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.

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