Plain English Part 49

Some words ending in silent _e_ retain the _e_ before the suffix beginning with a vowel, to prevent a change in the p.r.o.nunciation or to preserve the ident.i.ty of the word. Notice the following words:

peace peaceable courage courageous singe singeing change changeable shoe shoeing notice noticeable

These are words ending in the soft sound of _c_ and _g_, where the _e_ is retained to preserve the correct p.r.o.nunciation of the _c_ and _g_, and with some few words like _toe_, _dye_, etc., where the dropping of the _e_ would lose the ident.i.ty of the word.

The _e_ is dropped in a few words before the suffix beginning with a consonant, as in _wholly_, _nursling_, _judgment_, _wisdom_, _lodgment_.

Add the suffixes _ment_ and _ing_ to the words in Monday's lesson; the suffix _able_ to the words for Tuesday and Wednesday; the suffixes _some_ and _ous_ to the words for Thursday; the suffixes _ly_ or _ness_ to the words for Friday and Sat.u.r.day.

+Monday+

Excite Advise Chastise Disfranchise Enslave

+Tuesday+

Manage Receive Blame Exchange Imagine

+Wednesday+

Admire Service Desire Peace p.r.o.nounce

+Thursday+

Whole Meddle Courage Advantage Outrage

+Friday+

Accurate Positive False Definite Distinct

+Sat.u.r.day+

Agreeable Careful Awful Sure Secure

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 14

Dear Comrade:

You remember our definition of a word; a word is the sign of an idea. In our lessons we have been studying the different kinds of words which we use in the expression of our complete thoughts. Probably the first step in the development of language was to name the objects about us. Then the next logical step would be to invent words which would tell what these objects did. So we have our nouns, which are the names of things; our verbs, which tell what these things do; and in these we have the foundation for spoken and written speech. We soon found, however, that the constant repet.i.tion of a name was tiresome and annoying, so we invented words which we could use in place of these nouns; and we have p.r.o.nouns.

All of the things about us possess certain qualities and our next great need was for words to describe these qualities; so we have adjectives.

Each adjective is a sign of an idea. It adds its part to the expression of our complete thought. So we find that each part of speech comes logically in its place to fill a certain need. Without any one of them, we would be crippled in our power of expression. Each different word is the sign of an idea and the combination of these ideas as represented by the various signs gives us the complete expression of our thought.

So primitive man in the development of written speech had signs to express the various things about him. Naturally his first sign was a picture, as nearly as he could draw it, of the object itself. If he wanted to tell you about a tree he drew a picture of the tree; the picture of a man represented a man, and so on. You will notice among children that this is the first development in their endeavor to express their thoughts in writing. They draw pictures. The average small child cannot understand why you read those strange marks on the page. They want you to read the pictures. To their mind that is the only way to communicate ideas.

These early forefathers of ours grew to be very adept at this picture writing. We have examples of this among the Indians of our own country.

There is a picture on the face of a big rock on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior which records an expedition across the lake led by a noted Indian chief. Canoes are shown in the picture with the crew denoted by a series of upright strokes and there is a picture of the chief on horseback. You or I would have great difficulty in reading this picture writing, but an Indian could read it right off just as we would read a written page. Aids to memory such as knotted strings and tally sticks were the first step toward written speech. This picture writing was the second step toward the development of written speech.

We owe a great deal to the work which these primitive ancestors of ours accomplished. It took them years and years to develop through these different stages and our rapid development of the last few centuries has only been made possible because of this slow and patient building of the foundation. An understanding of this helps us to appreciate the place we occupy in this great struggle of the ages. The power of written speech opens up to us such tremendous possibilities. Let us make the most of them, that we too may hand on worth while things to those who follow us.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

CLa.s.sES OF ADJECTIVES

+242.+ Adjectives, like nouns and p.r.o.nouns, are divided into cla.s.ses.

Adjectives are divided into two main cla.s.ses, _qualifying_ and _limiting_.

+243.+ An adjective which qualifies a noun is one which names some quality which is possessed by the word which it modifies. When we say, _Trees grow_, we are making a general statement; that is, we are saying something that is true of any kind of trees. We have not described any particular tree. But when we say, _The tall trees grow_, _The old trees grow_, _The young trees grow_, the words _tall_, _old_ and _young_ describe certain qualities of the trees, which separate them into cla.s.ses. So these adjectives are _qualifying adjectives_.

An adjective qualifies a noun when it attributes some quality to the noun, as, _The brave man_, _The sweet apple_, _The pretty girl_, _The large house_, etc.

+244.+ But if we say, _this tree_, _that tree_, _some trees_, _many trees_, _three trees_, or _four trees_, we are not giving any quality of the tree, but are pointing out a particular tree or trees and limiting the word to the ones pointed out. So such adjectives as _the_, _this_, _that_, _some_, _many_, _three_ and _four_ are limiting adjectives. An adjective limits a noun when it restricts or limits its meaning as to quant.i.ty or number.

+245.+ So adjectives are divided into two cla.s.ses, _qualifying_ adjectives and _limiting_ adjectives.

+Words that limit or qualify other words are called _modifiers_ because they modify or affect the meaning of the words to which they are added.+ So adjectives are modifiers of the nouns and p.r.o.nouns to which they are added because they modify or qualify or limit the meaning of the noun or p.r.o.noun.

The limiting adjectives answer the questions _which_ and _how many_. The qualifying adjectives answer the questions _which_ and _what kind_.

+246.+ +A qualifying adjective is an adjective which describes the noun it modifies by attributing to it some quality.+

+A limiting adjective is an adjective which merely shows which one or how many, without describing the noun it modifies.+

HOW TO DISCOVER AN ADJECTIVE

+247.+ Sometimes the noun may have several adjectives qualifying or modifying it; as,

The beautiful, old elm tree shades the lawn.

_The_, _beautiful_, _old_ and _elm_, all modify _tree_, telling something of the qualities or pointing out which tree we are speaking of. You can discover an adjective in a sentence by asking the questions, _which_, _what kind_, or _how many_; and the words that answer these questions will be the adjectives in the sentence. For example in this sentence:

Those three immense factories employ thousands of men.

_Factories_ is the noun, subject of the sentence. _Which_ factory is indicated by the adjective _those_. _How many_ factories is indicated by the adjective _three_. _What kind_ of factories is indicated by the adjective _immense_. So we have three adjectives answering the three questions, _which_, _what kind_ and _how many_.

Exercise 1

In the following sentences the adjectives are printed in _italics_.