Plain English. Marian Wharton
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!
SPELLING
LESSON 3
Since there are forty-two elementary sounds used in the formation of our words and only twenty-six letters to represent these sounds, some of these letters must necessarily represent more than one sound.
Of the forty-two elementary sounds, eighteen are vowel sounds, but we have only five vowels with which to represent these sounds, so each vowel has several different sounds.
Therefore we must have a key to pronunciation to indicate the various sounds which are represented by these letters used in forming the words. When you look up words in your dictionary you will find the vowels marked by certain signs to indicate the pronunciation. These signs are called diacritical marks.
The following table gives the diacritical marks for the vowels. Study this table and learn to pronounce the words you look up. When you have determined the correct pronunciation of the word, repeat it over to yourself aloud a number of times until you have accustomed your ear to the correct pronunciation.
Different dictionaries use different keys to pronunciation. This table is taken from the dictionary which we are using in connection with this course—Winston's New Universal Self-Pronouncing Dictionary.
Key to Pronunciation
ā as in late, fade.
ä as in mar, father.
ȧ as in mask, dance.
a as in cat, had.
aw as in awl, fall.
ē as in he, feet.
ẽ as in her, verge.
e as in let, men.
ī as in line, time.
i as in tin, little.
ō as in vote, home.
ô as in orb, form.
o as in lot, odd.
oi as in oil, join.
o̅o̅ as in moon, school.
oo as in cook, foot.
ou as in out, house.
ū as in mute, unit.
u as in nut, drum.
The spelling lesson for this week is composed of words containing the different vowel sounds. Look up in your dictionary and mark all the a's in Monday's lesson, all the e's in Tuesday's lesson, all the i's in Wednesday's lesson, all the o's in Thursday's lesson, and all the u's in Friday's lesson. In Saturday's lesson note the use of w and y as vowels.
Monday
Pause
Adjective
Lazy
Quality
Advance
Tuesday
Resemble
Descend
Adverb
Interjection
Complete
Wednesday
Limit
Define
Distinct
Imprison
Civilize
Thursday
Form
Footsteps
Proof
Report
Common
Friday
Union
Under
Unusual
Summer
Commune
Saturday
Comply
Employ
Vowel
News
Lawful
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 4
Dear Comrade:
We are studying in this lesson a most interesting part of our language, the words that are the names of things. If we could trace these names of things and the order and time of their coming into the language of men we would have a progressive history