Plain English

You remember in our lesson in the study of consonants we found there were a number of consonants in English which had more than one sound; for example, c, s, g, x, etc.

A number of other consonants have sounds which are similar; that is, they are made with the organs of articulation in the same position, only one is a soft, and the other a hard sound; for example, p and b, t and d, f and v, etc. These sounds are called cognate sounds. Cognate means literally of the same nature, and so these sounds are of the same nature, only in one the obstruction of the vocal organs is more complete than in the other.

Our language contains a number of words in which there is a difference in the pronunciation of the final consonant when the word is used as a noun and as a verb. The final consonants in these words are the cognate sounds, f, v; t, d; th soft or th hard, s soft, or s hard. When the consonant sound is a soft sound, the word is a noun; and when the consonant sound is a hard sound the word is a verb. For example; use and use; breath and breathe; life and live, etc.

The spelling lessons for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday contain words ending in cognate sounds, in which the words ending with a soft sound are nouns and the words ending in the hard sounds are verbs. Add others to this list as they occur to you.

We have a number of words in the English beginning with ex. In some of these words, the ex has the sound of eks, and in some of the words the ex has the sound of egs. It is not easy at times to know which sound to use.

In regard to the use of ex, follow this rule: When a word beginning with ex is followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel, the ex is pronounced egs; in all other words ex is pronounced eks; for example, in executor, the ex is followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel, therefore, ex is pronounced egs. In execute, the ex is followed by an unaccented syllable beginning with a vowel, and therefore ex is pronounced eks. In explain, ex is followed by a syllable beginning with a consonant, and it is therefore pronounced eks.

Note that in words like exhibit, exhort, etc., the ex is followed by a vowel sound, the h being silent, and it is therefore, pronounced egs, for it is followed by an accented syllable beginning with a vowel sound.

The spelling list for Thursday, Friday and Saturday contains words beginning with ex. Watch carefully the pronunciation.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Exile

Except

Exhibit

Expert

Exempt

Friday

Example

Excellent

Exhaust

Exit

Expropriate

Saturday

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 analytic 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 analysis of sentences. Take your favorite writer and analyze 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 analyze it properly, copy it in your next examination paper and state where the difficulty lies. Rewrite the passages 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 analyzing 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.