Part 10

+A derivative word is one which is derived from a simple word by the addition of another syllable.+

In next week's lesson we will take up the study of these derivatives.

Divide the compound words in this week's lesson into the simple words of which they are composed.

+Monday+

Birthday Coal-tar Craftsman Foreman Gunpowder

+Tuesday+

Handkerchief Headquarters Lawsuit Lockout Bookkeeper

+Wednesday+

Motorman Newspaper Pasteboard Postage-stamp Postmaster

+Thursday+

Salesman Second-hand Shirtwaist Sidewalk Staircase

+Friday+

Trademark Time-table Typewriter Tableware Sewing-machine

+Saturday+

Undergarment Underhand Water-mark Woodwork Workshop

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 10

Dear Comrade:

We have been studying this course in Plain English for some weeks now and I trust that you have been enjoying as well as benefiting by the study of our wonderful and expressive language. Did you ever stop to think what a wonderful step it was in evolution when man first began to use the spoken word? And yet it was a still more wonderful step in advance when he began to use the written word for our highest evolution, and development would have been impossible without the help of written speech. An illiterate man may be a good workman and prosperous so far as the material things of life and his immediate contact with his fellow men are concerned, but we have only to think for a moment of what this world would be if we had no written language, to understand what a mighty power it has been in evolution.

Suppose we had no way by which we could communicate with our friends at a distance. Suppose there were no written words by which we could set down the countless dealings between man and man. What a hopeless tangle this social life of ours would soon become! Suppose also that we had no knowledge of the past, no knowledge of the discoveries and inventions of past generations except that which could be handed down to us through oral speech. All our knowledge of history, of the deeds and development of the past, all the observations by which science has uncovered to us the mysteries of nature would be largely lost to us. It was the invention of writing alone which made possible man's growth from barbarism to civilization, and it is more true than we oftentimes realize, that it is "only a wall of books that separates the civilized man of to-day from the savage of yesterday." And yet I wonder if we have ever stopped to think how this art of writing developed. Knowledge of the alphabet and of the letters by which we form our words and hence are able to express our ideas, has become such a common-place thing to us that we have forgotten what a wonder it is and how it has slowly grown and developed through the centuries. Yet there are races to-day that have no written language such as we know and to whom our written language seems truly a miracle.

The story is told of an Indian who was sent from one colony to another with four loaves of bread accompanied by a letter stating their number. The Indian ate one of the loaves and of course, was found out. The next time when he was sent upon a similar errand he repeated the theft but he took the precaution to hide the letter under a stone while he was eating the bread so that it might not see him!

But it is only the things that we do not understand which we invest with mystery and as we study the story of the alphabet in this series of letters we find that it has been a natural development accomplished by the growing powers of man. In succeeding letters we will trace this most interesting story of the alphabet.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

HELPING VERBS

+168.+ We have found that whenever a verb is used by itself in making an assertion it denotes either present or past time. When we use a verb phrase, it expresses some other time than the past or present. These verb phrases are formed by using _shall_, _will_, _have_, _had_, and the various forms of the verb _be_ with some form of the principal verb. These verbs which help to form verb phrases are called _helping_, or _auxiliary verbs_. Auxiliary means helping.

We have used _have_ and _had_ with the past participle to form the present perfect and past perfect time forms. We have used _shall_ and _will_ with different forms of the verb to denote future time, and we have used different forms of the verb _be_ in making the various other time forms. So _shall_, _will_, _have_, _had_ and the various forms of the verb _be_ are _helping verbs_, which we use to help us in making verb phrases.

+169.+ But these are not all of the helping verbs. There are other helping verbs which we use in forming verb phrases to express different ideas. These are such verbs as _should_ and _would_, _may_ and _might_, _can_ and _could_, _must_ and _ought_, _do_ and _did_.

Exercise 1

Fill the blank spaces in the following sentences with the appropriate forms of the helping verbs, _shall_, _will_, _have_, _had_ and _be_.

1. When......the workers organize? 2. Education......help us win. 3. The world......had enough of war. 4. We......deceived by the masters. 5. The workers......organized into craft unions. 6. They......never ceased the struggle. 7. The state......founded on exploitation. 8. Mutual aid......been an important factor in evolution. 9. The truth......taught to the people. 10. The victory......gained by the proletariat. 11. The nations of Europe......preparing for war for years. 12. The International......recognized war for defense. 13. We......not made the class distinctions, but we......recognize them as long as they exist. 14. The evolution of animals and the evolution of plants......proceeded according to the same general laws. 15. We......never win while the majority remains ignorant. 16. The strikers......betrayed by their leaders.

SHOULD AND WOULD

+170.+ _Should_ and _would_ are the past-time forms of _shall_ and _will_. We use them to express action or existence dependent upon some condition, thus:

I should go if I were well enough. He should join us if you asked him.

In these sentences _should_ and _would_ express action which is possible now or will be in the future, provided some other action takes place.

The same distinction which we found made in the use _shall_ and _will_ has been made with _should_ and _would_; that is, that _should_ used with the first person, expresses action dependent upon condition; but _would_, used with the first person, implies exercise of the will. This rule is not closely followed, though it expresses a nice distinction in the use of _should_ and _would_. In ordinary usage we use either _should_ or _would_ with the first person without any distinction of meaning, as for example:

I should struggle on even if it meant death. I would stand for my principles though I stood entirely alone.

We do not use _should_ however, with the second and third persons to express an action or existence dependent upon some condition. _Should_ used with the second and third person implies obligation. _Would_ is used with the second or third person to express an action dependent upon some condition, as for example:

He would not go, even if you insisted. They would come if you invited them. You would believe him if you could hear him. You would be surprised if I should tell you the reason.

+171.+ _Should_ and _would_ in all of the sentences which we have quoted are used to express action or existence dependent upon some condition which is expressed in that part of the sentence introduced by such conjunctions as _if_ and _though_.

The parts of the sentence introduced by these conjunctions express the condition upon which the other action is dependent. When we use _should_ in sentences without this condition, it means practically the same as _ought_, and implies an obligation. We use _should_ with the first and second and third persons when we use it with this meaning, as for example:

I should have gone yesterday. You should be with us in this fight. They should never fear defeat.

+172.+ _Ought_ could be used in all these sentences and express practically the same meaning. _Should_ used in this way implies obligation.

Exercise 2

Study carefully the following sentences. Write in the blank space preceding each sentence the number of the paragraph in the lesson which governs the use of the helping verb in that sentence.

1. ...... The workers should organize if they desire to control production. 2. ...... The proletariat would destroy this system if they understood their power. 3. ...... Every worker would join his fellows if he could but realize the class struggle. 4. ...... We would all enjoy plenty if we produced for use instead of for profit. 5. ...... The ruling class would not give up their privileges even though they knew that their cupidity endangers society. 6. ...... The injury of one should be the injury of all. 7. ...... The workers' International should stand for the international solidarity of the workers. 8. ...... You should never fear the ridicule of little minds. 9. ...... You would never fear ridicule if you were conscious of your own power. 10. ...... No man should fear to think for himself. 11. ...... No man would fear to think for himself if the world were truly free. 12. ...... Compromise now would mean defeat.

MAY AND MIGHT

+173.+ _May_ used as a helping verb means present permission in regard to an action or possession, as:

You may come with us. He may have the money.

+174.+ It may also mean a possible action or possession. _You may come with us_, for example, might mean that some time in the future it is possible that you will come with us. _He may have the money_, might mean either _He is given permission to have the money_, or _It is possible that he has it_.

_May_, used with many verb forms, means _it is possible_. For example: _He may be hungry_, _He may have starved_. _He may have been starving_; that is, it is possible that _he is hungry_; that _he has starved_; that _he was starving_.

+175.+ _Might_ is the past form of _may_ and expresses past permission to do or to be and also possibility in the past. For example: _The officer said he might go_. That is, he gave him permission to go. _You might have helped your comrades_; that is, _you had the power to have helped_.

_Might_ is also used to express permission or the power to do in the present and future, on condition. For example:

He might find work if he were trained. The workers might destroy this insane system if they would.

Exercise 3

Study carefully the following sentences. Write in the blank space preceding each sentence the number of the paragraph in the lesson which governs the use of the helping verbs _may_ or _might_ in that sentence.

1. ...... The solidarity of the workers might have averted this war. 2. ...... "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these--'it might have been.'" 3. ...... You might join us. 4. ...... The people struggle that they may live. 5. ...... Try; you might succeed. 6. ...... The day may come when this day's deeds shall be remembered. 7. ...... Victory might be ours if we dared to face the issue. 8. ...... "Men may come and men may go; But I go on forever." 9. ...... It seemed possible that we might win. 10. ...... May we ever be loyal and true! 11. ...... It appeared for a time that we might be involved in war. 12. ...... Let come what may, we will not yield.

CAN AND COULD

+176.+ _Can_ is the present-time form and _could_ the past-time form, and both imply ability or power to do or to be. _You can go_ means _You are able to go_,--_You have the power to go_. _You may go_ means _You have permission to go_. _Can_ is often used when we should use _may_, when we mean to give permission. Habit plays a great part in our life and knowledge of the right way does not always suffice. It is only continued effort that will establish correct habits of speech. Good English would be easy of accomplishment if "to do were as easy as to know what it were good to do."

We are too often like the mother in the story. "Can I have a piece of pie?" asked the child. "May I?" the mother corrected. Then the child asked, "May I have a piece of pie?" and the mother answered, "Yes, you can." Knowledge said, _may_; habit said _can_, and the ready tongue obeyed the force of habit.

Say the correct word over and over aloud until it sounds right to your ear and flows readily to your tongue.

+177.+ _Could_ is sometimes used in the present sense to denote power to do, conditioned upon willingness, as:

He could if he would.

Exercise 4

Study carefully the following sentences. Write in the blank space preceding each sentence the number of the paragraph in the lesson which governs the use of the helping verbs _can_ or _could_ in that sentence.

1. ...... I can say love when others say hate; I can say every man when others say one man; What can I do? I can give myself to life, When other men refuse themselves to life. 2. ...... No one can be free till all are free. 3. ...... They could win their freedom if they would prepare themselves to be free. 4. ...... What can I do, being alone? 5. ...... If all men could catch the vision of freedom, wars would cease. 6. ...... Could you find a better way to spend your time than in study? 7. ...... Men would rise in revolt if they could know the facts.

MUST AND OUGHT

+178.+ _Must_ and _ought_ imply obligation. _Must_ conveys the idea of being obliged to do an action from necessity or compulsion, as,

You must have known it. He must go.

_Ought_ was originally the past time form of _owe_, hence means _to be indebted to_, _to owe_. It conveys the idea of a moral obligation, as,

You ought to help the cause. You ought to understand.

+179+. _Ought_ is always used with the infinitive, and the same form is used to express both the present and the past time. The difference in time is expressed by a change in the infinitive instead of a change in the form of the helping verb. With _may_ and _might_ and _can_ and _could_, present and past time are expressed by a change in the form of the helping verb. With the helping verb _ought_, the difference in time is expressed in the infinitive. For example:

He ought to pay us our wages.

This means, _He owes it to us to pay us our wages now_.

He ought to have paid us our wages.

This means, _He owed it to us to pay us our wages some time in the past_.

+180.+ The present infinitive is used with the helping verb _ought_ to express present time and the perfect infinitive is used with _ought_ to express past time.

Exercise 5

Study carefully the following sentences. Write in the blank space preceding each sentence the number of the paragraph in the lesson which governs the use of the helping verb _must_ or _ought_ in that sentence.

1. ...... Service must be the key note of the future. 2. ...... Competition must give place to co-operation. 3. ...... Ought we to fear, who know the truth? 4. ...... Government ought to be the administration of things. 5. ...... No man ought to have the power of life and death over any other human being. 6. ...... It may cost much but humanity must be set free at any cost. 7. ...... What ought to be the attitude of the workers toward war? 8. ...... "For man must work and woman must weep, For there is little to do and many to keep." 9. ...... The day must come when we can live the dream.

DO AND DID

+181.+ _Do_ and _did_ are used as helping verbs to give emphasis--to form emphatic verb phrases. _Do_ is the present time form and _did_ the past time form, as for example:

I do wish you would come. I did hope he would win.

+182.+ When we use the negative _not_ we use the helping verbs _do_ and _did_ to form our verb phrases. For example, we do not say:

I obey not. I walked not. He comes not. They arrived not.

But in expressing the present and past time forms with the negative _not_, we say instead:

I do not obey. I did not walk. He does not come. They did not arrive.

+183.+ We also use _do_ and _did_ with the present and past time forms of the verb in writing interrogative sentences. For example, we do not say:

Comes he with them? Studied you yesterday? Found they the book? Think you it is true?

But we say instead:

Does he come with them? Did you study yesterday? Did they find the book? Do you think it is true?

Exercise 6

Write in the blank space before each sentence the number of the paragraph which governs the use of the helping verb _do_ or _did_ in that sentence.

1. ...... Slaves do not think; they obey. 2. ...... Men do not obey; they think. 3. ...... Do you know that two per cent of the people own sixty per cent of the wealth? 4. ...... The children of the masses do not have the opportunity to attend school. 5. ...... Did not every nation claim a war for defense? 6. ...... "We did not dare to breathe a prayer, Or give our anguish scope." 7. ...... We do desire the freedom of the people. 8. ...... We did hope that war might be averted.

+Let us sum up the auxiliary or helping verbs.+

+184.+ Helping verbs are used to express:

+The different time forms+--_shall_, _will_, _have_, _had_, _be_. +Power to do or to be+--_can_, _could_, _might_. +Permission+--_may_ and _might_. +Possibility+--_may_ and _might_. +Obligation+--_must_, _ought_ and _should_. +Necessity+--_must_. +Condition+--_would_.

Mark the helping verbs in the following exercise:

Exercise 7

The earth shall rise on new foundations. We have been naught, we shall be all. No more tradition's chains shall bind us. Oh! Liberty! Can man resign thee? Can dungeon's bolts and bars confine thee? Capital could never have existed if labor had not first existed. What can I do? I can talk out when others are silent. I can say man when others say money. Do you hear the children weeping, O my brothers? Political freedom can exist only where there is industrial freedom. Political democracy can exist only where there is industrial democracy. Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow. If there is anything that cannot bear free thought, let it crack. No doctrine, however established, should be protected from discussion. Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling; it never forgives the preaching of a new gospel. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Every man is a consumer and ought to be a producer. No picture of life can have any variety which does not admit the odious facts. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.

Exercise 8

Note the use of the helping verbs in the following quotation. Could you use _might_ or _must_ or _ought_ anywhere and strengthen the emphasis?

"I have looked at this claim by the light of history and my own confidence, and it seems to me, so looked at, to be a most just claim, and that resistance to it means nothing short of a denial of the whole of civilization.

This then is the claim:

It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should be done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious.

Turn that claim about as I may, think of it as long as I can, I cannot find that it is an exorbitant claim; yet if society would or could admit it, the face of the earth would be changed; discontent and strife and dishonesty would be ended. To feel that we were doing work useful to others and pleasant to ourselves, and that such work and its due reward could not fail us! What serious harm could happen to us then? And the price to be paid for so making the world happy, must be revolution."--_William Morris_.

SPELLING

LESSON 10

Simple words are sometimes spoken of as root words. _Root_ means that from which something grows. We know our language is a living, growing thing and these root words are the roots where the growth begins. One way in which this growth is accomplished and new words added to our language is by placing syllables before or after the root word--the simple word--as, for example: _unmanly_.

In this we have a syllable placed before and a syllable placed after the root word _man_. The syllable placed before the root word is called the prefix from the Latin _pre_ meaning _before_ and the Latin word to place. Therefore, prefix means literally _to place before_.

+A prefix consists of one or more syllables placed before a word to qualify its meaning.+

The syllable placed after the root word, or simple word, is called the suffix, from the Latin _sub_ meaning after and the Latin word to place. _Subfix_ the word should be literally, but for the sake of the sound--the euphony, the good sound--we say _suffix_.

+A suffix consists of one or more syllables placed after a word to qualify its meaning.+

+The words made by adding prefixes and suffixes are called derivative words.+

You remember we used a suffix in forming participles. The present participle is formed by adding the suffix _ing_ to the simple form of the verb. The past participle is formed by adding the suffix _ed_ to the simple form of the verb.

The words in the spelling lesson for this week are derivative words formed by adding a prefix or suffix, or both, to the simple word. Draw a line through the prefix and the suffix and leave the simple or root word.

+Monday+

Wonderful Prosperous Disloyalty Uncovered Government

+Tuesday+

Memorize Unreality Co-operation Dependent Truly

+Wednesday+

Beautify Countless Uncomfortable Dishonesty Producer

+Thursday+

Existence Untruthfulness Discontentment Victory Removable

+Friday+

Impurity Unwillingness Indebted Overwearisome Enjoyable

+Saturday+

Obligation Hopeless Endanger Precaution Denial

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 11

Dear Comrade:

As we begin the study of the story of the alphabet and the evolution of written speech, we discover that primitive man imagined the art of writing to have had divine origin, to have been handed down from the powers above.

It is natural for us to personify and envelop in mystery the things that we do not understand. So these primitive people have attributed the discovery of the art of writing to the gods and have looked upon the parchment containing the written word which they cannot understand, as possessing magical power; but as we come to learn the origin and causes of things, they are divested of their mystery and become no longer gods and enslavers of men. We understand the laws that govern their action and they become our servants. Take lightning for example. Primitive people personified the lightning or called it the thunder bolts of Jove or attributed it to an act of divine providence. We have learned the laws that govern the action of electricity and so this mighty giant is no longer a god to whom we bow in submission, and who slays us at his whim. He has become our most faithful servant who travels along the wires at our behest and obeys our every bidding. So in the early stages, the art of writing belonged only to the favored few and was made the means of enslavement of the common people instead of the means of liberation.