and could not use foods that required cooking. They communicated with one another by signs. Then they discovered fire and invented the bow and arrow. They could now use fish and flesh for food and they commenced to use articulate speech. This stage has been called the Middle Stage of Savagery. With the invention of the bow and arrow, began the third stage of savagery which merged into the first stage of barbarism with the invention of pottery.
There are three stages of barbarism before we come to the beginning of the era of civilization which begins with the use of the phonetic alphabet and the production of literary records. All tribes that have never attained the art of pottery are classed as savages and those who possess this art but have never attained a phonetic alphabet and the use of writing are classed as barbarians. Civilization began with the spoken and written language and it has been well said that all that separates us from savagery is a wall of books. It is upon the accumulated wisdom of the past that we build. Without this we would be helpless.
So these various names of things have come to us with developing evolving life. As the men of the past gained a knowledge of the use of fire, as they learned to bake the clay and make various utensils; to heat and forge the iron into weapons; to conquer nature in all her phases, to feed the race, to clothe the race, to shelter the race more adequately, our language has grown in volume, strength and beauty.
The study of words and their uses is of great importance to you. Master the few rules necessary and watch your words daily. We are living in an age full of wondrous things and yet many of us have almost as limited a vocabulary as the men of those bygone days, who had never dreamed of the marvels that are commonplace to us.
As you use your dictionary watch closely the meaning of the words and choose the words that most aptly express your ideas. Listen to good English spoken as often as you can. Read good English. Mark the difference between good and bad English and gradually you will find yourself using good English naturally and continually.
Yours for Education,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE
CLASSES OF NOUNS
59. We have learned that the words in a sentence are classified according to the work which each word does. The words which assert are called verbs; the words which are the names of things are called nouns. But now we shall see that these words are again divided into classes according to the special work which they perform. Just as we may gather the people of the world into one great class, the working class, then classify them according to the industry in which they work, thus some are farmers, some teachers, some factory workers; then each class may be subdivided according to the special work which they perform, as truck farmers, high school teachers, machinists, etc.
So we find that nouns are divided into classes according to their meaning in the sentence.
In the sentence, Lincoln was a man of the people, we have two nouns referring to the same person, Lincoln and man, but they are different kinds of names. The word man is a name that may apply to any one of a million persons but the name Lincoln applies to one person only. Some nouns, then, represent a thing as being of a certain kind or class, without showing which particular one is meant. Other nouns are names given to designate a particular individual. These are called common and proper nouns.
60. A proper noun is a special name meant for only one person, place or thing.
All other nouns are common nouns.
A common noun is a name which belongs to all things of a class of objects.
Every proper noun should begin with a capital letter.
Indicate the proper nouns in the following list by drawing a line under the letters that ought to be capitals:
king
month
city
france
dog
virginia
war
wilson
november
doctor
colonel
napoleon
chicago
governor
independence day
freedom
ocean
atlantic ocean
thanksgiving
thanksgiving day
uncle william
thursday
week
general sherman
karl marx
union
labor
united mine workers
newspaper
the daily call
Write the special or proper names of several individuals in each of the following classes:—as city—Chicago, New York, etc.
River, king, author, country, state, inventor, martyr, month, book, college.
COLLECTIVE NOUNS
61. Some nouns are the names of groups or collections of things and are called collective nouns.
Many soldiers taken together form collectively an army—a number of sheep form a drove. Many of these group or collective nouns will readily occur to your mind.
A collective noun is one that in the singular form, denotes a number of separate persons or things.
Exercise 1
Opposite each of the following collective nouns, write the name of the individuals represented by the collection; as an army of soldiers; a swarm of bees; a flock of birds.
A gang of … . …
A committee of … . …
A herd of … . …
A drove of … . …
A hive of … . …
A corps of … . …
A suite of … . …
A group of … . …
A class of … . …
A multitude of … . …
Fill the following blanks with appropriate collective nouns.
A … … of horses.
A … … of sailors.
A … … of wolves.
A … … of savages.
A … … of singers.
A … … of girls.
A … … of ships.
A … … of quail.
A …