Plain English Part 104

The prefix _un_ used with adjectives means _not_; for example, _uncertain_ means _not_ certain; _uncommon_ means _not_ common.

The prefix _mis_ used with nouns or verbs, means _wrong_. For example, _mistreatment_ means _wrong_ treatment; _to misspell_ means to spell _wrong_.

Add the prefix _in_ to the nouns given in Monday's list; add the prefix _in_ to the adjectives given in Tuesday's list; add the prefix _im_ to the adjectives and nouns in Wednesday's lesson; add the prefix _un_ to the participles and adjectives in Thursday's lesson; add the prefix _un_ to the verbs in Friday's lesson, and add the prefix _mis_ to the nouns and verbs in Sat.u.r.day's lesson.

+Monday+

Tolerance Frequency Competence Efficiency Coherence

+Tuesday+

Convenient Expedient Famous Adequate Solvent

+Wednesday+

Pertinent Morality Patience Moderate Pious

+Thursday+

Balanced Biased Gracious Stable Solicited

+Friday+

Burden Veil Fasten Screw Furl

+Sat.u.r.day+

Construe Apprehension Inform Guide Judge

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 28

Dear Comrade:

We are beginning with this lesson the study of the use of capitals and of punctuation. The use of capitals as well as punctuation has nothing to do with our spoken words, but both are very important in our written language.

There is nothing that will mark us as uneducated more quickly than bad spelling, faulty punctuation and the incorrect use of capitals.

The rules for the use of capitals may seem somewhat arbitrary. After an understanding of them, however, you will discover that they are not arbitrary, but are based upon a single principle. The word which is of the most importance, or which should receive the most emphasis is the word which is capitalized, as for example, the princ.i.p.al words in a t.i.tle, the first words in a sentence, proper names, etc.

Study these rules carefully, note the use of the capitals in your reading and watch your written language carefully for a time. Soon the proper use of capitals will seem easy and most natural. In the meantime do not fail to keep up your study of words. Add at least one word to your vocabulary every day.

Did you ever consider how we think in pictures? Nearly every word that we use calls up a certain image or picture in our minds. The content of words has grown and developed as our ability to think has developed.

Take, for example, words like head or hand. Head originally referred to a portion of the body of a living thing; then it was used to refer to some part of an inanimate object which might resemble or call up a picture of an animal's head, for example, the head of a pin. Again, it was used to refer to some part of an inanimate thing which was a.s.sociated with the head of a human being, as the head of the bed. Then, by the power of a.s.sociation, since the head was considered the most conspicuous and important part of the body, that which was most conspicuous and important was called the head, as the head of the army, the head of the nation.

Then, since the head was the seat of the brain and of the mental faculties, the head was often used instead of the brain or mental faculties. We speak of a clear head or a cool head. Thus we have a number of idiomatic expressions. We may speak of the head of the river; or the subject matter was divided under four heads; or again, the matter came to a head; he is head and ears in debt; we cannot make head against the opposition, etc.

This transfer of our ideas from the physical to the mental and spiritual marks vividly the growth of the language and the development of thought.

Trace the words like hands, arm, foot, eye, tongue, in their use, first as physical then as mental or spiritual.

This will be the most interesting pastime and will enlarge the content of the words which you use.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

CAPITAL LETTERS

+464.+ In our written speech we often display our lack of education by our use of capital letters and punctuation. We may understand the use of words and be able to speak fairly well, but if we do not understand the proper use of capitals and of punctuation marks, our written language readily betrays our ignorance.

+465.+ There are a number of rules for the use of capitals which we must observe. Some of the writers in our magazines defy these rules of capitalization, in an effort to seem different from other people, perhaps. These rules for the use of capital letters, like all other rules, are not arbitrary rules laid down by any body of men, but are simply a statement of accepted usage among people. We should not feel that we should say this or that or we are violating a rule of grammar.

We should feel rather that the majority of the people who speak and write good English do thus, and so, for this reason, I shall do it also.

This is simply obeying the standard of majority rule. If there is any good and sufficient reason why we feel this should not be a rule, we may be justified in breaking it and making a new rule. Many people feel that our spelling should be simplified and so they insist upon spelling certain words in a more simple way. They feel that they have good and sufficient reason for insisting upon this change and gradually if these reasons appeal to the majority as being good and sufficient reasons, then this simplified mode of spelling will become the accepted usage.

But there seems no good reason why any writer should scatter capital letters with a lavish hand throughout his writing. One feels as though a writer in so doing is expressing his desire to be different, in a very superficial manner. Let us be unique and individual in our thought. If this forces us to a different mode of living or of expression from the rest of the world, then we are justified in being different from the rest. We have thought and reason behind our action. This is far different from the att.i.tude of one who poses as a radical and whose only protest is in the superficial external things. So let us learn and observe these rules for the use of capital letters.

RULES FOR THE USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS

+466.+ +Use a capital for the first word of every sentence.+

When you begin a new sentence always begin that sentence with a capital letter. Each sentence is a statement of a complete thought and is independent of every other sentence. The use of the capital letter indicates this independence and calls attention to the fact that you are beginning a new thought.

+467.+ +Begin every line of poetry with a capital letter.+ Sometimes in poetry, the line is too long to be printed on a single line and must be carried over into another line; in this case, the first word of the second line does _not_ begin with a capital letter.

+468.+ +Use a capital for every proper noun.+ This includes names of persons, countries, states, towns, cities, streets and geographical names, as the names of seas, lakes, mountains, rivers, etc.

+469.+ +The words North, South, East and West are capitalized when they are used to refer to geographical divisions.+ When these words simply refer to the points of the compa.s.s, they should not begin with a capital.

+470.+ +The p.r.o.noun _I_ and the interjection _O_ should always be capitals.+ Never write the p.r.o.noun _I_ with a small _i_.

+471.+ +Every proper adjective should begin with a capital letter.+ Proper adjectives are adjectives derived from proper nouns. For example: the _Marxian_ philosophy, the _Darwinian_ theory, _Indian_ money, _j.a.panese_ labor, etc.

+472.+ +Always begin the names of the months and the days of the week with capital letters.+ For example: _January_, _February_, _August_, _Monday_, _Tuesday_, _Friday_, etc.

+473.+ +Use a capital letter for every name or t.i.tle of the Deity.+ For example: _G.o.d_, _Jehovah_, _Christ_, _Jesus_, etc. It is also customary to capitalize all personal p.r.o.nouns referring to G.o.d or Christ.

+474.+ +Begin with a capital letter names of all religious sects and political parties, also all adjectives derived from them.+ As for example: _Christian Church_, _Methodism_, _Republican Party_, _Mohammedan_, _Socialist_, etc.

+475.+ +Begin the names of all things spoken of as persons with a capital.+ In poetry or poetic prose we often speak of _war_, _fame_, _death_, _hope_, _fancy_, _liberty_, etc., as persons. Whenever these words are used in this way they should begin with a capital letter.