Dear Comrade:

In this lesson we are taking up a short study of the different parts of speech. In later lessons we will study each part of speech more thoroughly but this lesson covers the ground quickly and briefly. It is sufficient, however, to form a basis for our understanding of the evolution of language.

You will see, as you study this lesson, how each part of speech has been added to meet a growing need. There are many, many thousand words in the English language, but they can all be grouped under these eight parts of speech, for they all answer in some way to one of these great needs.

The object in studying grammar, as in studying any other science, is not to fill one's mind with a great many unrelated facts—facts which may or may not prove useful to one hereafter. The object of all study is to develop one's power of observation and one's ability to think. Added to this must be the practical ability to make use of this knowledge. Here the study of grammar has an advantage over the study of every other science. It deals with words, something which we use every day.

You do not need any laboratory or expensive apparatus in order to study grammar. All that you need lies ready to your hand. And in addition to this the knowledge which you gain is something which is of practical use to every man and woman no matter what their work, no matter what their place or position in life may be.

Remember that dogmatism has no place in the study of grammar. "Grammarians are the guardians, not the authors, of language." We do not say, "You should say this or that, or you violate a rule of grammar," but we say "The common usage among those who use good English is thus and so." If we do not believe that the common usage is the best usage, then we follow the democratic method of seeking to change the common usage into that which we consider the more sensible way. Thus, those who advocate simplified spelling have not sought to pass a law whereby every one should be compelled to spell words exactly as they sound, but they have striven to influence our writers and people in general to use this more sensible way of spelling words.

So think while you study. Do not try to learn rules and formulas. See why the rules and formulas exist. Once having seen this you do not need to learn them—you know them already. The study of any language is an intellectual discipline of the highest order.

So apply yourself diligently to this most interesting study and you will see that the result of this application will affect your daily life in every particular.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

WORDS ADDED TO NOUNS

33. When man began to invent words to express his ideas of the world in which he lived, we have found that probably the first need was that of names for the things about him. So we have nouns. The second need was of words to tell what these things do, and so we have verbs. But primitive man soon felt the need of other classes of words.

The objects about us are not all alike. For example, we have a word for man, but when we say man that is not sufficient to describe the many different kinds of men. There are tall men, short men, white men, black men, strong men, weak men, busy men, lazy men. There are all sorts of men in the world, and we need words by which we can describe these different types and also indicate which man we mean.

34. So we have a class of words which are called adjectives. Adjective is a word derived from the Latin. It comes from the Latin word ad, meaning to, and the Latin word jecto, which means to throw; hence an adjective is a word thrown to or added to a noun.

If you will stop to think for a moment, you will see that it is by their qualities that we know the things about us. Some men are strong, some are weak, some are tall, some are short. These qualities belong to different men. And we separate or group them into classes as they resemble each other or differ from one another in these qualities. Things are alike which have the same qualities; things are unlike whose qualities are different. Apples and oranges are alike in the fact that both are round, both are edible. They are unlike in the fact that one is red and one is yellow; one may be sour and the other sweet. So we separate them in our minds because of their different qualities; and we have a class of words, adjectives, which describe these various qualities.

35. We use adjectives for other purposes also. For example, when we say trees, we are not speaking of any particular trees, but of trees in general. But we may add certain adjectives which point out particular trees, as for example: these trees, or those trees, or eight trees or nine trees. These adjectives limit the trees of which we are speaking to the particular trees pointed out. They do not express any particular qualities of the trees like the adjectives tall or beautiful express, but they limit the use of the word trees in its application. So we have our definition of the adjective.

36. An adjective is a word added to a noun to qualify or limit its meaning.

Exercise 1

Underscore all of the adjectives in the following quotation. Notice also the nouns and verbs in this quotation.

Yet fearsome and terrible are all the footsteps of men upon the earth, for they either descend or climb.

They descend from little mounds and high peaks and lofty altitudes, through wide roads and narrow paths, down noble marble stairs and creaky stairs of wood—and some go down to the cellar, and some to the grave, and some down to the pits of shame and infamy, and still some to the glory of an unfathomable abyss where there is nothing but the staring, white, stony eye-balls of Destiny. They descend and they climb, the fearful footsteps of men, and some limp, some drag, some speed, some trot, some run—they are quiet, slow, noisy, brisk, quick, feverish, mad, and most awful in their cadence to the ears of the one who stands still.

But of all the footsteps of men that either descend or climb, no footsteps are so fearsome and terrible as those that go straight on the dead level of a prison floor, from a yellow stone wall to a red iron gate.—From The Walker. Giovannitti.

WORDS ADDED TO VERBS

37. From our study, you see how our classes of words grew out of man's need of them in expressing his thoughts. And notice also how the many thousands of words in our language can all be grouped under these few classes. We name the things about us; we invent words to tell what these things do; we have another class of words which describe the things which we have named; and now we come to a fourth class of words for which we also find great need.

When we come to tell what things do, we find that we need words which will tell us how or where or when these things are done. Notice the following sentences:

• The men work busily.
• The men work late.
• The men work now.
• The men work here.
• The men work hard.
• The men work well.
• The men work inside.
• The men work more.

We would have a complete sentence and express a complete thought if we said simply, The men work, but each of these words which we have added, like busily, hard, late, etc., adds something to the meaning of the verb. These words add something to the action which is asserted by the verb, for they show how and when and where and how much the men work.

38. We call this class of words adverbs, because they are added to verbs to make the meaning more definite, very much as adjectives are added to nouns. Adverb means literally to the verb.

An adverb will always answer one of these questions: how? when? how long? how often? how much? how far? or how late? If you want to find the adverbs in your sentences just ask one of these questions, and the word that answers it will be the adverb.

39. An adverb may be used also with an adjective. Notice the following sentences:

• The book is very long.
• Too many people never think.

Notice here that the adverbs very and too modify the adjectives long and many.

40. Adverbs may also be used with other adverbs. Notice the following sentences:

• He speaks very distinctly.
• He walks too slowly.

Here the adverbs very and too are used with the adverbs distinctly and slowly, and add to their meaning. We will study more fully in later lessons concerning both the adjective and the adverb, but we can see by this brief study why adverbs were added as a class of words, a part of speech, for they are absolutely necessary in order to describe the action expressed by verbs, and also to add to the meaning of adjectives and other adverbs. Hence we have our definition of an adverb.

41. An adverb is a word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Exercise 2

Underscore all adverbs in the following sentences:

1. He will not come today.
2. Here and now is the day of opportunity.
3. Very slowly, but even then entirely too rapidly, the fire crept forward.
4. The room was very quiet and still.
5. He was too weary to go farther.
6. One must learn to feel deeply and think clearly in order to express himself eloquently.
7. Ferrer stood there, so calmly and so bravely facing the firing squad.
8. He was condemned to death because he stood uncompromisingly and courageously for the education of the masses.
9. Ferrer understood thoroughly that the schools of today cleverly and effectively adapt their teaching to maintain the present system of society.
10. He said "The school imprisons the children physically, intellectually and morally."

WORDS USED IN PLACE OF NOUNS

42. Now we come to study another class of words which are also very necessary in order to express our ideas. Suppose you had just arrived in a strange town and you wanted to find the way to a friend's house. You inquire of a stranger, "Can you tell me who lives in the house on the corner?"

Notice the words you and me and who. You could not call the stranger by name for you do not know his name, and hence you say you. And if you used your own name instead of me, he would not recognize it, and you would both be puzzled to find a substitute for that little word who.

If you knew the stranger and he knew your name, you might say, "Can Mr. Smith tell Mr. Jones what person lives in the house on the corner." But this would sound very stilted and unnatural and awkward. So we have these little words like you and me and who, which we use in place of nouns. These words are called pronouns. This word is taken from the Latin also. In the Latin the word pro means in place of. So the word pronoun means literally in place of a noun.

43. A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun.

These pronouns are very useful little words. They save us a great deal of tiresome repetition. Notice the awkwardness of the following:

• The workers will succeed in gaining the workers' freedom if the workers learn solidarity.

And yet this would be the way we would have to express this idea if we did not have pronouns. Instead we say:

• The workers will succeed in gaining their freedom if they learn solidarity.

44. We will study the pronoun in detail in later lessons, but we can readily recognize these words which are used in place of nouns. The most common pronouns are:

• I
• you
• he
• she
• it
• we
• they
• me
• him
• her
• us
• them
• my
• your
• his
• her
• its
• our
• their
• that
• which
• who
• whose
• whom
• what

Exercise 3

Underscore the pronouns in the following story:

A man in South Africa picked up a small piece of stone. It was dirty and rough.

"Make me beautiful," said the stone.

"I shall have to hurt you," said the man.

"Well, if it hurts me, I will bear it," said the stone.

So the man took it to a clever craftsman, who put it into a tight vise, and cut it with his sharp instrument.

"Oh!" cried the stone.

And he ground it till the dust fell all about it.

"Oh!" cried the stone.

And he polished it very hard.

"Oh!" cried the stone.

And then he set it in a crown and sent it to the Queen. On a sunny day she wore her crown, and the stone—it was a diamond—sparkled in long rays of crimson and green and yellow and silvery white. And all the people greeted their queen. She showed them her crown and they praised the beautiful stone.

The training was hard, but the improvement was glorious.

PREPOSITIONS

45. Notice the following sentences:

• I want the book on the box.
• I want the book under the box.
• I want the book in the box.
• I want the book beside the box.
• I want the book behind the box.
• I want the book beyond the box.

Do you notice any word in these sentences which does not belong to any of the classes of words which we have studied? I is a pronoun, want is a verb, the is an adjective, book is a noun, the is an adjective, box is a noun; but the words, on, under, in, beside, behind and beyond are not nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or pronouns.

Yet would it be possible to express the meaning in these sentences without these words? Read the sentences without them, and you will see that no one could tell the relation which you wish to express between the book and the box. And you will notice too that each word expresses a different relation, for it means one thing to say on the box and another thing to say in the box, and so through the list.

46. The words which are used to show this relation are called prepositions. The groups of words introduced by the preposition, like on the box and in the box, and so on, are called prepositional phrases. The noun which follows a preposition as box follows the prepositions in, on, beside, beyond, etc., is called the object of the preposition.

Preposition is a word which comes into our language from the Latin. It is formed from the Latin pre, which means before, and the Latin verb which means to place, so preposition means literally to place before. It is given this name because it is placed before the noun or pronoun which is its object. Therefore our definition of a preposition is as follows:

47. A preposition is a word that shows the relation of its object to some other word.

48. Either a noun or a pronoun may be the object of a preposition. Notice the following sentences:

• Bring the book to me.
• Lay the book on the table.
• He will speak to you.
• I will speak to the man.

In these sentences the noun table is the object of the preposition on; the pronoun me is the object of the preposition to; and in the last two sentences the pronoun you and the noun man are the objects of the preposition to.

49. There are not many prepositions in the language and they are easily learned and easily distinguished. Here is a list of the most common and the most important prepositions. Use each one in a sentence.

• at
• across
• around
• about
• among
• above
• against
• along
• behind
• beside
• between
• below
• beyond
• by
• before
• beneath
• down
• for
• from
• in
• into
• off
• on
• over
• to
• toward
• under
• up
• upon
• with
• within
• without

Exercise 4

Underscore the prepositions in the following sentences:

• He went to the door and looked out upon the field.
• Over the river and through the woods, to Grandfather's house we go.
• He saw them in the distance as they were coming toward him.
• They went along the road, across the bridge, and hid among the trees at the foot of the hill.
• They came from Minneapolis down the river by boat.
• The war between the classes is a struggle against exploitation.
• The army was intrenched behind the barricades before dawn.
• His claim was within the law but without justice.

CONJUNCTIONS

50. We have found that the preposition is a very important connective word. It connects two words and shows what one of them has to do with the other, but the preposition is not the only connective word which we use in English. We have another part of speech which performs an important function as a connective word. Notice the following sentence:

• Men and women struggle for their rights.

Can you find a word in this sentence which is a connective word besides the preposition for? Did you notice that little word and? The noun men and the noun women are both subjects of the verb struggle, and they are joined by this little connective word and. If we did not have this word we would have to use two sentences to express our thought, thus:

• Men struggle for their rights.
• Women struggle for their rights.

But with the use of this connective word and we can combine these two sentences and express it all in one sentence:

• Men and women struggle for their rights.

This word is used in a different manner from the preposition. The preposition connects two words and makes one modify the other. When we say, Get the book on the table, the phrase on the table designates the book just as much as if we had said, Get the green book. So the use of the preposition enables us to show the relation between two words and to make one word describe or modify the other.

51. This little word and in the sentence, Men and women struggle for their rights, is a connective word also, but it connects two words that are used in the same way, so it is a different sort of connective word from the preposition. Words used in this way are called conjunctions. Conjunction is a word which is taken from the Latin, being made up of the Latin word con, which means together, and the Latin verb juncto, which means to join. So conjunction means literally to join together.

52. A conjunction is a word that connects sentences or parts of sentences.

Notice the following sentence:

• The class struggle is waged on the political field and on the industrial field.

Here we have the conjunction and connecting the two phrases on the political field and on the industrial field. Without the use of this connective word, we would have to use two sentences to express these two thoughts:

• The class struggle is waged on the political field.
• The class struggle is waged on the industrial field.

53. So a conjunction may be used to connect phrases as well as words.

Now notice the following sentences:

• He will speak. I will listen.
• He will speak, and I will listen.
• He will speak, but I will listen.
• He will speak, if I will listen.
• He will speak, therefore I will listen.
• He will speak, because I will listen.
• He will speak, until I will listen.

54. These sentences are joined by different conjunctions, and the conjunction used alters the meaning of the sentence.

The conjunction is a very useful part of speech. Without it we would have many disconnected sentences requiring tiresome repetition of the same words. Like prepositions, there are not many conjunctions in English and they are readily recognized.

55. We will study about these conjunctions at length in later lessons. If you consult the following list of those most commonly used, you can easily pick out the conjunctions in your reading:

• and
• as
• as if
• after
• although
• as soon as
• because
• besides
• before
• but
• either
• for
• hence
• in order that
• lest
• neither
• nor
• or
• since
• still
• so
• then
• though
• that
• than
• therefore
• till
• until
• unless
• while
• whether
• yet

The seven classes of words which we have studied make up all of our sentences. The hundreds of words which we use in forming our sentences and expressing our thoughts belong to these seven classes. They are either nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions or conjunctions.

Exercise 5

Underscore the conjunctions in the following sentences. Notice whether they connect words or phrases or sentences.

1. We cannot win unless we are organized.
2. Books and music are true friends.
3. Men, women and children work under conditions neither proper nor just.
4. We must educate and organize.
5. The workers on the farms and in the factories must be united.
6. Winter has come and the birds are going South.
7. We have been ignorant, therefore we have been exploited.
8. We must learn before we can teach.
9. We do not understand the situation, because we do not know the facts.
10. Do you know whether these statements are true or false?

INTERJECTIONS

56. There is another class of words which we use with sentences, but which are really not parts of the sentences. They are emotional expressions which seem to belong more to the natural language than to the invented language. For example:

• Oh! You hurt me!
• Aha! Now I have you.

Oh, used in this way, is very apt to sound like a groan, and aha like a shout of triumph. These words do not really belong in the construction of the sentence. The sentence would be complete without them, but they are thrown in to express the emotion which accompanies the thought. We call expressions such as these interjections. Interjection is from the Latin and means literally thrown into the midst of. It comes from the Latin word inter, which means between, and the Latin verb jecto, to throw, so it literally means to throw between. Some of these words imitate sounds, as for example:

• Bang! There goes another shot.
• Ding-dong! There goes the first bell.

We do not use interjections very frequently in writing on scientific subjects that express deep thought, but you will find them often used in poetry, fiction, oratory or any emotional writing. Therefore we have our definition of an interjection:

57. An interjection is an exclamatory word or phrase used to express feeling or to imitate some sound.

58. Following is a list of commonly used interjections. Use them in sentences of your own.

• oh
• hello
• bravo
• ahoy
• aha
• hurrah
• bow wow
• ssh
• alas
• hist
• whirr
• pshaw
• fie
• whoa
• ding-dong
• rub-a-dub

Exercise 6

Mark the interjections in the following sentences. Notice those which express emotion and those which imitate sound.

1. Oh! Is it possible.
2. Hurrah! We have good news at last.
3. Whirr! Whirr! goes the giant machine.
4. Come! Keep up your courage.
5. What! I cannot believe it.
6. Courage! We shall yet win.
7. Bravo! Let those words ring down the centuries.
8. Ding-dong! the bells ring out the hour!