Plain English Part 75

1. Those words will inspire us to dream and to dare.

2. We shall learn to produce and to distribute.

3. To be or not to be, that is the question.

4. Puffing and panting, the great engine pulled up to the station.

5. A cringing and trembling coward fears to demand his own.

6. The warped and twisted facts in the daily press deceive the ma.s.ses.

7. Singing and dancing should be enjoyed by all children.

8. The exploiting and robbing of the people is made a virtue in ruling cla.s.s ethics.

CLAUSES

+345.+ +Co-ordinate conjunctions are also used to connect clauses of equal rank.+ For example:

_The floods came and the winds blew._

Each of these clauses is a complete sentence in itself, but they are combined into one compound sentence by the use of the co-ordinate conjunction, _and_. Clauses united in this way may have a compound subject and a compound predicate, but two complete clauses must be united by a co-ordinate conjunction in order to form a compound sentence. For example:

The rain and snow fell, _and_ the wind blew a mighty gale.

Here the first clause in the compound sentence, _the rain and snow fell_, contains a compound subject, _rain and snow_.

The boys are running and shouting, _and_ the girls are gathering flowers.

Here the first clause has a compound predicate, _are running_ and _shouting_. The second _and_ connects the two clauses forming the compound sentence.

CORRELATIVES

+346.+ Certain co-ordinate conjunctions are used in pairs, such as _both, and_; _either, or_; _neither, nor_; _whether, or_. These pairs are called correlatives. The first word in the pair, as, _both_, _either_, _neither_, or _whether_, is used as an a.s.sistant conjunction helping the other to do the connecting. These are used in such sentences as:

I have _both_ seen _and_ heard him.

They will join us _either_ in April _or_ in May.

Labor has received _neither_ liberty _nor_ justice.

_Whether_ to go forward _or_ to retreat was the problem.

Note that _nor_ is always the proper correlative to use with _neither_ and also with the negatives _not_ and _never_ when they apply to what follows as well as to what precedes. For example:

There are thousands in this country who can _neither_ read _nor_ write.

_Neither_ you _nor_ I can foretell the future.

He will _not_ write _nor_ should you.

Capital punishment is _nothing_ more _nor_ less than legalized murder.

We shall _never_ lower our colors _nor_ retreat.

_Or_ is always used with the correlative _either_. For example:

We will _either_ come _or_ write you.

_Either_ he was mistaken _or_ he deliberately lied.

Exercise 11

Note the use of the co-ordinate conjunctions _and_, _but_, _or_ and _nor_, in the following quotation. Mark especially the use of _and_ as an introductory conjunction, introducing a new sentence, but connecting it with that which has gone before.

In my judgment slavery is the child of ignorance. Liberty is born of intelligence. Only a few years ago there was a great awakening in the human mind. Men began to inquire, "By what right does a crowned robber make me work for him?" The man who asked this question was called a traitor.

They said then, and they say now, that it is dangerous for the mind of man to be free. I deny it. Out on the intellectual sea there is room for every sail. In the intellectual air, there is s.p.a.ce enough for every wing. And the man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and does not do his duty to his fellow men. For one, I expect to do my own thinking. And I will take my oath this minute that I will express what thoughts I have, honestly and sincerely. I am the slave of no man and of no organization. I stand under the blue sky and the stars, under the infinite flag of nature, the peer of every human being.

All I claim, all I plead is simple liberty of thought. That is all. I do not pretend to tell what is true nor all the truth. I do not claim that I have floated level with the heights of thought, nor that I have descended to the depths of things; I simply claim that what ideas I have, I have a right to express, and any man that denies it to me is an intellectual thief and robber.

Every creed that we have today has upon it the mark of the whip or the chain or the f.a.got. I do not want it. Free labor will give us wealth, and has given us wealth, and why? Because a free brain goes into partnership with a free hand. That is why. And when a man works for his wife and children, the problem of liberty is, how to do the most work in the shortest s.p.a.ce of time; but the problem of slavery is, how to do the least work in the longest s.p.a.ce of time. Slavery is poverty; liberty is wealth.

It is the same in thought. Free thought will give us truth; and the man who is not in favor of free thought occupies the same relation to those he can govern that the slaveholder occupied to his slaves, exactly. Free thought will give us wealth. There has not been a generation of free thought yet. It will be time to write a creed when there have been a few generations of free-brained men and splendid women in this world. I don't know what the future may bring forth; I don't know what inventions are in the brain of the future; I don't know what garments may be woven, with the years to come; but I do know, coming from the infinite sea of the future, there will never touch this "bank and shoal of time" a greater blessing nor a grander glory, than liberty for man, woman and child.

Oh, liberty! Float not forever in the far horizon! Remain not forever in the dream of the enthusiast and the poet and the philanthropist.

But come and take up thine abode with the children of men forever.--_Ingersoll_.

SPELLING

LESSON 20

We found that we often formed adjectives by adding suffixes to other words. We also form many adverbs by the addition of suffixes to other words. Derivative adverbs are formed in the following ways:

1. By adding suffixes to adjectives, chiefly the suffix _ly_, as for example; _chiefly_, _truly_, _really_, _lately_, etc.

2. By changing _ble_ to _bly_, as in _ably_, _n.o.bly_, etc.

3. By adding the suffix _ward_, as in _forward_, _upward_, _skyward_, _downward_, _homeward_, etc.

4. We have some adverbs formed by adding the prefix _a_ to adjectives and nouns, as _ahead_, _afoot_, _afresh_, also by adding the prefix _be_, as in _besides_, _beyond_.

We often misspell a number of adverbs by adding _s_ where it does not rightfully belong; as, _anywheres_, _everywheres_, _backwards_, _forwards_, _towards_, _upwards_, _downwards_, _afterwards_, _homewards_, etc. All of these words should be written without the _s_.

We also have a number of compound adverbs which are made by the union of two other parts of speech, such as _sometime_, _henceforth_, _forever_, _overheard_, _outside_, etc.

In the lesson for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, adjectives are given having opposite meanings. Make the proper adverbs from these adjectives by the addition of the suffix _ly_.

Thursday's and Friday's lessons are made up of both adjectives and adverbs that end in _ly_. Look up in your dictionary and be sure you know which are adjectives and which are adverbs.

Sat.u.r.day's lesson is made up of compound adverbs.

+Monday+

Haughty--Humble Wise--Ignorant Careful--Careless Firm--Wavering