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CONJUNCTIONS

50. We have found that the preposition is a very important connective word. It connects two words and shows what one of them has to do with the other, but the preposition is not the only connective word which we use in English. We have another part of speech which performs an important function as a connective word. Notice the following sentence:

Men and women struggle for their rights.

Can you find a word in this sentence which is a connective word besides the preposition for? Did you notice that little word and? The noun men and the noun women are both subjects of the verb struggle, and they are joined by this little connective word and. If we did not have this word we would have to use two sentences to express our thought, thus:

Men struggle for their rights.
Women struggle for their rights.

But with the use of this connective word and we can combine these two sentences and express it all in one sentence:

Men and women struggle for their rights.

This word is used in a different manner from the preposition. The preposition connects two words and makes one modify the other. When we say, Get the book on the table, the phrase on the table designates the book just as much as if we had said, Get the green book. So the use of the preposition enables us to show the relation between two words and to make one word describe or modify the other.

51. This little word and in the sentence, Men and women struggle for their rights, is a connective word also, but it connects two words that are used in the same way, so it is a different sort of connective word from the preposition. Words used in this way are called conjunctions. Conjunction is a word which is taken from the Latin, being made up of the Latin word con, which means together, and the Latin verb juncto, which means to join. So conjunction means literally to join together.

52. A conjunction is a word that connects sentences or parts of sentences.

Notice the following sentence:

The class struggle is waged on the political field and on the industrial field.

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

ā as in late, fade.
ä as in mar, father.
ȧ as in mask, dance.
a as in cat, had.
aw as in awl, fall.
ē as in he, feet.
ẽ as in her, verge.
e as in let, men.
ī as in line, time.
i as in tin, little.
ō as in vote, home.
ô as in orb, form.
o as in lot, odd.
oi as in oil, join.
o̅o̅ as in moon, school.
oo as in cook, foot.
ou as in out, house.
ū 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.

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:

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.

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

78. The title is made plural when used with several names, thus:

Messrs. Brown and White.
Generals Lee and Grant.
Drs. Long and Larson.

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:

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: