Plain English Part 95

_Good_ books are helpful.

Adverbs may be placed either before or after the verbs they modify, thus:

The men _then_ came _quickly_ to the rescue.

The adverb _then_ precedes the verb _came_, which it modifies; and the adverb _quickly_ is placed after the verb.

Adverbs which modify adjectives or other adverbs are placed before the words which they modify, thus:

The _more_ industrious students learn _quite_ rapidly.

In this sentence, the adverb _more_ is placed before the adjective _industrious_, which it modifies; and the adverb _quite_ is placed before the adverb _rapidly_, which it modifies.

Adjective and adverb phrases usually follow the words which they modify, thus:

The men _in the car_ came quickly _to the rescue_.

The manager _of the mine_ remained _with the men_.

In this last sentence, the adjective phrase, _of the mine_, is placed after the noun _manager_, which it modifies, and the adverb phrase, _with the men_, is placed after the verb _remained_, which it modifies.

+437.+ These sentences ill.u.s.trate the logical order in which the elements of the sentence usually come. But this logical order is not strictly adhered to. Many times, in order to place the emphasis upon certain words, we reverse this order and place the emphasized words first, as:

_Without your help_, we cannot win.

The logical order of this sentence is:

We cannot win without your help.

But we want to place the emphasis upon _your help_, so we change the order of the words and place the phrase, _without your help_, first.

+438.+ This inversion of the order helps us to express our thought with more emphasis. Our language is so flexible that we can express the same thought in different ways by simply changing the order of the elements in the sentence. Notice in the following sentences, the inversion of the usual order, and see what difference this makes in the expression of the thought.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

A more terrible scene you cannot imagine.

With the shrieking of shot and sh.e.l.l the battle raged.

Louder and louder thundered the tempest.

Silently and sadly the men returned to their homes.

To transpose these inverted sentences--that is to place the elements in their logical order, gives us an insight into the thought expressed in the sentence. It is worth a great deal to us to be able in our reading to see the live elements in the sentence at a glance, and in this way we can grasp at once the thought of the sentence. So you will find that this a.n.a.lyzing of the sentences is very helpful to us in our reading.

+439.+ When we have learned to a.n.a.lyze a sentence quickly we will not be lost in the maze of words. A paragraph is often like a string of pearls.

The author has a single thread of thought running through the different sentences which compose the paragraph and if we have trained ourselves well in sentence a.n.a.lysis, we will never lose this thread. It will be like a life line to which we cling while the breakers of thought and emotion roar about us.

Exercise 3

In the following poem, study carefully the inverted order of the sentences. Rewrite them, placing the elements in their logical order. As for example:

To the poor man you've been true from of old.

The elements of the sentence are inverted in this quotation. Rewritten in their logical order this would read:

You've been true to the poor man from of old.

You will note that this inversion is quite common in poetry.

HUNGER AND COLD

Sisters, two, all praise to you, With your faces pinched and blue; To the poor man you've been true, From of old; You can speak the keenest word, You are sure of being heard, From the point you're never stirred, Hunger and Cold!

Let sleek statesmen temporize; Palsied are their s.h.i.+fts and lies When they meet your bloodshot eyes, Grim and bold; Policy you set at naught, In their traps you'll not be caught, You're too honest to be bought, Hunger and Cold!

Let them guard both hall and bower; Through the window you will glower, Patient till your reckoning hour Shall be tolled; Cheeks are pale, but hands are red, Guiltless blood may chance be shed, But ye must and will be fed, Hunger and Cold!

G.o.d has plans man must not spoil, Some were made to starve and toil, Some to share the wine and oil, We are told; Devil's theories are these, Stifling hope and love and peace, Framed your hideous l.u.s.ts to please, Hunger and Cold!

Scatter ashes on thy head, Tears of burning sorrow shed, Earth! and be by Pity led To love's fold; Ere they block the very door With lean corpses of the poor, And will hush for naught but gore, Hunger and Cold!

--_Lowell_.

SPELLING

LESSON 25

You remember in our lesson in the study of consonants we found there were a number of consonants in English which had more than one sound; for example, _c_, _s_, _g_, _x_, etc.

A number of other consonants have sounds which are similar; that is, they are made with the organs of articulation in the same position, only one is a soft, and the other a hard sound; for example, _p_ and _b_, _t_ and _d_, _f_ and _v_, etc. These sounds are called cognate sounds.

Cognate means literally _of the same nature_, and so these sounds are of the same nature, only in one the obstruction of the vocal organs is more complete than in the other.

Our language contains a number of words in which there is a difference in the p.r.o.nunciation of the final consonant when the word is used as a noun and as a verb. The final consonants in these words are the cognate sounds, _f_, _v_; _t_, _d_; _th_ soft or _th_ hard, _s_ soft, or _s_ hard. When the consonant sound is a soft sound, the word is a noun; and when the consonant sound is a hard sound the word is a verb. For example; _use_ and _use_; _breath_ and _breathe_; _life_ and _live_, etc.

The spelling lessons for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday contain words ending in cognate sounds, in which the words ending with a soft sound are nouns and the words ending in the hard sounds are verbs. Add others to this list as they occur to you.

We have a number of words in the English beginning with _ex_. In some of these words, the _ex_ has the sound of _eks_, and in some of the words the _ex_ has the sound of _egs_. It is not easy at times to know which sound to use.

In regard to the use of _ex_, follow this rule: When a word beginning with _ex_ is followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel, the _ex_ is p.r.o.nounced _egs_; in all other words _ex_ is p.r.o.nounced _eks_; for example, in _executor_, the _ex_ is followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel, therefore, _ex_ is p.r.o.nounced _egs_. In _execute_, the _ex_ is followed by an unaccented syllable beginning with a vowel, and therefore _ex_ is p.r.o.nounced _eks_. In _explain_, _ex_ is followed by a syllable beginning with a consonant, and it is therefore p.r.o.nounced _eks_.

Note that in words like _exhibit_, _exhort_, etc., the _ex_ is followed by a vowel sound, the _h_ being silent, and it is therefore, p.r.o.nounced _egs_, for it is followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel sound.

The spelling list for Thursday, Friday and Sat.u.r.day contains words beginning with _ex_. Watch carefully the p.r.o.nunciation.

+Monday+