Plain English

(a) To call attention; as, Hello, Ahoy, Whoa.

(b) To express silence; as, Shh, Hush, Hist.

(c) To direct or drive out, etc., as, Whoa, Gee, Haw, Scat.

4. Words used to imitate sounds made by animals, machines, etc., as, Bow-wow, Ding-dong, Bang, Rub-a-dub.

When we wish to imitate noises or sounds made by animals, machines, etc., in writing, we spell out the words as nearly as we can, just as we write ding-dong to represent the sound of the bell or tick-tock to indicate the ticking of a clock.

Note that a number of our verbs and nouns have been formed from imitating the sound which these nouns or verbs describe or express, as for instance, crash, roar, buzz, hush, groan, bang, puff, etc.

Exercise 1

Mark the interjections in the following sentences. Which express surprise? Which joy? Which sorrow? Which disgust?

1. Alas! We shall never meet again.

2. Bravo! You have done well.

3. Pshaw! Is that the best you can do?

4. Ship ahoy! All hands on deck.

5. Hello! When did you come?

6. Hurrah! We have won the victory.

7. Alas, alack! Those days will never come again.

8. Hist! You must be as still as mice.

Exercise 2

Write sentences using an interjection to express: 1. Joy. 2. Surprise. 3. Pain. 4. Sorrow. 5. Disgust. 6. To ask a question. 7. To call attention. 8. To silence. 9. To direct. 10. To imitate the sound made by an animal. 11. By a machine.

EXCLAMATORY WORDS

390. Interjections express only emotion or feeling. They do not express ideas. However, we have a number of words which are used somewhat as interjections are used, which we may class as exclamatory words, but they express more than interjections, for they express ideas as well as emotions; but, like interjections, they are used independently and have no part in the construction of the sentence.

391. Many ordinary words and phrases are used in this way as exclamations. When they are so used they have no place in the construction of the sentence; that is, they do not depend upon the sentence in which they are used, in any way. A noun used in this way is not used as the subject or the object, but simply as an exclamation.

For example; the noun nonsense may be used as an interjection, as in the sentence; Nonsense! I do not believe a word of it. In this sentence, nonsense is a noun used as an interjection and plays no part in the sentence, either as subject or object, but is an independent construction. There are a number of words used in this way:

1. Nouns and pronouns, as fire, mercy, shame, nonsense, the idea, what.

2. Verbs like, help, look, see, listen, hark, behold, begone.

3. Adjectives like, good, well, brave, welcome, strange.

4. Adverbs like, out, indeed, how, why, back, forward.

5. Prepositions like, on, up, down.

6. Phrases like, Oh dear, dear me, good bye.

Words and phrases such as these, used as exclamations, are not true interjections, for they express a little more than feeling. They express an idea which, in our haste, we do not completely express. The other words necessary to the expression of the idea are omitted because of the stress of emotion. For example:

Silence! I will hear no more.

In this sentence it is understood that we mean, Let us have silence, I will hear no more. But in the stress of our emotion, we have omitted the words, Let us have.

If we say, Good! that will do splendidly, you know that we mean, That is good, we have simply omitted That is, which is necessary to complete the sentence. Sometimes when we are greatly excited we abandon our sentence construction altogether and use only the most important words. For example:

A sail! a sail!

This is not a sentence, for it does not contain a verb, yet we know that what was meant was, I see a sail, I see a sail.

Exercise 3

Write sentences using the words given in the foregoing list as exclamatory words, and add as many more to the list as you can think of.

YES AND NO

392. The words yes and no, which we use in reply to questions were originally adverbs, but we no longer use them as adverbs. We no longer combine them with other words as modifying or limiting words, but use them independently. They are in themselves complete answers. Thus, if you ask me the question, Will you come? I may say Yes, meaning, I will come; or, No, meaning, I will not come.

The responsives yes and no thus stand for whole sentences, so they are really independent words. We may use them in connection with other sentences. For example; I may say, Yes, I will come, or No, I will not come. Used in this way, they still retain an independent construction in the sentence. We call them responsives because they are used in response to questions.

OTHER INDEPENDENT EXPRESSIONS

393. Other words may be used in an independent construction in sentences, without depending upon the sentence in which they are used or without having the sentences depend upon them, such as:

1. A word used in address. For example:

Mr. President, I move that a committee be now appointed.

Fellow Workers, I rise to address you.

In these sentences, Mr. President and Fellow Workers are nouns used independently; that is, they are neither the subject of the sentence nor used as object or predicate complement. They are independent of all other words in the sentence.

The most common use of words used independently in direct address occurs with imperative sentences. For example:

Comrades, rouse yourselves.

Men, strike for freedom.

2. Exclamatory expressions. These are nouns used in the manner in which we have already discussed, as in the sentence:

Nonsense! I do not believe a word of it.