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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.
