Plain English Part 100

--_Lincoln_.

Exercise 9

In the following poem find all of the a.s.sertive, interrogative and imperative sentences. Mark all of the simple sentences and all of the complex sentences. Mark all of the dependent clauses and determine whether each is used as a noun, adjective or adverb clause. The verbs and the verb phrases are in italics.

_Shall_ you _complain_ who _feed_ the world, Who _clothe_ the world, Who _house_ the world?

_Shall_ you _complain_ who _are_ the world, Of what the world _may do_?

As from this hour you _are_ the power, The world _must follow_ you.

The world's life _hangs_ on your right hand, Your strong right hand, Your skilled right hand; You _hold_ the whole world in your hand; _See_ to it what you _do_!

For dark or light or wrong or right, The world _is made_ by you.

Then _rise_ as you never _rose_ before, Nor _hoped_ before, Nor _dared_ before; And _show_ as never _was shown_ before The power that _lies_ in you.

_Stand_ all as one; _see_ justice done; _Believe_ and _dare_ and _do_.

--_Charlotte Perkins Gilman_.

SPELLING

LESSON 26

In our last lesson we had examples of words in which the _s_ had the soft sound, and also of words in which the _s_ had the sound of _z_. In some English words, it is difficult to determine which sound to use.

There are a number of words in English beginning with _dis_. In a few of the words, the _s_ has the sound of _z_, and in other words it has the sound of _s_. There are only a few words which are p.r.o.nounced with the _diz_ sound. _Discern_, _dismal_ and _dissolve_ are always p.r.o.nounced with the _diz_ sound. _Disease_ and _disaster_ are p.r.o.nounced both ways.

Some dictionaries give the _diz_ sound and some give the _dis_ sound.

The spelling lesson for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday contains a number of words beginning with _dis_. Be sure of the p.r.o.nunciation. Run through the words in the dictionary beginning with the _dis_ sound and mark those in which the _dis_ has the sound of _diz_.

We have also a number of words in the English language which end in _ise_ or _ize_, and we are often confused to know which ending to use.

There is a rule, which has very few exceptions, which covers the use of _ise_ and _ize_. Words should be spelled with the _ize_ ending when the _ize_ can be cut off, and the word that is left can be used alone. For example; _author_, _authorize_. In this word you can cut off the _ize_ and the word _author_ can be used alone. But in the word _exercise_, if you cut off the _ise_, the remaining portion cannot be used alone.

_Recognize_ and _criticise_ are exceptions to this rule. When used as a suffix added to a noun or adjective to form a verb, _ize_ is the proper ending; as _theory_, _theorize_, _civil_, _civilize_, etc. Final _e_ or _y_ is dropped before _ize_, as in the words _memorize_, _sterilize_, etc.

The spelling lesson for Thursday, Friday and Sat.u.r.day contains a number of common words ending with _ize_ or _ise_. Study carefully this list and add as many words to it as you can.

+Monday+

Disappear Distress Discern Disburse Discipline

+Tuesday+

Discount Discredit Distribute Dismal Disseminate

+Wednesday+

Disguise Distance Dissolve Discontent Disposition

+Thursday+

Franchise Civilize Surprise Organize Compromise

+Friday+

Monopolize Revise Legalize Enterprise Capitalize

+Sat.u.r.day+

Memorize Advertise Theorize Comprise Systematize

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 27

Dear Comrade:

Ingersoll said: "Words are the garments of thought and the robes of ideas." This is a beautiful and poetic way of expressing the relationship between words and thoughts. Words are really the body which we give to our thoughts. Until they are clothed in words, our thoughts are only ghosts of ideas. Other people cannot see or come into contact with them, and they can have but little influence upon the world.

Without thought, no language is possible. It is equally true that without language, no growth of thought is possible. It is futile to try to determine which is first, language or thought. The two are entirely necessary to each other and make possible social and individual development.

Every time that you add a word to your vocabulary, you have added to your mental equipment. You have also added greatly to your power of enjoyment. Through these words you will come into a new relationship to your fellow men. Each new word enlarges the circle of your acquaintance.

A knowledge of language brings us into a circle of wonderful friends.

When we have learned to read we need never more be lonely. Some one has written in a book somewhere just the thing we are hungry for at this moment.

In the pages of a book we can meet and talk with the great souls who have written in these pages their life's experience. No matter what mood you are in, you can find a book to suit that mood. No matter what your need, there is a book which meets that need. Form the habit of reading and you will find it a wonderful source of pleasure and of profit.

Nor do we need to be barred because of our lack of educational advantages in our youth. Buckle, the author of the greatest history that has ever been written, left school at the age of fourteen, and it is said that at that age, except a smattering of mathematics, he knew only how to read; but when he died at the age of forty, this man, who did not know his letters when he was eight years old, could read and write seven languages and was familiar with ten or twelve more. He had written a wonderful book and had become a teacher of teachers. Engraven upon his marble altar tomb is the following couplet:

"The written word remains long after the writer.

The writer is resting under the earth, but his words endure."

Good books are so cheap nowadays that they are within the reach of every one of us. Let us not be content to live in the narrow world of work and worry. Let us forget the struggle occasionally in the reading of books, and let us prepare ourselves, by reading and studying, for the battle for the emanc.i.p.ation of the workers of the world.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

KINDS OF SENTENCES

+450.+ +A simple sentence is a sentence which makes a single a.s.sertion, question or command.+