Plain English Part 96

Excuse Excuse Abuse Abuse Grease Grease Sacrifice Sacrifice Device Devise

+Tuesday+

Intent Intend Advice Advise Relief Relieve Cloth Clothe Reproof Reprove

+Wednesday+

Ascent Ascend Strife Strive Mouth Mouth Grief Grieve Bath Bathe

+Thursday+

Exile Except Exhibit Expert Exempt

+Friday+

Example Excellent Exhaust Exit Expropriate

+Sat.u.r.day+

Exercise Exist Experiment Exaggerate Explanation

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 26

Dear Comrade:

There are really two things which will come to us out of the study of grammar. One of these, which we discussed in our letter last week, is the power of logical thinking. The second is the ability to express our thoughts correctly; that is, according to accepted usage. So you can consider your spoken and written speech from two viewpoints. First, you can look to see if you have used the words correctly. We have noted these common errors especially in our study of the various parts of speech. There are certain errors we often make, as for example, using a plural noun with a singular verb, or using the past time form of the verb for the past participle.

We have noted a great many of these errors in our speech. We might make ourselves understood and express ourselves fairly accurately and still make these mistakes, but it is wise for us to try to eliminate them from our speech for several reasons. To those who understand the use of correct English, these mistakes mark us as ignorant and uneducated. No matter how important and absolutely accurate the thought we are expressing, if we make these grammatical errors, they very naturally discount our thought also. They feel that if we cannot speak correctly, in all probability we cannot think accurately, either.

Then, too, these words in our speech distract the attention of our hearers from the things which we are saying. It is like the mannerism of an actor. If he has any peculiar manner of walking or of talking and persists in carrying that into whatever character he is interpreting, we always see the actor himself, instead of the character which he is portraying. His mannerisms get in the way and interfere with our grasp of the idea.

So in music. You may be absorbed in a wonderful selection which some one is playing and if suddenly he strikes a wrong note, the discord distracts your attention and perhaps you never get back into the spirit of the music again.

So we must watch these common errors in our speech, but we must not let our study of English be simply that alone. The greatest benefit which we are deriving from this study is the a.n.a.lytic method of thought and the logical habit of mind, which the effort to express ourselves clearly and accurately and in well-chosen words will give us. Put as much time as you can possibly spare into this a.n.a.lysis of sentences. Take your favorite writer and a.n.a.lyze his sentences and find out what is his particular charm for you. If there is any sentence which gives you a little trouble and you cannot a.n.a.lyze it properly, copy it in your next examination paper and state where the difficulty lies. Rewrite the pa.s.sages which please you most and then compare your version with the author's and see if you really grasped his meaning. In this way you will add quickly to your enjoyment of the writing of others and to your power of expressing yourself.

Yours for Freedom,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

+440.+ We have been a.n.a.lyzing the simple sentence, which contains only words and phrases. We have found that there may enter into the simple sentence, the following elements:

1. The simple subject.

2. The simple predicate.

3. The modifiers of the subject.

4. The object of the verb.

5. The predicate complement.

6. The modifiers of the predicate.

This is not the order in which the elements will appear in the sentence, but this is the order of their importance. We first look for the simple subject and the simple predicate; then we can determine which words are the modifiers of the subject; then we find the object or predicate complement of the verb and the modifiers of the verb; and thus we have all of the elements which go into the construction of the simple sentence.

We may also have two nouns used as the subject or two verbs used in the predicate, connected by a co-ordinate conjunction, thus:

Marx and Engels lived and worked together.

Here we have two proper nouns used as the subject, _Marx_ and _Engels_.

We have also two verbs used as the predicate, _lived_ and _worked_. We call this a compound subject and compound predicate.

So in one simple sentence, that is a sentence which makes a single a.s.sertion, we may have every part of speech. For example:

The most intelligent men and women think for themselves.

In this sentence, we have a _noun_, _verb_, _p.r.o.noun_, _adjective_, _adverb_, _conjunction_ and _preposition_--every part of speech except the _interjection_, which is an independent element and does not enter into the construction of the sentence.

Exercise 1

Write simple sentences of your own containing:

1. A compound subject.

2. A compound predicate.

3. A noun as subject modified by one or more adjectives.

4. A noun as subject modified by a phrase.

5. An incomplete verb with a direct and an indirect object.

6. An incomplete verb with a predicate complement.

7. A predicate modified by one or more adverbs.

8. A predicate modified by an adverb phrase.

COMPLEX SENTENCES

+441.+ The simple sentence is the unit of speech. It is a combination of words which makes a single statement, question or command. But many times a constant repet.i.tion of these short sentences would become tiresome, and our written and spoken speech would not flow as smoothly and rapidly as we desire. So we have evolved a way in which we may combine these sentences into longer statements. Let us take the two _simple_ sentences:

We are united.

We shall succeed.

We may combine these into a single sentence by using the co-ordinate conjunction _and_. Then our sentence reads:

We are united and we shall succeed.