Ships sail.
Soldiers fight.
Flowers fade.
Horses neigh.
Flags wave.
Snow comes.
War rages.
Winds blow.
Fish swim.
+18.+ We may add other words to the subject or the predicate and so
enlarge their meaning, as for instance we may say:
The stately ships sail proudly away.
The war in Europe rages furiously.
The soldiers in the army fight like men gone mad.
Yet in every one of these sentences you will find the subject and the
predicate,--_Ships sail_, _War rages_, _Soldiers fight_.
Every sentence must have a subject and a predicate, and it is a very
important part of the study of sentences to be able to distinguish
quickly and readily the subject and the predicate. Find that about which
something is said, and that will always be the subject. Find that which
is said about the subject, and that will be the predicate.
+Every sentence must contain a subject and a predicate.+
+The subject of a sentence names that about which something is said.+
+The predicate tells that which is said about the subject.+
Exercise 3
In the following sentences add other words to the subject and to the
predicate to enlarge their meaning, then draw a single line under the
subject and a double line under the predicate:
Ships sail.
Tides flow.
Stars shine.
Rain falls.
Children play.
Nature sleeps.
Waves break.
War rages.
Birds sing.
Exercise 4
In the following sentences the subject and the predicate have other
words added to enlarge their meaning. Find the subject and predicate and
draw a single line under the subject and a double line under the
predicate, as in the sentence,
_The ~workers~ of the world =build= palaces for other people._
1. Our success lies in solidarity.
2. New occasions teach new duties.
3. Two classes exist in the world.
4. Labor creates all wealth.
5. The workers fight all battles.
6. Our time calls for earnest deeds.
7. Knowledge unlocks the door of life.
8. Ignorance bars the path to progress.
9. Few people think for themselves.
10. Hope stirs us to action.
SPELLING
LESSON 1
+Spelling is the process of naming or writing in proper order the
letters of a word.+ There is nothing that marks us so quickly as lacking
in the qualities that go to make up a good education as our inability to
spell the words most commonly used.
Spelling in English is rather difficult. If each letter represented but
one sound, spelling would be an easy matter. Every word would be spelled
just as it sounds. This is the goal of those who advocate phonetic
spelling. Phonetic spelling simply means spelling according to sound.
But our alphabet does not have a letter for every sound.
There are some forty-two different sounds used in English words and we
have only twenty-six letters in the alphabet. Therefore some letters
must do duty for several sounds. Then we have words which contain
letters which are not sounded at all when the word is pronounced, so,
all in all, spelling is a matter of memorizing.
The best way to become an accurate speller is to read much, to observe
closely the forms of words and to write frequently. Always spell any
word of which you are uncertain aloud several times and write it out
several times. In this way you have aided the memory both through the
eye and through the ear. If you are not sure of the spelling of a word
do not use it until you have looked it up in the dictionary and made
sure.
The words in this lesson are taken out of Lesson 1, Plain English
Course. There are thirty in all, five for each day of the week. (1) Look
up the meaning in the dictionary. (2) Learn the correct spelling. (3)
Learn the correct pronunciation. (4) Use the word in a sentence of your
own construction. (5) Use it during the day in your conversation; strive
to make it a part of your working vocabulary.
+Monday+
Mode
English
Grammar
Expression
Complete
+Tuesday+
Language
Emotion
Group
Mastery
Dictionary
+Wednesday+
Thought
Symbol
Ability
Idea
Knowledge
+Thursday+
Subject
Predicate
Vocabulary
Practice
History
+Friday+
Memory
Sentence
Write
Right
Purpose
+Saturday+
Propose
Growth
Learn
Teach
Pronounce
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 2
Dear Comrade:
Review Lesson 1 before taking up this lesson. Do not try
to learn by rote the contents of these lessons. Our endeavor is to make
you see the reason for every rule and definition before they are given.
We want you to see unfolding before you the development of language and
through this evolution you can catch a glimpse of the developing life of
man. Language like customs, religion, government, has grown with the
economic advancement of man. As man has evolved on the economic plane,
the material plane, as he has improved his means of providing for
himself food and clothes and shelter, he has developed a language suited
to his needs.
So we can trace the growth of the race as we study the development of
language from the sign language of the primitive savage to the language
of the philosopher of today by which he makes known to us the story of
the stars, and the innermost secrets of our hearts and minds.
Civilization began with the invention of the phonetic alphabet and the
use of writing. So the study of language becomes not a dull and stupid
conning of useless rules and formulas, but an absorbing study of a
living, growing, changing thing that mirrors forth the very life of man.
Think while you study. As you look for the definition of words in your
dictionary and realize how many shades of meaning we can express in
words, remember that this power is a heritage that comes to us from a
long past of incessant struggle.
We of to-day are also writing history in words. By our efforts we are
adding new words to the language and giving old words a richer meaning.
_Brotherhood_, _justice_, for example! The world is coming to understand
these glorious words more fully and giving them a new interpretation.
You will see a new beauty and glory in words after you have finished
this course and you will have a mastery of this wonderful language of
ours.
Watch carefully the use of words in your reading. Especially this week
distinguish the nouns and verbs. Use your dictionary constantly and add
a few words to your vocabulary every day.
Whenever there is a word used in these lessons which you do not
thoroughly understand, look it up at once in your dictionary and master
it then and there. Make a list in your note book of the words you look
up and at the end of the week go over them again and see if you have
them clearly in mind. Watch also the pronunciation of the words. Do not
try to do everything all at once, nor should you be discouraged if your
progress seems slow. We approach the goal one step at a time and each
step takes us nearer and nearer. Just keep steadily at it, Comrade.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
KINDS OF SENTENCES
+19.+ We have found that we use sentences to express our thoughts. But
we also find that we use these sentences in different ways for different
purposes. Can you notice any difference in the following sentences?
Two classes have always existed.
To which class do you belong?
Join your class in the struggle.
When I say, _Two classes have always existed_, I am making a simple
assertion, stating what I know or believe to be true.
When I say, _To which class do you belong?_ I am asking a question.
When I say, _Join your class in the struggle_, I am giving a command or
making a request.
+20.+ +These three kinds of sentences are called assertive,
interrogative and imperative.+
+An assertive sentence states a fact or an opinion.+
+An interrogative sentence asks a question.+
+An imperative sentence gives a command, makes a request or
expresses a wish.+
+21.+ Any of these three kinds of sentences may be exclamatory; that is,
it may express surprise, excitement, impatience, or some other emotion.
For example:
Hurrah! Freedom is coming!
This is an assertion expressed as an exclamation.
Oh! Why should war continue?
Here we have a question in the form of an exclamation.
Come! Keep your courage up.
In this, we have a command, an imperative sentence, expressed in the
form of an exclamation.
+An exclamatory sentence expresses surprise, excitement or some other
emotion.+
In these three forms of sentences, the assertive, the interrogative and
the imperative, together with the exclamatory, we are able to express
every thought and feeling which demands expression, either for practical
or artistic purposes.
The sentence is the basis of spoken and written language and as we trace
its development we trace the history of the evolution of man and the
growth of his power of expression, as he has developed his powers of
mind.
+22.+ +Every sentence must begin with a capital letter.+
+Every assertive and imperative sentence should end with a period.+
+Every interrogative sentence should end with a question mark.+
The word in an exclamatory sentence which expresses strong emotion is
followed by an exclamation point. The sentence itself if in
interrogative form should be followed by a question mark; if in the
assertive or the imperative form it may be followed either by an
exclamation point or a period.
Exercise 1
Mark the assertive sentences among the following with an _a_ in the
blank space. Mark the interrogative sentences with a _q_ for question;
the imperative sentences with a _c_ for command; and the exclamatory
with an _e_ for exclamation.
1. ...... Books are the true levelers.
2. ...... Put not your trust in princes.
3. ...... To err is human; to forgive divine.
4. ...... What are the rights of a child?
5. ...... Seize common occasions and make them great.
6. ...... Not until all are free, is any free.
7. ...... Freemen! Shall not we demand our own?
8. ...... Is a world of happiness but a Utopian dream?
9. ...... He who will not work, shall not eat.
10. ...... Strike at the polls for freedom!
11. ...... Do the majority want social justice?
12. ...... A friend is the hope of the heart.
13. ...... How beautiful is the vision of peace!
14. ...... Acquire the thinking habit.
15. ...... Is it glorious to die for our country?
16. ...... Lo! Women are waking and claiming their own!
17. ...... Claim your right to the best.
18. ...... What is the highest good?
19. ...... Workers of the world, unite!
20. ...... To remain ignorant is to remain a slave.
WORDS--THEIR USES
+23.+ We have learned from our study that we use sentences to express
our thoughts. These sentences are made up of words; therefore we call
words _parts of speech_. Words are only fractions or parts of speech,
and it is by combining them into sentences that we are able to express
our thoughts.
There are many thousands of words in the English language. It would be
impossible for us to study each word separately. But these words, like
people, are divided into classes, so we can study each class of words.
These thousands of words are divided into classes much as people are, or
rather as people ought to be; for words are divided into classes
according to the work which they do. In the Industrial Commonwealth
there will be no upper or lower class, but men will be divided into
groups according to the work which they do. There will be various
industrial groups, groups of agricultural workers, groups of clerical
workers, etc. So words are divided into classes according to the work
which they do in helping us to express our ideas.
+24.+ +Words are divided into kinds or classes according to their use in
sentences.+
+There are eight of these classes of words, called parts of speech.+
THE NAMES OF THINGS
+25.+ What a word _does_ determines what part of speech it is. When
primitive man, long ago, first began to use words, in all probability
the first words which he invented were those used to name familiar
objects about him. He invented a word for _man_, _boy_, _tree_,
_animal_, etc. Gradually, all the things he met in his daily life
received a name. About one half of the words in our language are of this
class, the _names_ of things.
Every word which is used as a name of something is called a _noun_. This
word _noun_ is derived from the Latin word which means _name_, so it is
quite the same thing as saying _name_. Notice the following sentences:
Boys run.
Fish swim.
Horses neigh.
Soldiers march.
Flags wave.
Flowers fade.
Girls study.
Winds blow.
Men work.
All of the words used like _boys_, _girls_, _fish_, _horses_,
_soldiers_, _flag_, _winds_, _flowers_ and _men_, are the names of
objects, therefore all of these words are _nouns_. The subject of a
sentence is always a noun or a word used as a noun. However, we may use
in a sentence many nouns besides the noun which is used as the subject,
the noun about which the statement is made. We will study the use of
these nouns later in our lessons.
_The famous palace of the kings of the Moors, at Granada, in Spain, was
called the Alhambra._ We have six nouns in this sentence, _palace_,
_kings_, _Moors_, _Granada_, _Spain_ and _Alhambra_, but the noun
_palace_ is the noun which is the subject--the noun which is the name of
that about which something is said. _Palace_ is the subject; and _was
called_ is the predicate in this sentence.
+26.+ +A noun is a word used as the name of something.+
Now we want to learn to distinguish every word that is used as a name.
Pick out the nouns as you read your books and papers until you are able
to tell every word which is used as a noun, the name of something.
In the following paragraph, the nouns are printed in italics. Carefully
study these nouns:
The _fire_ in the _grate_, the _lamp_ by the _bedside_, the _water_ in
the _tumbler_, the _fly_ on the _ceiling_ above, the _flower_ in the
_vase_ on the _table_, all _things_ have their _history_ and can reveal
to us _nature's_ invisible _forces_.
Exercise 2
Underscore every noun in the following quotation:
The whole history of the earth has been one of gradual development, of
progress, of slow and painful climbing through the ages. Not only have
the hills and the mountains, the rivers and the stars, the trees and
the cattle, the beasts and the birds, been developing; but man
himself--his mind and his body--has been developing. Men are marvelous
little creatures; they have weighed the sun in their balances,
measured the stars and analyzed the light and beauty of the rainbow;
they have sounded the depths of the ocean; they have learned how the
sun and the mountains were born and the rivers were laid in their
mighty beds; they have learned how the seas became salt, what the
stars are made of. They have learned so much, and yet when it comes to
matters of time and space, and law and motion, they still know so
little. The only man who is conscious of his ignorance is he who has
learned a great deal.--_McMillan_.
WORDS THAT ASSERT
+27.+ After the primitive man had invented names for the things about
him, probably his next step was to invent words of action. He very
naturally wanted to tell what all of these various things _did_. So the
words that tell what things do, the words of action, the words that
assert, came into the language. A child follows much the same
development. As you can readily observe, it first names the objects
about it, then learns the words that tell what these objects do.
So the words that tell what things _do_, become the second class of
words. These words we call _verbs_. The word _verb_, like the word
_noun_, is taken into our language from the Latin. In Latin, the word
_verbum_ means _the word_; and the verb is practically _the_ word in a
sentence, for we cannot have a sentence without a verb. You may string a
number of words together, but if you do not have an asserting word, you
will not have a sentence.
Notice the following sentences:
Men work.
Flowers fade.
Snow flies.
Winds blow.
In these sentences, the words _work_, _fade_, _flies_ and _blow_, are
the words used to assert or say something of the subject, hence they are
the verbs in these sentences.
+28.+ Sometimes it takes more than one word to express the action or
make the assertion. Notice the following sentences:
The men are working.
The boy has been studying.
In the first sentence it takes two words, _are working_, to make the
assertion; in the second, three are required, _has been studying_. These
groups of words are called _verb phrases_.
+29.+ +A verb is a word that asserts.+
+A verb phrase is a group of words used as a single verb.+
The verb is perhaps the most difficult part of speech to master. It is
not hard to find the verb in short sentences, but in longer sentences it
is sometimes difficult.
For example:
The sun shines.
The man walks.
The boys strike.
We very easily see that _shine_, _walk_ and _strike_ are the verbs in
these sentences. But let us add other words, as for example:
The sun shines brightly.
The man walks for his health.
The boys strike the dog.
Now we are very apt to confuse the verb with the words which state _how_
and _why_ the action is performed, or the _object_ towards which the
action is directed. But in these sentences, _shine_ and _walks_ and
_strike_ are still the verbs, just as in the first sentences. The verb
asserts the action; the other words merely give additional information
about _how_ or _why_ or _upon what_ the action is performed.
+30.+ Another thing which makes it difficult for us to distinguish verbs
in English is that the same word may be used both as a noun and as a
verb; but always remember that words are separated into classes
according to the work which they do. When a word is used as a _name_ it
is a _noun_; when it is used as an _asserting_ word it is a _verb_. Note
the following sentences:
The _play_ made the child tired.
The children _play_ in the yard.
In the first sentence _play_ is a noun, the subject of the verb _made_.
In the second sentence _play_ is the verb, telling what the children
_do_. Always classify words according to the work which they perform in
the sentence. This will help you very much in finding your verb.
+31.+ Then we have some verbs which do not assert action but express
rather a connection or relation between the subject and some other word
or words. For example:
The dog belongs to the man.
The girl is happy.
In these sentences _belongs_ and _is_ are the verbs. _Belongs_ asserts
or shows the relation between _the dog_ and _the man_. _Is_ shows the
relation between _the girl_ and _happy_. If we simply say _girl_ and
_happy_, we do not show any connection between them or make any
statement relating the two, but when we say, _The girl is happy_, we are
asserting something, and the word _is_ makes the assertion.
Or when we say, _The girl was happy_, or _The girl will be_ or _may be
happy_, in each of these cases, it is the verb or verb phrase _was_ or
_will be_ or _may be_, that asserts or shows the relation between the
subject _girl_ and the descriptive word _happy_. You will observe that
the verbs _will be_ and _may be_ are composed of more than one word and
are _verb phrases_.
We will study the verb in succeeding lessons, but let us remember from
this lesson that the word or group of words that makes the assertion in
the sentence is the verb. Remember too that every sentence must contain
a verb.
Get this basic principle firmly fixed in mind that what a word _does_
decides what it _is_--to what part of speech it belongs, and that every
class of words fulfills its own function in sentence building.
+32.+ Remember:--
+Every sentence must have a subject and a predicate.+
+Every sentence must express a complete thought.+
+Every sentence must contain a verb.+
+A noun is the name of something.+
+A verb is a word that asserts.+
+What a word does determines what it is.+
Study carefully the following quotation. The verbs are printed in
_italics_.
Slowly, painfully, _proceeds_ the struggle of man against the power of
Mammon. The past _is written_ in tears and blood. The future _is_ dim
and unknown, but the final outcome of this world-wide struggle _is_
not in doubt. Freedom _will conquer_ slavery, truth _will prevail_
over error, justice _will triumph_ over injustice, the light _will
vanquish_ the darkness; and humanity _will rise_ in the glory of
universal brotherhood.--_Warren_.
Exercise 3
Underscore all verbs and verb phrases in the following quotation:
+The Dream of Labor+: Ours is not the cause of one class, of one sex, of
one tribe, of one city, of one state, of one continent.
It is the wish for a better world where Man shall be Man; where the
beast shall become subdued; where everything shall lead to complete
development; where the good of each shall be bound up in the good of
all; where all shall feel the sorrows of each and shall run to his
rescue.
A glimpse of this ideal takes us into the Land of Promise, where peace
and plenty shall reign supreme; where brothers shall no longer battle
among themselves, but for one another; where the atmosphere shall be
laden with love, the love that saves; where the hate that kills shall be
unknown; where heart and brain shall work together and shall make life
better and more complete; where the fullness of life shall be for all
and where men and women shall be as happy at their work as little
children at their play.
The mere glimpse into that land makes life worth living, makes work
worth doing, makes dreams worth dreaming, gives us hope and faith--the
faith we need in the labor for our cause, the faith which shall help us
win.--_Oscar Leonard_.
Exercise 4
We have found that there are a number of words in English which may be
used either as nouns or verbs, depending upon the function they serve in
the sentence. In the following sentences underscore the nouns with a
single line, the verbs with two lines:
1. They _man_ the boats.
2. The _man_ has a boat.
3. The women _pass_ this way.
4. They held the _pass_ for hours.
5. Little children _work_ in the mines.
6. The _work_ of the world is done by machinery today.
7. The armies will _cross_ the bridge.
8. He built a _cross_ of rude stones.
9. The leopard cannot _change_ its spots.
10. We will force a _change_ in the law.
Exercise 5
In the following poem, mark every noun and every verb and verb phrase.
You will find the verb phrases in several places divided by the word
_not_, as in _I do not obey_. _Do obey_ is the verb phrase. We will
learn to what part of speech _not_ belongs a little later.
I DO NOT OBEY, I THINK.
"Captain, what do you think," I asked,
"Of the part your soldiers play?"
The Captain answered, "I do not think--
I do not think, I obey."
"Do you think your conscience was meant to die,
And your brains to rot away?"
The Captain answered, "I do not think--
I do not think, I obey."
"Do you think you should shoot a patriot down,
And help a tyrant slay?"
The Captain answered, "I do not think--
I do not think, I obey."
"Then if this is your soldier's code," I cried,
"You're a mean, unmanly crew;
And with all your feathers and gilt and braid,
I am more of a man than you;
"For whatever my lot on earth may be
And whether I swim or sink,
I can say with pride, 'I do not obey--
I do not obey, I think.'"
--_Ernest Crosby_.
SPELLING
LESSON 2
The twenty-six letters in the English alphabet are divided into vowels
and consonants. A vowel is a letter which represents a sound of the
human voice but slightly interrupted by the vocal organs. The vowels are
_a_, _e_, _i_, _o_ and _u_. All of the remaining letters of the alphabet
are consonants. A consonant is a letter which represents a sound of the
human voice greatly obstructed by the vocal organs. Consonant is from
the Latin _con_, meaning _with_, and _sono_--_I sound_. So it means
literally _I sound with_.
The consonants are produced by union of the breath with the vocal
organs. The consonant sounds are so called because they are always
"sounded with" a vowel; they are used only in combination with vowels in
forming words or syllables.
In English a consonant alone never forms a word or a syllable. Sound the
different consonants _b_, _c_, _d_, _f_, _g_, _h_, _j_, _k_, _l_, _m_,
_n_, _p_, _q_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _v_, _x_ and _z_, by themselves and you
will see how the sound of the breath is obstructed or changed by the use
of the vocal organs--the lips, the tongue, the teeth, etc.--in making
these various sounds.
_W_ and _y_ are sometimes vowels and sometimes consonants. _W_ and _y_
are vowels when they are used with another vowel representing a vowel
sound as in _awe_, _new_, _joy_, _eye_, etc. _Y_ is sometimes used as a
vowel by itself as in _by_, _cry_, etc. _W_ and _y_ are consonants when
they are used at the beginning of a syllable or before a vowel in the
same syllable as in _wine_, _twine_, _yield_ and _year_.
Look up the meaning of the words in this week's lesson. Master the
spelling and use them in sentences of your own construction.
+Monday+
Reason
Evolution
Justice
Thorough
Beauty
+Tuesday+
Assertive
Review
Surprise
Basis
Separate
+Wednesday+
Interrogative
Period
Capital
Capitol
Function
+Thursday+
Example
Contain
Imperative
Question
Speech
+Friday+
Method
Various
Familiar
Industry
Alphabet
+Saturday+
Travel
Sense
Cents
Sail
Sale
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 3
Dear Comrade:
In this lesson we are taking up a short study of the different parts of
speech. In later lessons we will study each part of speech more
thoroughly but this lesson covers the ground quickly and briefly. It is
sufficient, however, to form a basis for our understanding of the
evolution of language.
You will see, as you study this lesson, how each part of speech has been
added to meet a growing need. There are many, many thousand words in the
English language, but they can all be grouped under these eight parts of
speech, for they all answer in some way to one of these great needs.
The object in studying grammar, as in studying any other science, is not
to fill one's mind with a great many unrelated facts--facts which may or
may not prove useful to one hereafter. The object of all study is to
develop one's power of observation and one's ability to think. Added to
this must be the practical ability to make use of this knowledge. Here
the study of grammar has an advantage over the study of every other
science. It deals with words, something which we use every day.
You do not need any laboratory or expensive apparatus in order to study
grammar. All that you need lies ready to your hand. And in addition to
this the knowledge which you gain is something which is of practical use
to every man and woman no matter what their work, no matter what their
place or position in life may be.
Remember that dogmatism has no place in the study of grammar.
"Grammarians are the guardians, not the authors, of language." We do not
say, "You should say this or that, or you violate a rule of grammar,"
but we say "The common usage among those who use good English is thus
and so." If we do not believe that the common usage is the best usage,
then we follow the democratic method of seeking to change the common
usage into that which we consider the more sensible way. Thus, those who
advocate simplified spelling have not sought to pass a law whereby every
one should be compelled to spell words exactly as they sound, but they
have striven to influence our writers and people in general to use this
more sensible way of spelling words.
So _think_ while you study. Do not try to learn rules and formulas. See
_why_ the rules and formulas exist. Once having seen this you do not
need to learn them--you know them already. The study of any language is
an intellectual discipline of the highest order.
So apply yourself diligently to this most interesting study and you will
see that the result of this application will affect your daily life in
every particular.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
WORDS ADDED TO NOUNS
+33.+ When man began to invent words to express his ideas of the world
in which he lived, we have found that probably the first need was that
of names for the things about him. So we have nouns. The second need was
of words to tell what these things _do_, and so we have verbs. But
primitive man soon felt the need of other classes of words.
The objects about us are not all alike. For example, we have a word for
man, but when we say _man_ that is not sufficient to describe the many
different kinds of men. There are tall men, short men, white men, black
men, strong men, weak men, busy men, lazy men. There are all sorts of
men in the world, and we need words by which we can describe these
different types and also indicate which man we mean.
+34.+ So we have a class of words which are called adjectives.
_Adjective_ is a word derived from the Latin. It comes from the Latin
word _ad_, meaning _to_, and the Latin word _jecto_, which means _to
throw_; hence an adjective is a word _thrown to_ or _added to_ a noun.
If you will stop to think for a moment, you will see that it is by their
qualities that we know the things about us. Some men are strong, some
are weak, some are tall, some are short. These qualities belong to
different men. And we separate or group them into classes as they
resemble each other or differ from one another in these qualities.
Things are alike which have the same qualities; things are unlike whose
qualities are different. Apples and oranges are alike in the fact that
both are round, both are edible. They are unlike in the fact that one is
red and one is yellow; one may be sour and the other sweet. So we
separate them in our minds because of their different qualities; and we
have a class of words, _adjectives_, which describe these various
qualities.
+35.+ We use adjectives for other purposes also. For example, when we
say _trees_, we are not speaking of any particular trees, but of trees
in general. But we may add certain adjectives which point out particular
trees, as for example: _these_ trees, or _those_ trees, or _eight_ trees
or _nine_ trees. These adjectives limit the trees of which we are
speaking to the particular trees pointed out. They do not express any
particular qualities of the trees like the adjectives _tall_ or
_beautiful_ express, but they limit the use of the word _trees_ in its
application. So we have our definition of the adjective.
+36.+ +An adjective is a word added to a noun to qualify or limit its
meaning.+
Exercise 1
Underscore all of the adjectives in the following quotation. Notice also
the nouns and verbs in this quotation.
Yet fearsome and terrible are all the footsteps of men upon the earth,
for they either descend or climb.
They descend from little mounds and high peaks and lofty altitudes,
through wide roads and narrow paths, down noble marble stairs and
creaky stairs of wood--and some go down to the cellar, and some to the
grave, and some down to the pits of shame and infamy, and still some
to the glory of an unfathomable abyss where there is nothing but the
staring, white, stony eye-balls of Destiny.
They descend and they climb, the fearful footsteps of men, and some
limp, some drag, some speed, some trot, some run--they are quiet,
slow, noisy, brisk, quick, feverish, mad, and most awful in their
cadence to the ears of the one who stands still.
But of all the footsteps of men that either descend or climb, no
footsteps are so fearsome and terrible as those that go straight on
the dead level of a prison floor, from a yellow stone wall to a red
iron gate.--From _The Walker_. _Giovannitti_.
WORDS ADDED TO VERBS
+37.+ From our study, you see how our classes of words grew out of man's
need of them in expressing his thoughts. And notice also how the many
thousands of words in our language can all be grouped under these few
classes. We _name_ the things about us; we invent words to tell what
these things _do_; we have another class of words which _describe_ the
things which we have named; and now we come to a fourth class of words
for which we also find great need.
When we come to tell what things _do_, we find that we need words which
will tell us _how_ or _where_ or _when_ these things are done. Notice
the following sentences:
The men work busily.
The men work late.
The men work now.
The men work here.
The men work hard.
The men work well.
The men work inside.
The men work more.
We would have a complete sentence and express a complete thought if we
said simply, _The men work_, but each of these words which we have
added, like _busily_, _hard_, _late_, etc., adds something to the
meaning of the verb. These words add something to the action which is
asserted by the verb, for they show _how_ and _when_ and _where_ and
_how much_ the men work.
+38.+ We call this class of words _adverbs_, because they are added to
verbs to make the meaning more definite, very much as adjectives are
added to nouns. Adverb means literally _to the verb_.
An adverb will always answer one of these questions: _how?_ _when?_ _how
long?_ _how often?_ _how much?_ _how far?_ or _how late?_ If you want to
find the adverbs in your sentences just ask one of these questions, and
the word that answers it will be the adverb.
+39.+ An adverb may be used also with an adjective. Notice the following
sentences:
The book is _very_ long.
_Too_ many people never think.
Notice here that the adverbs _very_ and _too_ modify the adjectives
_long_ and _many_.
+40.+ Adverbs may also be used with other adverbs. Notice the following
sentences:
He speaks _very_ distinctly.
He walks _too_ slowly.
Here the adverbs _very_ and _too_ are used with the adverbs _distinctly_
and _slowly_, and add to their meaning. We will study more fully in
later lessons concerning both the adjective and the adverb, but we can
see by this brief study why adverbs were added as a class of words, a
part of speech, for they are absolutely necessary in order to describe
the action expressed by verbs, and also to add to the meaning of
adjectives and other adverbs. Hence we have our definition of an adverb.
+41.+ +An adverb is a word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an
adjective, or another adverb.+
Exercise 2
Underscore all adverbs in the following sentences:
1. He will not come today.
2. Here and now is the day of opportunity.
3. Very slowly, but even then entirely too rapidly, the fire crept
forward.
4. The room was very quiet and still.
5. He was too weary to go farther.
6. One must learn to feel deeply and think clearly in order to
express himself eloquently.
7. Ferrer stood there, so calmly and so bravely facing the firing
squad.
8. He was condemned to death because he stood uncompromisingly and
courageously for the education of the masses.
9. Ferrer understood thoroughly that the schools of today cleverly
and effectively adapt their teaching to maintain the present
system of society.
10. He said "The school imprisons the children physically,
intellectually and morally."
WORDS USED IN PLACE OF NOUNS
+42.+ Now we come to study another class of words which are also very
necessary in order to express our ideas. Suppose you had just arrived in
a strange town and you wanted to find the way to a friend's house. You
inquire of a stranger, "Can you tell me who lives in the house on the
corner?"
Notice the words _you_ and _me_ and _who_. You could not call the
stranger by name for you do not know his name, and hence you say _you_.
And if you used your own name instead of _me_, he would not recognize
it, and you would both be puzzled to find a substitute for that little
word _who_.
If you knew the stranger and he knew your name, you might say, "Can Mr.
Smith tell Mr. Jones what person lives in the house on the corner." But
this would sound very stilted and unnatural and awkward. So we have
these little words like _you_ and _me_ and _who_, which we use _in place
of nouns_. These words are called pronouns. This word is taken from the
Latin also. In the Latin the word _pro_ means _in place of_. So the word
pronoun means literally in place of a noun.
+43.+ +A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun.+
These pronouns are very useful little words. They save us a great deal
of tiresome repetition. Notice the awkwardness of the following:
The workers will succeed in gaining the workers' freedom if the
workers learn solidarity.
And yet this would be the way we would have to express this idea
if we did not have pronouns. Instead we say:
The workers will succeed in gaining their freedom if they learn
solidarity.
+44.+ We will study the pronoun in detail in later lessons, but we can
readily recognize these words which are used in place of nouns. The most
common pronouns are:
I
you
he
she
it
we
they
me
him
her
us
them
my
your
his
her
its
our
their
that
which
who
whose
whom
what
Exercise 3
Underscore the pronouns in the following story:
A man in South Africa picked up a small piece of stone. It was dirty
and Rough.
"Make me beautiful," said the stone.
"I shall have to hurt you," said the man.
"Well, if it hurts me, I will bear it," said the stone.
So the man took it to a clever craftsman, who put it into a tight
vise, and cut it with his sharp instrument.
"Oh!" cried the stone.
And he ground it till the dust fell all about it.
"Oh!" cried the stone.
And he polished it very hard.
"Oh!" cried the stone.
And then he set it in a crown and sent it to the Queen. On a sunny day
she wore her crown, and the stone--it was a diamond--sparkled in long
rays of crimson and green and yellow and silvery white. And all the
people greeted their queen. She showed them her crown and they praised
the beautiful stone.
The training was hard, but the improvement was glorious.
PREPOSITIONS
+45.+ Notice the following sentences:
I want the book _on_ the box.
I want the book _under_ the box.
I want the book _in_ the box.
I want the book _beside_ the box.
I want the book _behind_ the box.
I want the book _beyond_ the box.
Do you notice any word in these sentences which does not belong to any
of the classes of words which we have studied? _I_ is a pronoun, _want_
is a verb, _the_ is an adjective, _book_ is a noun, _the_ is an
adjective, _box_ is a noun; but the words, _on_, _under_, _in_,
_beside_, _behind_ and _beyond_ are not nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs or pronouns.
Yet would it be possible to express the meaning in these sentences
without these words? Read the sentences without them, and you will see
that no one could tell the relation which you wish to express between
the _book_ and the _box_. And you will notice too that each word
expresses a different relation, for it means one thing to say _on the
box_ and another thing to say _in the box_, and so through the list.
+46.+ The words which are used to show this relation are called
_prepositions_. The groups of words introduced by the preposition, like
_on the box_ and _in the box_, and so on, are called prepositional
phrases. The noun which follows a preposition as _box_ follows the
prepositions _in_, _on_, _beside_, _beyond_, etc., is called the
_object_ of the preposition.
_Preposition_ is a word which comes into our language from the Latin. It
is formed from the Latin _pre_, which means _before_, and the Latin verb
which means _to place_, so preposition means literally _to place
before_. It is given this name because it is placed before the noun or
pronoun which is its object. Therefore our definition of a preposition
is as follows:
+47.+ +A preposition is a word that shows the relation of its object to
some other word.+
+48.+ Either a noun or a pronoun may be the object of a preposition.
Notice the following sentences:
Bring the book to me.
Lay the book on the table.
He will speak to you.
I will speak to the man.
In these sentences the noun _table_ is the object of the preposition
_on_; the pronoun _me_ is the object of the preposition _to_; and in the
last two sentences the pronoun _you_ and the noun _man_ are the objects
of the preposition _to_.
+49.+ There are not many prepositions in the language and they are
easily learned and easily distinguished. Here is a list of the most
common and the most important prepositions. Use each one in a sentence.
at
across
around
about
among
above
against
along
behind
beside
between
below
beyond
by
before
beneath
down
for
from
in
into
off
on
over
to
toward
under
up
upon
with
within
without
Exercise 4
Underscore the prepositions in the following sentences:
He went to the door and looked out upon the field.
Over the river and through the woods, to Grandfather's house we go.
He saw them in the distance as they were coming toward him.
They went along the road, across the bridge, and hid among the trees
at the foot of the hill.
They came from Minneapolis down the river by boat.
The war between the classes is a struggle against exploitation.
The army was intrenched behind the barricades before dawn.
His claim was within the law but without justice.
CONJUNCTIONS
+50.+ We have found that the preposition is a very important connective
word. It connects two words and shows what one of them has to do with
the other, but the preposition is not the only connective word which we
use in English. We have another part of speech which performs an
important function as a connective word. Notice the following sentence:
Men and women struggle for their rights.
Can you find a word in this sentence which is a connective word besides
the preposition _for_? Did you notice that little word _and_? The noun
_men_ and the noun _women_ are both subjects of the verb _struggle_, and
they are joined by this little connective word _and_. If we did not have
this word we would have to use two sentences to express our thought,
thus:
Men struggle for their rights.
Women struggle for their rights.
But with the use of this connective word _and_ we can combine these
two sentences and express it all in one sentence:
Men _and_ women struggle for their rights.
This word is used in a different manner from the preposition. The
preposition connects two words and makes one modify the other. When we
say, _Get the book on the table_, the phrase _on the table_ designates
the book just as much as if we had said, _Get the green book_. So the
use of the preposition enables us to show the relation between two words
and to make one word describe or modify the other.
+51.+ This little word _and_ in the sentence, _Men and women struggle
for their rights_, is a connective word also, but it connects two words
that are used in the same way, so it is a different sort of connective
word from the preposition. Words used in this way are called
_conjunctions_. Conjunction is a word which is taken from the Latin,
being made up of the Latin word _con_, which means _together_, and the
Latin verb _juncto_, which means _to join_. So conjunction means
literally _to join together_.
+52.+ +A conjunction is a word that connects sentences or parts of
sentences.+
Notice the following sentence:
The class struggle is waged on the political field and on the
industrial field.
Here we have the conjunction _and_ connecting the two phrases _on the_
_political field_ and _on the industrial field_. Without the use of this
connective word, we would have to use two sentences to express these two
thoughts:
The class struggle is waged on the political field.
The class struggle is waged on the industrial field.
+53.+ So a conjunction may be used to connect phrases as well as words.
Now notice the following sentences:
He will speak. I will listen.
He will speak, _and_ I will listen.
He will speak, _but_ I will listen.
He will speak, _if_ I will listen.
He will speak, _therefore_ I will listen.
He will speak, _because_ I will listen.
He will speak, _until_ I will listen.
+54.+ These _sentences_ are joined by different conjunctions, and the
conjunction used alters the meaning of the sentence.
The conjunction is a very useful part of speech. Without it we would
have many disconnected sentences requiring tiresome repetition of the
same words. Like prepositions, there are not many conjunctions in
English and they are readily recognized.
+55.+ We will study about these conjunctions at length in later lessons.
If you consult the following list of those most commonly used, you can
easily pick out the conjunctions in your reading:
and
as
as if
after
although
as soon as
because
besides
before
but
either
for
hence
in order that
lest
neither
nor
or
since
still
so
then
though
that
than
therefore
till
until
unless
while
whether
yet
The seven classes of words which we have studied make up all of our
sentences. The hundreds of words which we use in forming our sentences
and expressing our thoughts belong to these seven classes. They are
either nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions or
conjunctions.
Exercise 5
Underscore the conjunctions in the following sentences. Notice whether
they connect words or phrases or sentences.
1. We cannot win unless we are organized.
2. Books and music are true friends.
3. Men, women and children work under conditions neither proper nor
just.
4. We must educate and organize.
5. The workers on the farms and in the factories must be united.
6. Winter has come and the birds are going South.
7. We have been ignorant, therefore we have been exploited.
8. We must learn before we can teach.
9. We do not understand the situation, because we do not know the
facts.
10. Do you know whether these statements are true or false?
IT CAN BE DONE
Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he, with a chuckle, replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in, with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done--and he did it.
Somebody scoffed, "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it."
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it;
With the lift of his chin, and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done--and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it can not be done;
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But buckle right in, with a lift of your chin,
Then take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That "can not be done,"--and you'll do it.
INTERJECTIONS
+56.+ There is another class of words which we use _with_ sentences, but
which are really not _parts_ of the sentences. They are emotional
expressions which seem to belong more to the natural language than to
the invented language. For example:
Oh! You hurt me!
Aha! Now I have you.
_Oh_, used in this way, is very apt to sound like a groan, and _aha_
like a shout of triumph. These words do not really belong in the
construction of the sentence. The sentence would be complete without
them, but they are thrown in to express the emotion which accompanies
the thought. We call expressions such as these _interjections_.
Interjection is from the Latin and means literally _thrown into the
midst of_. It comes from the Latin word _inter_, which means _between_,
and the Latin verb _jecto_, _to throw_, so it literally means _to throw
between_.
Some of these words imitate sounds, as for example:
Bang! There goes another shot.
Ding-dong! There goes the first bell.
We do not use interjections very frequently in writing on scientific
subjects that express deep thought, but you will find them often used in
poetry, fiction, oratory or any emotional writing. Therefore we have our
definition of an interjection:
+57.+ +An interjection is an exclamatory word or phrase used to express
feeling or to imitate some sound.+
+58.+ Following is a list of commonly used interjections. Use them in
sentences of your own.
oh
hello
bravo
ahoy
aha
hurrah
bow wow
ssh
alas
hist
whirr
pshaw
fie
whoa
ding-dong
rub-a-dub
Exercise 6
Mark the interjections in the following sentences. Notice those which
express emotion and those which imitate sound.
1. Oh! Is it possible.
2. Hurrah! We have good news at last.
3. Whirr! Whirr! goes the giant machine.
4. Come! Keep up your courage.
5. What! I cannot believe it.
6. Courage! We shall yet win.
7. Bravo! Let those words ring down the centuries.
8. Ding-dong! the bells ring out the hour!
SPELLING
LESSON 3
Since there are forty-two elementary sounds used in the formation of our
words and only twenty-six letters to represent these sounds, some of
these letters must necessarily represent more than one sound.
Of the forty-two elementary sounds, eighteen are vowel sounds, but we
have only five vowels with which to represent these sounds, so each
vowel has several different sounds.
Therefore we must have a key to pronunciation to indicate the various
sounds which are represented by these letters used in forming the words.
When you look up words in your dictionary you will find the vowels
marked by certain signs to indicate the pronunciation. These signs are
called diacritical marks.
The following table gives the diacritical marks for the vowels. Study
this table and learn to pronounce the words you look up. When you have
determined the correct pronunciation of the word, repeat it over to
yourself aloud a number of times until you have accustomed your ear to
the correct pronunciation.
Different dictionaries use different keys to pronunciation. This table
is taken from the dictionary which we are using in connection with this
course--Winston's New Universal Self-Pronouncing Dictionary.
Key to Pronunciation
[=a] as in _late_, _fade_.
ä as in _mar_, _father_.
[.a] as in _mask_, _dance_.
a as in _cat_, _had_.
aw as in _awl_, _fall_.
[=e] as in _he_, _feet_.
[~e] as in _her_, _verge_.
e as in _let_, _men_.
[=i] as in _line_, _time_.
i as in _tin_, _little_.
[=o] as in _vote_, _home_.
ô as in _orb_, _form_.
o as in _lot_, _odd_.
oi as in _oil_, _join_.
[=oo] as in _moon_, _school_.
oo as in _cook_, _foot_.
ou as in _out_, _house_.
[=u] as in _mute_, _unit_.
u as in _nut_, _drum_.
The spelling lesson for this week is composed of words containing the
different vowel sounds. Look up in your dictionary and mark all the
_a's_ in Monday's lesson, all the _e's_ in Tuesday's lesson, all the
_i's_ in Wednesday's lesson, all the _o's_ in Thursday's lesson, and all
the _u's_ in Friday's lesson. In Saturday's lesson note the use of _w_
and _y_ as vowels.
+Monday+
Pause
Adjective
Lazy
Quality
Advance
+Tuesday+
Resemble
Descend
Adverb
Interjection
Complete
+Wednesday+
Limit
Define
Distinct
Imprison
Civilize
+Thursday+
Form
Footsteps
Proof
Report
Common
+Friday+
Union
Under
Unusual
Summer
Commune
+Saturday+
Comply
Employ
Vowel
News
Lawful
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 4
Dear Comrade:
We are studying in this lesson a most interesting part of our language,
the words that are the names of things. If we could trace these names of
things and the order and time of their coming into the language of men
we would have a progressive history of mankind. Way back yonder in the
dim dawn of history, men lived upon fruit and nuts. They had no
knowledge of the use of fire and could not use foods that required
cooking. They communicated with one another by signs. Then they
discovered fire and invented the bow and arrow. They could now use fish
and flesh for food and they commenced to use articulate speech. This
stage has been called the Middle Stage of Savagery. With the invention
of the bow and arrow, began the third stage of savagery which merged
into the first stage of barbarism with the invention of pottery.
There are three stages of barbarism before we come to the beginning of
the era of civilization which begins with the use of the phonetic
alphabet and the production of literary records. All tribes that have
never attained the art of pottery are classed as savages and those who
possess this art but have never attained a phonetic alphabet and the use
of writing are classed as barbarians. Civilization began with the spoken
and written language and it has been well said that all that separates
us from savagery is a wall of books. It is upon the accumulated wisdom
of the past that we build. Without this we would be helpless.
So these various names of things have come to us with developing
evolving life. As the men of the past gained a knowledge of the use of
fire, as they learned to bake the clay and make various utensils; to
heat and forge the iron into weapons; to conquer nature in all her
phases, to feed the race, to clothe the race, to shelter the race more
adequately, our language has grown in volume, strength and beauty.
The study of words and their uses is of great importance to you. Master
the few rules necessary and watch your words daily. We are living in an
age full of wondrous things and yet many of us have almost as limited a
vocabulary as the men of those bygone days, who had never dreamed of the
marvels that are commonplace to us.
As you use your dictionary watch closely the meaning of the words and
choose the words that most aptly express your ideas. Listen to good
English spoken as often as you can. _Read_ good English. Mark the
difference between good and bad English and gradually you will find
yourself using good English naturally and continually.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
CLASSES OF NOUNS
+59.+ We have learned that the words in a sentence are classified
according to the work which each word does. The words which assert are
called verbs; the words which are the names of things are called nouns.
But now we shall see that these words are again divided into classes
according to the _special_ work which they perform. Just as we may
gather the people of the world into one great class, the working class,
then classify them according to the industry in which they work, thus
some are farmers, some teachers, some factory workers; then each class
may be subdivided according to the special work which they perform, as
truck farmers, high school teachers, machinists, etc.
So we find that nouns are divided into classes according to their
meaning in the sentence.
In the sentence, _Lincoln was a man of the people_, we have two nouns
referring to the same person, _Lincoln_ and _man_, but they are
different kinds of names. The word _man_ is a name that may apply to any
one of a million persons but the name _Lincoln_ applies to one person
only. Some nouns, then, represent a thing as being of a certain kind or
class, without showing which particular one is meant. Other nouns are
names given to designate a particular individual. These are called
_common_ and _proper_ nouns.
+60.+ +A proper noun is a special name meant for only one person, place
or thing.+
All other nouns are common nouns.
+A common noun is a name which belongs to all things of a
class of objects.+
+Every proper noun should begin with a capital letter.+
Indicate the proper nouns in the following list by drawing a line under
the letters that ought to be capitals:
king
month
city
france
dog
virginia
war
wilson
november
doctor
colonel
napoleon
chicago
governor
independence day
freedom
ocean
atlantic ocean
thanksgiving
thanksgiving day
uncle william
thursday
week
general sherman
karl marx
union
labor
united mine workers
newspaper
the daily call
Write the special or _proper_ names of several individuals in each of
the following classes:--as city,--Chicago, New York, etc.
River, king, author, country, state, inventor, martyr, month, book,
college.
COLLECTIVE NOUNS
+61.+ Some nouns are the names of groups or collections of things and
are called collective nouns.
Many soldiers taken together form collectively an _army_--a number of
sheep form a _drove_. Many of these group or collective nouns will
readily occur to your mind.
+A collective noun is one that in the singular form, denotes a number of
separate persons or things.+
Exercise 1
Opposite each of the following collective nouns, write the name of the
individuals represented by the collection; as an army of _soldiers_; a
swarm of _bees_; a flock of _birds_.
A gang of......
A committee of......
A herd of......
A drove of......
A hive of......
A corps of......
A suite of......
A group of......
A class of......
A multitude of......
Fill the following blanks with appropriate collective nouns.
A......of horses.
A......of sailors.
A......of wolves.
A......of savages.
A......of singers.
A......of girls.
A......of ships.
A......of quail.
A......of birds.
A......of workers.
ABSTRACT NOUNS
+62.+ When primitive man began to name the objects about him, doubtless
he first named the things which he could see, hear, taste, smell and
touch,--the objects which he could perceive by the five senses. Then
gradually he came to understand that these objects had certain qualities
which he could consider apart from the object itself.
He hunted among the stones to find those which were suitable for making
his arrow-heads. For this purpose he needed the hardest stone which he
could find, so _hardness_ became something which he could think of as
something apart from the object itself.
He saw the men about him and found a name for them. Then he knew that
some men were stronger than others, so _strength_ was a quality which he
could consider apart from the man himself.
These men performed certain actions; they ran, they climbed,--so
_running_ and _climbing_ became actions which he could think of as
something apart from any individual.
He noted too that men lived in certain conditions; for example, some men
were free, some were slaves, so he came to think of _slavery_ and
_freedom_ as conditions which could be thought of as something apart
from the individual.
So we draw away, or separate certain ideas; the _quality_ from the thing
which has it and the _action_ from the thing which does it and the
_condition_ from the thing which is in it. These nouns which are used to
describe these qualities, actions or conditions are called _abstract_
nouns. Abstract is a word derived from the Latin _abs_, _away from_, and
_tractus_, _drawn_, so it literally means _drawn away from_.
The nouns which are names of things which we can see, hear, taste, smell
and touch or perceive by any of the five senses are called _concrete_
nouns.
+63.+ +A concrete noun is the name of an object which may be perceived
by one or more of the five senses.+
+An abstract noun is the name of a quality, a condition or an action.+
+64.+ You remember we found in the study of adjectives that we have a
class of adjectives which are used to describe the qualities of objects,
as for example--_good_, _noble_, _honest_, _true_, _wise_, etc. Since
abstract nouns are the names of qualities, many of our abstract nouns
are formed from adjectives. Study carefully the following list of
adjectives and nouns. Note that the word is an _adjective_ when it is
used with a noun to _describe_ certain qualities. It is a _noun_ when it
is used by itself to _name_ that quality.
+Adjectives+ +Abstract Nouns+
1. honest honesty
2. pure purity
3. true truth
4. strong strength
5. wise wisdom
6. good goodness
7. bold boldness
8. just justice
9. silent silence
10. wide width
11. patient patience
12. stupid stupidity
+65.+ You will notice that another use of abstract nouns is to name
actions. The verb is the part of speech which expresses action,
therefore many abstract nouns are formed from verbs. Notice the
following list:
+Verbs+ +Abstract Nouns+
1. learn learning
2. invent invention
3. choose choice
4. defend defense
5. try trial
6. judge judgment
7. read reading
8. please pleasure
9. elect election
10. move motion
+66.+ An abstract noun is also the name of a condition. These nouns are
derived from the concrete noun which is the name of the person or thing
which is _in_ the condition.
+Concrete Nouns+ +Abstract Nouns+
1. slave slavery
2. friend friendship
3. thief theft
4. man manhood
5. child childhood
6. leader leadership
7. hero heroism
8. martyr martyrdom
Exercise 2
Form abstract nouns from the following adjectives, verbs and nouns.
long
simple
rapid
lovely
loyal
fresh
prove
sing
run
behave
believe
reflect
write
child
agent
infant
rascal
clerk
president
coward
NUMBER FORM
+67.+ So we find that we classify our nouns according to the special
work which they do. Now sometimes we find it necessary to change the
form of the noun to make it express our thought. Thus we say, _book_,
_man_, _boy_, _knife_, when we wish to express the idea of only one of
each object mentioned. But when we wish to express the idea of more than
one of them, we say, _books_, _men_, _boys_, _knives_.
We say, _The boy calls_; _the boys call_. The form of the noun _boy_ is
changed by adding an _s_ to it. The meaning has also changed. _Boy_
denotes one lad; _boys_ denotes two or more lads. Any change in form and
meaning of words is called _inflection_. The change to denote more than
one object is called _number_. The word _boy_, denoting _one_ is in the
_singular number_; the word _boys_, denoting _more than one_ is in the
_plural number_.
+68.+ +Inflection is a change in the form of a word to denote a
different application or use.+
+Number is the form of a noun which shows whether it denotes one or more
than one.+
+The singular number denotes one thing.+
+The plural number denotes more than one thing.+
There are a few rules governing the formation of plurals which we must
know, and these rules are of great assistance in correct spelling.
+69.+ Most nouns form their plural by adding _s_--thus:
boat
boats
day
days
book
books
boy
boys
Long ago in early English all plurals were formed by adding _es_, and
you will read in the first translation of the Bible, for instance, such
words as _bird-es_, _cloud-es_. Later the _e_ was dropped and _s_ added
to the singular without an increase of syllables. But when the singular
ends in an _s_ sound, the original syllable _es_ is retained, for two
hissing sounds will not unite.
+70.+ So nouns ending in _s_, _x_, _z_, _sh_ or soft _ch_, form the
plural by adding _es_ to the singular. These words end with a sound so
much like that of _s_ that we cannot pronounce the plural easily without
making another syllable. Thus:
class
classes
tax
taxes
topaz
topazes
wish
wishes
ditch
ditches
+71.+ In words ending with the _s_ sound but with a final _e_, only _s_
is added to form the plural, but in pronouncing the word we then have
two syllables, thus:
house
houses
place
places
size
sizes
cage
cages
niche
niches
+72.+ Letters, figures, signs, etc., are made plural by adding an
apostrophe and the letter _s_ ('s), thus:
Cross your t's and dot your i's.
Do you know the table of 4's?
While most of our nouns form their plural in this regular way by adding
_s_ or _es_, there are some nouns that form their plural by some other
change in the form of the word.
+73.+ Notice the following list of words and their plurals:
fly
flies
city
cities
key
keys
day
days
story
stories
enemy
enemies
tray
trays
boy
boys
These nouns all end in _y_, yet they form the plural differently. Some
simply add _s_ and the rest change the _y_ to _i_ and add _es_. Can you
discover the reason?
Wherever the _y_ is preceded by a vowel, as _e_ in _key_, _a_ in _tray_,
_o_ in _boy_, the plural is formed by adding _s_. But when the _y_ is
preceded by a consonant, as _l_ in _fly_, _r_ in _story_, _t_ in _city_,
and _m_ in _enemy_, the _y_ is changed to _i_ and _es_ added in forming
the plural.
+If the singular ends in _y_ after a consonant, change _y_ to _i_
and add _es_ in the plural.+
+74.+ There are thirteen nouns ending in _f_ and three in _fe_ which
form the plural in _ves_. They are:
beef beeves
calf calves
elf elves
half halves
leaf leaves
loaf loaves
self selves
sheaf sheaves
shelf shelves
staff staves
thief thieves
wharf wharves
wolf wolves
knife knives
life lives
wife wives
All other nouns in _f_ or _fe_ are regular; adding only _s_, to form the
plural.
+75.+ About forty nouns ending in _o_ after a consonant form the plural
in _es_. The most common ones are:
buffalo
cargo
potato
tomato
negro
veto
cargo
echo
calico
embargo
hero
mulatto
mosquito
motto
tornado
volcano
torpedo
flamingo
Most nouns ending in _o_ form the plural regularly, adding only _s_, as
_pianos_, _banjos_, _cameos_, etc.
+76.+ A few words form their plurals by a change in the word and without
adding _s_ or _es_.
The most common of these words are:
man men
goose geese
ox oxen
woman women
foot feet
mouse mice
brother brethren
tooth teeth
child children
louse lice
+77.+ Proper nouns, when made plural, generally follow the same rule as
common nouns. Thus we write:
All the Smiths, the Joneses, both the Miss Johnsons, one of the Dr.
Davidsons, and the Mrs. Wilsons, were present.
But to prevent the confusion and misunderstanding which might arise in
changing the form of a proper noun, we do not change its form in writing
the plurals; for example:
There were eight Henrys, kings of England.
The two Marys reigned in the kingdom.
It would be confusing to say _eight Henries_, the _two Maries_.
The title is made plural when several are referred to, thus:
Mr. Hayes The Messrs. Hayes
Miss Smith The Misses Smith
+78.+ The title is made plural when used with several names, thus:
Messrs. Brown and White.
Generals Lee and Grant.
Drs. Long and Larson.
+79.+ In the case of nouns formed of two or more words, when
the compound word is so familiar that the parts are not thought
of separately the _s_ is added to the whole compound word, as
_four-in-hands_; _forget-me-nots_; _court-yards_; _spoonfuls_;
_green-houses_; etc. But when one of the parts is more important than
the others, the _s_ is added to the more important part, thus:
mothers-in-law
commanders-in-chief
hangers-on
men-of-war
by-standers
attorneys-at-law
passers-by
step-sons
+80.+ We have many words in our language taken from other languages.
They do not form the plural in these languages as we do, and some of
these words retain their foreign plurals. Some of the most commonly used
of these nouns are the following:
+Singular+ +Plural+
alumnus alumni
analysis analyses
axis axes
datum data
erratum errata
ellipsis ellipses
appendix appendices
bacterium bacteria
basis bases
crisis crises
parenthesis parentheses
radius radii
terminus termini
hypothesis hypotheses
larva larvae
madame mesdames
memorandum memoranda
phenomenon phenomena
stratum strata
thesis theses
+81.+ The following nouns are treated as singular: _news_, _pains_
(meaning care), _acoustics_, _mathematics_, _economics_, _ethics_,
_molasses_, _physics_, _politics_, and other nouns ending in _ics_
except _athletics_. With these always use the s-form of the verb. For
example:
The news _is_ distorted. Not, The news _are_ distorted.
Economics _is_ an important study. Not, Economics _are_, etc.
+82.+ The following nouns are always plural:
alms
annals
amends
antipodes
bellows
billiards
clothes
dregs
eaves
fireworks
hysterics
measles
mumps
matins
nippers
nuptials
oats
premises
proceeds
pincers
riches
rickets
suds
scissors
thanks
tidings
tongs
trousers
vitals
victuals
vespers
With all these nouns always use the form of the verb which is used with
the plural subject. Thus:
Alms are given.
Riches are easily lost.
+83.+ The following nouns have the same form for both plural and
singular, _corps_, _cannon_, _deer_, _grouse_, _heathen_, _hose_,
_means_, _odds_, _series_, _sheep_, _species_, _swine_, _vermin_,
_wages_. You can tell whether the singular or plural is meant by the
meaning of the sentence. For example:
_The cannon is loaded._ Here we are speaking of _one_ cannon.
_The cannon used in the war are of tremendous size._ Here we know are
meant all the big guns used in the war.
When you say, _The sheep is lost_, we know you mean _one_ sheep, but
when you say, _The sheep are in the pasture_, we know you mean the
entire drove.
+84.+ When preceded by a numeral, the following nouns have the same form
for both singular and plural. Without the numerals, the plural is formed
by the adding of _s_; _brace_, _couple_, _dozen_, _hundred_, _pair_,
_score_, _thousand_, _yoke_. For example:
Thousands enlisted.
Three thousand enlisted.
Dozens came at my call.
Two dozen came when I called.
GENDER
+85.+ All of the changes we have studied so far have been for the
purpose of indicating number; but among the nouns that name living
beings, many change to show to which sex the object named belongs. These
nouns change in form to distinguish between the masculine and the
feminine. This is called _gender_.
+Gender is the distinction in words that denotes sex.+
+The nouns that denote females are called feminine nouns.+
+The nouns that denote males are called masculine nouns.+
+86.+ The feminine form is generally made by the addition of _ess_
to the masculine form. Thus:
prince princess
master mistress
host hostess
count countess
tiger tigress
lion lioness
actor actress
god goddess
+87.+ Names of things without sex are, of course, of neither gender, and
are called _neuter nouns_. Neuter means literally _neither_. Such nouns
as _mountain_, _iron_, _river_, _chair_, are neuter.
Sometimes the feminine is an entirely different word from the masculine.
Thus:
king queen
lord lady
man woman
youth maiden
sir madam
stag hind
+88.+ Many nouns that denote living beings apply alike to male and
female, and are said to be of _common gender_. As woman enters more and
more into the business world and pursues the same occupations as man,
the change in form to denote the feminine is used less frequently, and
what we have called the masculine form is used for both sexes, thus:
_Poet_, _waiter_, _doctor_, _editor_--these nouns are used for both men
and women.
POSSESSIVE FORM
+89.+ There is just one more change made in the form of a noun, and that
is when we wish to show who or what owns or possesses a thing. Thus we
write:
John's book.
The boy's hat.
And since this form of the noun denotes possession, it is called the
_possessive form_. Some grammarians call this the possessive case.
The possessive form of nouns is made by adding an apostrophe and _s_,
('s); thus, _day's_, _lady's_, _girl's_, _clerk's_.
To plural nouns ending in _s_ add only an apostrophe; thus, _days'_,
_ladies'_, _girls'_, _clerks'_.
When plural nouns do not end in _s_, their possessive forms are made by
adding the apostrophe and _s_, the same as singular nouns, thus:
They make _men's_ and _women's_ shoes.
+90.+ In words which end with a sound that resembles that of _s_, the
apostrophe with _s_ forms an additional syllable. Thus:
James's (pronounced James-ez.)
Mr. Lynch's (pronounced Lynch-ez.)
The only exception to the rule occurs when the addition of another _s_
would make too many hissing sounds, then we add the apostrophe alone.
Thus:
For goodness' sake.
In Jesus' name.
+91.+ In forming the possessive of compound nouns, the possessive sign
is always placed at the end, thus:
My son-in-law's sister.
The man-of-war's cannon.
+92.+ When we wish to show that a thing belongs to two or more persons
who are joint owners of it, we add the possessive sign to the last word
only, thus:
Carson, Price and Scott's store.
Mason and Hamlin's pianos.
If it is a separate ownership that we wish to denote, we place the
possessive sign after each name, thus:
Bring me John's and Mary's books.
Lee's and Grant's armies met in battle.
Remember that the noun has just _three_ changes in form, one for the
plural number, one to denote gender and one for the possessive form.
Watch carefully your own language and that of your friends and note if
these changes are correctly made.
Exercise 3
Write the plural form of each of the following:
ax
beef
chief
hero
knife
T
hoof
man-of-war
axis
basis
cherry
leaf
son-in-law
Mr. Smith
thief
Doctor Wood
alley
buffalo
chimney
staff
Frenchman
Miss Brown
ox
spoonful
alto
calf
cargo
two
3
tooth
foot
turkey
Exercise 4
Underscore the nouns in the following:
How many abstract nouns?
How many concrete?
How many singular?
How many plural?
FIVE AND FIFTY
_Charlotte Perkins Gilman_
If fifty men did all the work
And gave the price to five;
And let those five make all the rules--
You'd say the fifty men were fools,
Unfit to be alive.
And if you heard complaining cries
From fifty brawny men,
Blaming the five for graft and greed,
Injustice, cruelty indeed--
What would you call them then?
Not by their own superior force
Do five on fifty live,
But by election and assent--
And privilege of government--
Powers that the fifty give.
If fifty men are really fools--
And five have all the brains--
The five must rule as now we find;
But if the fifty have the mind--
Why don't they take the reins?
Exercise 5
Select all the nouns in the following. Write their singular, plural and
possessive forms. Decide whether they are abstract or concrete, common
or proper or collective, masculine, feminine or neuter.
Brother!
Whoever you are, wherever you are on all the earth, I greet you.
I extend to you my right hand.
I make you a pledge.
Here is my pledge to you:--
I refuse to kill your father. I refuse to slay your mother's son. I
refuse to plunge a bayonet into the breast of your sister's brother. I
refuse to slaughter your sweetheart's lover. I refuse to murder your
wife's husband. I refuse to butcher your little child's father. I
refuse to wet the earth with blood and blind kind eyes with tears. I
refuse to assassinate you and then hide my stained fists in the folds
of _any_ flag.
Will you thus pledge me and pledge all the members of our working
class?--_Kirkpatrick._
SPELLING
LESSON 4
Some of our consonants also have more than one sound. We have also
certain combinations of consonants which represent one sound. This
combination of two letters to represent one sound is called a digraph,
as _gh_, in _cough_, _ch_ in _church_. A digraph may either be a
combination of two consonants or of two vowels or of a vowel and a
consonant. The following table contains the consonants which have more
than one sound:
c--k as in _cat_
c--s as in _vice_
g--j as in _ginger_
g--_hard_ as in _go_
s--sh as in _sure_
s--zh as in _usual_
s--_soft_ as in _also_
s--z as in _does_
x--_soft_ as in _extra_
x--gz as in _exist_
The following table gives the digraphs most commonly used:
ng--as in _ring_, _tongue_
ch--as in _church_ and _much_
ch--k as in _chasm_
ch--sh as in _chagrin_
th--as in _then_, _those_
th--as in _thin_ and _worth_
ce--sh as in _ocean_
ci--sh as in _special_
dg--j as in _edge_
gh--f as in _rough_
ph--f as in _sylph_
qu--kw as in _quart_
qu--k as in _conquer_
sh--as in _shall_
si--sh as in _tension_
si--zh as in _vision_
ti--sh as in _motion_
The use of these digraphs gives us a number of additional sounds. Notice
the use of the consonants which have more than one sound and also the
digraphs in the spelling lesson for the week. Mark the consonants and
digraphs.
+Monday+
Commence
Certain
General
Gradual
Sugar
+Tuesday+
Soldier
Season
Pleasure
Exact
Exercise
+Wednesday+
Singular
Chemistry
Chapter
Machine
Changing
+Thursday+
Theory
Thither
Ocean
Racial
Budget
+Friday+
Philosophy
Enough
Quorum
Bouquet
Phonetic
+Saturday+
Permission
Asia
Attention
Marshall
Martial
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 5
Dear Comrade:
We want to say just a word about the lesson assignment. This has been
arranged on a schedule of days merely to assist you in systematizing
your time and making the most of the leisure at your disposal. It is not
intended that you should slavishly follow it. We thoroughly believe in
individuality and all that contributes toward its development. But we
are also confident that many foolish things are done in the name of
liberty. Whenever we set ourselves to the performance of any task we
necessarily limit our activities in some other direction. Power comes by
concentration of force. Whenever we combine with others for the
accomplishment of any purpose, it becomes necessary to have some plan of
action and we give and take for the end which we have in view. The
musician because he follows the law of harmony in music has not given up
his liberty. He has only found a new freedom which enables him to make
glorious music where only discord reigned before. System in our work
does not mean loss of liberty or of individuality but only finding a
channel through which individuality can flow into the great ocean of
real freedom.
So use this suggestive lesson assignment to meet your own need and find
expression for your real individuality in full freedom.
This is the first of several lessons concerning verbs. The verb is
perhaps the most difficult part of speech to thoroughly master, so do
not be discouraged if there are some parts of this lesson you do not
understand. Succeeding lessons will clear up these difficult points.
Keep your eyes open as you read every day, and be careful of your
spelling and pronunciation.
Some of us mis-spell the common words which we see and use every day. In
a student's letter we recently noted that, with our letter before him in
which the word was printed in large type and correctly spelled, he
spelled College, _Colledge_.
Do not be satisfied with half-way things or less than that which is
worthy of you. Demand the best for yourself. Read aloud this little
verse from the Good Grey Poet, Walt Whitman:
"O, the joy of a manly self-hood;
To be servile to none, to defer to none, not to any tyrant known or
unknown,
To walk with erect carriage, a step springy and elastic,
To look with calm gaze or with a flashing eye,
To speak with a full and sonorous voice out of a broad chest,
To confront with your personality all the other personalities of the
earth."
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
THE WORD THAT ASSERTS
+93.+ You remember when we studied sentences we found that we could not
have a sentence without a verb or a word that asserts. The life of a
sentence is the verb, for without the verb we cannot assert, question or
command. It was on account of this importance that the Romans called the
verb, _verbum_, which meant the word. Verbs, like nouns, are divided
into classes.
+94.+ In some of our sentences the verb alone is enough to make a
complete assertion, but in other sentences we use verbs that need to be
followed by one or more words to complete the assertion. Notice the
following sentences:
The boy ran.
The boy found the ball.
The earth revolves.
The earth is round.
Do you notice any difference in the verbs used in these sentences?
Notice that the verbs _ran_ and _revolves_ make the complete assertion
about their subjects. Notice the verbs _found_ and _is_. These are not
complete without the addition of the words _ball_ and _round_. If we say
_The boy found_, _The earth is_, you at once ask, _The boy found WHAT?_
_The earth is WHAT?_ The sense is incomplete without the addition of
these words _ball_ and _round_. A part of the thought is unexpressed;
but when we say _The boy found the ball_, _The earth is round_, the
sense is complete.
So we have two classes of verbs, _COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE VERBS_.
+95.+ +An incomplete verb is one that requires the addition of one or
more words to complete its meaning.+
+The word or words added to an incomplete verb to complete its meaning
are called the complement.+
+A complete verb is one that requires no complement to complete its
meaning.+
+96.+ You can readily tell when a verb is complete and when it is
incomplete by asking the question _What?_ If you put the question _what_
after the verb, and it makes a sensible question the verb is
_incomplete_. For example:
Farmers raise--_what?_
The employer discharged--_what?_
We were--_what?_
The earth is--_what?_
If the question _what?_ does not make sense after the verb, then the
verb is _complete_. For example:
The sun shines.
Water flows.
Men work.
The question _what_ after these verbs would not make sense, as:
The sun shines--_what?_
Men work--_what?_
Water flows--_what?_
So these verbs are _complete_ verbs.
+97.+ The same verb, however, may be complete or incomplete, according
to the way in which it is used. For example:
The corn grows.
The farmer grows corn.
In the sentence, _Corn grows_, _grows_ is a complete verb. You could not
say _The corn grows--what?_ for it does not grow anything. It merely
grows, and the verb _grows_ in this sense is a complete verb. But in the
sentence, _The farmer grows corn_, you are using the verb _grows_ in a
slightly different sense. It is an _incomplete verb_, for you do not
mean, _The farmer grows_, but you mean that _the farmer grows CORN_.
Exercise 1
In the following sentences, underscore the complete verbs with one line,
the incomplete with two lines. Ask the question _what?_ after each verb
to determine whether it is complete or incomplete.
He returned today.
He returned the book.
The rose smells sweet.
He smelled the rose.
The trees shake in the wind.
The wind shakes the trees.
The ship plows through the waves.
The farmer plows the field.
The birds sing sweetly.
They sang the Marseillaise.
He worries over the matter.
The matters worry him.
The table feels rough.
He feels the rough surface.
It tastes bitter.
He tasted the bitter dregs.
Exercise 2
Use the following verbs in sentences as both complete and incomplete
verbs, as for example, _The snow melts._ _The sun melts the snow._
melts
write
stopped
answer
rings
fall
see
strike
INCOMPLETE VERBS
+98.+ Do you notice any difference in the two verbs in the following
sentences:
The boy found the ball.
The earth is round.
In the sentence, _The boy found the ball_, the word _ball_ tells _what_
the boy _found_. The verb _found_ expresses action; it tells what the
boy _does_. _Boy_ is the subject of the action--the one who performs the
action. The word _ball_ is the _object_ of the action. It shows the
receiver of the action. In the sentence, _The earth is round_, _is_ does
not express action. The earth is not doing anything, it simply _is_. The
verb _is_ expresses a state or condition and is incomplete, for you do
not know what state or condition is expressed until we add the other
word or words which describe the state or condition.
Notice the following sentences:
The earth is round.
The earth is our home.
The earth is a sphere.
The earth is large.
The words _round_, _sphere_, _home_ and _large_, describe the earth
which is the subject of the verb _is_.
+99.+ So we have two classes of incomplete verbs, the verbs that express
action and the verbs that express state or condition. The verbs which
express action are called _transitive_ verbs. Transitive is a word
derived from the Latin, and means literally _passing over_.
+100.+ So a transitive verb describes an action which _passes over_
from the subject to the object. As for example in the sentence, _The
player struck the ball_, _struck_ is a transitive verb--a verb of
action--describing the action of the subject, _player_, which passes
over to the object, _ball_. Therefore we have our definition of a
transitive verb:
+A transitive verb is one that has a complement showing who or what
receives the action expressed by the verb.+
+The complement or word that denotes the receiver of the action
expressed by a transitive verb is called the object.+
When you look up the meaning of verbs in your dictionary, you will find
some verbs marked _v.i._, and some verbs marked _v.t._ _V.t._ is the
abbreviation for _verb transitive_. Whenever you find a verb marked
_v.t._, you know that it is a transitive verb, a verb of action, one
which requires an object to complete its meaning. _V.i._ is the
abbreviation for _verb intransitive_. Some grammarians use the term
_intransitive_ to include both _complete_ and _copulative_ verbs. We
have used the terms complete and incomplete because they are much
simpler and clearer in describing the two general classes of verbs, but
you will remember that when you find verbs marked _v.i._ in the
dictionary that these include _complete_ and _copulative_ verbs.
+101.+ Now notice these sentences:
The earth is round.
The earth is a sphere.
In these sentences the verb _is_ does not express action, but _connects_
or _couples_ the complements _round_ and _sphere_ with the subject
_earth_. Verbs used in this way are called _copulative_ verbs, from the
word _copula_, which means to _complete_ or to _connect_. The words
_round_ and _sphere_ are not the objects of the verb, for they do not
describe the receiver of any action. They are the words which describe
the state or condition expressed in the verb _is_, and are called the
attribute complement of the verb.
You note that this complement may be either an adjective or a noun. In
the sentence, _The earth is round_, the adjective, _round_, is used as
the complement; in the sentence, _The earth is a sphere_, the noun,
_sphere_, is used as the complement. So we have our definition of
copulative verbs.
+102.+ +Verbs that express state or condition are called copulative
verbs.+
+The word or words that complete the meaning of an incomplete verb
expressing state or condition, are called the complement, or attribute
complement.+
There are only a few of these copulative verbs. All forms of the verb,
_be_; like _am_, _is_, _are_, _was_ and _were_, and the verb phrases
like _must be_, _can be_, _will be_, _shall be_, _have been_, _had
been_, etc.; and the verbs _seem_, _appear_, _become_, _look_, _feel_,
_taste_, _sound_ and _smell_, are the principal copulative verbs.
Exercise 3
Study carefully the following sentences. Note whether the complement of
the copulative verb is an adjective or a noun. Draw one line under each
_adjective_ used as a complement and two lines under each _noun_ used as
a complement.
The day is beautiful.
I am weary and tired.
The men were soldiers.
The tasks seem endless.
All men must be free.
The workers have been slaves.
The burden becomes heavier every day.
The children feel happy and care-free.
Evolution is the development of life.
Grammar is the study of words and their use.
Knowledge is freedom.
The music sounds sweet on the midnight air.
He looks well today.
The dregs taste bitter.
The incense smells sweet.
Exercise 4
Complete the following sentences by adding an object or a complement.
1. Perseverance in your study will bring.......
2. The great need of the working class is.......
3. We shall never acknowledge.......
4. By the sweat of no other's brow shalt thou eat.......
5. The Revolutionary fathers founded.......
6. The workers demand.......
7. Labor's only road to freedom is.......
8. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are.......
9. If you struggle, you will gain.......
10. An incomplete verb requires.......
11. The complement of a transitive verb is called.......
12. The complement of a copulative verb may be either......or.......
+103. There are two classes of verbs, complete and incomplete.+
+A complete verb is one that requires no complement.+
+An incomplete verb is one that requires a complement to complete its
meaning.+
+Incomplete verbs are of two kinds: 1. Those that express action; 2.
Those that express state or condition.+
+Incomplete verbs that express action are called transitive verbs.+
+Incomplete verbs that express state or condition are called copulative
verbs.+
+The complement or the word that denotes the receiver of the action
expressed in a transitive verb is called the object.+
+The word or words that complete the meaning of a copulative verb are
called the complement, or attribute complement.+
+The same verb may be complete or incomplete, according to the way in
which it is used.+
Exercise 5
In the following sentences draw a single line under the complete verbs
and a double line under the incomplete verbs. Then determine whether the
incomplete verbs are transitive or copulative verbs, and draw a line
through the object or the complement.
1. Some plants are poisonous.
2. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
3. Perseverance brings success.
4. Delays are dangerous.
5. A man's actions show his character.
6. He looks well and feels stronger.
7. The snows come and the flowers fade.
8. Labor creates all wealth.
9. Labor must be free.
10. The boy writes well.
11. The man wrote a letter.
12. The skies are clear.
13. The hail destroyed the wheat.
14. No man is ever too old to learn.
15. Competition makes enemies.
16. Co-operation makes friends.
17. Competition breeds hatred.
18. Co-operation breeds good will.
19. Competition ensures war.
20. Co-operation ensures peace.
Exercise 6
In the following quotation all of the verbs are printed in _italics_.
Determine whether they are complete or incomplete verbs. If incomplete,
determine whether they are transitive or copulative verbs. Draw a line
under the object of every transitive verb and two lines under the
complement of every copulative verb. Remember that sometimes we have
several words combined into a verb phrase and used as a single verb.
Watch for the verb phrases in the following, as for example: _must be_,
in the sentence, _Labor must be free_.
The history of man _is_ simply the history of slavery. Slavery
_includes_ all other crimes. It _degrades_ labor and _corrupts_
leisure. With the idea that labor _is_ the basis of progress _goes_
the truth that labor _must be_ free. The laborer _must be_ a free man.
There _is_ something wrong in a government where honesty _wears_ a rag
and rascality _dons_ a robe; where the loving _eat_ a crust while the
infamous _sit_ at banquets.
_Talk_ about equal opportunity! Capitalism _ties_ a balloon to the
shoulders of the rich child; it _ties_ a ball and chain to the feet of
the poor child; and _tells_ them that they _have_ an equal
opportunity!
Once the master _hunted_ for the slaves, now the slave _hunts_ for a
master.
Exercise 7
Mark the verbs in the following poem. Often in poetry words are omitted
which in strict grammatical construction should be expressed. As for
example in the fourth line of this poem _which are_, is omitted before
the word _bought_. In prose this would read, _The pews which are bought
by the profits_, etc. So the word _bought_ is a part of the verb phrase,
_are bought_. In the last line of the third stanza there is another
omission before the word _planning_. The meaning is, _while they are
planning slaughter_. _Planning_ is a part of the verb phrase _are
planning_. And in the last line _is_ is omitted before the word
_beloved_. _Is beloved_ is the verb phrase. Determine whether the verbs
in this poem are complete, transitive or copulative, and mark the
objects and the complements of the transitive and the copulative verbs.
WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?
_Ella Wheeler Wilcox_
"Who is a Christian in this Christian land
Of many churches and of lofty spires?
Not he who sits in soft, upholstered pews
Bought by the profits of unholy greed,
And looks devotion while he thinks of gain.
Not he who sends petitions from the lips
That lie to-morrow in the street and mart.
Not he who fattens on another's toil,
And flings his unearned riches to the poor
Or aids the heathen with a lessened wage,
And builds cathedrals with an increased rent.
Christ, with Thy great, sweet, simple creed of love,
How must Thou weary of earth's "Christian" clans,
Who preach salvation through Thy saving blood
While planning slaughter of their fellow men.
Who is a Christian? It is one whose life
Is built on love, on kindness and on faith;
Who holds his brother as his other self;
Who toils for justice, equity and peace,
And hides no aim or purpose in his heart
That will not chord with universal good.
Though he be a pagan, heretic or Jew
That man is Christian and beloved of Christ."
SPELLING
LESSON 5
We often have two vowels used in the same syllable as a single sound, as
_ou_ in _round_, _oi_ in _oil_, etc.
+A diphthong is a union of two vowels to represent a single
sound different from that of either alone.+
Sometimes we have two vowels used together in a combination which is
really not a diphthong for they do not unite in a different sound. Only
one of the vowels is used and the other is silent as _ai_ in _rain_,
_oa_ in _soap_, etc.
The most common diphthongs are:
ou as in _sound_.
ow as in _owl_.
oi as in _oil_.
oy as in _boy_.
In the spelling lesson for this week mark the words in which the
combination of vowels forms a diphthong. In some of the words the
combination of vowels does not form a diphthong for only one of the
vowels is sounded. Draw a line through the silent letter.
+Monday+
Straight
Aisle
Search
Breadth
Defeat
+Tuesday+
Exploit
Ceiling
Height
People
Feudal
+Wednesday+
Brought
Shoulder
Group
Compound
Trouble
+Thursday+
Royal
Coarse
Course
Broad
Flower
+Friday+
Laughter
Haunted
Plaid
Invoice
Chair
+Saturday+
Guide
Build
Grieve
Sieve
Renown
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 6
Dear Comrade:
We have this week another lesson in verbs. Do not be discouraged if you
do not understand it all at once. Little by little, it will grow clearer
and you will master this important word.
The verb may seem involved to you, but a little application will soon
make it clear. It is the most important word in the language to master.
It almost seems as though the verb were a living, thinking thing. It
changes outward form to accommodate itself to its subject in the number
form and person form change. If it is entertaining a subject in the
singular it adopts one dress; if it is entertaining a plural subject,
more than one, the verb wears a different dress.
So also if the subject is the first person, the person speaking, or the
second person, the person spoken to, or the third person, the person
spoken of, the verb accommodates itself to the subject. The verb is the
most agreeable thing for it changes its form to agree with its subject!
So watch your verb and see that it agrees.
Refer constantly to your list of irregular verbs given in this lesson
for we so often make mistakes in the use of these verb forms.
Then, too, the verb kindly changes its form to accommodate itself to the
time of the action--action in the present, in the past, in the
future--action completed before the present time--before some time
past--or before some future time--and action progressing and not yet
completed in the present, in the past or in the future. Then it can also
change to show whether its subject is acting or being acted upon. Isn't
the verb a wonderfully accommodating member of the co-operative
commonwealth of words?
And can you not see hidden under all this, a marvelous development in
the intellectual needs of men from the day of the savage's signs and
grunts to the day when we can express such shades of meaning? This tool
of expression, language, has had a wonderful evolution side by side with
the evolution of the other tools by which man expresses his creative
genius; from the forked stick with which man scratched the soil to the
great machine-driven plow of today; from the simple threshing flail to
the monster threshing machine of modern times.
There is nothing so wonderful as man's ability to express himself. Add a
little to your knowledge every day and the sum total will soon surprise
you.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
INFLECTION--CHANGES IN FORM
+104.+ You remember that nouns have certain changes in form to indicate
changes in use. Verbs also have several changes in form to correspond
with changes in their use or meaning. Notice the following sentences:
I think.
I thought.
I work.
I worked.
What is the difference in the meaning of _I think_ and _I thought_? of
_I work_ and _I worked_? When we say, _I think_, or _I work_, we mean
that the action is now, to-day, in the present; but when we say, _I
thought_, or _I worked_, we mean that _now_ is not the time of the
action, but that the action was performed sometime in the past. So we
have a change in the verb form to denote _time_. The simple form of the
verb, like _think_ or _work_, is used to denote _present time_. When we
wish to express _past time_ we do it by changing the form of the verb.
Now note the following:
} call
I, We, You, They, } send
} fall
The men } bring
} hide
} calls
He, She, It, } sends
} falls
The man } brings
} hides
Now let us write this in another way.
+Present Time+
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st person--I call. We call.
2nd person--You call. You call.
He }
3rd person She } calls. They, or } call.
It } The men }
The man }
+105.+ You notice in this table we use the expressions _first person_,
_second person_, and _third person_. _I_ and _we_ indicate the person or
persons speaking and are called the first person. _You_ indicates the
person or persons spoken to and is called the second person. _He_,
_she_, _it_, _they_, and the person or persons or things spoken of, are
called the third person.
We use the word _you_ when speaking to one or more than one now-a-days.
It used to be that when speaking to a single person, people said _thou_,
and in speaking to two or more they said _you_. But we today have
dropped the old form _thou_, and use _you_ for both singular and plural.
+106.+ Now note, in the above table, that there is only one form change
in the verb, and this is in the _third person singular_. We say _I
call_, _You call_, _We call_, _They_, or _The men call_, but we say
_He_, or _the man calls_, in speaking of one person or thing. So we
change the form of the verb with any subject which denotes the third
person and the singular number. This form is made by adding _s_ to the
simple form of the verb, therefore we may call it the _s-form_ because
it always ends in _s_.
Remember that this _s-form_ is used to express present time with a third
person, singular subject. _BE CAREFUL NOT TO USE THIS FORM WITH ANY
PLURAL SUBJECT._ There is no other change in the verb form in expressing
the present time in any verb, except in the verb _be_.
+107.+ This little verb _be_ is one of the most troublesome verbs in our
language, and since it is used in forming verb phrases, it will be well
to commit the following table to memory. Watch closely your use of this
bothersome little word. Note that it has a change in form for the _first
person singular_, as well as for the third person singular. All other
verbs have just the one change, the _s-form_ for the third person
singular. The verb _be_ has a form also to use with the first person
singular, the pronoun _I_.
+Present Time+ +Past Time+
_Singular_ _Singular_
1. I am. 1. I was.
2. You are. 2. You were.
3. He is. 3. He was.
_Plural_ _Plural_
1. We are. 1. We were.
2. You are. 2. You were.
3. They are. 3. They were.
+108.+ +The present time form is the form which expresses present time.
It is expressed by the simple form of the verb with the exception of the
third person singular, which is expressed by the _s-form_.+
PAST TIME
+109.+ To express _past time_ we change the form of the verb. Notice the
following:
I } called We } called
She } sent You } sent
He } fell They } fell
It } brought The men } brought
The man } hid } hid
Notice that these various forms of the verb which express past time are
all made by changes from the simple form, which expresses present time.
You will also notice that these five verbs used in the above table all
form their past time form in different ways. For example, _call_ adds
_ed_; _send_ changes the final letter from _d_ to _t_; _fall_ changes
the vowel in the middle of the word from _a_ to _e_; _bring_ changes
both the vowel and the final letter from _bring_ to _brought_; _hide_
drops the final letter _e_.
+110.+ +Verbs whose past time forms are made by adding _d_ or _ed_
to the simple form are called regular verbs.+
+Verbs whose past time forms are made in some other way than by adding
_d_ or _ed_ are called irregular verbs.+
+111.+ There are about two hundred of these irregular verbs which form
their past time in the following ways:
1. By change in the vowel letter, as _fall_, _fell_; _write_, _wrote_;
_see_, _saw_; _sing_, _sang_; _come_, _came_.
2. By dropping the final vowel; as _hide_, _hid_; _slide_, _slid_;
_bite_, _bit_.
3. By dropping a vowel from the middle of the word; as _bleed_, _bled_;
_feed_, _fed_; _lead_, _led_.
4. By changing the final letter or letters; as _send_, _sent_; _lose_,
_lost_; _spend_, _spent_.
5. By changing the vowel and final letters; as _bring_, _brought_;
_seek_, _sought_; _catch_, _caught_.
6. By changing the vowel sound and adding _t_ or _d_; as _sleep_,
_slept_; _feel_, _felt_; _flee_, _fled_.
There are some irregular forms which we must learn and be exceedingly
careful in their use. Study the list in this lesson.
Exercise 1
Write the _present_ and _past_ time forms of the following verbs as the
verb _think_ is written in the table given below.
think
ride
have
give
write
ask
make
try
speak
run
see
do
+Present Time+ +Past Time+
_Singular_ _Singular_
1. I think 1. I thought
2. You think 2. You thought
3. He thinks 3. He thought
_Plural_ _Plural_
1. We think 1. We thought
2. You think 2. You thought
3. They think 3. They thought
+112.+ Be very careful not to use the _s-form_ except for the third
person singular. Be especially careful in the use of different forms of
the verb _be_. It is in the use of this verb that we so frequently make
mistakes. Watch your own language and the conversation of your friends
and note these mistakes and correct them in your own mind. These common
blunders in the use of English mark us as careless or uneducated by
everyone who hears us speak. We have fallen into bad habits oftentimes
and make these mistakes when we know better, and only constant
watchfulness for a time can overcome the habit. After a time we learn to
speak correctly without effort, and then these mistakes made by others
offend the ear like a false note in music.
Exercise 2
Cross out the wrong form in the following:
They _was_--_were_ not here.
The clouds _has_--_have_ gathered.
People _is_--_are_ indifferent.
The train _was_--_were_ on time.
The men _was_--_were_ armed.
Our school building _is_--_are_ inadequate.
The workers _earn_--_earns_ their wages.
The voters _elect_--_elects_ the President.
They _do_--_does_ as they please.
We _was_--_were_ there on time.
DOING DOUBLE WORK
+113.+ We have found now three forms of the verb, the _simple form_, the
_s-form_, and the _past time form_, and, in addition, the _I-form_, or
the first person form of the verb _be_. There are no other real verb
forms, but there are two other changes made in the form of the verb when
it ceases to be used as the predicate, the asserting word of the
sentence, and becomes, in part, another part of speech.
Notice in the following sentences:
Making shoes is his work.
He enjoys making shoes.
In each of these sentences the word _making_, from the verb _make_, is
used as a noun. In the first, _Making shoes is his work_, _making_ is
used as the subject of the sentence. In the second, _He enjoys making
shoes_, _making_ is used as the object of the verb _enjoys_. But
_making_ is not like the ordinary noun, for it has an object
_making_--_what?_--_making shoes_. _Shoes_ is the object of the action
expressed in _making_. A noun never takes an object; so while the word
_making_ is used as a noun, it is also partly a verb. It is a form of
the verb used as a noun, but keeping in part its verb nature, partaking
of the nature of two parts of speech at the same time.
Hence these forms of the verb are called _participles_. Participle means
_partaker_.
The participle may also be used as an adjective. Notice the following:
The _crying_ child came toward us.
The _rescuing_ party arrived.
In these sentences _crying_ and _rescuing_ are formed from the verbs
_cry_ and _rescue_, and are used as adjectives to describe the noun
_child_ and the noun _party_. So a participle is a mixed part of speech.
It is partially a verb, but is not a true verb. A true verb is always
used as the predicate, the asserting word in the sentence and _always_
has a subject. The participle _never_ has a subject; it may have an
object, but not a subject.
+114.+ There are two forms of the participle. The active form or the
present form as it is sometimes called, ends in _ing_, as, _waiting_,
_walking_, _saying_. It expresses action, existence, or possession as
going on at the time mentioned in the sentence.
+115.+ The other form of the participle is the passive form or the past
form of the participle. This ends in _ed_ in the regular verbs, and has
various forms in the irregular verbs. It is formed in regular verbs by
adding _d_ or _ed_ to the simple form, hence has the same form as the
past time form, as for example, present time form, _call_--past time
form, _called_--past participle, _called_. You will find the past
participle forms of irregular verbs in the list of irregular verbs given
in this lesson, as for example--present time form, _go_--past time form,
_went_--past participle, _gone_.
+116.+ You will find as we study the verb phrases in later lessons that
these participles are used in forming verb phrases. As for example:
He is coming.
They are trying.
He has gone.
+A participle is a word derived from a verb, partaking of the nature of
a verb and also of an adjective or a noun.+
LET US SUM UP
+117.+ +Verbs have five form changes.+
Simple S-Form Past Time Present Part. Past Part.
call calls called calling called
go goes went going gone
Exercise 3
Write in columns like the above the five forms of the following verbs:
do
try
give
hope
live
rob
have
think
sing
get
wave
lose
come
make
Exercise 4
Study carefully the following quotation. You will find in it all five of
the form changes of the verb--_the present time form_, _the s-form_,
_the past time form_, _the present participle_ and _the past
participle_. In the verb phrases _had been filled_, _has survived_, _has
gone_, _has proved_ and _be dismayed_, you will find the past participle
used in forming the verb phrase. We will study these verb phrases in
later lessons.
In the verb phrases, _was stumbling_, _was groping_, _is conquering_,
_are carrying_, the present participle is used in forming the verb
phrases. _Could reconcile_ is also a verb phrase. We will study these
verb phrases also in later lessons.
The present participles, _struggling_, _persevering_ and _regaining_ are
used as adjectives. Study them carefully and find the words which they
describe. The present participles _imagining_, _learning_ and
_suffering_ are used as nouns. Note their use.
The past participles _rebuffed_, _self-reproached_, _discouraged_ and
_promised_ are used as adjectives. Find the words which they modify.
There are several _present time forms_, several _past time forms_, and
several _s-forms_. Find them and study carefully their usage.
OUT OF THE DARK
_By Helen Keller_
_America's famous blind girl, who has come to see more than most
people with normal eyes._
Step by step my investigation of blindness _led_ me into the
industrial world. And what a world it _is_. I _faced_ unflinchingly a
world of facts--a world of misery and degradation, of blindness,
crookedness, and sin, a world _struggling_ against the elements,
against the unknown, against itself. How _could_ I _reconcile_ this
world of fact with the bright world of my _imagining_? My darkness
_had been filled_ with the light of intelligence, and, _behold_, the
outer day-lit world _was stumbling_, _was groping_ in social
blindness. At first, I _was_ most unhappy, but deeper study _restored_
my confidence. By _learning_ the _suffering_ and burdens of men, I
_became_ aware as never before of the life-power which _has survived_
the forces of darkness--the power which, though never completely
victorious, _is_ continuously _conquering_. The very fact that we
_are_ still carrying on the contest against the hosts of annihilation
_proves_ that on the whole the battle _has gone_ for humanity. The
world's great heart _has proved_ equal to the prodigious undertaking
which God _set_ it. _Rebuffed_, but always _persevering_;
_self-reproached_, but ever _regaining_ faith; undaunted, tenacious,
the heart of man _labors_ towards immeasurably distant goals.
_Discouraged_ not by difficulties without, or the anguish of ages
within, the heart _listens_ to a secret voice that _whispers_: "_Be_
not _dismayed_; in the future _lies_ the _Promised_ Land."
List of Irregular Verbs
Here is a list of the principal irregular verbs--the present and past
time forms and the past participle are called the principal parts of a
verb.
(Those marked with an _r_ have also the regular form.)
+Present T.+ +Past T.+ +Past Part.+
abide abode abode
arise arose arisen
awake awoke, _r_ awaked
be or am was been
bear bore borne
beat beat beaten
begin began begun
bend bent, _r_ bent, _r_
bereave bereft, _r_ bereft, _r_
beseech besought besought
bet bet bet
bid bid or bade bid (den)
bind bound bound
bite bit bit (ten)
bleed bled bled
blow blew blown
break broke broken
breed bred bred
bring brought brought
build built, _r_ built, _r_
burn burnt, _r_ burnt, _r_
burst burst burst
buy bought bought
cast cast cast
catch caught caught
chide chid chid (den)
choose chose chosen
cling clung clung
clothe clad, _r_ clad, _r_
come came come
cost cost cost
creep crept crept
cut cut cut
deal dealt, _r_ dealt, _r_
dig dug, _r_ dug, _r_
do did done
draw drew drawn
dream dreamt, _r_ dreamt, _r_
drink drank drunk
drive drove driven
dwell dwelt, _r_ dwelt, _r_
eat ate eaten
fall fell fallen
feed fed fed
feel felt felt
fight fought fought
find found found
flee fled fled
fling flung flung
fly flew flown
forget forgot forgotten
forgive forgave forgiven
forsake forsook forsaken
get got got (ten)
give gave given
go went gone
grind ground ground
grow grew grown
hang hung, _r_ hung, _r_
have had had
hear heard heard
hew hewed hewn, _r_
hide hid hidden
hit hit hit
hold held held
hurt hurt hurt
keep kept kept
kneel knelt, _r_ knelt, _r_
knit knit, _r_ knit, _r_
know knew known
lay laid laid
lead led led
leave left left
lend lent lent
let let let
lie lay lain
light lit, _r_ lit, _r_
lose lost lost
make made made
mean meant meant
meet met met
mistake mistook mistaken
mow mowed mown, _r_
pay paid paid
plead pled, _r_ pled, _r_
put put put
quit quit, _r_ quit, _r_
read read read
rend rent rent
rid rid rid
ride rode ridden
ring rang rung
rise rose risen
run ran run
saw sawed sawn, _r_
say said said
see saw seen
seek sought sought
sell sold sold
send sent sent
set set set
shake shook shaken
shape shaped shapen, _r_
shave shaved shaven, _r_
shear sheared shorn, _r_
shed shed shed
shine shone, _r_ shone, _r_
shoe shod shod
shoot shot shot
show showed shown, _r_
shrink shrank shrunk (en)
shut shut shut
sing sang sung
sink sank sunk
sit sat sat
slay slew slain
sleep slept slept
slide slid slid (en)
sling slung slung
slink slunk slunk
slit slit slit
smite smote smitten
sow sowed sown, _r_
speak spoke spoken
speed sped sped
spend spent spent
spill spilt, _r_ spilt, _r_
spin spun spun
spit spit spit
split split split
spoil spoilt, _r_ spoilt, _r_
spread spread spread
spring sprang sprung
stand stood stood
stave stove, _r_ stove, _r_
steal stole stolen
stick stuck stuck
sting stung stung
stink stunk stunk
strike struck struck
strike struck stricken
stride strode stridden
string strung strung
strive strove striven
strew strewed strewn, _r_
swear sworn sworn
sweat sweat, _r_ sweat, _r_
sweep swept swept
swell swelled swollen, _r_
swim swam swum
swing swung swung
take took taken
teach taught taught
tear tore torn
tell told told
think thought thought
throw threw thrown
thrust thrust thrust
tread trod trod (den)
wake woke, _r_ woke, _r_
wear wore worn
weave wove woven
wed wed, _r_ wed, _r_
weep wept wept
wet wet, _r_ wet, _r_
whet whet, _r_ whet, _r_
win won won
wind wound wound
work wrought, _r_ wrought, _r_
wring wrung wrung
write wrote written
SPELLING
LESSON 6
Every vowel or every vowel combination pronounced as one vowel sound
indicates a syllable (excepting final _e_ in such words as _fate_,
_late_, _rode_, etc.) Take the word _combination_, for example. In this
word we have four syllables, thus: _Com-bi-na-tion_.
+A syllable is that part of a word which can be uttered distinctly by a
single effort of the voice.+ Remember that each syllable must contain a
vowel or a vowel combination like _oi_ or _ou_, which is pronounced as
one vowel. Sometimes the vowel alone makes the syllable as in _a-lone_,
_e-qual_, etc. The final _e_ in words like _late_, and _fate_ is not
sounded. It is silent, we say.
All words ending in silent _e_ have the long vowel sound, with a very
few exceptions. Words without the final _e_ have the short vowel sound
as for example: _fate_, _fat_; _mate_, _mat_; _hide_, _hid_; _rode_,
_rod_.
In dividing words into syllables the consonant is written with the
preceding vowel when that vowel is short. If the vowel is long the
consonant is written with the next syllable, as for example, de-fine and
def-i-ni-tion. In de-fine the _e_ is long therefore _f_, the consonant
following, is written with the next syllable, _fine_. In def-i-ni-tion
the _e_ has the short sound, therefore the _f_ is written with the _e_
in the syllable, _def_.
When there are two consonants following the vowel, divide between the
consonants, as for example, _in-ven-tion_, _foun-da-tion_, etc. Never
divide a digraph, that is, two consonants which are sounded together as
one sound, as for example, _moth-er_, _catch-er_, _te-leg-ra-pher_, etc.
In writing words containing double consonants like _dd_, _ll_, _ss_,
divide the word into syllables between the double consonants, as for
example, _per-mit-ted_, _ad-mis-sion_, _sad-dest_, etc.
+Monday+
Important
Accommodate
Person
Correspond
Action
+Tuesday+
Difference
Notice
Indicate
Remember
Irregular
+Wednesday+
Mistake
Conversation
Correctly
President
Ordinary
+Thursday+
Participle
Passive
Various
Phrase
Quotation
+Friday+
Imagine
Confidence
Humanity
Faith
Future
+Saturday+
Whisper
Thought
Ability
Knowledge
Genius
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 7
Dear Comrade:
I wonder if you have ever thought as to how our language grew.
We get the words in our language from many sources. The English language
today is a development of the early Anglo-Saxon. England was called
originally Angle-land which was gradually shortened into England. So we
have in our language what are called pure English or Anglo-Saxon words.
These words form the bulk of our every day vocabulary, being simple,
strong, forceful words. Then we have in our English many foreign words
which we have adopted from other languages. There are many Latin and
Greek words; these we use in our more elegant speech or writing.
There is an interesting bit written by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of
early England, "Ivanhoe," which illustrates the manner in which words
have come into our language and also the difference in speech which
marks the working class and the exploiting class. As those who do the
work of the world rid themselves of the parasites who have appropriated
the produce of their labor, through the ages, they will demand that
which belongs to them--the best--the best in language as in everything
else.
"'... I advise thee to call off Fangs and leave the herd to their
destiny, which, whether they meet with bands of traveling soldiers, or
of outlaws, or of wandering pilgrims, can be little else than to be
converted into Normans before morning, to thy no small ease and
comfort.'
"'The swine turned into Normans to my comfort!' quoth Gurth. 'Expound
that to me, Wamba, for my brain is too dull and my mind too vexed to
read riddles.'
"'Why, how call you these grunting brutes running about on their four
legs?' demanded Wamba.
"'Swine, fool, swine,' said the herd; 'every fool knows that.'
"'And swine is good Saxon,' said the jester; 'but how call you the sow
when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung by the heels
like a traitor?'
"'Pork,' answered the swineherd.
"'I am glad every fool knows that too,' said Wamba; 'and pork, I
think, is good Norman-French, and so when the brute lives and is in
charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a
Norman and is called pork when she is carried to the castle-hall to
feast among the nobles. What dost thou think of that, friend Gurth,
ha?' ..."
So you see even in words the distinction is made between those who
produce and those who possess.
But the day is at hand when those who work shall also enjoy. We have
fought for religious and political freedom. Today we are waging the
battle for industrial freedom. It is _your_ struggle. Study--prepare
yourself to do battle for your rights.
Yours for Freedom,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
FUTURE TIME
+118.+ We have learned how to express present time and past time, by
changes in the form of the verb. But we very often desire to make a
statement in which we do not express either present or past time, thus
we may say:
We shall enjoy our rights some day.
He will join us in the struggle.
We do not mean to say that we do enjoy our rights now, in the present,
or that we did in the past, but that we _shall_ enjoy our rights some
time in the future. In the second sentence, _will join_ expresses the
same idea of future time. To indicate future time, we do not make a
change in the verb form, but we use _shall_ and _will_ with the simple
form of the verb.
+119.+ +We denote future time by use of a verb phrase made by placing
_shall_ or _will_ before the simple form of the verb.+
+120.+ The rule of some grammarians is to use _shall_ always in the
first person, the person speaking, to denote future time, and _will_
with the second person, the person spoken to, and with the third person,
the person spoken of, to denote future time. But common usage does not
always follow the rules of the grammarians, and, in the course of time,
affects and changes these rules. So our common usage of today uses
_will_ in the first person to express future time, as well as _shall_.
This rule of grammarians marks a nicety of speech and conveys a
distinction of meaning which it really seems worth while to retain. The
idea of the grammarians is that when we use _will_ with the first person
and _shall_ with the second or third person, we express a _promise_ or
_determination_. Thus if I say, _I shall go_, I simply mean that my
going will be in the future. But if I say, _I will go_, I either mean
that I am promising to go or that I am expressing my determination to
go. So also if we use _shall_ in the second and third persons. If we
say, _You will go_ or _He will go_, we are simply stating that the going
will be in the future, but if we say, _You shall go_, or _He shall go_,
we mean that we promise or are determined that you or he shall go.
To be technically correct this distinction should be observed. _Shall_
in the first person, and _will_ in the second and third express simple
futurity. _Will_ in the first person and _shall_ in the second and third
express promise or determination. But in every day conversation this
distinction is not observed, and many of our best writers do not follow
this rule.
Exercise 1
Mark the future time forms in the following sentences:
1. I shall speak of liberty.
2. I will never give up.
3. I shall write to him.
4. He shall not starve.
5. We shall expect you.
6. They shall suffer for this.
7. I shall go to New York.
8. He will call for me.
9. The hungry shall be fed.
10. You will soon see the reason.
11. You shall never want for a friend.
12. They shall some day see the truth.
13. We will not fight against our class.
14. We will stand together.
PERFECT TIME
+121.+ Past, present and future, being the three divisions of time, one
would naturally expect that when we had found how to express these three
forms, we would be through, but if you stop to think, you will find that
there are other verb phrases of which we have need.
When we wish to speak of action as completed at the present time, we do
not say:
I study my lessons every day, _but_, I have studied my lessons every
day.
_Not_, You work for him every day, _but_, You have worked for him
every day.
_Not_, He sees her frequently, _but_, He has seen her frequently.
Can you not readily see the difference in the meaning expressed in _I
work every day_, and _I have worked every day_? In the first sentence
you express a general truth, _I work every day_, a truth which has been
true in the past, is true in the present, and the implication is that it
will continue to be true in the future. But when you say, _I have worked
every day_, you are saying nothing as to the future, but you are
describing an action which is completed at the present time. This is
called the _present complete_ or _present perfect_ time.
+122.+ Perfect means complete, and present perfect describes an action
perfected or completed at the present time. So it is possible for us to
express a necessary shade of meaning by the present perfect time form.
+123.+ +The present perfect time form describes an action completed at
the present time, and is formed by using the present time form of
_have_ and the _past_ participle of the verb.+
+Present Perfect Time+
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I have seen. We have seen.
2d. You have seen. You have seen.
3d. He has seen. They have seen.
+124.+ Review in the last lesson how to form the past participle.
Remember that it is one of the principal parts of the verb. In regular
verbs the past participle is the same form as the past time form. In
irregular verbs the past participle is quite often different from the
past time form, as for example: _go_, _went_, _gone_; _do_, _did_,
_done_, etc.
Watch closely your irregular verbs and see that you always use the past
_participle_ with _have_ or _had_; never use the past _time_ form with
_have_ or _had_.
PAST PERFECT
+125.+ When you desire to express an action complete at some definite
past time, you do not say:
We finished when they came, _but_, We had finished when they came.
_Not_, They went when we arrived, _but_, They had gone when we
arrived.
_Not_, I worked six months when he began, _but_, I had worked six
months when he began.
Can you see a difference in the meaning expressed in these sentences: _I
worked six months when he began_; and _I had worked six months when he
began_? This last sentence describes an action completed or perfected
before some definite past time.
+126.+ +Past perfect time denotes an action perfected or completed at
some definite past time. It is formed by using _had_ and the past
participle of the verb.+
Remember always, with irregular verbs, to use the _past participle_.
Never use the _past time form_ with _had_.
+Past Perfect Time+
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I had seen. We had seen.
2d. You had seen. You had seen.
3d. He had seen. They had seen.
Exercise 2
Correct the following sentences in which the past time form is used
instead of the past participle. Look up the word in the list of
irregular verbs and use the past participle instead of the past time
form.
1. I have saw it often.
2. He had shook his fist.
3. She has sang for us.
4. The boat has sank here.
5. He has spoke the truth.
6. They had stole the books.
7. He has swore to the truth.
8. He had took the wrong road.
9. She has tore her dress.
10. He had threw the ball away.
11. The girl had wore the dress.
12. He had wrote the letters.
13. He had drank too much.
14. He had rode the horse.
15. The sun has rose.
16. He has bore his part.
17. They have began already.
18. The wind has blew all night.
19. It had broke when it fell.
20. He has chose the right.
21. You have did your duty.
22. He has ate his breakfast.
23. A heavy rain has fell.
24. They had gave it to me.
25. He has became rich.
26. It has grew rapidly.
27. He has knew it always.
28. He has mistook her for another.
FUTURE PERFECT TIME
+127.+ We find also that we need a verb phrase to express time _before_
some other future time, to describe an action that will be finished,
perfected, or completed, before some other future action. Thus,
I shall have gone before you arrive.
You will have earned your money before you get it.
I shall have worked thirty days when pay-day comes.
Can you not see a difference in saying, _I shall work thirty days when
pay-day comes_, and _I shall have worked thirty days when pay-day
comes_? The first sentence expresses simple future time, or what you
will do when pay-day comes; the second describes an action which will be
completed or perfected _before_ pay-day comes. So there is quite a
difference in the meaning of the future and the future perfect time.
+128.+ +The future perfect time form expresses or describes an action
that will be perfected or completed before some other future time. It is
formed by using _shall have_ or _will have_ with the past
participle.+
Be careful to use the past participle. Never use the past time form with
_shall have_ or _will have_.
+Future Perfect Time+
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I shall have seen. We shall have seen.
2d. You will have seen. You will have seen.
3d. He will have seen. They will have seen.
LET US SUM UP
+129.+ We have three time forms, _present_, _past_, _future_.
+Present+ +Past+ +Future+
I see I saw I shall see.
Each of these three time forms has a _perfect_ form; that is, a time
form which expresses an action as completed or perfected at the present
time, or before some definite past or future time.
+Present+ +Past+ +Future+
+Perfect Time+ +Perfect Time+ +Perfect Time+
I have seen I had seen I shall have seen
+130.+ It is wonderful how a knowledge of words and their uses enables
us to express so many shades of meaning. It is like our development in
observing colors. You know the savage always admires vivid reds and
greens and blues. He does not yet see the beautiful shades and
gradations of color. We enjoy the delicate pinks and blues and all the
varying shades between the primal seven colors of the spectrum. And as
we develop our artistic ability we see and enjoy all the beauties of
color.
In music too, we observe the same development. The barbarian enjoys
loud, crashing, discordant sounds which he calls music, but which to the
educated ear are only harsh noises. The trained musician catches the
delicate overtones and undertones and finds deepest ecstasy in sounds
which the uneducated ear does not even catch. So as we study words and
their uses, we find ourselves able to express shades of meaning, to
paint our word pictures, not in gaudy, glaring chromo-tints, but in the
wondrous blending of color that reveals the true artist.
Now get these modes of expressing time firmly fixed in your mind.
+131.+ +Let us get all we have learned about verbs into a summary and
have it clearly in mind.+
VERBS--SUMMARY
+Two Classes+
_Complete_--Taking _no_ complement.
_Incomplete_--{ Verbs of action requiring object.
{ Copulative verbs requiring complement.
+Inflection--Changes of Form+
_Simple Form_ _S-Form_ _Past Time_ _Present Part._ _Past Part._
see sees saw seeing seen
TIME FORMS
Present
_Singular_ _Plural_
1. I see. We see.
2. You see. You see.
3. He sees. They see.
Past
_Singular_ _Plural_
1. I saw. We saw.
2. You saw. You saw.
3. He saw. They saw.
Future
_Singular_ _Plural_
1. I shall see. We shall see.
2. You will see. You will see.
3. He will see. They will see.
Present Perfect
_Singular_ _Plural_
1. I have seen. We have seen.
2. You have seen. You have seen.
3. He has seen. They have seen.
Past Perfect
_Singular_ _Plural_
1. I had seen. We had seen.
2. You had seen. You had seen.
3. He had seen. They had seen.
Future Perfect
_Singular_ _Plural_
1. I shall have seen. We shall have seen.
2. You will have seen. You will have seen.
3. He will have seen. They will have seen.
Exercise 3
Read carefully the following quotation. All of the verbs and verb
phrases are written in _italics_. Study these carefully and decide
whether they indicate present, past, future, present perfect, past
perfect or future perfect time. The verb phrases--_is seizing_, _is
put_, _is praised_, _is defended_, _can see_, _must have_, _are owned_,
and _are conducted_, do not belong to any of these six forms. They are
verb phrases used in ways which we shall study later. All of the other
verbs or verb phrases belong to one of the six time forms which we have
studied. Classify them.
The Working Class Must Strike the Blow
You _remember_ Victor Hugo's story of the devil-fish; how the monster
_put_ forth one tentacle after another and _coiled_ it around his
victim; how the hero _recalled_ that there _was_ but one vulnerable
spot in his brute enemy; how at the strategic moment he _struck_ a
blow at that spot, and the terrible demon of the deep _shuddered_,
_released_ his grasp and _fell_ dead.
Capitalism _is_ a monster which _is seizing_ the body politic. One
tentacle _is put_ forth to grasp the major part of the earnings of the
working class; another _has seized_ the working-woman; another
_reaches_ forth to the child; another _has fastened_ upon government
and _has made_ that the instrument of the powerful classes; still
another _has turned_ the pen of the journalist into a weapon by which
the injustice of Capitalism _is praised_ and _is defended_; and still
another _has seized_ the pulpit, _has silenced_ those who _profess_ to
speak for God and man, or _has turned_ their phrases into open apology
and defense for the crimes of Capitalism!
But there _is_ one vulnerable spot in Capitalism. If the working class
of the world _can see_ that spot and _will strike_, they _shall be_
free.
The fundamental wrong, the basic injustice of the Capitalist System,
_is_ that the resources of land and machinery, to which all the people
_must have_ access, in order to live and labor, _are owned_ by the few
and _are conducted_ by the few for their private profit.
This _is_ the social tragedy, the monstrous wrong of our time.--_J.
Stitt Wilson_.
Exercise 4
Select two verbs out of the following poem and write their six time
forms, in the same manner as the time forms of the verb _see_ are given
in section 131.
A MAGIC WORD
There's a little word below, with letters three,
Which, if you only grasp its potency,
Will send you higher
Toward the goal where you aspire,
Which, without its precious aid, you'll never see--
_NOW!_
Success attends the man who views it right.
Its back and forward meanings differ quite;
For this is how it reads
To the man of ready deeds,
Who spells it backwards from achievement's height--
_WON!_
TENSE
The grammatical term for the time form of the verb is _TENSE_, which is
derived from a Latin word meaning _time_. The present time-form of the
verb is called the _present tense_; the past time-form, the _past
tense_; the future time-form, the _future tense_; the present perfect
time-form, the _present perfect tense_, etc.
Exercise 5
Write each of the following four sentences in the six time-forms, or
tenses,--present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect and future
perfect, as follows:
_Present_--Labor _creates_ all wealth.
_Past_--Labor _created_ all wealth.
_Future_--Labor _will create_ all wealth.
_Present Perfect_--Labor _has created_ all wealth.
_Past Perfect_--Labor _had created_ all wealth.
_Future Perfect_--Labor _will have created_ all wealth.
1. Hope stirs us to action.
2. Human progress is our business.
3. The majority demand justice.
4. The workers fight all the battles.
SPELLING
LESSON 7
The division of words into syllables is quite important as an aid to
pronunciation. It is also a very important matter to understand in our
written speech for it is often necessary to divide a word at the end of
a line. If the word is not properly divided, it is much more difficult
to read and understand. The hyphen is used to divide words into
syllables when carrying a portion to the next line.
When you must divide a word at the end of a line divide it only between
syllables. Never divide a word of one syllable, no matter how long it
may be. If you cannot get all of it on the line, write it all on the
next line. Do not divide a short word of two syllables if you can avoid
it and never divide such a word when it leaves only one letter on the
line or only one letter to be carried over to the next line, as for
example: _luck-y_, _a-loud_, etc.
When two or more vowels are used together to make one sound they should
never be separated by the hyphen, as for example, joy-ous, anx-ious,
trail, dis-course, de-feat, boor-ish.
When two or more vowels placed together are not used to form one sound
then these vowels may be divided, as for example, _tri-al_,
_co-or-di-nate_, _he-ro-ic_.
Look up the words in this week's lesson in the dictionary carefully and
divide into syllables. Notice specially the division of words into
syllables where the word contains a diphthong and where it contains two
vowels written together which are not diphthongs. Notice also the words
which have a single vowel as the first or last syllable.
+Monday+
Museum
Creatures
Peaceable
Accruing
Already
+Tuesday+
Persuade
Trivial
Plague
Alert
Inquiry
+Wednesday+
Piteous
Patriot
Poetry
Evil
Business
+Thursday+
Obey
Breathe
Society
Ether
Sociable
+Friday+
Idealism
Pledge
Ache
Acre
Pronunciation
+Saturday+
Idle
Idol
Mutual
Wealthy
Neighbors
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 8
Dear Comrade:
You have often read the words _organic_ and _inorganic_ but did you ever
stop to think of the meaning of these words? We say a body is organic--a
rock is inorganic; one grows from within, the other is built from
without. A tree is organic; it grows. A house is inorganic; it is built.
The house was never a baby house, growing from a tiny house to a large
one. But the tree was once a baby tree, a sapling, and grew branch by
branch to its present height. So we have two classes of things--those
which grow and those which are made.
Language belongs to the class of things which grows. It is organic. We
have even used the same terms in speaking about language that we use in
talking of a tree. We use the words ROOT, STEM and BRANCH to describe
its growth.
Language, too, has its different terms of life like a tree, its youth,
its maturity, its old age, its death.
So we have dead languages like Latin and Greek--languages which are no
longer living,--no longer serving mankind. But these dead languages have
left living children, languages that have descended from them.
The Italian language for example is the child, the descendant of the
classical Latin. We have many words in our English language from these
dead languages. About five-sevenths of the words in our English are from
these classical languages. The remaining two-sevenths are from the
Anglo-Saxon. We use the Anglo-Saxon words more frequently, however, in
our every day speech.
And it is interesting to note that our best poetry--that which stirs our
blood and touches our hearts--is written in the strong forceful
Anglo-Saxon words.
These words we are studying have been through some interesting
experiences as they have passed from race to race down to us and the
history of life is mirrored in their changes. How much more interesting
they seem when we know something of their sources, just as we are more
interested in a man when we know something of his boyhood and youth and
the experiences through which he has passed.
You may think that the study of verbs is rather difficult and involved,
but it is more simple in English than in any other language. There are
fewer changes in the verb form in order to express time and person. Do
not rely on the memorizing of the rules. Rules never made one a fluent
speaker. Write sentences in which the correct form is used. Read aloud
from the best authors until the sound of the words is familiar and they
come readily to the tongue. We have used for the exercises in these
lessons excerpts from the best authors.
Study these exercises carefully and note the use of the different verbs
especially, this week. Verbs, like all else, are yours to command.
Command them.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
PROGRESSIVE VERB PHRASES
+132.+ We have learned how to form the three principal time forms,
_present_, _past_ and _future_ and the perfect or completed form of each
of the three, _present perfect_, _past perfect_ and _future perfect_.
And still we have such a wonderful language that we can express other
shades of meaning in _time_.
+133.+ There is still another phase of action which we must have a verb
phrase to express. Suppose you want to describe something you are now
doing and are continuing to do, something not yet completed. To say, _I
do it now_, is not satisfactory. Instead we say, _I am doing it now_.
You have by the verb phrase, _am doing_, described a progressive action,
an action _going on_ in the present. You may also want to describe what
you were doing yesterday, an action that continued or _progressed_ in
the past. You would not say, _I built the house yesterday_ but, _I was
building the house yesterday_. Again you may want to describe an action
which will be _progressing_ or going on in the future. You do not say,
_I shall build the house next week_ but, _I shall be building the house
next week_.
So we have progressive verb phrases.
+134.+ +The present progressive describes an action as continuing or
progressing in the present.+
+It is formed by using the present time form of the verb _be_ and the
present participle.+
You remember that the present participle is formed by adding _ing_
to the simple form of the verb.
Present Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I am seeing. We are seeing.
2d. You are seeing. You are seeing.
3d. He is seeing. They are seeing.
+135.+ +The past progressive time form describes an action which was
continuing or progressing in the past. It is formed by using the past
time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+
Past Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I was seeing. We were seeing.
2d. You were seeing. You were seeing.
3d. He was seeing. They were seeing.
+136.+ +The future progressive describes an action which will be
progressing or going on in the future. It is formed by using the future
time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+
Future Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I shall be seeing. We shall be seeing.
2d. You will be seeing. You will be seeing.
3d. He will be seeing. They will be seeing.
+137.+ The perfect time forms also have a progressive form. There is a
difference of meaning in the _present perfect_ and its progressive form.
You say for instance, _I have tried all my life to be free_. You mean
you have tried until the present time and the inference is that now you
have ceased to try. But, if you say, _I have been trying all my life to
be free_, we understand that you have tried and are _still_ trying.
+138.+ +So we have the present perfect progressive which describes an
action which progressed in the past and continued up to the present
time. It is formed by using the present perfect form of the verb _be_
and the present participle.+
Present Perfect Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I have been seeing. We have been seeing.
2d. You have been seeing. You have been seeing.
3d. He has been seeing. They have been seeing.
+139.+ +The past perfect progressive describes an action which was
continuing or progressing at some past time. It is formed by using the
past perfect time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+
Past Perfect Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I had been seeing. We had been seeing.
2d. You had been seeing. You had been seeing.
3d. He had been seeing. They had been seeing.
+140.+ +The future perfect progressive describes an action which will be
progressing at some future time. It is formed by using the future
perfect time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+
Future Perfect Progressive
_Singular_ _Plural_
1st. I shall have been seeing. We shall have been seeing.
2d. You will have been seeing. You will have been seeing.
3d. He will have been seeing. They will have been seeing.
Exercise 1
In the following sentences mark all the progressive forms, and note
whether they are present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect or
future perfect.
1. The old order is passing.
2. Men will be struggling for freedom so long as slavery exists.
3. The class struggle has been growing more intense as wealth has
accumulated.
4. The workers are realizing their power.
5. He had been talking for an hour when we arrived.
6. Next Monday I shall have been working for one year.
7. The workers will be paying interest on war debts for generations
to come unless they repudiate.
8. While Marx was writing his books, he lived in abject poverty.
9. The Industrial Relations Commission has been investigating
industrial conditions.
10. Ferrer was martyred because the Modern Schools were educating the
people.
11. The nations of Europe had been preparing for war for many years.
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
+141.+ Notice carefully the following sentences; select the subjects in
these sentences which show _who_ or _what_ performed the action; select
the subjects that show _who_ or _what_ receives the action. Do you
notice any difference in the meaning of these sentences? Do you notice
any difference in their form?
The engine struck the man.
The man was struck by the engine.
The system enslaves men.
Men are enslaved by the system.
Leaders often betray the people.
The people are often betrayed by leaders.
Let us look carefully at the first two sentences. You remember when we
studied transitive verbs we found that every transitive verb had an
_object_ which was the receiver of the action expressed in the verb. Now
you notice in this first sentence, _The engine struck the man_, we have
the transitive verb _struck_. _Engine_ is the subject of the verb and
_man_ is the object of the verb, the receiver of the action expressed by
the verb _struck_.
Now in the sentence, _The man was struck by the engine_, we have the
same thought expressed but in a different manner. The word _man_, which
was the object of the verb _struck_ in the first sentence, has now
become the subject of the sentence, and we have changed our verb form
from _struck_ to _was struck_. In the first sentence of the subject,
_engine_ was the _actor_. In the second sentence, _The man was struck by
the engine_, the subject of the sentence, _man_, is the _receiver_ of
the action expressed in the verb.
+142.+ So we have thus changed the verb form from _struck_ to _was
struck_ to indicate that the subject of the verb is the receiver of the
action. _Struck_ is called the active form of the verb because the
subject of the verb is the actor. _Was struck_ is called the passive
form of the verb because the subject receives the action. Passive means
_receiving_. In the passive form the subject is the receiver of the
action expressed in the verb.
+143.+ You remember that complete verbs have no object or complement,
therefore it would follow that they cannot be put in the passive form
for there is no object to become the receiver of the action. Take the
complete verb, _sleep_, for example. We do not _sleep_ anything, hence
_sleep_ has no passive form for there is no object which can be used as
the subject, the receiver of the action.
+Only transitive verbs can be put into the passive form.+ Remember that
a transitive verb in the passive form is one that represents its subject
as receiving the action.
The present, past, future and all the perfect time forms of transitive
verbs can be changed from active to passive. The progressive time forms
can be changed into the passive, but it makes an awkward construction
and should be avoided as much as possible. Occasionally, however, we
find it worth our while to use these forms, as for example:
The book is being written by the man.
This is the passive form of the present progressive, _The man is writing
a book_.
The book was being written by the man.
This is the passive form of the past progressive, _The man was writing
the book_.
+144.+ The future progressive passive is awkward, and the present and
past progressive forms are the only forms we find used in the passive.
The best writers use them sparingly for we can usually say the same
thing by using the active form of the verb and have a sentence which
sounds much better.
Exercise 2
All the verbs in the following sentences are _transitive_ verbs in the
_active_ form. Rewrite each sentence, putting the verb into the
_passive_ form and making the _object_ of the _active_ verb the
_subject_ of the _passive_ verb; as, for example, the first sentence
should be rewritten as follows:
_War on Russia was declared by Germany on August 1, 1914._
1. Germany declared war on Russia, August 1, 1914.
2. Who will sign the Emancipation Proclamation of the Proletariat?
3. Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto.
4. Spain murdered Francisco Ferrer, October 13, 1909.
5. We celebrate the first of May as International Labor Day.
6. The people of Paris stormed the Bastille, July 14, 1789.
7. Wat Tyler was leading the English workers in rebellion against
the King when the Mayor of London stabbed him in 1381.
8. The Inquisition burned Bruno at the stake for heresy in 1600.
9. The Paris Commune followed the German siege of Paris in 1871.
SUMMARY
+145.+ Now let us take the verb _see_ and name all the time forms which
we can describe with the changes in the verb forms which we have learned
to make and also with the verb phrases which we can construct with the
help of the verbs, _be_, _have_, _shall_ and _will_.
First, we want to express the present, what is happening now, and we
want to put it in both the active and passive forms, so we say:
+PRESENT TIME+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I see. I am seen.
You see. You are seen.
He sees. He is seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We see. We are seen.
You see. You are seen.
They see. They are seen.
Note that the only change in the verb form in the present ACTIVE is the
_s-form_ for the third person singular. In the present passive the only
change is the special form of the verb _be_ for the first and third
persons, singular.
When we want to tell what occurred yesterday or some time in the past,
stated in the active and passive form, we say:
+PAST TIME+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I saw. I was seen.
You saw. You were seen.
He saw. He was seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We saw. We were seen.
You saw. You were seen.
They saw. They were seen.
We have one other division of time which we must express--the future.
Primitive man doubtless lived principally in the present, but with the
development of memory and the means of recording events by a written
language, he was able to make the deeds and achievements of the past a
vital part of his life. But not until the faculty of thinking developed
was the mind able to project itself into the future and make tomorrow
the hope of today. Future time expresses hope, desire, growth.
+FUTURE TIME+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I shall see. I shall be seen.
You will see. You will be seen.
He will see. He will be seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We shall see. We shall be seen.
You will see. You will be seen.
They will see. They will be seen.
Then you remember we had to devise a way of describing an action
perfected or completed at the present or at some time in the past or at
some time in the future--so we have present perfect, past perfect and
future perfect.
+PRESENT PERFECT+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I have seen. I have been seen.
You have seen. You have been seen.
He has seen. He has been seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We have seen. We have been seen.
You have seen. You have been seen.
They have seen. They have been seen.
+PAST PERFECT+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I had seen. I had been seen.
You had seen. You had been seen.
He had seen. He had been seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We had seen. We had been seen.
You had seen. You had been seen.
They had seen. They had been seen.
+FUTURE PERFECT+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I shall have seen. I shall have been seen.
You will have seen. You will have been seen.
He will have seen. He will have been seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We shall have seen. We shall have been seen.
You will have seen. You will have been seen.
They will have seen. They will have been seen.
+146.+ But these are not all the phases of time which we can express. We
have progressive, continuous action. So each of these six time forms has
a progressive form.
+PRESENT PROGRESSIVE+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I am seeing. I am being seen.
You are seeing. You are being seen.
He is seeing. He is being seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We are seeing. We are being seen.
You are seeing. You are being seen.
They are seeing. They are being seen.
+PAST PROGRESSIVE+
+Active+ +Passive+
_Singular_ _Singular_
I was seeing. I was being seen.
You were seeing. You were being seen.
He was seeing. He was being seen.
_Plural_ _Plural_
We were seeing. We were being seen.
You were seeing. You were being seen.
They were seeing. They were being seen.
Only the Present and Past Progressive forms have a passive form. The
rest of the Progressive forms are expressed in the active forms only.
+FUTURE PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_
I shall be seeing. We shall be seeing.
You will be seeing. You will be seeing.
He will be seeing. They will be seeing.
+PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_
I have been seeing. We have been seeing.
You have been seeing. You have been seeing.
He has been seeing. They have been seeing.
+PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_
I had been seeing. We had been seeing.
You had been seeing. You had been seeing.
He had been seeing. They had been seeing.
+FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+
_Singular_ _Plural_
I shall have been seeing. We shall have been seeing.
You will have been seeing. You will have been seeing.
He will have been seeing. They will have been seeing.
Exercise 3
Write the four following sentences in their active and passive forms, as
the sentence, _War sweeps the earth_, is written.
1. Education gives power.
2. Knowledge frees men.
3. Labor unions help the workers.
4. The people seek justice.
+Present+ _Active_ War sweeps the earth.
_Passive_ The earth is swept by war.
+Past+ _Active_ War swept the earth.
_Passive_ The earth was swept by war.
+Future+ _Active_ War shall sweep the earth.
_Passive_ The earth shall be swept by war.
+Pres. Per.+ _Active_ War has swept the earth.
_Passive_ The earth has been swept by war.
+Past Per.+ _Active_ War had swept the earth.
_Passive_ The earth had been swept by war.
+Fut. Per.+ _Active_ War shall have swept the earth.
_Passive_ The earth shall have been swept by war.
Exercise 4
Underscore all the verbs and verb phrases in the following quotation.
Write all the time forms of the transitive verb, _lose_, as the time
forms of the verb _see_ are written in the foregoing table.
When we study the animal world and try to explain to ourselves that
struggle for existence which is maintained by each living being
against adverse circumstances and against its enemies, we realize that
the more the principles of solidarity and equality are developed in an
animal society, and have become habitual to it, the more chance it has
of surviving and coming triumphantly out of the struggle against
hardships and foes. The more thoroughly each member of the society
feels his solidarity with each other member of the society, the more
completely are developed in all of them those two qualities which are
the main factors of all progress; courage, on the one hand, and, on
the other, free individual initiative. And, on the contrary, the more
any animal society, or little group of animals, loses this feeling of
solidarity--which may chance as the result of exceptional scarcity or
else of exceptional plenty--the more the two other factors of
progress, courage and individual initiative, diminish; in the end they
disappear, and the society falls into decay and sinks before its foes.
Without mutual confidence no struggle is possible; there is no
courage, no initiative, no solidarity--and no victory!--_Kropotkin_.
SPELLING
LESSON 8
In pronouncing words of more than one syllable we always lay a little
greater stress upon one syllable of the word; that is, that syllable
receives the emphasis of the voice so as to make it more prominent than
the other syllables. This is called accent, and the syllable which
receives the special stress is called the accented syllable.
+Accent is the stress of the voice upon one syllable of the word.+
You will notice when you look up the pronunciation of words in your
dictionary that a little mark called the accent mark is placed after the
accented syllable, as for example: di-vide'.
Many words differ in meaning according to which syllable receives the
accent. Our spelling lesson for this week contains a number of these
words.
These words, when accented on the first syllable, are nouns; when
accented on the second syllable, they are verbs.
+Monday+
Con' tract Con tract'
Pro' test Pro test'
Rec' ord Re cord'
Im' port Im port'
De' tail De tail'
+Tuesday+
Con' vert Con vert'
Con' flict Con flict'
Prog' ress Pro gress'
Im' press Im press'
Ref' use Re fuse'
+Wednesday+
Con' test Con test'
Con' duct Con duct'
Proj' ect Pro ject'
Des' ert De sert'
Ex' tract Ex tract'
+Thursday+
Con' trast Con trast'
Con' sort Con sort'
Reb' el Re bel'
Con' script Con script'
Pres' ent Pre sent'
+Friday+
Com' pound Com pound'
Re' tail Re tail'
Com' press Com press'
Im' print Im print'
Com' bine Com bine'
+Saturday+
Con' fine Con fine'
Sus' pect Sus pect'
Com' mune Com mune'
Ex' port Ex port'
In' crease In crease'
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 9
Dear Comrade:
You have been studying several weeks now in this Plain English Course
and we trust you are enjoying the unfolding of the powers of expression.
We have been necessarily studying rules to some extent but you have seen
how these grew out of the need for expression. We have been breaking the
sentence up into its different parts. First we had the names of things
and now we are studying the words used to tell what these things _do_
and _are_--namely verbs. And as our life has grown complex and our
powers of thinking diversified covering the whole range of time, past,
present and future, we have had to invent many forms of the verb to
express it all.
Now do not try to commit these facts concerning the verb to memory. You
are not studying English in order to know rules. You are studying
English that you may be able to say and write the things you _think_. So
first of all, _think_, _think_! That is your inalienable right! Do not
accept anything just by blind belief. Think it out for yourself. Study
until you see the '_why_' of it all. "Independent thinking has given us
the present, and we will forever continue to make tomorrow better than
today. The right to think is inalienable, or a man is a machine. Thought
is life or a human soul is a thing."
And do not lack the courage of your own thoughts. _You_ do not need to
cringe or apologize to any man. "Our life is not an apology but a life."
Dare to think and dare to express and live your thought.
Did you ever read Emerson's definition of genius? "To believe your own
thought, to belie
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