Part 5

+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.