Part 4

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.