Plain English Part 55

4. In stating a comparison, avoid comparing a thing with itself. For example; _New York is larger than any city in the United States_. In this sentence, when you say _any_ city in the United States, you are including New York; so you are really comparing New York with itself, and you are saying that New York is larger than itself. You should have said, _New York is larger than any other city in the United States_; or, _New York is the largest city in the United States_. When you compare an object with all others of its kind be sure that the word _other_ follows the comparative word _than_.

5. When an adjective denoting _one_ or _more than one_ modifies a noun, the adjective and the noun must agree in number. For example; _The house is 30 foot square_. _Thirty_ denotes more than one, so a plural noun should be used, and this sentence should be, _The house is 30 feet square_. _We are traveling at the rate of 40 mile an hour._ This should be, _We are traveling at the rate of 40 miles an hour_.

6. Only two adjectives, _this_ and _that_ change their form when modifying a plural noun. _These_ and _those_ are the plural forms of _this_ and _that_. So remember always to use _this_ and _that_ with singular nouns and _these_ and _those_ with plural nouns. For example; do not say, _These kind of people will never join us_. You should say, _This kind of people will never join us_. Or, _Those sort of flowers grows easily_. You should say, _That sort of flowers grows easily_.

7. Place your adjectives where there can be no doubt as to what you intend them to modify. Put the adjective _with_ the noun which it modifies. For example; do not say, _a fresh bunch of flowers_, _a new pair of shoes_, _a salt barrel of pork_, _an old box of clothes_, _a cold cup of water_, _a new load of hay_. Put the adjective with the noun which it modifies, and say, _a bunch of fresh flowers_, _a pair of new shoes_, _a barrel of salt pork_, _a box of old clothes_, _a cup of cold water_, _a load of new hay_.

8. Adjectives are usually placed before the nouns they qualify, but sometimes, especially in poetry or in the use of participles, they follow the nouns. They should not, however, be placed too far away from the noun which they modify or be unnecessarily separated from the noun.

Where there are two or more adjectives used to qualify the same noun, place nearest the noun the adjective most closely connected with the object described and place farthest from the noun the adjective least closely connected with the noun. If they are all of the same rank, place them where they will sound best, usually according to their length, naming the shortest adjective first.

Correct the following sentences by arranging the adjectives in the proper order:

The summer sky was a blue, soft, beautiful sky.

He bought a brown, fine, big horse.

A gold, beautiful, expensive watch was given her.

The new, beautiful apartment building is on the corner.

He advertised for a young, intelligent, wide awake man.

9. Never use _them_ as an adjective. _Them_ is a p.r.o.noun. One of the worst mistakes which we can make is to use such phrases as _them things_, _them men_, _them books_. Say, _those things_, _those men_, _those books_.

10. Do not use _less_ for the comparative form of _few_. The comparative form of _few_ is _fewer_. _Less_ refers only to quant.i.ty, _fewer_ to number. For example:

He raised _less_ grain this year than last, because he has _fewer_ horses now than he had then.

He uses _fewer_ words because he has _less_ to say.

There are but _few_ people here today; there were still _fewer_ (not less) yesterday.

Exercise 2

Correct the adjectives in this exercise:

1. Hand me the little knife.

2. He claims to be more infallible than anyone else.

3. Mary is the oldest of the two.

4. He was the bestest boy in school.

5. The barn is forty foot long.

6. Yonder is a happy crowd of children.

7. Which is the largest end?

8. I found the bestest book.

9. This is the most princ.i.p.al rule.

10. Give me a cold cup of water.

11. These kind of books will not do.

12. Give me them books.

13. Who is the tallest, you or John?

Exercise 3

Mark all the adjectives in this poem. Note especially the participles used as adjectives.

THE COLLECTION

I pa.s.sed the plate in church.

There was a little silver, but the crisp bank-notes heaped themselves up high before me; And ever as the pile grew, the plate became warmer and warmer, until it fairly burned my fingers, and a smell of scorching flesh rose from it, and I perceived that some of the notes were beginning to smolder and curl, half-browned, at the edges.

And then I saw through the smoke into the very substance of the money, and I beheld what it really was: I saw the stolen earnings of the poor, the wide margin of wages pared down to starvation; I saw the underpaid factory girl eking out her living on the street, and the over-worked child, and the suicide of the discharged miner; I saw the poisonous gases from great manufactories, spreading disease and death; I saw despair and drudgery filling the dram-shop; I saw rents screwed out of brother men for permission to live on G.o.d's land; I saw men shut out from the bosom of the earth and begging for the poor privilege to work, in vain, and becoming tramps and paupers and drunkards and lunatics, and crowding into almshouses, insane asylums and prisons; I saw ignorance and vice and crime growing rank in stifling, filthy slums; I saw shoddy cloth and adulterated food and lying goods of all kinds, cheapening men and women, and vulgarizing the world; I saw hideousness extending itself from coal-mine and foundry over forest and river and field; I saw money grabbed from fellow grabbers and swindled from fellow swindlers, and underneath the workman forever spinning it out of his vitals; I saw the laboring world, thin and pale and bent and care-worn and driven, pouring out this tribute from its toil and sweat into the laps of the richly dressed men and women in the pews, who only glanced at them to shrink from them with disgust; I saw all this, and the plate burned my fingers so that I had to hold it first in one hand and then in the other; and I was glad when the parson in his white robes took the smoking pile from me on the chancel steps and, turning about, lifted it up and laid it on the altar.

It was an old-time altar, indeed, for it bore a burnt offering of flesh and blood--a sweet savor unto the Moloch whom these people wors.h.i.+p with their daily round of human sacrifices.

The shambles are in the temple as of yore, and the tables of the money-changers waiting to be overturned.

--_Ernest Crosby_.

SPELLING

LESSON 15

There is a cla.s.s of words having the sound of long _e_, represented by the diphthong _ie_, and another cla.s.s having the same sound represented by _ei_. It is a matter of perplexity at times to determine whether one of these words should be spelled with _ie_ or _ei_. Here is a little rhyme which you will find a valuable aid to the memory in spelling these words:

When the letter _c_ you spy, Put the _e_ before the _i_.

For example, in such words as _deceit_, _receive_ and _ceiling_, the spelling is _ei_. On the other hand, when the diphthong is not preceded by the letter _c_, the spelling is _ie_, as in _grief_, _field_, _siege_, etc.

There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as _either_, _neither_, _leisure_, _seize_ and _weird_. Most words, however, conform to the rule--when preceded by _c_, _ei_ should be used; when preceded by any other letter, _ie_.

Observe that this rule applies only when there is a diphthong having the sound of long _e_. When the two letters do not have the sound of long _e_, as in _ancient_, the rule does not apply.

+Monday+

Deceive Belief Conceive Brief Ceiling

+Tuesday+

Field Receive Piece Chief Leisure

+Wednesday+

Receipt Wield Weird Thief Perceive

+Thursday+

Deceit Yield Grief Seize Conceit

+Friday+

Relieve Neither Liege s.h.i.+eld Niece

+Sat.u.r.day+