Part 16

But sometimes we find the adjectives a little farther away from the noun which it describes, and then it becomes a little more difficult to find. You will recall, in our study of the copulative verb _be_, that we found it was simply a connecting word, connecting that which followed the verb with its subject. So we often find an adjective used in the predicate with a copulative verb showing what is asserted of the subject. When an adjective is used in this way, it modifies the subject just as much as if it were directly connected by being placed immediately before the noun. For example:

The lesson was long and difficult.

_Long_ and _difficult_ are used in the predicate after the copulative verb _was_, but are used to modify the subject _lesson_ just as much as though we said instead, _It was a long and difficult lesson_. So watch carefully for adjectives used with the copulative verb _be_ in all its forms, _am_, _is_, _are_, _was_, _were_; and the phrases, _has been_, _will be_, _must be_, etc.

+277.+ You may find adjectives also used following the noun. As, for example: _The man, cool and resolute, awaited the attack_. _Cool_ and _resolute_ are adjectives modifying the noun _man_, but they follow the noun, instead of being placed before it.

COMMON ERRORS

+278.+ There are a number of common errors which we make in comparison, which we should be careful to avoid.

1. A number of adjectives cannot be compared for they in themselves express the highest degree of quality, so they have no shades of meaning and will not admit of comparison. For example: _full_, _empty_, _level_, _round_, _square_. If a thing is full or empty or level or round or square, it cannot be more full, or more empty, or more level, or more round, or more square. So do not compare adjectives that already express the highest degree of a quality. Also such words as _supreme_, _eternal_, and _infallible_, cannot be compared for they also express the highest degree of quality.

2. Do not use _more_ with the comparative form made by using _er_, or _most_ with the superlative form, made by using _est_. For example: do not say, _They cannot be more happier than they are_. Say, _They cannot be happier_; or _They cannot be more happy_. Use either form but never both. Do not say, _That is the most wisest plan_. Say either, _That is the wisest plan_; or _That is the most wise plan_, but never use both forms. Never use _most_ with a superlative form.

3. Do not use the superlative form in comparing _two_ objects. The superlative form is used only when more than two are compared. For example; do not say, _He is the smallest of the two_. Say, _He is the smaller of the two_. _Which is the largest end?_ is incorrect. _Which is the larger end?_ is correct. _Which is the oldest, John or Henry?_ is also incorrect. This should be, _Which is the older, John or Henry?_ Use the _comparative_ form always when comparing _two_ objects.

4. In stating a comparison, avoid comparing a thing with itself. For example; _New York is larger than any city in the United States_. In this sentence, when you say _any_ city in the United States, you are including New York; so you are really comparing New York with itself, and you are saying that New York is larger than itself. You should have said, _New York is larger than any other city in the United States_; or, _New York is the largest city in the United States_. When you compare an object with all others of its kind be sure that the word _other_ follows the comparative word _than_.

5. When an adjective denoting _one_ or _more than one_ modifies a noun, the adjective and the noun must agree in number. For example; _The house is 30 foot square_. _Thirty_ denotes more than one, so a plural noun should be used, and this sentence should be, _The house is 30 feet square_. _We are traveling at the rate of 40 mile an hour._ This should be, _We are traveling at the rate of 40 miles an hour_.

6. Only two adjectives, _this_ and _that_ change their form when modifying a plural noun. _These_ and _those_ are the plural forms of _this_ and _that_. So remember always to use _this_ and _that_ with singular nouns and _these_ and _those_ with plural nouns. For example; do not say, _These kind of people will never join us_. You should say, _This kind of people will never join us_. Or, _Those sort of flowers grows easily_. You should say, _That sort of flowers grows easily_.

7. Place your adjectives where there can be no doubt as to what you intend them to modify. Put the adjective _with_ the noun which it modifies. For example; do not say, _a fresh bunch of flowers_, _a new pair of shoes_, _a salt barrel of pork_, _an old box of clothes_, _a cold cup of water_, _a new load of hay_. Put the adjective with the noun which it modifies, and say, _a bunch of fresh flowers_, _a pair of new shoes_, _a barrel of salt pork_, _a box of old clothes_, _a cup of cold water_, _a load of new hay_.

8. Adjectives are usually placed before the nouns they qualify, but sometimes, especially in poetry or in the use of participles, they follow the nouns. They should not, however, be placed too far away from the noun which they modify or be unnecessarily separated from the noun. Where there are two or more adjectives used to qualify the same noun, place nearest the noun the adjective most closely connected with the object described and place farthest from the noun the adjective least closely connected with the noun. If they are all of the same rank, place them where they will sound best, usually according to their length, naming the shortest adjective first.

Correct the following sentences by arranging the adjectives in the proper order:

The summer sky was a blue, soft, beautiful sky. He bought a brown, fine, big horse. A gold, beautiful, expensive watch was given her. The new, beautiful apartment building is on the corner. He advertised for a young, intelligent, wide awake man.

9. Never use _them_ as an adjective. _Them_ is a pronoun. One of the worst mistakes which we can make is to use such phrases as _them things_, _them men_, _them books_. Say, _those things_, _those men_, _those books_.

10. Do not use _less_ for the comparative form of _few_. The comparative form of _few_ is _fewer_. _Less_ refers only to quantity, _fewer_ to number. For example:

He raised _less_ grain this year than last, because he has _fewer_ horses now than he had then. He uses _fewer_ words because he has _less_ to say. There are but _few_ people here today; there were still _fewer_ (not less) yesterday.

Exercise 2

Correct the adjectives in this exercise:

1. Hand me the little knife. 2. He claims to be more infallible than anyone else. 3. Mary is the oldest of the two. 4. He was the bestest boy in school. 5. The barn is forty foot long. 6. Yonder is a happy crowd of children. 7. Which is the largest end? 8. I found the bestest book. 9. This is the most principal rule. 10. Give me a cold cup of water. 11. These kind of books will not do. 12. Give me them books. 13. Who is the tallest, you or John?

Exercise 3

Mark all the adjectives in this poem. Note especially the participles used as adjectives.

THE COLLECTION

I passed the plate in church. There was a little silver, but the crisp bank-notes heaped themselves up high before me; And ever as the pile grew, the plate became warmer and warmer, until it fairly burned my fingers, and a smell of scorching flesh rose from it, and I perceived that some of the notes were beginning to smolder and curl, half-browned, at the edges. And then I saw through the smoke into the very substance of the money, and I beheld what it really was: I saw the stolen earnings of the poor, the wide margin of wages pared down to starvation; I saw the underpaid factory girl eking out her living on the street, and the over-worked child, and the suicide of the discharged miner; I saw the poisonous gases from great manufactories, spreading disease and death; I saw despair and drudgery filling the dram-shop; I saw rents screwed out of brother men for permission to live on God's land; I saw men shut out from the bosom of the earth and begging for the poor privilege to work, in vain, and becoming tramps and paupers and drunkards and lunatics, and crowding into almshouses, insane asylums and prisons; I saw ignorance and vice and crime growing rank in stifling, filthy slums; I saw shoddy cloth and adulterated food and lying goods of all kinds, cheapening men and women, and vulgarizing the world; I saw hideousness extending itself from coal-mine and foundry over forest and river and field; I saw money grabbed from fellow grabbers and swindled from fellow swindlers, and underneath the workman forever spinning it out of his vitals; I saw the laboring world, thin and pale and bent and care-worn and driven, pouring out this tribute from its toil and sweat into the laps of the richly dressed men and women in the pews, who only glanced at them to shrink from them with disgust; I saw all this, and the plate burned my fingers so that I had to hold it first in one hand and then in the other; and I was glad when the parson in his white robes took the smoking pile from me on the chancel steps and, turning about, lifted it up and laid it on the altar. It was an old-time altar, indeed, for it bore a burnt offering of flesh and blood--a sweet savor unto the Moloch whom these people worship with their daily round of human sacrifices. The shambles are in the temple as of yore, and the tables of the money-changers waiting to be overturned.

--_Ernest Crosby_.

SPELLING

LESSON 15

There is a class of words having the sound of long _e_, represented by the diphthong _ie_, and another class having the same sound represented by _ei_. It is a matter of perplexity at times to determine whether one of these words should be spelled with _ie_ or _ei_. Here is a little rhyme which you will find a valuable aid to the memory in spelling these words:

When the letter _c_ you spy, Put the _e_ before the _i_.

For example, in such words as _deceit_, _receive_ and _ceiling_, the spelling is _ei_. On the other hand, when the diphthong is not preceded by the letter _c_, the spelling is _ie_, as in _grief_, _field_, _siege_, etc.

There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as _either_, _neither_, _leisure_, _seize_ and _weird_. Most words, however, conform to the rule--when preceded by _c_, _ei_ should be used; when preceded by any other letter, _ie_.

Observe that this rule applies only when there is a diphthong having the sound of long _e_. When the two letters do not have the sound of long _e_, as in _ancient_, the rule does not apply.

+Monday+

Deceive Belief Conceive Brief Ceiling

+Tuesday+

Field Receive Piece Chief Leisure

+Wednesday+

Receipt Wield Weird Thief Perceive

+Thursday+

Deceit Yield Grief Seize Conceit

+Friday+

Relieve Neither Liege Shield Niece

+Saturday+

Relief Achievement Reprieve Lien Siege

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 16

Dear Comrade:

We have been tracing the development of written speech in order that we might have a clearer understanding of our own language. We have found how our earliest ancestors communicated with each other by signs and an articulate speech that was probably a little better than that of some animals of today. They gradually developed this articulate speech and then began to have need for some form of written speech. That which distinguishes man from the animals primarily is his power to remember and to associate one idea with another. From this comes his ability to reason concerning the connection of these ideas. Without this power of associative memory we would not be able to reason. If you could not recall the things that happened yesterday and had not the power of imagination concerning the things that may happen tomorrow, your reasoning concerning today would not be above that of the animals.

So man soon found it necessary to have some way of recalling accurately, in a manner that he could depend upon, the things that happened yesterday and the day before and still farther back in time. So that his first step was the invention of simple aids to memory such as the knotted strings and tally sticks. Then he began to draw pictures of the objects about him which he could perceive by the five senses, the things which he could see and hear and touch and taste and smell.

But man, the Thinker, began to develop and he began to have ideas about things which he could not see and hear and touch and taste and smell. He began to think of abstract ideas such as light and darkness, love and hate, and if he was to have written speech he must have symbols which would express these ideas. So we have found that he used pictures of the things he perceived with his five senses to symbolize some of his abstract ideas, as for example; a picture of the sun and moon to represent light; the bee to symbolize industry; the ostrich feather to represent justice. But as his ideas began to develop you can readily see that in the course of time there were not enough symbols to go around and this sort of written speech became very confusing and very difficult to read.

Necessity is truly the mother of invention, and so this need of man forced him to invent something entirely new--something which had been undreamed of before. He began now to use pictures which were different in sense but the names of which had the same sound. You can find an example of this same thing on the Children's Puzzle Page in the rebus which is given for the children to solve. As for example: A picture of an eye, a saw, a boy, a swallow, a goose and a berry, and this would stand for the sentence, I saw a boy swallow a gooseberry.

Perhaps you have used the same idea in some guessing game where a mill, a walk and a key stands for Milwaukee. And so we have a new form of picture writing. Notice in this that an entirely new idea has entered in, for the picture may not stand for the whole word but may stand for one syllable of the word as in the example given above. The mill stands for one syllable, walk for another and key for another. This was a great step for it meant the division of the word into various sounds represented by the syllables.

What a new insight it gives us into life when we realize that not only our bodies but the environment in which we live, the machines with which we work and even the language which we use has been a product of man's own effort. Man has developed these things for himself through a constant and steady evolution. It makes us feel that we are part of one stupendous whole; we belong to the class which has done the work of the world and accomplished these mighty things. The same blood flows in us; the same power belongs to us. Truly, with this idea, we can stand erect and look the whole world in the face and demand the opportunity to live our own lives to the full.

Yours for Freedom,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

WORDS ADDED TO VERBS

+279.+ We have just finished the study of adjectives and we have found that adjectives are words added to nouns to qualify or to limit their meaning. Without this class of words it would be impossible for us to express all of our ideas, for we would be at a loss to describe the objects about us. Adjectives enable us to name the qualities or tell the number of the objects with which we come in contact.

The verb, we have found, expresses the action of these objects; in other words, the verb tells what things do. So with adjectives and verbs we can describe the objects named by the nouns and tell what they do. For example, I may say, _Men work_. Here I have used simply a noun and a verb; then I may add various adjectives to this and say, _Strong, industrious, ambitious men work_. By the use of these adjectives, I have told you about the kind of men who work; but I have said nothing about the action expressed in the verb _work_. I may want to tell you _how_ they work and _when_ they work; _where_ they work and _how much_; in other words, describe fully the action expressed in the verb _work_, so I say:

The men work busily. The men work late. The men work well. The men work inside. The men work hard. The men work here. The men work now. The men work more.

Words like _busily_, _hard_, _late_, _here_, _well_, _now_, _inside_, and _more_, show _how_, _when_, _where_ and _how much_ the men work.

We could leave off these words and still have a sentence, since the other words make sense without them, but these words describe the action expressed in the verb.

Words used in this way are called adverbs because they are added to verbs to make our meaning more definite, very much as adjectives are added to nouns.

+280.+ The word adverb means, literally, _to the verb_, and one would suppose from this name that the adverb was strictly a verb modifier, but an adverb is used to modify other words as well. An adverb may be used to modify an adjective; for example, we might say: _The man was very busy_. _This lesson is too long._ Here _very_ and _too_ are added to the adjectives _busy_ and _long_ to qualify their meaning.

+281.+ You remember in the comparison of adjectives, we used the words _more_ and _most_ to make the comparative and superlative degrees. Here _more_ and _most_ are adverbs used with the adjectives to qualify their meaning. Adverbs used in this way will always answer the question, _how much_, _how long_, etc. In the sentence, _The man is very busy_, _very_ is used to answer the question _how_ busy. And in the sentence, _The lesson is too long_, the adverb _too_ answers the question _how_ long.

An adverb is also added to another adverb sometimes to answer the question _how_. For example; we say, _The man works very hard_. Here the adverb _hard_ tells _how_ the man works and _very_ modifies the adverb _hard_, and answers the question _how hard_. So we have our definition of an adverb:

+282.+ +An adverb is a word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another adverb.+

Remember that adjectives are used only with nouns or pronouns, but the adverb may be used with a verb or an adjective or another adverb. You remember that we had in our first lesson, as the definition of a word, that, _a word is a sign of an idea_. The idea is a part of a complete thought. See how all of these various words represent ideas, and each does its part to help us express our thoughts.

HOW TO TELL ADVERBS

+283.+ We need not have much difficulty in always being able to tell which words in a sentence are adverbs, for they will always answer one of the following questions: _How?_ _When?_ _Where?_ _Why?_ _How long?_ _How often?_ _How much?_ _How far?_ or _How little?_ etc. Just ask one of these questions and the word that answers it is the adverb in your sentence. Take the following sentence:

He _always_ came _down too rapidly_.

The word _always_ answers the question _when_. So _always_ is an adverb, describing the time of the action expressed in the verb _came_--He _always_ came. _Down_ answers the question _where_. So _down_ is the adverb describing the _place_ of the action. _Rapidly_ answers the question _how_, and is the adverb describing the _manner_ of the action. _Too_ also answers the question _how_, and modifies the adverb _rapidly_.

Exercise 1

Underscore the adverbs in the following sentences and tell which word they modify:

1. He writes correctly. 2. She answered quickly. 3. A very wonderful future awaits us. 4. You should not speak so hastily. 5. You can speak freely here. 6. He could never wait patiently. 7. We very often make mistakes. 8. She very seldom goes there. 9. He usually walks very rapidly. 10. I have read the lesson quite carefully. 11. We would willingly and cheerfully give our all for the cause. 12. He frequently comes here but I do not expect him today. 13. If we work diligently and faithfully we will soon learn to speak correctly and fluently. 14. I am almost sure I can go there tomorrow. 15. It was more beautifully painted than the other. 16. We eagerly await the news from the front. 17. He always gladly obeyed his father. 18. She spoke quite simply and met with a very enthusiastic reception. 19. The difficulty can be easily and readily adjusted.

Exercise 2

Use the following adverbs in sentences to modify verbs:

slowly here now gently loudly never soon carefully nobly down seldom easily

Use the following adverbs in sentences to modify adjectives:

quite very more too most less nearly so

Use the following adverbs in sentences to modify adverbs:

too very quite less more most least so

CLASSES OF ADVERBS

+284.+ There are a good many adverbs in our language, yet they may be divided, according to their meaning, into six principal classes:

+1. Adverbs of time.+ These answer the question _when_, and are such adverbs as _now_, _then_, _soon_, _never_, _always_, etc.

+2. Adverbs of place.+ These answer the question _where_, and are such adverbs as _here_, _there_, _yonder_, _down_, _above_, _below_, etc.

+3. Adverbs of manner.+ These answer the question _how_, and are such adverbs as _well_, _ill_, _thus_, _so_, _slowly_, _hastily_, etc.

+4. Adverbs of degree.+ These answer the questions _how much_, _how little_, _how far_, etc., and are such adverbs as _much_, _very_, _almost_, _scarcely_, _hardly_, _more_, _quite_, _little_, etc.

+5. Adverbs of cause.+ These answer the question _why_, and are such adverbs as _therefore_, _accordingly_, _hence_, etc.

+6. Adverbs of number.+ These are such adverbs as _first_, _second_, _third_, etc.

Exercise 3

In the following sentences there are adverbs of each class used. Find the adverbs of the different classes.

1. We shall always be found in the forefront of the struggle. 2. It is much more effective to train the young. 3. He came first and remained through the entire program. 4. It is pleasant to know that we have done well. 5. Our comrades are fighting yonder in the trenches. 6. Therefore we shall never acknowledge defeat. 7. Come down and discuss the matter with us. 8. We would soon be able to agree if we understood the facts. 9. Study your lessons slowly and carefully. 10. He was scarcely able to tell his story. 11. Accordingly I am sending you full particulars of the plan. 12. He came third in the ranks.

INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS

+285.+ The adverbs _how_, _when_, _where_, _why_, _whither_, _whence_, etc., are used in asking questions, and when they are used in this way they are called interrogative adverbs. For example:

_How_ did it happen? _Where_ are you going? _Whence_ came he? _When_ did he come? _Why_ did you do it? _Whither_ are you going?

These adverbs, _how_, _when_, _where_, _why_, _whence_ and _whither_, are used in these sentences to modify the verbs and ask the questions concerning the _time_ or _place_ or _manner_ of action expressed in the verb.

_How_ may also be used as an interrogative adverb modifying an adjective or another adverb. For example:

How late did he stay? How large is the house?

In the first sentence, the adverb _how_ modifies the adverb _late_, and introduces the question. In the second sentence _how_ modifies the adjective _large_ and introduces the question.

Exercise 4

Write sentences containing the interrogative adverbs _how_, _when_, _where_ and _why_, to modify verbs and ask simple questions.