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PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 23

Dear Comrade:

In this lesson we are taking up the study of interjections. Interjections are the language of emotion. This was probably the earliest form of speech. You notice that children use these exclamations often, and the sounds which are imitations of the noises about them. This language belongs also to the savage, whose peculiar and expressive grunts contain whole areas of condensed thought. As we progress from feeling to thinking, the use of the interjection diminishes.

You will not find interjections used in a book on mathematics or physical science or history. To attempt to read one of these books may make you use interjections and express your emotion in violent language, but you will not find interjections in these books. These books of science are books that express thought and not feeling. But if you turn to fiction and to oratory you will find the interjection used freely, for these are the books which treat of the human emotions and feelings. Especially in poetry will you find the interjection used, for poetry is the language of feeling and the interjection is an important part of the poet's stock in trade.

In conversation, these exclamatory words are very useful. They fill the gaps in our conversation and they help to put the listener and the speaker in touch with one another. They are usually accompanied by a gesture, which adds force to the word. The tone of the voice in which they are expressed also means a great deal. You can say, Oh! in half a dozen different ways; you may express surprise, wonder, joy, sorrow, pain, or disgust. A great many different and widely separated feelings can be expressed simply by the tone in which you use the exclamatory words. Some one has said that these words grease the wheels of talk. They serve to help the timid, to give time to the unready and to keep up a pleasant semblance of familiarity.