Plain English Part 108

The state placed a _limitation_--_limit_ upon the sale of liquor within certain _limits_--_limitations_.

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 29

Dear Comrade:

The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in any man or woman. It is the things which we do for ourselves in any line of work that count the most for us. The things which come to us without any effort on our part do not stay with us very long nor do us much good while we have them.

Sometimes we feel discouraged because we have not had the opportunity to attend school as much as we would like. There is no gainsaying but that this is a tremendous handicap and yet, after all, it is not an insurmountable obstacle. It is much better to have the appet.i.te without the food than to have the food without the appet.i.te. There is always a chance of securing the food if we want it bad enough and will struggle hard enough. So in the matter of an education. Many a man who has never seen the inside of a college is better educated than those who have been through college.

These men have really wanted knowledge, have sought it early and late, and have found knowledge; and because they were in the work-a-day world, in constant contact with their fellow-men, they were able to relate the knowledge which they gained out of books to the world in which they lived and this is true education. This is, also, what many college-bred people lack. A student is half made as soon as he seeks knowledge for its own sake. If you are striving to learn, not to make grades or to pa.s.s examinations or to secure a degree, but simply for the sake of knowing things, then indeed you are on the way to become really educated.

Stimulate within yourself a desire for knowledge, observe the things about you, add to your store of information daily; read a good book each day, even if you have time to read only a page or two, and you will be surprised at the result in your life.

Take, for example, our spelling. Why should we continually misspell the words which we use every day and which we see every day on a printed page. If we are wide-awake and have our eyes open, we can soon learn to spell correctly all these common words, at least. Make a list this week of fifty things with which you come in contact in your daily work, then look these words up in your dictionary and see how many of them you have misspelled. There is no reason why we should not be learning constantly and the more we observe, the more acute becomes our power of observation.

Let us determine more than ever to feel that we are part of the great world movement, that we belong in the ranks of those who have caught the vision of what the world might be, and that we belong to that glorious army of those who are fighting for the dream; so we may take courage; so we may find joy in the struggle, bitter as it may be, and so we may do our part in the fight.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

PUNCTUATION

+490.+ Marks of punctuation are very important in our written language.

They take the place of the gesture and pause and inflection and intonation of the voice, by which we make our meaning clear in vocal speech. So the marks of punctuation do not become mere mechanical devices. They are marks full of meaning and necessary to express our thought.

Punctuation is a word derived from the Latin word _punctum_ which means _a point_. We have other words from the same derivation, as puncture, etc.

+Punctuation is the art of pointing off our written language so as to make its meaning clear.+

Some very amusing errors have occurred because of the misplacing or the omission of punctuation marks. It is said, that a toast was one time given at a public dinner; "Woman! without her, man would be a savage."

The next day it appeared in print; "Woman, without her man, would be a savage." You can readily see that the punctuation in this instance made a very great difference in the meaning of the sentence.

+491.+ In conversation, the tone of the voice which we use, has a great effect upon our meaning, for example I might say, _The International failed_, in such a tone of voice, that it would express despair and chagrin, and indicate that the International was a thing of the past; or I might say, _The International failed_, with such an inflection, that you would understand that even the suggestion was to be treated with contempt, that the International was still powerful and its triumph inevitable. And in writing, the only way we have of expressing these shades of meaning is by means of punctuation marks.

So these marks of punctuation are not thrown upon a page haphazardly, or put there simply for decoration; they have a meaning and a very great meaning. Those who use short, crisp sentences have less need for punctuation marks than those who use longer and more involved sentences.

When we have learned to express ourselves directly and simply, we will naturally use fewer marks of punctuation.

+492.+ You will find that, in writing in connection with business, there is much less need of punctuation than in literary and philosophical writings. Business writing is usually direct and simple in style. Its purpose is to state facts. The literary and philosophical writing, however, expresses more involved ideas and emotions, and in these, the punctuation is exceedingly important.

+493.+ One of the great purposes served by punctuation is to indicate a pause or break in the thought. A very good rule to go by in punctuating is to repeat the sentence aloud, and whenever you pause for breath or because of a break in the thought, it is a pretty safe indication that in that place, you should have a punctuation mark.

+494.+ The following are the chief marks of punctuation:

1. The Comma , 2. The Semi-colon ; 3. The Colon : 4. The Period .

5. The Interrogation Point ?

6. The Exclamation Point !

7. The Dash -- 8. The Parenthesis () 9. The Bracket []

10. The Quotation Marks ""

11. The Apostrophe '

12. The Hyphen -

THE COMMA

+495.+ The comma is the mark used to indicate a slight break in the thought.

There are a number of rules given for the use of commas. These rules, like the rules for the use of capitals, you cannot commit to memory; but, after repeated practice in your own writing and paying attention to your reading, you will gradually develop an instinctive sense of the use of the comma. Select some book which you are reading and go through it, noticing especially the use of the commas. See if you can determine the reason which prompted the author to place his commas where he did.

Notice, also, what effect the placing or the omission of the comma would have upon the meaning of the sentence.

+496.+ +The Comma indicates the slightest degree of separation between the parts of a sentence.+

+RULE 1.+

+497.+ +Words, phrases and clauses, forming a series and used in the same construction, should be separated from each other by commas when the conjunctions are omitted.+

WORDS WHICH FORM A SERIES

+498.+ The words which form a series, separated by a comma may be either nouns, adjectives, adverbs or verbs. The comma is only used where the conjunction is omitted. Note carefully the following sentences:

Love, laughter and happiness are the right of every child.

He visited every city, town and village.

The working cla.s.s has been meek, humble, docile and gullible.

All the crushed, tortured, strangled, maimed and murdered ideals of the ages shall become an everlasting reality.

He struggled patiently, faithfully and fearlessly for the cause.

If labor thinks, dares, rebels, fights, it will be victorious.

PHRASES WHICH FORM SERIES

+499.+ Phrases which are used in the same construction and form a series are separated by commas where the conjunction is omitted. For example:

Day after day, year after year, century after century, the cla.s.s struggle has proceeded.

The struggle in the mines, in the fields, in the factories and in the shops, will go on until labor receives the product of its toil.

CLAUSES USED IN A SERIES

+500.+ Sometimes clauses are used without the co-ordinate conjunction and a comma is used to indicate the omission. For example:

Do not moan, do not submit, do not kneel, do not pray, do not wait.