Plain English Part 87

Note the spelling of the following words:

Autumn, solemn, column, kiln, hymn, condemn.

+THURSDAY+

We have a number of words containing a silent _b_. Notice the spelling of the following words:

Doubt, debt, dumb, limb, thumb, lamb.

+FRIDAY+

A number of words end with silent _ue_ after _g_. Some writers omit the ue and probably after a while we will drop this silent _ue_, but you will find it used now in most of your reading. These are such words as:

Catalogue, demagogue, decalogue, tongue, league, harangue.

+SAt.u.r.dAY+

We have a number of words ending with _gh_ in which the _gh_ has the sound of _f_, as in the following words:

Trough, rough, enough, laugh, tough, cough.

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 24

Dear Comrade:

We have finished our study of the different parts of speech and are going to enter upon the work of sentence building. In the next few lessons we will gather up all that we have been studying in these lessons so far. This is a good time to give this work a thorough review.

Perhaps there have been a number of things in the lessons which you have not thoroughly understood, or perhaps there have been some rules for which you have not seen the reason. Now as we begin to construct our sentences, all of this will fit into its place. We shall find the reason for many of the things which may not have seemed thoroughly clear to us.

There _is_ a science in language as in everything else, and language, after all, is governed by the will of the people. This has seemed so self-evident to those who make a special study of the language and its development that they have given this power a special name. They speak of the "Genius of the Language" as though there was some spirit guiding and directing the developing power of language.

There is a spirit guiding and directing the developing power of language. That spirit is the creative genius of the people. It is the same spirit that would guide and direct all phases of life into full and free expression, if it were permitted to act. There being no private profit connected with the control of the language, the creative genius of the people has had fuller sway.

The educator sitting in his study cannot make arbitrary rules to change or conserve the use of words. The people themselves are the final arbiter in language. It is the current usage among the ma.s.ses which puts the final stamp upon any word. Think what this same creative genius might do if it were set free in social life, in industrial life. It would work out those principles which were best fitted to the advance of the people themselves. But those who would profit by the enslavement of the people have put stumbling blocks,--laws, conventions, morals, customs,--in the way of the people.

Their creative genius does not have full sway or free sweep, but let us rejoice that in language, at least, we are free. And let us, as we realize the power of the people manifest in this phase of life, determine that the same power shall be set free to work out its will in all life. Some day the revolution will come. The people will be free to rule themselves, to express their will, not in the realms of words alone, but in their social and economic life; and as we become free within, dare to think for ourselves and to demand our own, we each become a torch of the revolution, a center of rebellion--one of those who make straight the path for the future.

Yours for the Revolution,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

SENTENCE BUILDING

+400.+ Every expression of a complete thought is a sentence. A sentence is the unit in language. Words are the material out of which we build our sentences, so we have been studying the various parts of speech that are used in sentence building. Now we are ready to use these parts of speech in the building of sentences. We have found that there are eight parts of speech, though the interjection, which is termed the eighth part of speech, is not in reality a part of the sentence; but is a complete, independent construction. So in your sentences all of the many hundreds of words which we use can be grouped into seven divisions; _nouns_, _p.r.o.nouns_, _adjectives_, _verbs_, _adverbs_, _prepositions_ and _conjunctions_.

+401.+ You remember in our first lesson we found that there were just three kinds of sentences. The _a.s.sertive_, the _interrogative_ and the _imperative_; or in other words, sentences which state a _fact_, ask a _question_ or give a _command_. We also found that these three kinds of sentences could all be expressed in _exclamatory_ form.

THREE KINDS OF SENTENCES

+a.s.sertive.+ Makes a statement.

+Interrogative.+ Asks a question.

+Imperative.+ Gives a command.

+a.s.sertive sentence;+ _I remember the day._ +Interrogative sentence;+ _Do you not remember the day?_ +Imperative sentence;+ _Remember the day._

In Exclamatory Form

+a.s.sertive;+ _Nonsense! I remember the day._ +Interrogative;+ _What! Do you not remember the day?_ +Imperative;+ _Oh come! Remember the day._

a.n.a.lYSIS--SIMPLE SENTENCES

+402.+ Now that we have finished the study of the various parts of speech, we are ready for sentence building and for sentence a.n.a.lysis.

Sentence a.n.a.lysis is the breaking up of the sentence into its different parts in order to find out how and why it is thus put together. To a.n.a.lyze anything is to break it up or separate it into its different parts. We speak of a.n.a.lyzing a sentence when we pick out the subject and the predicate and their modifiers, because we thus unloosen them or separate them from one another.

These parts of the sentence are called the elements of the sentence. The elements of a sentence consist of the words, phrases and clauses used in forming the sentence.

+403.+ Let us begin from the simplest beginning and build up our sentences, using the various parts of speech as we have studied them.

Let us take the simplest form of sentence which we can consider. For example:

Men work.

There are only three parts of speech which can be used to make a simple sentence in this manner, and these are, either the noun and the verb, or the p.r.o.noun and the verb. We might say instead of _Men work_, _They work_, and have a complete sentence.

In the sentence _Men work_, _men_ is the subject and _work_ is the predicate. The subject and the predicate are the two princ.i.p.al elements in a sentence. No sentence can be formed without these two parts and these two parts can express a thought without the help of other elements. Now we may begin to enlarge the subject by adding modifiers.

You remember we have found that a noun may be modified by an adjective.

So we add the adjective _busy_, and we have:

Busy men work.

Our simple subject is still the noun _men_, but the complete subject is the noun with its modifier, _busy men_. We may add other adjectives and say:

The busy, industrious men with families work.

Here we have our simple subject _men_ modified by the adjectives, _the_, _busy_ and _industrious_, and also by the adjective phrase, _with families_. So the complete subject of the sentence now is, _the busy, industrious men with families_.

Our predicate is still the single verb _work_. Let us now enlarge the predicate. We have found that adverbs are used to modify verbs, and so we may say: