Chapter I: Do Not Obey, I Think

"Captain, what do you think," I asked,
"Of the part your soldiers play?"
The Captain answered, "I do not think--
I do not think, I obey."

"Do you think your conscience was meant to die,
And your brains to rot away?"
The Captain answered, "I do not think--
I do not think, I obey."

"Do you think you should shoot a patriot down,
And help a tyrant slay?"
The Captain answered, "I do not think--
I do not think, I obey."

"Then if this is your soldier's code," I cried,
"You're a mean, unmanly crew;
And with all your feathers and gilt and braid,
I am more of a man than you;

"For whatever my lot on earth may be
And whether I swim or sink,
I can say with pride, 'I do not obey--
I do not obey, I think.'"

--_Ernest Crosby_.

SPELLING

LESSON 2

The twenty-six letters in the English alphabet are divided into vowels and consonants. A vowel is a letter which represents a sound of the human voice but slightly interrupted by the vocal organs. The vowels are _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_ and _u_. All of the remaining letters of the alphabet are consonants. A consonant is a letter which represents a sound of the human voice greatly obstructed by the vocal organs. Consonant is from the Latin _con_, meaning _with_, and _sono_--_I sound_. So it means literally _I sound with_.

The consonants are produced by union of the breath with the vocal organs. The consonant sounds are so called because they are always "sounded with" a vowel; they are used only in combination with vowels in forming words or syllables.

In English a consonant alone never forms a word or a syllable. Sound the different consonants _b_, _c_, _d_, _f_, _g_, _h_, _j_, _k_, _l_, _m_, _n_, _p_, _q_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _v_, _x_ and _z_, by themselves and you will see how the sound of the breath is obstructed or changed by the use of the vocal organs--the lips, the tongue, the teeth, etc.--in making these various sounds.

_W_ and _y_ are sometimes vowels and sometimes consonants. _W_ and _y_ are vowels when they are used with another vowel representing a vowel sound as in _awe_, _new_, _joy_, _eye_, etc. _Y_ is sometimes used as a vowel by itself as in _by_, _cry_, etc. _W_ and _y_ are consonants when they are used at the beginning of a syllable or before a vowel in the same syllable as in _wine_, _twine_, _yield_ and _year_.

Look up the meaning of the words in this week's lesson. Master the spelling and use them in sentences of your own construction.

+Monday+

Reason
Evolution
Justice
Thorough
Beauty

+Tuesday+

Assertive
Review
Surprise
Basis
Separate

+Wednesday+

Interrogative
Period
Capital
Capitol
Function

+Thursday+

Example
Contain
Imperative
Question
Speech

+Friday+

Method
Various
Familiar
Industry
Alphabet

+Saturday+

Travel
Sense
Cents
Sail
Sale

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 3

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: